Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Google Nest Cam with Floodlight replaced a very old and barely working Ring Cam/Floodlight which is what I have been used to for the past several years. Overall, the Nest Cam with Floodlight was an excellent replacement. Installation was a breeze since I already had a hard-wired device there - it was simply a function of switching them out. Took less than 20 minutes to install and be up and running. The instructions are slim, though relatively useful. I did use YouTube and some other Google searches to figure out some of the functions of the camera and how to control the lights - all done in the Google Home App. I learned, though this is branded as Nest, the Nest app defers to the Google Home App; I was not able to get the Camera/Flood to work with the Nest app at all. Pros: - Outstanding image quality - Very bright lights - Simple installation - Relatively straightforward setup through Google Home App - Intuitive App settings, for the most part - Easy to download and save clips directly to phone/tablet - Pass through talking/listening is reasonably good quality - VERY responsive to movement, including detecting animals! - Ability to “recognize” known people - Easy to share with other household family members through invitations (or existing Google Home family/groups) Cons: The only con I found with this camera/flood setup in comparison to my previous one was functionality within the app. There are limited Google Home App functions and adjustments … but I believe more are coming based on some back and forth communication with Google Support (which was OUTSTANDING). Overall, this is a great addition to the cameras of myriad brands around my house. It’s very responsive but not overly intrusive with notifications - something I cannot say for other brands that constantly bombard me with notifications if a leaf wiggles in the wind 200 yards away. I would highly recommend this device.

The Google Nest Camera and Floodlight performs remarkably well, but it’s true value all depends on your current smart home set up or ability/desire to expand. If you are a Google Home or Nest user (thermostat, cameras, smoke detectors, etc) this is a must for your setup. I wish it wasn’t as long as it is, but overall it’s an attractive design. IN THE BOX It’s a fairly large box, it contains the base/lights, the camera (which attaches to the base magnetically), wall mounts/brackets and a pack of different size screws, and a “J-hook.” Basically, all that you need. INSTALLATION I was prepared to moan and complain about the installation process, but part of it was user error. There was a written instructions manual in the box that was basically nothing more than a picture breakdown of the parts and how they fit together. I used my intuition and knowledge from other smart home modifications and repairs around the house to install it. What I didn’t realize was that there was a QR scanner code on the camera. I thought it was just for setup, AFTER it was installed. Rather, it helps through the installation process. I wish I knew that beforehand, as it would have saved me some headaches, but I got it installed and working properly and hopefully you won’t make the same mistake. I won’t spend a lot of time on the specific process, other than to say that unless you have a floodlight already installed, and wired, this could be a difficult process. Luckily, I did, and other than moving the wire in my attic so that it came through the wall (vs. the overhang of my roof) I was all set up and good to go. You make sure the power is disconnected, and from there, uninstall your old light, mount the bracket, attach your wires (white to white, black to black, copper to green ground wire) and secure them with wire nuts. You can use the J Hook (didn’t know this at first) to hold the light in the hole where it’s mounted while you attach the cables. A thoughtful addition. My only complaint about the installation was the amount of physical space for the wires/wire nuts to go when attaching the base. Google seemingly assumes you are attaching the light to a “wirebox” which is a large piece of plastic that has ample space to hold the wires. But for me, I didn’t, as I was just running a wire through my garage wall. And since the base of the light, which attaches to the mounting ring, obviously, is flat (and not concave) you really have to make sure the wires are inside the wall/mounting space before you’ll be able to mount it. And I should also add, the camera attaches to the base via magnets. It gets its power from a little cable that dangles from the base and attaches magnetically to the bottom of the camera. But the magnet seems plenty strong and you have a pretty wide range of motion. SETUP AFTER INSTALLATION If you have Google Home already setup, you’ll be up and running within 1 minute from turning the power back on. If not, it might take you a few extra minutes. Point is, it’s super fast. As I said earlier, there’s a QR code that you scan BEFORE YOU BEGIN installation (unlike what I did). After the installation you’ll go through the set up page. Google Home found my floodlight, synced it to the Wi-Fi, and I added it to a room in my Google Home (well, outside) and was good to go in no time. The longest part was the inevitable firmware update. That did take about 10-15 minutes. But luckily, you can close the Google Home and go about your business while it does that. From there you’ll get a little intro into the features, like how dark it should be outside before the floodlight turns on when it detects motion, how bright the floodlight should be etc. NEST AWARE SUBSCRIPTION I used the complementary Nest Aware subscription, so I’m not quite sure what the camera is like without it, and whether not having a subscription essentially cuts its features off at the knees. The primary purpose for getting the subscription, IMHO, is that you get longer video history. But, unlike the first generation cameras, you can now pay $6 a month to cover all your Nest cameras and doorbells, vs. the old per camera pricing. Nest Aware also gets you familiar faces, smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm and glass breaking alerts. The familiar facts one is a bit creepy, you actually have to “train” Google to detect your face or your family’s faces. The other features are nice to have, if you have a “nonsmart” smoke detector, etc., then your Nest camera will alert you if it hears those noises. It can also then call 911. PERFORMANCE I’ve owned several different types and models of consumer grade security cameras. By far, Google’s Nest floodlight outperforms them all. By that I mean the consistency of alerts, the quick responses (sometimes it seems the lights turn on at night before I even get in its line of sight, the video quality and the responsiveness within the app. I can’t say that for other brands, specifically Arlo. Arlo doesn’t give me confidence that it’s going to record an event (app crashes, missing video events, etc.). But Google does. I get immediate notifications, and I can tap the icon and see my live feed (or the video history) within seconds. And the lights are plenty bright (you might even want to turn them down). MISCELLANEOUS I have to comment generally on smart home devices, because I don’t think you can talk about one product without mentioning how well (or not) it plays with others. What makes this floodlight standout, other than it’s performance, is its deep integration with Google Home. Of course, other smart home products not made by Google can be linked to Google Home, or maybe you have some smart home devices and don’t use Google Home, but use the individual apps they’re made for. But I use Google Home, because I’ve accumulated a number of smart home devices over the years and have about 16 apps on my phone. Google Home is the proverbial “one app to rule them all.” Once you link apps to Google Home (say Phillips Hue lights) and assign those devices to rooms within your home, you can use Google Home to control those devices. But I find using Google Home to say, control Arlo cameras to be clunky and slow. Wemo also has a slight delay. So I’ve gotten used to going into the specific Wemo and Arlo apps to control those devices because it’s quicker. But I’d much prefer one app, Google Home. The nest floodlight is tailor made for the Google Home app, it’s where you adjust settings and view the live feed. It works well and is really responsive. And it’s one less app to have on your phone. But like I said earlier, if you’re not invested in Google cameras, or prefer Apple devices, the use of this Nest floodlight, as quick and responsive as it is, could offer more trouble than it’s worth. All depends on your situation. CONCLUSION In terms of image quality, performance, speed at loading, sensitivity to activate lights, this flood light is tough to beat. Installation can be a little frustrating, but there’s a nice walkthrough and you only have to do it once. It’s ability to detect various objects in the frame (people, vehicles, animals) is quite incredible. Controls on the app are easy to follow and I like how there’s ways to customize the experience without feeling overwhelmed. But it really shines in the Google Home ecosystem. Even if you have only dipped your toe in Google Home or are seriously considering it, you have to look at the Nest lights, especially the flood light. The integration to your home and automation is impressive.

As is expected of Google products, this is a high quality camera and an excellent spotlight and even better "intelligence". Start at the beginning: packaging had typical Google quality feel. Everything was packaged tightly, yet simple to unpack. Inside was the cam, the spotlight module and all of the mounting tools and materials most people would need. I had to improvise a little, but that is my issue and not any negative reflection on the product. Installation was relatively simple (3 wires) and the engineers were smart enough to include a very handy "S" hook to hold the camera to the mounting bracket while wiring. Without that, it would almost certainly be a 2 person job. As mentioned in review title, there was one issue that was relatively easy for me to work around, but for others it may have been a deal breaker. The issue is that on the mounting plate, there is a green screw that is meant for the grounding wire. For whatever reason (and I'm sure it's just a one-off) the screw was almost welded or glued in. I am 5'9" and weigh 230 and I have certainly man-handled countless stuck screws throughout my life, but this screw absolutely WOULD NOT budge. So much so, it ended being partially stripped from the screwdriver. I even used a small vice and small locking pliers and nope, it was completely locked. I was able to use an extra small screw and drilled a small hole in the base to get it done, but for some, they may not have enough experience to know how to get around it. I am curious if anyone else experienced anything similar? Once installed, I opened up Google Home and added the new device with the supplied QR code. After connecting to the app, I connected to my Wi-Fi network and about 7 to 10 minutes later after all updates were complete, we were in business. Almost... The camera has a note that says it's meant for wall mounting. My existing spotlight is mounted in the soffit and not in the wall. I contacted the Google support team that was provided being part of the BB TIN team and they advised that yes, it is designed to be wall mounted, if I soffit mount, there may be limitations but said to try it. As you can see, I did mount it horizontally and it works perfectly. Important to note, initially the camera produced a picture that was 180 degrees off (upside down) but a simple setting in the Google Home app offered the opportunity to turn view 180 degrees. In less than 20 seconds of browsing the setting, I was able to correct this. Additionally, the app offers multiple setting regarding what can trigger the spotlight and cam, how long the lights will stay on etcetera. Very simple and useful. As for the "intelligence" of the unit and app, I did several tests with humans, cars, cats and dogs and sure enough, when I turned the "animal" option off in the app and let my dogs or cats wander in front of it, it did as expected and did not trigger the lights or recording. Conversely, when I turned that option on, it was even able to pick up our very small cat and small dog. Intelligent and accurate. What we have come to expect from google. As for the camera, I see some reviewers expected a little more from the camera. As this is my first experience with a Nest outdoor camera, I can humbly comment that I was impressed. The picture is very good in both night and day. I have no complaints. The spotlights are impressive. My previous spotlight had the large halogen bulbs and were very bright (but not energy efficient). These lights are even brighter and use less energy. Again, I am impressed. End of the day, this is a great camera and spotlight, especially if you are already using the Nest platform. If you are new to Nest, this is an excellent board to dive into the Nest environment. I am glad I have this product and I would recommend it to a friend

I recently upgraded my outdoor security cameras with Google Nest Cameras. The main reason being that the other companies' app would time you out constantly, making you sign in almost every time you wanted to view what was happening from a push notification. For this reason alone, it was impossible to quickly view what was happening on your cameras. A MASSIVE flaw in my opinion. With the Google Nest Camera, once you sign in and set it up (more on that later) you can view current events from your camera in only seconds as it should be. I keep my Google Home app icon on the front page of my Android phone for quick access. Setting up the camera was a breeze, but PLEASE only do this if you have the electrical knowledge to do so. After cutting power to and removing my existing flood light, I had the Google Nest cam installed in about 10 minutes. Everything was included for install. After installation, the Google Home app walked me through every bit of the process to get the camera up and running on my wifi. The Home app will also give you step by step instructions on how to install the camera on your house, but since mine was already installed before I opened the app, I simply clicked through those prompts. I noticed right away that this camera is very sensitive to its entire field of view. Only the top left corner of my front camera was barely in the street area, but it was picking up cars and people walking their dogs with ease. The problem with that is that it also turns the floodlight on when it detects anything. Enter custom zones! I have included screenshots of various app screens, as well as the zone I set up. Being able to draw a custom zone (not just a rectangle) for what I personally want monitored is awesome. The previous camera I was using only allowed for a four point zone. Excellent feature that deserves to be highlighted. Video quality seems good but could be better. 4K would allow much more zoom detail. I am sure we will see a 4K offering in the near future but I am actually shocked that it isn’t already standard on all security cams. I am guessing the file sizes would be huge to store on their servers, so that’s why we get 1080. The app is fully customizable and allows you to set various features according to your personal preferences. While the app is full featured and easy to use, it does have a drawback. We use other Nest products in our home that do not work with the Google Home app, therefore you need two apps to run your Nest products. Kind of a head scratcher since Google now owns Nest. My suggestion would be to migrate all Nest products to the Google Home app, but maybe that is easier said than done which could be why that hasn’t happened. While I am in no rush to put Nest cameras inside my home (for privacy reasons), I have no issues having them outside my home for security reasons. That said, the standard included three hours is nowhere near enough time for event history and you will need to subscribe to Nest Aware to take full advantage of the capability of the Google Nest Cam. I personally think Google should allow for 12 or even 24 hours standard event history instead of three. As it stands, you will miss events that happen in the middle of the night without upgrading to Nest Aware. This is one of the biggest reasons to even have a security camera. While purchasing a Google Nest Cam includes a free trial of Nest Aware, you will still eventually need to purchase it to use the camera and history as it should be used. In conclusion, if you don’t mind paying the subscription fee to unlock further event history, look into the Google Nest Cam. PROS: Quick access to view live feed through the Google Home app Push notifications work great Custom zones can be drawn with several points Build quality seems very solid Camera video is sharp and you can zoom in with pinch gestures You can speak through the camera You can turn the light on/off through the app CONS: Nest Aware subscription need to give more than only three hours event history If you have other Nest products, you may need to use two apps No 4K video

I was looking to replace the backyard floodlight with the camera to increase monitoring on the backyard and got Google - Nest Cam with Floodlight. The packing was excellent and made the impression of quality product inside the box. Inside the box, it came with Nest Cam with Floodlight, mounting plate with grounding screw, mounting plate cover, 3 sets of 2 junction box screws, 4 mounting plate screws, Wire connectors, Grounding wire, Anti-theft screws, S hook, Hex key, Quick start guide, and Safety & warranty document. It is a unique design to attach the camera with a spotlight module with a powerful magnet. I have completed the setup first by using a detachable power cable and added the device using the Google Home app by scanning the barcode. Instructions were very clear in the Google Home app and there was a firmware update available for the camera. After the firmware update, I have tested the camera quality and it was bright and clear. I have removed the existing floodlight and found out that there is no junction box with the existing floodlight setup. I have reached out to support and they suggested hiring a professional installer to complete the install as the documentation does not provide any instructions about installing the floodlight without a junction box. I have hired a local electrician to complete the installation and he installed the junction box and then installed the google nest camera. It is not an issue for me to hire an installer due to my existing setup. With the Google Home app, it is easy to control the lights to turn on / off, adjust the light settings, push notifications, Away-only notifications, and Seen notifications for People, Animals, Vehicles, and Motion. Since I don’t have any pets and the backyard is not facing any road, I have turned off Animals and Vehicles. The detachable nest camera has a backup battery which will allow recording if there is any power outage. Under Video Settings in the Google Home app, there are options to configure wake-up sensitivity, event length, video quality, night vision, status light brightness, and Rotate image 180 degrees. Under the Audio section, there are options to enable microphone, audio recording, and adjust camera volume. I have added the floodlight into a routine to turn on / off at a specific time and the ability to see live and history views in the app is very nicely implemented. Floodlight can be controlled by voice using google assistant enabled devices. Activity zones can be configured under Events in the Google app. Another nice feature is to use Home & Away routines. By purchasing a google aware plus subscription will enable familiar face detection, 60 days of event video history, and 10 days of 24/7 continuous video history for all cameras. I was impressed with the brightness of the floodlight, and it is reaching far better distance and notifications are accurate based on any movements in the backyard. This is my first google nest camera and planning to buy one more to replace another old floodlight in the backyard with Google Nest Flood Cam to get it into the Google ecosystem.

I like the WiFi of this camera. Within minutes, its ready to use once installed. Clear pictures in the phone. Night vision is clear as well. The magnet connection is iffy when harsh conditions - heat/rain/humidity are present.

Easy to install. Works well. Can even be rotated 180 degrees and still work through the app. The lights are bright and camera is crystal clear.

Easy to install, good image, actovetes well. Reliable

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I couldn’t be happier with the Nest Floodlight Camera! The video quality is outstanding, even at night, with clear and crisp images. The motion detection is incredibly accurate, and I love how it distinguishes between people, animals, and vehicles. The floodlight is bright and provides excellent coverage, making my yard feel safer and more secure. The app integration is seamless, and the ability to receive instant alerts and review footage from anywhere gives me total peace of mind. Installation was straightforward, and the build quality is top-notch. If you’re looking for a reliable and smart security solution, the Nest Floodlight Camera is worth every penny! Highly recommend!

I will start by saying we are an avid Nest user. Prior to this unit we already had the Nest Thermostat, an outdoor Nest Camera, and the Nest Doorbell with Nest Aware. In comparison to the products we already have we were very underwhelmed by the Floodlight Camera. One major drawback is that this camera is not compatible with the Nest app. You must use the Google Home app. There are some positives and negatives to the Google Home app. One positive is that the app has an interface that allows you to see all of your Google products in one area. This includes all former Nest products and well as speakers, Chromecasts, ect. In comparison the former app (Nest) you can adjust all settings on the fly including setting activity zones. Previously these settings had to be adjusted from a computer. One of the negatives is that the app is very glitchy and lags. Often it will tell me there is a person spotted when there is no person in sight, many times its actually a car driving by ( I have car notifications set to off and the street set as out of zone). Sometimes it will show me a preview from just before a person shows up in the frame. When you open the app to see the whole clip it says "This Video isn't available yet. Check back later. " It can sometimes take more than a minute to for the feed to actually become available. Also, we do have Nest Aware- however this camera has not yet seemed to recognize any faces in its notifications- even though it shows all of our faces set up in the app from our doorbell which also has Nest Aware. In addition, when I open the Google app, I can see live feeds of my other cameras about 30 seconds before this camera becomes visible. The picture on this camera, while still better than most of the competition out there seems to be lacking by Nest standards. Don’t get me wrong, this does have a great picture, however in comparison to previous Nest products; it falls a little short, especially at night which is when we need it the most. As mentioned above we also have had issues with Nest Aware working efficiently on this particular camera. The spotlights are a redeeming feature. While the setup looks a tad goofy it does function very well. The spotlight has multiple settings. These settings include how bright or dim you want the light (which can be changed on the fly), motion sensitivity, how dark outside before it activates, and what triggers the spotlight. For a spotlight, this one is extremely smart. At the brightest setting it is also extremely bright, especially for how small the lights are. Its is kind of neat that you can talk to any google device (including some smart TVs) and tell it to dim or brighten the lights. Installation was a breeze. It took us maybe 30 minutes from start to finish to get it on the house and all set up. My only wish is that the instructions were printed in the box vs in the app during setup; sometimes its just nice to have a hard copy. If the app issues were resolved, I would recommend this camera for someone who also needs a spotlight. Please make this compatible with the Nest App.

This product fulfilled two needs at once: having a camera on my driveway that doesn’t need to be charged, and replacing my old floodlight. Three things need to be kept in mind when installing this product. First, make sure that you have an outlet box. When I removed my old fixture, I discovered that the electrical wire was not attached to anything, so I had to install an outlet box first. Second, the speaker and microphone are on the bottom of the device, so you can’t undermount it. Third, the arms that the spotlights are attached to are stationary. You can twist the actual lights, but you can’t move the arms. This can make it challenging if you need to fit the product in a tight spot. One unexpected plus is that three different sized screws were provided to mount the camera to the outlet box. The rest of the installation of the product was interesting. There were no instructions included; you could watch a YouTube tutorial, but most of the installation required downloading the Google Home app and following step-by-step instructions that way. After this, it was pretty easy. As for the product’s exciting features, unlike a lot of other cameras that record whenever they detect any movement, this camera’s technology can distinguish human figures from other movement. In addition, you can set it up to recognize certain faces and remove the notification if it detects those faces. For example, I can make it so it won’t notify me every single time my children come home from school. The downside to this cool technology is that wearing a mask does throw off the facial recognition. As another positive feature, I also like how I can adjust the brightness of the spotlights. The downsides to this product include the aforementioned stationary arms, which can make installation challenging, and that the monitoring range is mostly fixed. You can block out areas you don’t want to be monitored, but you can’t zoom or focus in on a smaller, up-close area and keep it that way. Overall, this is a well-priced camera and floodlight combination product with advanced features. It was easy to use; however, I would’ve liked to been able to download instructions.

The camera works great. It provides a clear image and is able to differentiate between motion, persons, and animals. It has detected a person far away, behind a fence, and through deck railings. The light is very bright. It is easy to install.

Very bright LEDs for the floodlights, easily adjusted beams, and camera angles. Very responsive motion sensors. High quality camera. Gets a ding because camera views are not available in the Nest app.,but only in Google home.

Purchased this yesterday and installed it as a replacement on a old flood light set up. Adding the camera was just an undulgence but I'm glad i did it. It took about 30 minutes from closed boxed to installation. The flood lights worked right away but the camera needs to be installed separately. There's a QR code to scan into the Google Home App (you need that it doesnt go into the Nest app), at first i thought it was a bummer but honestly its not a big deal. I scanned the code and within minutes of doing whatever installation through Wi-Fi i could see my cars clearly and much of the road and some neighbors homes without a problem. Night camera quality is excellent. You can also customize how long the flood light stays on after it detects motion, if you want to be notified when cars are on the road, animals, etc. The google home icon shows on your tablet or phone for your review. Overall i recommend this camera, although wait until black friday deals so its a little cheaper

Google Nest spotlight cam I bought the Google nest spotlight to replace my old floodlight and I’m very happy with my purchase. The spotlight is easy to install, has a clear camera, and works well with the Home app. I can customize the settings to choose what triggers the lights to turn on, such as motion, live viewing, or camera events1. The spotlight also has a built-in intelligence that can detect people or vehicles and send me an alert2. The spotlight is bright enough to illuminate my backyard and deter any intruders. It’s a great product that combines security, convenience, and intelligence. I highly recommend it.

Nice! Clear videos. Talk-back audio is also clear. Pleased with purchase. Easy to set up. Performs as expected. Like the option to select type of movement: vehicle, animal, person. Lights are bright and illuminates the area well.

The Google Nest Outdoor Floodlight Camera is great; it's easy to use the app on My phone; the camera sends Me messages on My phone if it detects motion either Person or Animal

I had been looking into installing a floodlight camera system. With so many options, it can be a bit difficult choosing one. Being that I have integrated Google devices throughout my home, the Google Nest Cam with Floodlight was the right choice for me. In the box, you get the flood light, camera (mounts magnetically to the light itself), wall plate, and installation hardware. If you can change a light fixture, you can install this yourself. Make sure that the power is off, and that you follow safety procedures. It's as simple as installing the mounting plate, wires, and using the app to get the camera up and running. Being that there was no light fixture directly in the front of my home, I had to run new wiring and drill a hole to get this installed. It really was not that difficult, and most of what I needed (minus new wire and light switch) was included with the floodlight. After the installation of the actual unit, you use the app and connect it to your devices. I love the sleek look of the light and camera, and the ability to expand my home security with other Nest products. The added security to my home makes me feel safer and allows me to keep an eye on things when we are not home. I would definitely recommend the Google - Nest Cam with Floodlight to anyone.

I love it! It ties into our Google home ecosystem and is very responsive when detecting motion. The light is also bright enough to light up the entire yard.

My initial purchase from Best Buy turned out to be a defective unit. After wks of back and forth with Google I ended up missing Best Buys 15 day return window. I was given the ok to return the Nest Cam. The staff at the store were great! I presented the confirmation from Google stating the Nest Cam was defective and to honor a return or exchange upon request. I chose to excahnge the item as I have other Nest Cams that are great. The reason I gave 4 stars is due to the return window. Had I known the window was so tight I probably would've gotten it elsewhere as I had an outside company come to install and remove the unit. We had lots of rain which added a few more days before the unit could be removed safely. Nonetheless I am happy with the purchase and the option of picking it up the same day within hrs of placing the order. It operates from the Google Home app, not the Nest app like the Nest doorbell and thermostat. It would be great if it were on the Nest app instead, but oh well. That does not take away from the images or video quality. This Nest Cam is awesome! Picks up anything as it is very sensitive. You can edit the settings to your liking to save yourself a million notifications, and to preserve the internal battery as it will operate for a while during a power outage. The item I returned still had it's green light lit. The floodlights are a bright white and light up the area very well. The magnet is very strong to keep the cam in place. Also has an anti-theft cord for extra security/support. Again, the item itself is great. Google Home app is ok, not as good as the Nest app. I am happy with the purchase and thanks to the satff at Best Buy I am able to enjoy another awesome Nest Cam w/ Floodlights.