Arlo - Essential Smart Solar Security Camera 2K - Wireless, Solar Powered, 2-Cam - White

I've had Arlo cameras since their first generation, so over 10 years, Both the cameras and the app/website have come a long way, but one thing hasn't changed.  When the batteries get low and/or the cameras stop working I gotta get out the ladder and replace the batteries, or with the newer generations, recharge them. Then get back up the ladder and remount them and make sure they are pointed correctly. And I have two properties with the Arlo system so I get to do all of that times two. When I saw Arlo's newest cameras are solar-powered I jumped at the chance to try them out. Adding the cameras to my existing account was very quick. The app found the camera quicker than previous versions I've had, and updating the firmware was also quick, a couple of minutes at most. Once updated, time to mount the camera. The app walks you through all the steps including placement to ensure your camera mount location will get enough sun to properly charge the battery and that you have a good connection to your wifi. According to the app, "based on usage, 2 hours of sunlight per day eliminates the need for manual recharging". It also says "the cameras high-capacity battery supports 6 months of power without any sunlight". When you're mounting the camera the app also guides you through how sensitive you want the camera to react to motion. If my camera's sensitivity was set too high I would get frequent motion notifications from random cars or delivery vehicles driving by my street. When I reduced the sensitivity a bit through trial and error using the app I was able to get notifications only when motion occurs on my property which was exactly my goal. So the app was very helpful with that. By the way, the camera mount itself is different than past versions I have. I like them better as they have a screw-on mechanism which makes the camera very secure and easier to adjust the angle of the camera.  Once the cameras were mounted and active, I found the picture to be outstanding. The image is crystal clear and the resolution is excellent. The field of view is very wide, I can see all of my property and the surrounding neighborhood. I've had it mounted for several days now and notifications are showing up exactly as intended.  The primary benefit of the solar-powered Arlo camera is the elimination of recharging the batteries.  My original Arlo cameras were powered by CR123 batteries which added cost every time I had to replace them. Later generations (which I'm still running) have built-in rechargeable lithium batteries that do last for months, but once the batteries run low I have to get out the ladder, take down the cameras, wait for them to recharge, then get the ladder again and re-mount them. These new solar-powered cameras eliminate all of that. Theoretically they should continue to run without ever having to take them down, as long as the solar panel keeps charging the battery. I have no idea how long these cameras will last but I'm hoping for many years.  Overall, the new Arlo solar-powered cameras are fantastic. They were easy to add to my existing account, easy to mount, the images from the camera are great, notifications have been spot-on, and I never have to take them down and recharge them. What's not to like???  I just wish that more of my existing cameras were located in areas that get sunlight. Those that are will get replaced with the solar-powered version, but some on other sides of my property are always in the shade and get no sunlight at all, oh well. To sum up, I love the solar-powered Arlo cameras. They are a great addition to my Arlo arsenal!

I have been looking for a better stand alone camera that is solar and I am hopeful with this Arlo Essential Solar camera. Setup was super simple. Plugged into USB c and let it charge up per the instructions. Since I already have Arlo subscription and cameras I did not need to download the app. I just added cameras. The only hitch I had with adding was that I had to try about 2 times to get it recognized. Something to do with the firmware update that it got hung up. Anyway. After 2 tries on each camera it went through and I was in. Ok... Mounting is easy per the standard mounting instructions but I wanted to use this a bit differently for my front yard and the street in front of my house. My car was broken into a few years ago and my catalytic converter was stolen so I have put various deterrent systems up. I have tried several other cameras several with an add on solar and several with extended battery packs. But most of them would not last more than a few days. So going to my unique setup. I used PVC pipe and drilled the mount on it and then zipped tied the PVC pipe to a tree branch then hung the camera to theount and boom I have a tree mounted camera. I put 1 in the correct sunlight facing position. The other one is in a shaded area. So let's see how they perform with those circumstances. Day vision and night vision are pretty good with 2k. Night vision with infrared is good. Night color vision is good as well the switch over from infrared to color night is pretty quick and decent. Also the detection of motion vs vehicle versus person is pretty good. FYI. It is good because I have the subscription. If you don't have the subscription it is not as good and is slower. Setup of motion zones and black out areas is easy. Also light controls sensitivity is good through the app. Overall great cameras. They are a bit bigger and heavier but if that means the battery and solar have symbiotic relationship to stay charged then I am all for that. So these cameras have been running for about 1 week. 1 is faced in a position that has HEAVY traffic with sunlight. I am at 60% battery. The other is faced in another direction with less traffic with no sunlight and I am at 75% battery. At this rate. I think the batteries will last about 2 weeks. Which isn't too bad. Previous cameras lasted only a few days or at most 1 week.

I've used Arlo security cameras for years. I have several different styles with a total of eight in all. With battery powered cameras, you have the freedom to place them anywhere you want without worrying about running a cable to power them. Currently, I have five outdoor cameras and I have a standalone solar panel powering every one. And while this is a very welcome way to use these cameras without needing to pull them down one by one to recharge them, it's not the best look overall and tends to draw attention to the cameras. The new Essential Solar Security cameras are really the best of both worlds. They are self charging with the integrated solar panel on the top, and even though they're larger than other Arlo cameras, they are very self contained and reasonably compact. These cameras, like most of Arlo's cameras, come equipped with night vision, a spotlight, two way communication, and a built in siren. All of these features are individually configurable per camera, and easy to setup through the Arlo app. The cameras are capable of 2K video which is a good compromise to keep the price tag at a very reasonable level. With 2K, you're able to see things clearly without the extra bandwidth hogging up your Wi-Fi. Arlo claims 6 month battery life (without sun), and the cameras need only two hours per day of direct sunlight to fully recharge. This is going to be very subjective depending on how and where you mount them obviously, so I would say these specs are under ideal conditions. The cameras themselves are nice. They're easy to set up and easy to mount. I had no trouble adding them to my Arlo ecosystem. I will say, while the included mounts do the job, they're the weak link in this kit. They are far too short to allow you to position them without needing to face them directly out from the mounting surface. The cameras do have three 1/4” x 20 standard mounting holes along the back which does help to position them, but since you need to have the solar panel facing up, the mounting system is not adequate enough to offer the best placement in the horizontal plane. The good news is that you can use any other camera mount that has this same standard thread size. Also, the cameras are a bit heavy, so you need a beefy mount to ensure the camera stays in the position you want it to. The included mounts won't do well for anything but straight-on positioning for the most part. The cameras are weatherproof and if they're built like all my other Arlo cameras, they'll be fine in all sorts of conditions. The only time my other Arlo cameras get affected by the weather is if the temperature gets down in the teens or lower, then they sometimes won't communicate. But they reconnect when the temps go back above that threshold. When I mounted my two Solar cameras, I found that one of them charges more completely than the other and I think it's just because one of them doesn't get as much sunlight. So placement is key when you are considering where to mount these cameras. The solar panels are relatively small compared to the aftermarket, standalone panels I have on my other cameras, and they appear to need direct sunlight to begin the charging process. My standalone solar panels on my other cameras don't need direct sunlight to start charging. So I really can't fully review Arlo cameras without talking about the Arlo app and subscription ecosystem. The many features these cameras offer, (and there are many), are all available thanks to the very robust Arlo app. You pretty much need their app to get all the benefits Arlo offers, from notifications, to activity and privacy zones, to storing the video clips in the Arlo cloud. These features do work well, but they come with a monthly (or annual) price. Can you use these cameras without setting up an Arlo account and paying the subscription price? Yes and no, it depends on what you want to use them for. You won't get notifications without the plan, won't get any cloud storage, so you won't be able to see any events that triggered the cameras, and if you do want to store the triggered videos you will need to add an Arlo base unit (hub) and USB storage device (either a memory stick or USB HDD or SSD). So while you can arguably use these cameras without the subscription buy-in, for most people, choosing a plan is the best way to go and you'll get all the benefits they offer. If you've resigned yourself to the fact that security cameras come with monthly subscriptions, then you will not be disappointed with Arlos plans. I do have an annual unlimited camera plan and while I'm not a fan of the price, I am a fan of the Arlo infrastructure and all the features it offers. The app runs on your phone or in a web browser on a computer. They have other plans that give you the added benefits of things like 24/7 professional monitoring, emergency response, continuous video recording, etc.. The plan I have allows me to self monitor my cameras, so I get alerts when any of them are triggered, I can set up times when I want them to monitor and alert me, and times when I don't need them to, I can set up geofencing, and access any camera to view live streaming video or change any of it's settings. The app is well thought out and intuitive, and it's been around for a long time so it doesn't suffer from the same problems that camera apps from newer camera companies still have to work through. A word about home automation integration. The arlo cameras can be used with Amazon Alexa or Google Home. I don't use either of these, but I did learn that it's easy to set them up with either ecosystem. They both will however, require an Arlo subscription for basic things like motion alerts. Alexa seems to have more robust support than Google. I do use Home Assistant, and the Arlo component is no longer supported. There seem to be a couple ways to use the cameras with Home Assistant, but it's not straight forward. You'll also need to set up a dedicated Arlo account for Home Assistant to use. So depending on how much time you want to devote to getting the cameras to work with your home automation system, it is possible, but it's not going to give you all the features without jumping through a lot of hoops. But, if you're looking for feature rich security cameras that last a long time (mine are about five years old or more) in the weather, and you can mount in places that would be difficult or impossible to cable, then I do recommend you give these a try. The included benefit of built in solar panels means these cameras really don't need to be touched after you mount them. Arlo offers all subscribers 60 days of video history, which means that after a video has been stored in the Arlo cloud for 60 days, it will be automatically deleted. You have the opportunity to download any of your videos so you can have a permanent copy of it. Arlo also states that your personal information is yours and in your control and they support industry standards for data protection. You can share your account with your loved ones or friends and limit their access to settings as needed. And at the end of the day, ease of use and quick access are probably the most important things anyone wants and this ecosystem offers just that.

This set of security cameras has been working very well for me. Setup involves getting them out of the box and charging their batteries. There are two cameras and one USB-2 to USB-C cable, so you’ll need a charging brick with a USB-2 port on it as none is included. But you charge the batteries only once as the cameras sit outside and have a solar panel on one side to keep them charged over time. Once charged, you download the app and go through the setup and installation process. It’s important to download and run the app before doing anything because part of the installation process has you going to the exterior locations where you plan to place the cameras to be sure you have both adequate wifi signal and adequate sunshine at least part of the day. You’re not going to be installing these cameras at night, not that you would, anyway. Having to make sure the to top of the camera sees the sun at least part of the day does restrict somewhat where you can place the camera as it can’t be directly under an eave, which might be a normal location to place a camera, and, of course, there can’t any trees in the way. You also don’t want to be on the north side of your house as parts of that, as in my case, never see direct sunlight. I ended up placing my two cameras on the southeast and southwest corners of my house, with each camera directed toward the back yard in one case and the front yard/walk-up area/driveway in the other. Mounting the cameras is easy with the included mounting hardware, and, with the three mounting holes on the back of the camera and the swivel on the mount, it is easy to get the camera pointed where you want it. Installation includes pairing the cameras with your phone, which is simple, and then setting them in terms of naming the camera (“backyard,” “driveway,” whatever) and then identifying zones that you want monitored for whatever you’re interested in (people, vehicles, etc.). The software is quite good at identifying what just came into its field of view with notifications like “blue deliver truck on driveway” or “person walking up to the front door.” One problem I did have initially is that the camera on the front corner could see the road in front of my house, and I was getting a notification every time a car drove by, which I didn’t want. But this is where setting up the zones came in handy, and I could restrict the area monitored for vehicles. There is also a way to simply turn off vehicle notifications. The cameras have a microphone and speaker if you want to talk to someone you see, like a delivery person. Conjuring up the cameras on the app is quick, and you get a good view of the areas each camera is pointed at. The camera purchase comes with a 30-day trial of the storage software so that videos can be saved. So far, after about a week, I’m happy with these cameras.

The Arlo - Essential Solar Security Camera 2K - Wireless, Solar Powered, 2-Cam package is a full-featured offering for your security camera needs. They come with easy-to-install mounting hardware - and it’s equally easy to unhitch a camera in the rare event where you may need to recharge it. Each camera is solidly built, includes a solar-charger on the top, and a full range of abilities: live 2K video, motion alerts, 12x zoom, the choice of color night vision, 2-way audio, and LED spotlight that can be activated automatically or manually, and a siren (which can also be activated automatically or manually). All of the above works with the Arlo Secure app to provide alerts, recordings, zone control, discrimination between people or animals, and more. As you’d expect, a monthly subscription is needed to unlock most advanced options - including access to 24/7 security monitoring for notifying authorities. However, it does come with a free version that includes live streaming and basic alerts. Since I already use an Arlo smart doorbell/camera, it was a breeze for me to add these cameras to my already-existing subscription via the Arlo Secure app on my iPhone. The cameras were up and running in no time. Most of the features were familiar to me already. For some reason, the images seem slightly improved when compared with those from my doorbell. All of this leads to the main features of these cameras - wireless connection and long battery life. These cameras can be installed wherever you have a Wi-Fi signal (common for wireless cameras). The thing that is truly a new feature is the long-lasting battery coupled with the solar charger. The battery alone is expected to last up to 6 months. But when you add solar charging, there’s no telling just how long it will be between charges. I haven’t had these long enough to report back on that, but my expectations are high. This is always a great thing, but especially when you’re dealing with a camera that’s mounted in a high, or hard-to-reach, location. The Arlo - Essential Solar Security Camera 2K - Wireless, Solar Powered, 2-Cam package is not cheap, but the solid build, easy installation, full features - and especially the solar charging - make this package worth the cost.