Arlo - Essential Video Doorbell Wired - White

The Arlo Video Door Bell is your window to your home while you are at home or on the go. This video door bell allows you to see who is at the door and also lets you communicate with them right from your phone or even a smart display and when you are not home or can’t answer your alert it takes a message for you. This door bell is full of amazing features and a great quality video and audio. Let’s go over what the Arlo Video Doorbell has to offer. Unboxing and Setup- Right out of the box the Arlo Video Doorbell looks beautiful, its slim and has a black gloss center with the camera and doorbell button and white border finish. The setup of the doorbell is very simple. ***THIS DOORBELL REQUIRES A HARDWIRED CONNECTION TO WORK***. I highly recommend you download the ARLO app before you begin the process. You have to signup for an Arlo account first and then the app guides you each step of the way on how to set up the doorbell. The doorbell comes with an angled and a standard mount and all accessories needed to get the job done. My setup took less than 15 minutes, from removing my old device to installing and updating the new one. Once the setup is complete, the doorbell will guide on setting up the different features such as detection, activity zones and a new feature called package detection. Features- The Arlo Video Doorbell has HD video with HDR resolution. I was able to set mine up to 1536 x 1536 resolution, the video quality is actually a lot better than my old video doorbell. You also have night vision, 2-way communication, live view option, package detection, motion detection, activity zone setup, person & animal detection with smart alerts which allow you to choose which options you like to turn on. Some of my favorite features of this doorbell that my previous did not even offer are the pre-recorded messages you can play if you don’t want to speak to someone or the ability for someone to leave a message for you on your doorbell if you don’t answer the alert. The other feature that I liked was the option to link the doorbell to Samsung smart things and Google Home/Alexa, giving you the ability to view and answer your doorbell on multiple devices. One option I noticed that I have not seen on my previous doorbell was the ability to remotely turn the doorbell off. Now I am not sure how useful this could be but I am glad that option is also available in some case that I may need it. One other feature of this doorbell that I really liked was that the view on this doorbell was a bit wider than my previous doorbell, allowing me to bigger viewing window. Not so good- The only thing I am not a fan of is the subscription service. The Arlo video doorbell comes with a 3-month trial plan which gives you access to the smart alert options and saves your video and notifications to the cloud. Without the subscription service your doorbell would still operate as normal with the notification on your phone, the live view option and push notifications for motion detection, but your videos and notifications would no longer save on the cloud and you would no longer have access to the smart alerts and some smart features. I had been reading some reviews where people were complaining about a delay between the motion and the alerts. I personally did not run into such issues, actually I had no issues at all. From the setup to the doorbell being pressed to the calls and alerts coming to my phone. Aside from the subscription service, which my old doorbell also had and I did not subscribe to, the Arlo doorbell was a clear winner in my book. I would recommend if anyone is looking to for a video doorbell to give Arlo a shot.

I've really enjoyed how companies are making it easier for regular people to add cameras to their home. Whether for keeping an eye on whose home, when your package is coming, or security purposes - there are a lot of great benefits to these. I have experience with home security camera before, and the Arlo Video Doorbell is my favorite thus far! SETUP: - Unboxing the Arlo is pretty straight forward. They have a few straight forward items in the box and then instructions to download the Arlo App (which you will need to download) but otherwise that's it. - Setting up the Arlo Video Doorbell was by far the most straight forward DIY home security tech setup I have ever experienced! Seriously, I was so very impressed with my overall setup experience. All you have to do is follow the step by step guide on the Arlo App on your phone and its pretty easy from there, only took me maybe 15 minutes. All you do is turn off the power to your doorbell, do some minor electrical work, and boom you are done! Just make sure you have a screwdriver and maybe a power screwdriver. - After the Doorbell was all setup, I just had to do a few minor tweaks in the app. Making sure the "Activity Zone" is set to the area I want it to and various settings like that. Overall very easy and it was ready to go. PROS: - Right off the bat, I was really impressed by the video quality! I know its not "4K" but I still found the HDR portion of the camera to really highlight the scene well and make it easy to see who or what was on the camera. - The aspect ratio of the doorbell is great too because I can see all the way from the overhang of my front porch to the cement floor. Its a nice way to get the whole picture while also being able to see what packages might be there. - Also the night vision is very impressive as well! Sometimes night vision is hard for cameras but I have felt this one is still really clear and I had a good picture of everything going on. - Another thing I really really liked about the Video Doorbell was how it records events. If an "event" alert records, I notice the camera records a few moments before it happened, and then a few after. Meaning if someone comes up around the corner, it doesn't just start recording as soon as they are in front of the camera, it is smart enough to show you what led up to it! - The Doorbell works really well as a doorbell naturally! The button syncs up with my existing chime in my home, and when someone presses it you get an alert and can choose to talk to them or whatever may be! And its nice because you could chat with someone when you are 100 miles away since it has that feature. - I know this is minor, but I do enjoy how its "wired" because I don't have to worry about charging it and I didn't have to run new electric lines to the camera since there was already some there with the old doorbell. CONS: - This is extremely common with DIY home security cams or video doorbells, but you will have a netter experience with the Arlo if you have a paid subscription plan. This allows you to not miss out on anything that is captured aka if you are gone for a weekend and 20 actions trigger the camera, you will want to see all 20 events. Its only $3 a month and to me, that's worth it. BOTTOM LINE: - If you have been wanting a video doorbell to keep on eye on things, then this is seriously a fantastic pick for you! It is super simple to hook up, the Arlo app is really enjoyable to use, and you will have a crisp clear camera that lets you talk with whoever is at your door. I'm very excited to continue using this doorbell and I think you would be too.

Setting up: Installing the doorbell was made very simple. I had it up and installed in about 10 minutes. Everything works except for the issue that I had was getting it connected to my Arlo app. I tried a few times with no success even though I used the step by step instructions and the video. I pushed the reset button for 15 seconds to start over and I was unable to get it connected. My next attempt was I uninstalled the doorbell so no power goes through and try again the following day. After trying to connect it again to the Arlo app I now see that it’s because I was trying to add it to the Arlo hub. I tried it again without the hub and it now connected successfully. Appearance Of Doorbell: It kept the signature Arlo look, which in a sense makes the uniformity of my products the same. Quality: The Arlo doorbell seems to look fragile and to be honest I think that all of the Arlo products appears fragile. I don’t want to accidentally break a clip because I don’t think there is a way to fix that by buying parts separately. Nothing broke during installation and if it hold up like my Arlo Ultra I will be happy because after a year I have no quality issues with the Arlo Ultra. Images: The Arlo doorbell camera provides clear and beautiful pictures in the daytime and night. I also want to point out that I noticed at night the picture quality was better when I turned off the night vision toggle. I have a porch light on so maybe it affects the night vision sensor. Overall I must say I’m impressed with the picture from the Arlo doorbell camera. Features: WiFi calling: For now I really like this feature. When someone ring doorbell I get a call from my doorbell and I can communicate with the person or they can simply leave a message. Package Detection: Porch pirates beware because I always have eyes on my packages. With the holidays coming up I think every household need something like the Arlo package detection. I don’t have an issue with packages missing but I like the security. Notifications: All my Arlo doorbell camera notifications are specific to what triggered the motion. Live View: Anytime I want to see what my doorbell camera sees I do with ease. There is not much to dislike about the Arlo doorbell camera. So much you can activate but you may need a subscription. Right now I’m on a 3 month trial so I have the available features. Price is lower than most of the competition and Arlo is a brand that I trust.

I never bought into the video doorbell business before, since from my point of view you are either at home and use your peek window to determine who is outside or if you are away (or didn’t want to answer) and it is someone you know, they’d call you up. However, after some consideration, and having my wife asking for one such device, it seemed prudent to get into the video doorbell wagon. In the last few days of having the Arlo Wired Video Doorbell, I am glad we have it, it was an easy installation and setup, the video quality has been impressive as well as the night vision capabilities, among other things. In these COVID times, it looks like the perfect device to interact with people at your door while respecting social distancing as well as providing a sense of security knowing that video would be recorded and saved in the cloud for latter review if needed. - Pros: easy installation/setup, wonderful video, configurable motion detection, connects to your already existing mechanical chime, multiple-phone-user access, 3 month-trial cloud storage, and others. - Cons: none so far. >> Installation/Setup First thing I noticed was that there was no manual or fast guide for installation/setup, after complaining about it for some time about this, I came to realize that the approach taken by Arlo was to have your cell phone as not only the installation guide but your installation buddy, which at the end worked excellent for me. Second thing I noticed was the note on the box about the voltage that the Arlo Wired Video Doorbell needed: 16V-24V. I measured the voltage, in my case directly at the doorbell connection (not sure where the transformer is): a little over 16V. Just make sure you have the right voltage on your existing doorbell connection. Now, to start the installation, the first thing I did was to get the Arlo app on my cell phone and follow the instructions to create my account and next follow the Arlo App on a step-by-step installation (the instructions are easy to follow). Here are some highlights on my experience: - I placed the Arlo video doorbell at the same height the older one was: a little higher to waist level. I was tempted to put it a little more towards face level, but this device will basically capture video from the floor all the way up to the roof, as it has a wide spectrum angle. If you want you can just hook up the wires and find the right height where to place the device, I think you’d realize, given its wide video angle range, that where the old doorbell was is just the right place. - Given that my doorbell connection is on the side wall, I used the angle mounting plate it came with, to direct the video doorbell away from the front of house. I realized that this is not really needed given the 180 degree range this camera has. - The 3-month trial for cloud storage starts after the setup is complete. I am not sure yet about the subscription, though, after the 3-month trial I’ll decide whether to keep it or not (so far it looks like we are going to keep it). >> Audio/Video Audio In and Out is clear enough for people outside and inside to hear each other, volume can be configured from the App. Video is noticeable of very good quality (you can change the quality). Night mode is very good, I have other indoor security camera and the Arlo Video doorbell captures a way better image in lower or no light. >> App/Software The web version seems to have more features than the App version; for example, sharing access is not available on the App (as far as I can tell). I also, had to use the web version to enable the mechanical chime. Initially I set the chime to none, as I was having issues testing the mechanical configuration, when I decided to fix that after finding the Arlo was working fine, the message I got on the phone screen was "not connected" and there was no way to get the option to select a new chime configuration, so I had to go to the website my.argo.com and from there enable that setting and set it to mechanical chime. >> Sharing access to the device This is the one I found great. Having installed the device and tried it on my phone, of course my wife asked me when she was getting notifications on her phone. The App did not have the option to share the device, so I had to go to the website and from there send the invitation to my wife. She created her Arlo account, downloaded the App and configured it to have access to our new Arlo Wired Video Doorbell! Note: I haven’t tested all the features, such as Activity Zones and the like.

I really like the Arlo doorbell. Especially how it integrates with my Arlo cameras I already have. Video quality is superb as well as audio quality. A couple of things I look for in these smart camera doorbells are: ease of installation, picture quality, features, and response times. I will say installation was very easy, however it would have been nice if Arlo included a drill bit for brick/rock houses to use during the mounting process. I had the doorbell up and running in a matter of minutes. The app explained and demonstrated the process very well and was extremely easy to follow. I really like the design of this doorbell albeit is a bit large. Also, I’m a little worried that the white edges may turn yellow in the future but its more of a concern and I may be proven wrong. Build quality feels nice and solid and it is aesthetically pleasing while also very functional. I’m already very use to the app because I have an Arlo camera. The app is packed with features for this doorbell. You can setup activity zones, choose between regular mechanical and digital chimes, adjust video and audio settings, and call settings. If you have Arlo smart you get additional features like advanced object detection which works very well, package detection, and 30-day video history. One complaint I have and this will contribute to the docking of a star is when someone rings the doorbell, it calls my phone but for some reason doesn’t show me a preview on my phone of who it is before I answer it. So, I can’t decide whether or not, based on who it is, I want to answer or not. I have a Pixel phone so I’m not sure if this is a limitation within the phone or within the Arlo app/software itself. Believe it or not, this is very frustrating because if I answer it, audio starts automatically so the person on the other end knows I answered it. Please fix this if possible. Camera quality is excellent both at night and during the day. So is the audio quality. Field of view is great. Maybe a little too great but with the option of setting up activity zones, you can really customize it well. Response time is excellent. I have a mechanical doorbell and as soon as the button is pressed, it rings the chime. My previous smart doorbell had a delay between pushing the button and the chime ringing which was sort of irritating. All in all I think this doorbell is an excellent purchase. It provides such a sense of security and Arlo makes it so easy and their products are very good quality. I would highly recommend this doorbell as well as the Arlo Smart service.

Quick and easy set up. The only thing I would change is the ability to log into the same account on multiple phones, so you and your spouse can have the same options. You can add a member and give them limited admin powers. Otherwise I love having the ability to see when someone is outside the door, or when someone has just drove by so I can hush the dog. Great color and love that you can zoom in on your video if desired! The doorbell and cameras work together seamlessly!

I like the Arlo and was able to get it on sale which is a bonus. It was relatively easy to install and the instructions were good and helpful. I did run into a snag with my bell transformer that I was able to resolve. I’m undecided about the monthly subscription at this point but we’ll see how I feel once the 3 month free trial expires. I especially like the look and feel of the Arlo. It has what appears to be high quality construction. Overall it’s been a very good experience so far.

Beautifully design doorbell camera. Caught the sale for $79.99 Installation could've been a breeze if my wall stucco was even. Video recording is very clear. The way my doorbell sits on the side, I was afraid that it was not going to be able to capture what I needed but it did. Camera starts recording even before I can see the delivery man. Just remember that Arlo has a subscription fee if you want all the features and cloud recordings.