Arlo - SmartHub - White

We have 2 arlo wired video doorbells and a Pro 4 camera. Both of the video doorbells have been replaced multiple times under warranty after they failed within a year. Arlo then recently increased our monthly subscription for 3 cameras from $12/month to $20. So we bought the Base Station to use for local storage and forego the subscription. The base station functioned for about a month until a firmware upgrade with the doorbells caused one of them to fail. Arlo replaced the base station and doorbell but they still do not work and they have now refused to render any further support. Videos are grainy, pixelated or do not fully render with entire seconds missing from each recording. See attached picture. I truly don’t mean to use superlatives, but Arlo has to be some of the absolute worst tech I have ever used. How they managed to swindle NYT Wirecutter into giving them a top recommendation is beyond me. My toddler has fisher price tech toys that are better designed than this garbage.

Adding the Arlo Smarthub VMB4540 to your existing Arlo system is one of the best things you could do. - You get free local storage - No subscription required - Significantly improve your Arlo cameras footage, response, and operation quality - You can livestream up to 5 cameras on 1 single hub at one time. You can also install more than 5 on one Hub, and that also includes video doorbells - You can also add a second hub to your account and live stream 5 more cameras if you want to add to your system - Most, if not all Arlo cameras are compatible with the VMB4540. - Better connection to your cameras - Better battery life to your cameras - The SmartHub creates it's own personal network - The SmartHub regulates Wi-Fi traffic Overall, your cameras work much better connected to a Hub, especially if that Hub is connected to an eero Pro 6E Wi-Fi router which will give you maximum Wi-Fi coverage.

The VMB4540 Smart Hub is a good buy. It allows you to save videos to the hub, locally, instead of the cloud. I can't believe Arlo made this mistake. They seem to push the cloud as much as they can. With their cloud prices, I guess they would. But this hub is really nice. Like I said, it stores locally so you can view the stored videos on your Arlo app. You do need a thumb drive attached to the hub, and they told me only 5 cameras can record at one time, except you can record more if you get their latest model cameras. One other nice thing is you can set certain cameras to work in the HOME mode and/or in the AWAY mode, If you are at HOME, you wouldn't want inside cameras activated, but in the AWAY mode you would. It also accommodates older cameras like my Pro and Pro2. Nice smart Hub and good price.

Why might you buy this? -Ability to connect a hard drive for local recording -HomeKit integration -Gets all the cameras off your normal wifi which should help with speed a bit. Its annoying you need this for HomeKit, but it does what its supposed to and I don't have any complaints. I use it for HomeKit integration (streaming video, notifications, and they can be used as motion sensors), I have a HDD plugged in for redundant storage with the cloud, and it helps get 3 cameras off of my very loaded wifi. NOTE: You will need to reset every single camera and re-set them up using this.

The first 30 days (when the Arlo plan trial is active) everything is smooth and perfect but if you choose not to enrol and go with local storage using the base and a flash drive, the cameras will randomly loose connection, crazy slow when loading in, the option to view videos while on local will sometimes not even show. Camera quality is good but very frustrating to work with.