Arlo - Pro 4-Camera Indoor/Outdoor Wireless 720p Security Camera System - White

I needed cameras after waking up to a slashed tire one morning. After a day of research I bought the Ring Spotlights. Worst mistake I ever made, I returned them the next day and when I did, I bought the Arlo Pro 4 Camera Kit. It's been a few days of testing this system and already I am much happier with Arlo Pro than I was the Ring Spotlights. Pros: Although the motion detection doesn't reach as far and the camera angle isn't as wide, I get much more reliable motion detected recordings instead of every leaf and squirrel that goes by. With this system, I also have a lot more customizable options than I did with the Ring App. I can zoom, set custom schedules, geotracking, and even build my own completely custom mode. This allows less recording while home and awake, motion on one camera to trigger recording on others, sound detection, etc. Cheaper than 4 Ring Spotlights and requires no monthly subscription for basic 7-day cloud storage. I couldn't tell you if the picture quality is really 720p, but it's good for a wire-free setup and still, once again, better than Ring. I heard Pro 2 cameras are 1020p, offering better daylight picture, however night vision is the same so it wasn't worth all the extra money to me. Camera angle and positioning is important with all security cameras but with the Pro cameras it's even more important you find the perfect location and angle to meet motion detection and video quality needs. The night vision has been very good so far, although car lights can trigger daytime recording. With a car in driveway with dome light on, I could easily see the driver and what they were doing. The ability to add external storage via USB connection is a big plus for me. This allows many many recordings to be saved for as long as you wish, and there is 2 spots to add external storage. Being able to add on to this system is nice as well. This hun can handle 5 cameras and I can add multiple hubs to suit my needs. The app is really easy to use and setup took no time at all, even having to update firmware on hub and all 4 cameras. The additional accessories are a nice touch to this system. Adding a silicone case will hopefully help with some of the temperature issues I keep reading about. Magnetic mounts for easy relocation inside helps cover what is necessary at that time. Also, the solar panels, 2 battery fast charger, etc. There is some lag sometimes, but normally a <2sec delay, however I expect that from any wireless device. Custom recording settings such as, motion and sound, just motion, record, don't record, stop at end of motion, custom set recording length up to 2 minutes. Cons: The speaker, although very clean, crisp, and clear, is not loud enough at all. I tested inside my house from around the corner, less than 15ft away and could barely hear it. Picture Quality could be better, Camera Angle could be wider, and motion detection could reach further (or add battery powered motion detectors that trigger Pro cameras to start recording. No siren on cameras themselves, only the base. More secure mounting options are needed considering cameras have to be mounted fairly low due to lack of range for motion detection and distorted picture quality. Even a way the camera can be padlocked to the mount would be great. 4 Magnetic mounts come in package, only 1 outdoor mount ($20ea) included. I hear cold weather has been an issue, it is 39ºF here today and cameras are still working fine. Although rated down to -4ºF, I didn't really expect it to work under those conditions. My $700 Samsung Galaxy S7 probably couldn't handle constant cold either, but if it can, it's $700 for ONE device. That would be $2800 for 4 of them if you compare that to the cameras. No Windows app was a real dissapointment. This should be corrected immediately. Final Opinion: If you are looking for a wire-free camera system, with a picture as clear as if you were looking right at it, not a single flaw, and think electronics are invincible and not affected by low temperatures... DO NOT BUY THESE CAMERAS, OR ANY OTHER WIRE-FREE CAMERAS ON THE MARKET. If you are looking for a good, reasonably priced, customizable setting surveillance system to have some peace of mind and added protection, I strongly recommend these cameras. If you have the money, try out the Pro 2's, they might be better, I don't know, but Pro 2's are 1080p instead of 720p. If you don't need to go wire-free, obviously wired cameras offer clearer pictures, continuous recording, etc. However, I would still recommend Arlo products. I WILL BE MAKING A REVIEW VIDEO OF THE ARLO PRO SYSTEM OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS SO EVERYONE CAN KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE CONSIDERING/BUYING. FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS.

Thanks to an overwhelming number of exceptional reviews here and on amazon, I purchased & setup these cameras and was compelled to share my experience and documentation to educate consumers instead of misleading them. Note, I returned them to Best Buy within the first 30 days because they are not worth the time, trouble or money. First night I purchased was during the NFL divisional championship games. Setup is remarkably simple, and the product does appear to be well built from looks and feel...but wait. I installed one in my driveway, and it rained that night. When the camera gets water on it (even while facing downward) and if any lighting is close the camera, there is a TERRIBLE blooming effect where you cannot see what you are trying to record. I took a second video after the rain stopped so you can see the difference. Second majorly disturbing issue was a total white washed image on a malfunctioned camera. Contacting Netgear Support was painfully agonizing. On top of having to create an account for myArlo.com & a second if you want to join the community.arlo.com forums, you need a third account on my.netgear.com. Its insane. Anyway to even reach support you have to have the product registered, and then create a ticket with details, then they finally supply a support # to call, which wasn't even for ARLO support (was for routers), was transferred to another number after waiting 15 minutes to speak to someone that couldn’t help me, held 20 more minutes only to explain my issue and steps I already took to resolve and was offered a replacement of a 2 week old camera. No thanks. If 1 of 4 are a total failure in the 1st two weeks, there is little to expect that will suggest they will last long enough to quantify a $649.99 purchase price. Other recurring issues that I experienced where when trying to make changes, like renaming cameras, changing the motion sensitivity, etc where the web page would freeze and I would get a message stating “ Your changes did not apply”. I also had a random “timezone_error” and often on my home 300/20 MBps connection, I would get “Your camera is offline”. Oh, and as far as support you only get 90 days from purchase date of phone support if you don't subscribe to an additional plan other than the included basic; which BY THE WAY, only includes 7 days of cloud recording and a whopping 1G of cloud storage. The quality of video and compression is disappointing as well. Premier is $9.99 a month for 30 days w/ 10G cloud storage and Elite is 60 days & 100G cloud storage. Those both include unlimited support. Some other things to know before you buy these if you think they might work well for you: The cameras ONLY record on motion detection, or if you are monitoring and hit manual record. There is no constant recording feature. The rechargeable batteries did last a pretty decent amount of time...lowest any got in the two weeks I had them was 58%. If you do think of buying a spare battery to have a hot swap ready to go, you will ALSO need a charger if you don’t want to take a camera offline; as there is no way to charge them without a camera shell/charger. $120 to have that “luxury” folks... The modes are pretty simple to setup, but don’t offer any real granular settings or way to automatically switch between modes when your dwelling is occupied or unoccupied. There is not a way I discovered to have certain cameras off, like 5pm - 11pm M-F when walking around the house, and then to all on from 11pm - 7am, off for an hour while getting ready for work, and then back on from 8am - 5pm. You have to create your own modes for each type of function and manually switch between them if you don’t want to be bombarded with emails or push notifications; depending how you set them up. You have no direct connection to monitor your cameras video, even on your local network. If your internet is down, so is your ability to view your cameras. The cameras record/stream through the base station, to your router, up to the netgear servers in California, and then back down to your router and on the device you like to view them on. If not on your LAN, then through your mobile carrier. The base station is very light, and MUST be plugged into your router to function. That was the only part of this kit that seemed from the outside like it was built really cheap. Made in Vietnam by the way. The base station does not have any USB 3.0 ports and the ethernet jack is only 10/100. Yup, in 2017 that’s still all you need if only processing low quality, ultra compressed video recordings. You cannot be logged in to the website making mode or camera changes and on your mobile device simultaneously with the same account, even on the same local network. You will need to “Grant Access” create a second account for yourself to do such a simple task. The community.arlo.com is pretty helpful, I spent about 5-10 hours posting and researching in discussion threads; trying VERY hard to love this purchase and make the best out of it, but it was not for me. There are many supporters of the product that are knowledgeable there. In conclusion - this Netgear product is unreliable and seems like consumers willing to lay out hard earned cash are guinea pig beta-testers. Enormous potential, but too many shortcomings to even try to keep this.

So once I got the unit unpacked, read through the included quick start up guide...a more detailed PDF 78 page manual is available on the website for download...I had all the units powered up and ready for final camera placement in under one hour. Placement is also very quick if being used indoors or even outdoors because of the small size of the camera, the flat camera base and the strong magnetic power in the rear of the two cameras. You can place camera indoors on any flat surface without having to use any mounting device or use the wall mountable metal bases. Network setup was a breeze, I did connect the included Arlo hub not to my router but to my gigabit switch to avoid any possible interference with my router...others seem to indicate it is best to have the Arlo hub away from the router. I did eventually test it both ways and it did seem faster with direct router connection so really as far as I am concern no router interference. My cable network provider provides me 300mbps. The picture quality is very, very good at 720 but 1080 would be much better especially given the cost. Nighttime clarity is also very good given the size of the camera itself. I do love how small and well balanced the camera weight is, this adds to the ease of camera placement. I placed the cameras initially facing indoors then mounted them outdoors using the metal base. Overall this process was completed within 30 minutes indoors and a little over an hour for outdoors. Recently the cameras weathered a mini snowstorm that had 30-40mph gusty winds with total snowfall of 9 inches. Neither camera suffered any water or physical damage, neither lost its connection before or after the storm, neither camera lost its point of view placement and battery life continued to be 100 percent even though temperatures for the last 3 days averaged 20F. All of this makes the product a solid 5 stars but now for the loss of a star reasons. The battery seems to be proprietary to Arlo and worse, they are very, very expensive...in excess of $40 per battery. No stand alone battery charger is included and that too is expensive. The only way to charge the battery is to use the camera to charge by plugging camera into a power outlet using the including charging cable and adapter. This means unless you have a power outlet near the camera or a portable battery, you will need to move or unmount the camera to bring it to be charged. Which unfortunately means your security will be compromised until camera is moved back to position or remounted. This can be avoided by purchasing at least one extra battery and of course a stand alone charging adapter. I think overlook the proprietary issues but I feel for the price that Arlo should include a stand alone charger. If you like me mount your cameras outside up high then charging can be a tedious task but I feel so far that the battery life seems to be on the order of weeks if not months given that it is not continuously recording. Another issue is that the Arlo hub and cameras seem to only talk to each other and that the cameras do not seem to have any addressable IP so that you cannot possibly add the camera views to an existing security system. Everything from the stand alone charger, the batteries and Arlo hub seem to be very proprietary. But that aside, the ease and quickness of setup, lack of any wires, picture quality and durability make the system a pleasure to use. The ability to move the cameras at the spur of the moment to anywhere on your property and the wireless range all over come the loss of the star. I would gave ARLO/NETGEAR 4 1/2 stars. The half star loss is due to the fact of a weakness due to the proprietary nature of how Arlo process the data. When you call up a live picture view, it can take from 5 to as long as 10 seconds before the view comes up...regardless of how the Arlo hub is hooked up...directly to my router or my switch. I believe that the data is first sent to Arlo web servers then back to your device for viewing because the cameras do not seem to be using non-proprietary IP protocols. As others have said the two way sound is good coming from the camera to your device but low and weak going to the camera. I love the system, the design, the ability to hide the cameras and the very, very loud siren. Still experimenting with the various ways to set up the viewing and alarm features but this is a keeper...in addition to my wired NVR IP security system that took over two week to mount and install and make holes in my house...ugh...this ARLO NETGEAR was such a pleasure to set up.

Pros Extremely Quick setup (A 2 camera system takes roughly 30 minutes) Very easy set up. It comes with basic instructions but the app nicely walks you through each step No need to run wires Compact Discreet cameras easily blend in with lighter color homes Good daytime video quality for the price Includes microphone and speaker Flexible mounting options. Included option is easy but other fixed mounts can be used Large rechargeable batteries Motion trigger is supposed to get an update to determine if the motion is by a person All devices get regular security updates. Even the cameras get updated wirelessly. Nice considering cameras are a new target for hackers. Inanimate objects don’t seem to cause false motion triggers Standard external hard drive can be used for local storage Basic plan included for free Easily expandable Cons Support for Windows is poor for the new touchscreen devices. No Windows app for Windows 8 and 10 devices of any size. Video quality, mainly night time, is probably not good enough for legal purposes. Night video quality makes recognition near impossible past approximately 10 feet Easy to steal or move regardless of mounting Camera speaker is not very loud Provided screws use too fine of a thread and the metal head strips out easy All videos are public if someone can intercept your emails on the way to your inbox. (Email delivery by design is not encrypted so if someone intercepts your emails on the way they can see any of your videos with audio) Recording time is fixed so even if motion or sound is still occurring you can miss recording Web interface has some bugs such as freezing on zoom, Live play button disappears, and touch doesn’t work. Sound recording doesn’t occur until a few seconds after video recording At least one camera exhibited a noticeable “ticking clock” sound when recording audio Connecting them hardwired defeats the weatherproofing Instructions do not give tutorial about advanced features but rather let you discover them No organizer for hard drive recordings Dependent on good upload internet speeds. The more cameras you have, the faster the upload speed you need. This can be a limiting factor for some. Long lag time to start live viewing even with very fast connection Setup was very easy, particularly for a security camera system. The entire process is achieved by following the steps one by one as the app tells you. Install the app, set up your Arlo account, plug in the base unit to power and internet, sync the cameras, hang the cameras, and you’re done. A two camera system only took approximately 30 minutes. The kit includes metal bases, screws, and wall anchors but the screws are small and easy to strip. The metal bases work with a strong magnet included inside the camera. Although convenient, the metal bases allow someone to easily steal or move these expensive cameras so placement is important. Netgear offers screw in mounts for a more rigid and secure mounting. The entire hardware and software process has had a lot of thought put into making it easy. There are no complicated router changes needed to be made at all or complicated programming. Oddly some features, like changing the recording quality, must be done on a regular computer for which there is no app. There is one strange feature omission from Netgear. This system has a Pro designation and yet support for regular, more modern computers, is limited. Businesses by and large use Windows computers and the most popular type of Windows computers selling today are Windows 2-in-1 convertibles with touchscreens this trend is forecasted to increase and yet this system is barely even useable by any touchscreen Windows device. This is also odd because what better way to check out a security video than on a large screen. You are forced to use a browser to view videos which the experience varies based on browser. Simple things like moving a slider don’t work because the website doesn’t work with touch. Browser administration has other bugs, such as the Live Video button disappearing. If this was an app you wouldn’t have to worry about how the end user’s choice of browser affects the experience. Not having a Universal Windows app is a missed opportunity. I have seen a large increase in clients that are buying Windows 2-in-1 systems instead of desktops or Android/iOS tablets for their primary system. A Windows Universal app they could support such systems, or any other form factor of Windows for that matter. Imagine if the app was on Xbox One in your living room and you want to check on things outside. Just say “Hey Cortana, open Arlo” and you could see your video feed or videos quickly and easily from the convenience of your couch on a big screen. That would be great. If you have smaller Windows devices, the website is unusable. It tries to get you to use an app that doesn’t exist. Oddly enough if you have a link to a shared video the same website will serve you the video in a mobile optimized format. Smaller Windows devices and Windows Mobile devices are left unsupported. Future updates and app releases could easily alleviate this but for now Windows support is poor. The base unit comes with a Sync/Siren button, network port, and two USB ports for storage. The siren is loud and sounds like newer smoke alarms. It can be trigger locally, by the app, or via configurable rules such as motion or audio sensing. You can switch the base unit to modes for recording for motion and/or audio, no recording, or armed or disarmed based using Geofencing. You can also define your own custom modes allowing specific cameras and audio for each to be on or off. Due to battery restrictions, there is no continuous recording. Recording time from motion is a default of 5 seconds regardless of if the motion continues. Cameras include built in IR for night vision, motion sensor, microphone, and speaker and are weatherproof assuming the charging plug cover is on. One large difference with the Pro version is the inclusion of large rechargeable batteries which should last quite a long time between charging. When video is recorded, it is uploaded via your internet connection to your account meaning a good upload internet speed is important. Videos are stored in a calendar format and can be viewed, shared, or deleted from the interface. Overall performance when factoring in the price for features was good. Shuddering and lag was minimal with surprisingly good wireless range. Remote viewing of live video is reasonably quick although it still took several seconds and is highly dependent on your internet upload speed. Audio took about 2 seconds to start every time after a motion trigger recording or manual live viewing and had a slightly audible tick-tock sound. The built-in speaker is barely audible at max volume. As with all security systems, there is a loss of some detail to do recording compression. Daytime recordings show signs of video compression but subjects are still reasonably recognizable at approximately 25 feet. Nighttime viewing brings recognition down to approximately 10-15 feet before subjects hard to recognize. Although not official, friends in law enforcement said it is not good for legal purposes as they must have a definitive, recognizable face to use the video. Motion detection was generally good but people moving fast could often elude the recording. Due to the fixed recording time, the system could also miss recording an event if it ran past the configured time. A big concern is the video sharing feature. Arlo by default emails you anytime it records. It conveniently sends you a screenshot of what it recorded. However; the email sends a direct link to the video that can be viewed without logging in. This would be even more concerning if you had cameras in your house. By definition, is sent unsecured between providers. Although the industry is trying to improve that, you should always assume your emails have no encryption when sent to you. This means that it is possible and relatively easy for criminals to eavesdrop and see your videos with audio without ever knowing your account info. The good thing is that is easy to remedy turning off the feature that emails you when it records a video. That way the link to the video won’t be sent out on the web unsecured and your videos are still stored in the cloud without being shared openly. Hopefully, Netgear will remedy this in the future. Overall, it is a nice system for the price point when compared to the competition. Compared to legacy DVR and NVR security camera systems this makes the whole process a lot more accessible for the average consumer. As long as you keep your expectations in line it is a nice system. All security camera systems, particularly ones costing less than $2,500 have limitations. A standout feature, even comparing to high end systems, is this system will automatically get updates for security. Anyone who watched the news in late 2016 saw that the biggest hack was perpetrated using devices, such as camera systems, that weren’t updated. That is something still lacking in the “professional” security camera world. You also won’t have to hire someone to come pull wiring through your house or small business. Cameras can be placed wherever you can mount a base. If for some reason, such as poor signal, the place doesn’t work they are easy to move. It not be a real high definition security camera system but it also costs nowhere near as much. Just be sure you can accept the Cons before buying. The overall system is well thought out and with continued improvement of the listed cons this could be the best system for nearly any price.

The Arlo Pro system aims to bring simple, affordable security features to almost any home. With its simple setup and easy-to-use features, Netgear has mostly succeeded, despite the few limitations of Arlo Pro system. SETUP - Setup is incredibly easy and straightforward, aside from the excessive amount of packaging. The system I ordered came with 2 cameras, 2 rechargeable batteries, a base station with a siren, and 2 magnetic wall mounts. - There are only a handful of setup procedures, which took me all of 10 minutes: Connect the base station to your router; insert the batteries into the cameras; pair the cameras to the base station; and place the cameras where you want them. This can all be done using the neatly-designed Arlo app. FEATURES - The Arlo Pro system sports a clean and modern design. The white color of the cameras may stand out a bit if used outdoors. - Arlo Pro is not a 24/7 recording system. Rather, the cameras use a combination of sensors to detect motion or loud sound, which then trigger the system to begin recording. When activity is detected, the system sends an alert to your phone. From there, you can view a live feed from all of your cameras and turn on the siren to scare away intruders. You can even use the two-way audio feature to talk to whomever is in front of a camera. - The free cloud service will store motion- and sound-activated video clips for up to 7 days (premium cloud plans are available for purchase, which will store your clips for a longer period of time). You can also attach a storage device to the Arlo base station to make local back-up copies of your clips. - The cameras are totally wireless. Netgear claims that they should work up to 300 feet away from the base station. PERFORMANCE - I tested this system in two separate environments: a 1,000 sq. ft. apartment and my family's 3,500 sq. ft. suburban house. The apartment has just one person - me. The house usually has a flurry of people going in and out during a typical day. This was a great way to see the strengths and weaknesses of the Arlo Pro. - In my apartment, I installed both cameras indoors: one camera facing my front door and the other facing my outside balcony. The "geofencing" feature of the Arlo app works perfectly for this simple setup. The app tells my Arlo system when I arrive at or leave my apartment, so it automatically arms or disarms based on my location. As such, I have yet to receive any false alarms while using the system in my apartment. - At my family's house, I installed one camera outdoors (at the front door porch) and one camera indoors (facing the entrance door from the garage). The amount of motion/sound alerts I receive can become overwhelming, especially if I forget to disarm the system when I know someone will be home. I've even had a few false alarms from cars driving by, squirrels running through the front yard, and even snow falling too heavily. - Despite the few false alarms, the system does its job well. Picture quality is great both day and night (even in a pitch-black room), and the wide-angle lens of the camera covers a large area. Battery life has been fine so far (both cameras are still close to 100% after a week of use). I love the wireless convenience of the cameras and being able to place them practically anywhere. The magnetic mounts are very strong and should withstand any outside weather conditions. The siren on the base is VERY loud. COULD BE BETTER - Netgear needs to figure out a way to reduce the amount of false alarms and notifications triggered in large or active households. As it is now, such users must constantly fine-tune the scheduling feature in the Arlo app or rely on the "geofencing" feature, which doesn't appear to work well with multiple users/devices. - The system relies on a stable internet connection - so if your router or service provider are unreliable, you may not see any recordings or alerts. Luckily, this hasn't been a problem for me, but it's something to be aware of. - The app needs a bit of work. Advanced settings like motion sensitivity, custom arm/disarm rules, and notification preferences seem to be buried deep in the app and aren't explained very clearly. - If you live in a cold climate and place an Arlo Pro camera outside during the winter, you're likely going to see very short battery life. Just another limitation to be aware of. OVERALL All things considered, the Arlo Pro is a great security camera system for my family. Just keep in mind that this is a reactive system -- one that only records when it senses motion or noise -- and not a proactive, 24/7 system. Such a system has notable limitations, but it also offers a great deal of convenience with its wireless cameras and easy setup. Hopefully Netgear will continue to improve the system and app over time. Recommended!

I’ve used a wired camera DVR system (first SVAT then Swann) around my house for the last 15 years. I’ve also used a wireless Foscam PTZ indoors that I can move around to more closely watch pets as needed. These all worked pretty well, but I always thought it would be nice to have cameras covering our horse barn that’s over 300’ from the house. I looked at the Arlo cameras when they first came out, but didn’t like the idea of the non-rechargeable batteries, plus I doubted the wireless would reach that far. When the Pro version came out with rechargeable batteries, I decided to give them a try. The specs on the box say the range is “up to 300 feet line of sight.” Google maps showed the distance from my base unit to the location in my barn where I wanted to place the camera to be 382 feet, and not exactly a clear line of sight either (there are a couple of trees in the way). I tried it anyway, and it worked! I have two cameras in the barn and they both work perfectly. The signal strength in the app shows 1 to 2 bars (out of 3) which amazes me. The cameras are also listed as operating from -4 to 113 F, and yesterday it got down to 1 F and they had no problems at all. I’m definitely happy with these cameras and would recommend them to anyone needing wireless outdoor cameras. I’ll go into more details and some pros and cons below. Pros: Rechargeable batteries Excellent wifi range Easy set up Magnetic mounts quick to install and easy to adjust Useful motion sensing and alert programming Night infrared illumination is excellent Picture quality is excellent Free cloud storage of video Possible cons, depending on your situation: Adds a wifi SSID, NTGR_VMB_xxxxx Magnetic mounts = easy theft Cloud storage of video, if your Internet isn’t reliable; also 1Mbps upload speed minimum Can’t customize the push alert sound Setup and installation was super easy. I just followed the quick start guide and got the two cameras synced and immediately started getting motion alerts since “armed” mode was on by default. The default modes are Armed, Disarmed, Scheduled, and Geofencing, the last letting it arm/disarm based on your phone leaving or returning home. Also, to be clear, “armed” just means the mode when it detects motion or sounds and then does actions like record video, send an email, generate a push notification in the app, or, heaven forbid, turn on the audible alarm. The audible alarm is similar to a smoke detector alarm that issues only from the base unit, not the cameras themselves. The motion sensing appears to be infrared with these cameras which is different than the other camera systems I’ve used. The other systems use changes in the image (x percentage of pixels changing) to detect “motion” and in my opinion it was never useful because of so many false alarms. On windy, partly cloudy days the changing shadows would continuously generate events. That isn’t a problem with these cameras and I think I’ll make much more use of their motion sensing. One thing to keep in mind, though, is the sensor doesn’t work through glass. To test, I put one in our kitchen window looking at the front porch. When I walked right in front of the window it didn’t detect motion. I didn’t test at night, but I would expect the glass to reflect the infrared illumination, too. So, the cameras are best mounted in the open. The magnetic “ball” mount is pretty ingenious. Having dealt with the standard mounts all these years, I was very impressed with how easy the magnetic mounts were to use and, especially, adjust. The cameras do still have the threaded mounting holes if you want to use the standard mounting hardware (not included) or a tripod. You would probably want to use that method where there’s a danger of someone stealing your camera. The threaded mount would at least slow them down a little. With the magnetic mount, it would only take a split second for someone to run off with your $200 camera. You could also mount it out of reach, but that would also make it a little harder to charge the batteries. I’m including a couple of pictures with this review showing the camera quality. I was impressed with how the camera captured the sky colors but also still clearly showed the land features. It’s much more comparable to my phone camera than any of my other security cameras. The infrared photo at night in the barn shows how well it illuminates at night. Other cameras I’ve used tend to have a very pronounced spot of light in the middle with very little around the edges. These cameras seem to be better at illuminating more of the frame. The back wall in the photo is about 25 feet from the camera. The camera system does create a new 2.4GHz SSID that’s broadcast around your home, which most people probably won’t care about. It does advertise the fact you have Netgear cameras, though, which could be 1) a deterrent like the Arlo window sticker or 2) an advertisement for a bad person to come find your cameras and steal them. It doesn’t appear that there’s anything to prevent someone from syncing your (former) camera with their base unit. The last con I listed was the fact you can’t customize the push notification sound. For Android, at least, this is a feature that apps can make use of but it appears the Arlo app doesn’t. I customize most of my alert sounds so that without even looking at my phone I know if it’s a text, Gmail, work mail, Outlook mail, Hangout, etc. It would be nice to have a unique sound for Arlo motion alerts so a person could tell right away if it was important or not. It seems like this is something that could be updated in the app without too much effort.

I’ve never owned a camera security system, as they always seemed complicated to use. However, the Arlo Pro Security System 2 Camera Kit was very easy to setup. The 2 camera kit includes a receiver (think of an internet router-like device) that connects to your modem. From there, the quick-read instructions ask you to download an app to your mobile device. The app offers step by step instructions on how to sync your cameras. After syncing the cameras, you can go and install them anywhere you like. I am not much of a handyman when it comes to using power tools. That was what kept me from getting any security system. Luckily, tools were not needed, for the cameras are magnetic and the location where I installed them had plenty of metal for them to stick on their own. However, it does come with two mounts that you can use if you need them to be aimed at a certain angle. One of the best features of this product is the ability to observe any motion from your mobile device. Within seconds, I started to detect motion after installation. I tested it with several family members to check if the notifications on my phone were working, and they worked flawlessly after an update required from the cameras and the receiver. One of the best features that I didn’t know it had was a microphone that comes with each camera. While away from home, the camera will notify me of someone near my home. If I want to communicate with them, I can through the mobile app. I hold a microphone icon and they can hear what I say from anywhere that I am. On top of that, the batteries in the cameras last a long time. They also come pre-charged, making it very easy to use right out of the box. To test out the performance of the cameras, I turned off my WiFi and was on my LTE network (Sprint, if you want to know). The cameras were clearly visible on cell phone internet. The clarity was actually quite outstanding. On the third day after installing them, we had rain and strong winds. The cameras, being magnetic, worried me. However, they withstood the weather and further strengthened my faith in the product. This product more than meets my expectations. At first, I was slightly discouraged to know that there was a monthly plan to subscribe to. However, a free option is available. The plans are as follows: Basic (Free) 7 Days of Cloud Recordings (Up to 1GB Cloud storage) Up to 5 cameras Limited Support for 3 Months Premier 30 Days of Cloud Recordings (Up to 10GB Cloud storage) Up to 10 cameras Unlimited Support MONTHLY $9.99 ANNUAL $99 ($20 SAVINGS) Elite 60 Days of Cloud Recordings (Up to 100GB Cloud storage) Up to 15 cameras Unlimited Support MONTHLY AT $14.99 ANNUAL AT $149 ($30 SAVINGS) For most people, the basic (free) plan would suffice, as many won’t need more than 5 cameras per home. If you want to add another camera from the 2 camera starter package, it currently costs 189.99 to add another one. The product offers a great value for the price because on top of the plans that are offered for cloud storage, you can connect a USB External hard drive. Via the APP, you can reformat the hard drive and all of your videos can be stored locally instead of on the cloud. This way, you can either have a backup of the cloud videos or just keep your own log without relying on the cloud storage. Though the price may deter some people from getting this product, I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for more security for their homes. The alternative choices are usually more expensive because of higher monthly fees elsewhere, whereas this product has a free option. The applications are quite numerable. Some people use it to monitor their pets while others keep an eye on their younger ones. Overall, the price you pay is more than worth it for a better peace of mind.

Arlo - Pro Indoor/outdoor Hd Wire Free Security Camera (2-pack) - White I have had home security cameras setup from time to time when working from home. Since I have an upstairs office I was always concerned that I could have had someone break in my house and not even know it while I was working. I park my car in the garage so it would be easy to assume no one was home. I tried various indoor camera setups, some placed inside windows but there was always a compromise. Poor image quality, stress on my wireless network to stream and poor software implementations. The cost of quality outdoor cameras was just too steep. IP cameras such as the Arlo were always very pricey and I didn’t want to have my house wired for the older analog cameras. I tend to be a DYI person because I like to know how things work and how to fix them if there’s a problem. Once you open the box on the Ario system you will find two very nice cameras, a separate base station, two rechargeable batteries plus mounting hardware. I have the two pack but Netgear offers other packages with more cameras. The two pack in not cheap. You do have to pay for them. The good news is if you price high quality IP camera these are very competitive especially as a turnkey solution. I use an Android phone and once I installed the app from the Google play store all I had to do was setup an account. After that is was very simple to connect the cameras to the base station. The whole setup took all of 15 minutes from installing the app to having the cameras working on my phone. Since these can be both inside and outside cameras I decided to mount them outside. This was the one place I could never use in my prior attempts to have a security system. The cameras support two way communication however sound from the outside camera if you were going to actually talk to someone, is to low to be very useful. Not a concern for me but if that's something you want from your setup this might not be there yet. It could also be fixed by a firmware update but nothing during the setup reported needing one and I review what you get not what you might get. The image quality is very good for up close. As you view from a farther distance it does tend to lose some quality. This is probably due to the high field of view, 130° that the cameras provides and I would say in most cases this is a better trade off. For most cases such as someone at the front door the image quality is very good. The cameras support motion detection and can be setup to record when they detect motion. This is a very needed feature since you can record video that can stored either locally on USB drives, two are supported, and connect to the back of the base station or on the Netgear website. The website recordings can be shared, downloaded or deleted as needed. If you have the Ario app open on your phone it will vibrate when motion is detected. I signed up for the free service but they also have paid plans. The free service supports up to five cameras and cloud storage for up to 7 days of recording. Netgear claims the cameras are weatherproof but the battery compartment might not be. So I mounted them where I felt they had the best chance to stay dry. Battery life is claimed to be up to two or three months. Time will tell on that one but you do get an indicator on the charge level of the batteries when viewing from them and they can be setup to run powered if that’s an issue. Night vision is also very good but I was most impressed with how the base station works. You plug it into your router or any available network jack. And the cameras only talk to it and don’t use your other wireless network. I tried several different locations for the base station and got good signals pretty much wherever I tired it. So I ended up putting it next to my router in a closet and it is showing a full signal, very impressive. Finally there is a smart siren that can be activated manually or setup to trigger remotely. This is a serious siren and will definitely get attention if triggered. This is a very good camera security system for the cost. Netgear is a leader in networking for both consumer and enterprise, they know what they're doing. The product is feature rich, easy to install and it's one screw to mount. They have done a great job with the software which runs on both Apple and Android or in a desktop browser. I could easily recommend this for someone looking for a DIY some security system. You can add up to five cameras to the two pack but if you think you need more cameras it might be best to buy them in the 3 or 4 pack. The individual cameras bought separately are much more expensive than if you buy them in the larger pack. Overall a great product and if you feel the need there is always the Geek Squad warranty to keep you protected. Mounted outside it's a small price to pay for the protection offered.