Lorex Smart Outdoor Wi-Fi Camera W281AA-W Review

The Lorex Smart Outdoor Wi-Fi Camera W281AA-W ($159.99) is the company's first to use smart home technology.

It's a rugged outdoor camera that connects directly to your home Wi-Fi network without the need for a hub.

It's loaded with features including dual-band Wi-Fi, a microSD card slot, a siren, a warning light to scare off unwelcome guests, and it knows the difference between people and vehicles.

It also delivered sharp 1080p video in our testing.

It's a solid buy, though it lacks the ability to interact with other smart devices that you get with our Editors' Choice, the $99.99 Ring Stick Up Cam Battery.

Design and Features

The W281AA-W is an indoor/outdoor camera with an IP65 weather resistance rating.

The white enclosure has a cylindrical shape and is 3.0 inches wide and 3.5 inches deep.

It has a 9.7-inch hardwired USB power cable around back along with a threaded mounting hole for use with the included wall and desktop mounts.

The camera comes with a 10-foot USB extension cable designed for outdoor use, a USB power adapter, mounting hardware and templates, and a user guide.

The camera captures 1080p video at 30fps and has a 110-degree field of view.

It uses infrared LEDs for up to 50 feet of night vision and has a built-in 110dB siren and a motion-activated white LED warning light.

The siren and LED are major components of the camera's Active Deterrence feature designed to let intruders know that they have been detected.

No hub is required; instead, the camera uses a dual-band Wi-Fi radio to connect directly to your home network.

It is equipped with a microphone and speaker for two-way talk and has a microSD card slot and a reset button on the top of the enclosure, both of which are protected by a removable rubber cap.

The camera comes with a preinstalled 32GB card for storing recorded video locally (cloud storage is not an option) and will accept cards up to 256GB.

The W281AA-W offers Smart Motion detection technology that can differentiate motion caused by people and vehicles from motion caused by animals and other things such as windblown objects.

It supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands that allow you to view video on compatible smart displays, and it is compatible with Apple TV and Chromecast video devices.

However, it doesn't offer the support for IFTTT applets that allow it to interact with other smart devices that you get with the Ring Stick Up Cam and the significantly more expensive Arlo 3 Pro cameras, and it doesn't support the Apple HomeKit platform.

The camera uses the Lorex Home mobile app for Android and iOS devices.

It opens to a Devices screen that contains tabs for each installed Lorex device.

Tap a tab to launch a live feed that can be viewed in full-screen mode by turning your phone sideways or by tapping the full-screen button along the bottom of the feed.

There's also a mute button, an SD/HD button, a pause button, and a button that lets you split the screen into four or nine panels if you have multiple cameras installed.

Below these buttons is a Timeline bar that lets you use swipe gestures to view a history of motion events.

Other function buttons include snapshot, manual record, microphone, siren, and light buttons.

At the top of the screen is a gear icon that takes you to a Device Settings screen where you can enable notifications, configure motion detection zones and motion sensitivity, enable motion-activated siren and warning LED options, and create continuous recording schedules.

Here you can also enable or disable audio recording, rotate the camera image, share the camera with other users, and update the firmware.

To see a list of all recorded events with the date, time, and a thumbnail image, tap the Activities button at the bottom of the Devices screen, then tap any thumbnail to play the recorded video.

Installation and Performance

Installing the W281AA-W is easy.

I downloaded the mobile app, created an account, and verified the account with the code provided via email.

I tapped the plus button on the Devices screen, scanned the QR code on the bottom of the camera when prompted, and the camera was immediately identified.

I then tapped Next and followed the instructions to power up the camera and wait for the LED to flash green before proceeding, which took around 20 seconds.

Once the camera was connected to my phone, I created a password for it, selected my home Wi-Fi from the list, and entered my Wi-Fi password.

After 10 seconds the LED turned solid green, so I tapped Next to add the camera to my account.

I gave it a name and moved on to the physical installation.

I attached the wall-mounting plate to a post overlooking the front of my house, snapped the camera onto the plate, and used the extension cable to plug the camera into a nearby protected ground fault (GFCI) outlet.

If you don't have access to a GFCI outlet, you'll have to find a way to snake the cable into your house where you can use an indoor outlet.

Using the app, I verified that the camera was working and angled correctly, and the installation was complete.

The Lorex W281AA-W delivered excellent 1080p video in my testing.

Colors appeared well saturated and there was no noticeable pincushion or barrel distortion.

Black-and-white night video showed good contrast, and images remained sharp out to around 40 feet.

Two-way audio was clean and adequately loud.

The Smart Motion detection worked as advertised; I received alerts for people and vehicles, while windblown tree limbs and other non-essential motion was ignored.

Alerts arrived immediately and recorded video of the events was just as sharp as the live feed.

I linked the camera to my Alexa account and had no trouble viewing video on an Echo Show using voice commands.

Conclusions

There's a lot to like about the Lorex Smart Outdoor Wi-Fi Camera W281AA-W.

It's easy to install, tells you when people or cars have entered your active motion zone, helps scare off intruders, and records video of events.

And there are no monthly cloud storage fees as the camera saves recorded video locally on the included microSD card.

The camera performed well in testing, delivering sharp day and night video and accurate motion detection with no false alerts.

Alexa voice commands also worked as expected.

That said, it doesn't support Apple HomeKit and it doesn't interact with other smart home devices such as lights and door locks.

For that, consider our less expensive Editors' Choice for outdoor cameras, the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery.

It's completely wireless and works with lots of other smart devices, though you'll have to pay a (nominal) fee to access recorded video.