Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired Camera review: a perfection companion to your Philips Hue smart lights

Having made its name with smart lights, Philips Hue now offers several contenders for our best security camera list, including the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired camera reviewed here – a 2K resolution upgrade for the 1080p camera that remains on sale.

Having set up the camera and used it for a couple of weeks around my house, I can tell you everything you need to know about the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired: from how simple the setup process is, to the tricks you can do with it through the companion mobile app.

When you've worked your way through this review, you should be able to judge whether or not this is the right security camera for you. If you're looking for more smart home kit, check out our expert guides to the best smart bulbs and the best video doorbells.

Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired Camera review: price and availability

The Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired is out and available to buy now: at the time of writing you can pick it up direct from the Philips Hue store or Amazon for £149.99 in either white or black, though the widgets available on this page should lead you directly to the best prices for the device currently available on the web.

The camera isn't sold yet outside of Europe, including in the US. A version with a desktop stand will cost you an extra £20.

Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired Camera review: design and setup

This is a camera that's reassuringly sturdy: it feels like a quality device when you pick it up, and of course, a little extra weight doesn't really matter for a camera that's going to be permanently stuck to the wall. I like the compact, curvy design too – it's a cut above a lot of the other security cameras on the market in terms of aesthetics. The device is also IP65 rated for protection against rain or snow.

Unless you pay extra for the desktop stand, you'll need to use the magnetic mounting kit to fix this to the wall: the mounting bracket, screw, and screw sleeve are included, though you'll have to bring the drill and the screwdriver. It shouldn't take you long though, and it's a relatively simple DIY job. Bear in mind though that you need to locate the camera somewhere where the power cable can connect to it.

The cable is of a generous length – it's 3 metres long in total – but it features a rather awkward connection at the camera end, and getting it threaded through the mounting bracket can be a bit fiddly. Still, it's far from the most complicated home security camera setup I've ever come across, and you get full instructions included in the box (and you can always pay a little extra for the stand).

You get the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired connected to Wi-Fi through the official Philips Hue app for Android or iOS, which is friendly and intuitive. You don't have to use a Philips Hue Bridge plugged into your router to use this camera, but if you do have a Bridge, you can use motion alerts from your camera to trigger Philips Hue smart light routines.

Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired Camera review: Video and features

As the name suggests, the headline upgrade here is the 2K resolution: video footage looks really clear and sharp from the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired, even if it could be argued that you don't really need video quality at this resolution when you're only checking the feed through your phone screen.

The infrared night vision is nice and crisp too, though it's in black and white rather than colour – and because there's no integrated light, you can't really see much in the gloom once you get more than a few steps away from the camera. This isn't the camera to get if you want to be able to see all the way down to the bottom of your garden in the dark.

During my testing, the motion detection features worked exactly as advertised: as soon as motion is sensed in front of the camera, you get a ping on your phone through the app. You can get blackout zones to protect your privacy around the home, and video is fully end-to-end encrypted too, which is a welcome bonus.

The app does a really nice job of ordering the captured motion events and letting you browse through them in the app – these clips are kept around for 24 hours, free of charge. It couldn't be any easier to dive into your video history, and if you do spot a problem, you can enable two-way audio or even sound a siren on the camera itself.

Then there are various paid-for features, yours with a subscription that costs from £3.99 a month. You get 30 or 60 days of video history to browse through, plus the ability to set out specific activity zones in the camera's view that trigger alerts when motion is detected, as well as the ability to detect between packages, vehicles, and people.

You get a free trial of these advanced features with your purchase, and in my testing the smart detection was very accurate – which is handy if you only want alerts when people pass by. Through the app, you can have the camera alert you about some kinds of motion detection and not others, and customise the alerts based on whether you're at home or away (based on the location of your phone).

The 110-degree field of vision is somewhat limiting, and there are of course security cameras that go up to 4K resolutions now. However, even if it doesn't have the best specs in the business, the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired is still a very competent smart home device that's simple to set up and simple to use.

Then you've got the easy integration with Philips Hue lights. You can get your lights to react to motion detection alerts if you'd like, which can work better than a ping on your phone sometimes – and it's a useful automatic security measure to have certain lights turn on when movement is detected, late at night or while you're away from home.

Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired Camera review: verdict

While the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired doesn't exactly excel in any particular area, it doesn't disappoint in any area either. The video feed is of a high quality, the motion detection and other camera features work as advertised, and it's easy to set up and mount to a wall – it's definitely above average in its design and aesthetics too.

One of the main reasons why you might choose this camera over any other is because of the excellent integration with the Philips Hue ecosystem, and the quality of the Hue app. If you already have Philips Hue lights and a companion bridge device, this camera is an obvious next pick – you can sync lighting scenes to motion alerts, and have your home and garden light up when movement is detected while you're away.

While the camera doesn't offer any local storage options, and does put some useful features behind a paid subscription (including smart person and package detection), you can at least keep your video clips for 24 hours for free – which should give you enough time to review and respond to any security problems that might be happening.

If you don't already have any Philips Hue products then it's a somewhat tougher sell, but the reliability, build quality, ease of use, and mobile app polish that the Philips Hue smart bulbs are known for is in evidence again here. It's a product I'd gladly recommend to others, though there are some strong competing devices out there as well.

Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired Camera review: alternatives to consider

There's plenty of choice out there for the discerning home security camera buyer. Take the eufyCam S4, for example, which brings some of the advanced features the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired doesn't have: solar power, a 4K resolution, motorised panning, and local storage. It is rather bulky though, and costs significantly more than the Philips Hue model.

Another alternative is the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus Battery – and that battery power means it is of course easier to install and position anywhere. It also has a 2K resolution and is more affordable than the Philips Hue Secure 2K Wired, though it's not quite as easy on the eye, and does need a paid subscription for most of the best features.