Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera Review

Sure, doorbell cameras are all the rage these days, but what if you’re looking for something a little subtler to keep an eye on your porch? Or what about your backyard? What if you don’t want to run a bunch of wires through your wall to put up a regular outdoor security camera?

The Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera PAR38 Bulb G2 (whew, what a mouthful) is better known as the Sengled Snap 2. (Even though that’s not the name you’ll see listed online anymore.)

This single device combines a motion sensor security camera with a floodlight, and it screws right into your existing lightbulb socket for a (somewhat) hidden camera. Easy peasy, right?

The Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera packs a bunch of stuff into a single device. You’ve got your security light, your high-definition camera, a motion sensor, and infrared night vision all in a single bulb.

All that equipment makes for a bit of a big bulb. This sucker is 4.8 inches in diameter and 5.7 inches in height. Plus, it weighs a whopping 1.3 pounds. You’ll feel the heft when you hold it. If you have a recessed light socket outside, you might also want to double-check that this device will fit in it.

Let’s dig into the actual camera, yeah? Sengled did a pretty good job on this one. You get up to 1080p resolution, but you can adjust it to be lower if you want to ease the pressure on your Wi-Fi network.

You don’t really get digital zoom with this camera, but it does have a basic AI feature: person detection. You can set the camera to notify you only when there’s a human in its view—rather than, say, a dog, or a deer, or a plastic bag blowing in the wind.

You also get some basics with this camera that we’ve come to expect from any worthy security cam, including night vision, motion zones, and two-way audio. Motion zones are especially important if you want to know about someone standing on your porch but you don’t care to see every car that drives down your street.

Sengled Snap 2 features:

• 1080p resolution
• Night vision
• Motion sensor
• Custom motion zones
• Person detection
• Two-way audio
• Cloud storage

The footage we’ve seen from the Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera looks pretty good—crisp and clear. Just keep in mind that (as with every Wi-Fi camera) the quality you get might depend on your internet connection.

What about the actual light on this lightbulb? Well, it’s a pretty standard outdoor light. It’s not particularly high-powered. (You get only 850 lumens on this one. That’s equivalent to 60 watts.) Keep in mind, though, that this is an LED bulb, which means it looks brighter than the standard incandescent 60-watt lightbulb you might be thinking of.

Despite the Snap 2’s large body, the floodlight itself is relatively small. That makes it feel more like a spotlight than a floodlight. It still does a good job illuminating the area, and it should be more than enough for your basic porch light needs.

The device also doesn’t rely on the light alone for its camera function. No, the Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera has automatic night vision, so the camera can always get clear images even when the light itself is off.

There are a couple things we should point out about the light function of this smart light. First of all, it won’t work in sockets with built-in motion sensors. That’s because the device has to have a constant flow of power, and light fixtures with motion sensors tend to cut off the power.

There’s also an annoying little caveat to this light: while the camera has a motion sensor, the light itself does not. So this is not one of those things where someone walks by, and the light detects motion and automatically turns on. No, only the camera has a motion sensor function.

Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera, 2nd gen light features:

• 850 lumens (equivalent to 60 watts)
• 25,000 hours of life
• Standard E26 socket type
• 3000 K color temperature
• Dimmable
• 36º beam angle

At almost $150 a pop, the Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera is a bit pricey for a lightbulb—even one that comes with an HD camera. (Considering you can easily get an HD outdoor security camera for under $100 these days.)

That said, we do think the combo package this device gives you is worth it if you want an innocuous outdoor camera that you don’t have to drill holes or run wires for. Just know that you’ll probably also want to sign up for a cloud storage subscription service.

Without a paid subscription, Sengled gives you only one day’s worth of cloud storage for free. That might be enough storage time for you, but keep in mind that without a paid subscription plan, you also don’t get access to key features like person detection.

We think a subscription plan is worth it if you want to go with the Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera. Just know that, compared to similar service plans from brands like Nest and Arlo, Sengled’s plans are pricey.

The Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera does have some basic smart home support that helps it play well with other smart home stuff.

You can control Sengled devices with either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Sengled also integrates with IFTTT (If This Then That) so you can set up “recipes” that make all your different devices work together.

That’s pretty nice considering Sengled doesn’t make much smart home stuff outside the realm of lightbulbs, so you’ll definitely want to include other brands in your ecosystem.

Sengled home automation integrations:

• Amazon Alexa
• Google Assistant
• IFTTT

Another nice little automation feature Sengled offers is scheduling for the smart LED bulb itself. Some light/camera combos don’t let you control when the light turns on and off without shutting down the entire power supply to the device, which means your camera will be turned off as well.

Sengled lets you set a schedule, so even though the device has constant power, the lightbulb itself only comes on when you want it to, but the camera can stay on all the time.

The Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera, 2nd Gen has a pretty easy set-up process. It’s weirdly a little more complicated than the first-generation model of this device, but it still shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes or so.

Everything you need for the installation comes with the device itself, namely an Ethernet cable so you can plug the device into your router for initial set-up, and a power cord with a light fixture so you can configure everything before you have to stand on a ladder and screw the Sengled into your actual light socket.

Remember, this device operates on Wi-Fi, so make sure wherever you want to put it receives a strong signal. You’ll need 2 Mbps (megabits per second) of upload speed and another 2 Mbps or download speed at the location where the device will be. If you don’t have fast enough Wi-Fi, your camera quality and mobile control won’t go very well.

The Sengled Smart LED with Security Camera, 2nd gen has an unwieldy name (it’s so much easier to just say the Snap 2), and its subscription plans are a bit pricey compared to the competition. But overall, we love the combo package of a camera plus a smart light, and we think it’s a good choice if you want a (sort of) hidden outdoor cam.

Sengled features: The Sengled security camera has excellent features like 1080p resolution and person detection. We’d just like to see digital zoom as an option as well as for the light itself to work with the motion sensor.

Sengled pricing: The Sengled device isn’t the most expensive we’ve seen, but its cloud storage subscription plans are a bit pricey compared to competitors.

Sengled home automation: Sengled works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT so you can set up recipes for your Sengled devices and smart home stuff from other brands.

Sengled installation: Sengled installation is pretty easy, and the package comes with everything you need to set up the device.

Still not sure if this is the camera for you? Check out our Best Outdoor Security Cameras review for other options. You can also compare full home security systems in our Best Home Security Systems review.