Arlo - Ultra 4-Camera Indoor/Outdoor Wire-Free 4K HDR Security Camera System - Black

I got this camera for security at my front door. We don't really have any crime where I live. I have a sheriff's deputy next door and a detective across the street. However, we have had a few instances of some kids ringing our doorbell and running off at 2:00-3:00 am. This prompted me to want to get a camera to find out exactly who is doing it. They haven't been back since I installed the camera. I unpacked everything and decided where I wanted to install the camera. I chose the front corner column of my front porch facing the front door. This keeps the camera from being easily seen from the front yard. With the camera being white and my column/house being white, it is hard to notice unless you are looking for it. Installation was simple. The mount and the camera have a very strong magnet. The mount is concave and the back of the camera is a rounded shape. This allows you to install the mount and then adjust the camera without changing the mount position. It is a simple one screw installation. Just install the screw and slide the mount onto it. Installation and getting the camera adjusted to point exactly where I wanted it to took less than three minutes. The Arlo app is simple to use and set up. Just download it and follow the instructions. I have the hub close to the router and the camera is directly in line with my router, with only the outside wall between the camera and router. I haven't had any issues with connection as others have stated. I have a new tri-band gaming router that has a large range. Perhaps others have a lower end router and/or more walls between the two. In setting up the camera, there are many options. You can set dead zones that will not trigger the camera. This is great if your camera's view sees a road, or trees that could set it off in the wind. I have a small section in frame that catches the road, so I have set that corner as a dead zone to eliminate false alerts. You have different options as far as when it is armed. You can set it to capture video and audio and to set off the alarm. I prefer to leave the alarm off because I don't want it to go off every time someone delivers a package. I have it set to alert me any time there is movement in the "alert" area. The options for motion alert include people, vehicles, animals and other motion. I have mine set to record people and all other motion. This should, in theory not alert if a dog walks up to the door for example. I haven't had this happen, so I can't speak to how well it works.I have had several incidences of a carpenter bee and wasp setting off the camera. However, they were within inches and even crawling on the lens, so I would expect that. This being a 4K camera with HDR, the resolution is perfect. You can see everything in detail. You can even zoom in on the live image up to 12X. At night, the images are perfectly clear as well. If you want to see it in color, you can turn on the spotlight (which is quite bright) and the image will be in color. The wide angle lens captures everything in a 180-degree field of view. You can have the camera automatically zoom and track movement. I personally leave this feature off as you lose some video quality with this option and my area that I'm covering is small enough that I don't need it. The battery life is great. They state a 3-6 month battery life with the standard battery and normal usage. Of course, the more you view the camera, the more battery usage will occur. I installed this camera a couple of weeks ago and the battery level is at 88% and I have been viewing the camera a lot and turning the lights on and off a lot since it is new. I fully believe that they are accurate in their battery life estimate. They do have an optional solar charger that you can get so that you never have to charge the battery. Charging is magnetic as well. Simply remove the camera from the mount, attach the charger and hang the camera back up when it's done. You have the ability to speak to people through the camera, or set off an alarm. I tried the alarm this morning through the app. The app warned me that the alarm was extremely loud. However, I was standing in my bedroom about 20 feet away when I set the alarm off and I could barely hear it. I even opened the front door where the camera is at, and although it was loud enough to scare someone off, I don't believe that my neighbors could hear it, so it's not very loud at all. There is also an option for e911. You set your address and if necessary, you can press the e911 button to alert police. You can do this from anywhere in the world and it will use the address of the camera, not where you are, to alert the police. There are a couple of drawbacks with this camera. First, the alert is about a three second delay for me and my setup. While this is kind of expected due to the transmission from the camera, to the router, and finally to my phone, the theory of catching a package theif in the act is a little unreasonable. Anyone could walk up, grab your package and be gone before you are even alerted. Therefore, being able to get the alert, bring the app up and tell them to leave your package alone will never happen. Although you will have a crystal clear video of them doing it to turn over to the police. Also, while the mount is secured with a screw, the camera is only held in place with a magnet. This means that anyone could just grab it and run off with it. They do have an optional mount that screws into the camera, and this would make it a little more secure and harder to remove. I believe this mount should be included with the camera also at this price point. Overall, this is a great camera with many features. I am probably going to get a second camera to mount by the garage to oversee it and the driveway. I highly recommend this camera. I would even suggest getting this setup with multiple cameras. Believe me, once you see it, you will want more cameras. I have included two pictures. Both at night. One is with the spotlight off, and the other with the spotlight on, which gives you full color.

Today, I am reviewing the Arlo Ultra HD Camera.  Unboxing was a breeze; the camera came with a power cable, battery, mounting hardware, magnetic mount, and a hub station. Although cumbersome, the hub has to be plugged into your internet router to use the Arlo camera system successfully.  The instructions did not include how to mount the camera, though. After I went on the internet to look, I figured out that the plastic piece included with the mounting hardware needs to attach itself to the screw. The reason? This plastic piece fits into the back of the magnetic mount. Keep this in mind when you figure out where to mount the camera.  I charged the camera for the recommended three hours. Make sure to press the eject button on the camera, physically, to insert the battery into the camera for charging. Again, the instructions were vague on doing this. While charging, I downloaded the Arlo app and created an account. This process was simple. After the camera charged, I plugged in the smart hub into my internet router, opened the app, and unplugged the camera. The Arlo app locates both the hub and camera during the setup process automatically. During the location process, the Arlo app will download a firmware update for the hub and camera (this takes about five minutes). Again, this is a seamless, automatic process. Once the hub and camera's firmware are updated, you are ready to install the camera outside your home. Although you can do this on your own, make sure to have your application opened so that you can see where your viewing angle is inside the app. Installation was simple, and the mounting bracket is not necessary (I installed mine through vinyl siding above my garage).  After installation, the camera began detecting my movement, and it was smart enough to tell me that it "spotted a person." In the Arlo app, you can set up other settings such as "wide angle view," as well as video display settings. I chose the "4K" live video setting; for now, the camera will allow you to view live footage in 4K, it will not record 4K footage, yet (you have to pay an additional fee for cloud 4K video recording). Although disappointing, the camera does provide a clear picture. You can pinch the screen to zoom in and out of the camera, and still maintain a quality picture. The camera's built-in speaker captures the sound well. However, when using the talking feature (to talk back to someone approaching), the audio was not loud enough (I turned the speaker up and still, it was not that loud). Do not let this make or break your decision on picking this camera up. Additionally, there is an option to turn on and off the spotlight included in the camera. Since my camera is mounted above my garage, the two garage lights that were installed previously automatically turn on when motion is detected. Although not necessary for me, you have an option to turn the spotlight feature on, and off in the Arlo app. I will say, the spotlight feature is ideal for those who do not have automatic motion detecting lights (the picture was too bright). However, you can adjust the picture brightness on the camera if needed. Though, I did not need to after I turned the spotlight off (the picture was just "right").  With my high internet speeds at home (350 MBPS), I found the Arlo app easy to use, but at times, the app "lagged" when I went into the library to view footage, and change the viewing settings to my liking. Although not an issue, when playing back footage in the library, I notice that it takes the Arlo app some time to load. Again, this is not a big deal, but keep in mind that you may experience lag with playback and setting changes.  Now, the best feature that the Arlo Ultra camera provides is that it records when it detects motion; the Arlo Ultra does not continuously record (although you can pay for this setting). The point of this feature is to save your battery. You can monitor the battery in the Arlo app, by the way. After a few days of use, the battery remains at a full charge. Expect to have the battery drain more when you continuously record, though. According to Arlo's website, expect your camera to remain charged for three to six months. Noted, you will have to remove the camera to recharge it for three hours (so do this when you are home). Although if it is too cumbersome for you to remove the camera from the magnetic plate to charge it, you can install the charging cable into the device. However, this defeats the purpose of the "no cable needed" idea.  Additionally, Arlo includes a full year of thirty-day cloud storage (this trumps what Nest does, which asks you to pay five dollars per month for continuous recording/cloud storage). Other features include an auto-tracking option (this is a "pay for" feature).  Overall, the Arlo App is easy to use. However, app lag issues do not provide a "seamless" user experience (it takes too long to load videos and connect to the camera). The camera itself was a breeze to set up (after some research); the picture and sound quality are fantastic. I would recommend the Arlo Ultra system for someone that does not want to drill more holes into their home to feed wires. The design of the camera and the ease of use makes this camera an ideal suitor for those who want a "do-it-yourself" home security system. 

The Arlo Ultra 4K UHD Wire-Free Security Camera System is Arlo’s next product in wireless home security. It touts features such as 4K UHD recording, Auto Zoom and Tracking, and color night vision. Though this is supposed to be Arlo’s most advanced camera, I didn’t find it much better than the 1080p versions. My Set Up I used this camera near my front door for testing. The camera was positioned unhidden 20 feet (clear line of sight) from my Wi-Fi satellite and 30 linear feet (through one floor level) from the Arlo base. My network is provided by an Orbi whole-home mesh system which is made by Netgear (who happens to be the parent company for Arlo). My internet service is gigabit, so there are no bandwidth issues. Features of the camera 4K UHD recording – This is supposed to be the clearest recording commercially available for home security cameras. I expected to see quality paralleled with a 4K movie played on my 4K UHD television. What I got was more grainy and not this high quality image that I expected. In fact, that’s when it worked at all. Using 4K recording, I could not stream an image to my cell phone in the app. I have uploaded a screenshot of the horizontal gray lines that I viewed instead. Auto Zoom and Tracking – The feature is a really neat idea. The camera detects motion and basically zooms in and follows the moving object. It had a little delay, but was cool in that it could decide what to follow. My big complaint with this feature was that it does not work when recording in 4K. The settings automatically change if you tell it to record in 4K or turn on Auto Zoom and Tracking. Turning on one feature turns the other feature off. Having a 4K camera isn’t useful if the other features don’t support 4K. Color night vision – I was stoked to see this as a feature on the camera system packaging. The biggest complaint about my previous camera system that I owned before this Arlo was that the night vision wasn’t very good. My hopes were that this feature would be able to provide more information through color in combination with the higher quality recording (4K). What I was not aware of is that in order for the color night vision to work, the spotlight has to be on. This is a problem for me as I would rather the criminal I am recording not know where my cameras are. My understanding is that the extra light is needed is order to record the color information, and that this illumination process is not specific to Arlo cameras. Other camera systems require lighting to record in color at night as well. You can still record in regular night vision without the spotlight. Battery Charging – First, the camera only comes with one rechargeable battery. I find this to be an issue because unless you have found a way to charge the camera in-place then you will have times where you have to stop recording to charge the battery. I would suggest that Arlo give 2 batteries in the next package (or at least one extra depending on camera package). Second, the charging method uses a proprietary cord. If you lose or damage the cord, you will have to get one from Arlo. Battery Life – The packaging describes the batteries as convenient and long lasting. This is not the case. My battery went from 41% to 5% in the first week. Charging a battery every 2 weeks (especially if you have them mounted out of reach) is not convenient. Spotlight – The spotlight is optional (you can turn it on and off). It is also adjustable, so you can control the brightness level. It can work with the motion sensor or you can manually turn it on. Again, this is required to be on if you want to use the color night vision feature. Siren – There is a siren feature that you can manually turn on if you want to create a noise or draw attention. The siren is not very loud in my opinion, and I’m not sure that it would be that effective. Call e911 and Call Friend – There are features to manually contact an emergency number from the app. I did not test these two features. Magnetic Mounting – The camera can attach to the mount magnetically. I think that this is a neat idea, but due to the shape of the camera and cupping of the mount it is somewhat limited. Some people have raved about this feature, but I wasn’t completely happy with it. Likes *Decent Quality Wireless Camera *4K recording (new standard in home security cameras) *Auto Zoom and Tracking is a neat idea *Color night vision adds value of clarity in low light situations *Has Siren, Call e911, and Call Friend features *Magnetic mount idea *Comes with 1 Year of Arlo Smart service (cloud recording) *Has option for SD Card recording Dislikes *4K Streaming would not work at all on phone in house *Cannot record in 4K when using Auto Zoom and Tracking *Battery Life is short and only comes with one battery *Charging cord is a specialty cord *Color night vision does not work unless spotlight feature is turned on and spotlight is illuminated *Siren feature not very loud *Requires paid subscription after the first year if you do not want to use SD Card option Overall, I think that the Arlo Ultra is an average security camera. For a wireless camera it’s not bad, but the battery life is short and new features that didn’t work as I had hoped. This leaves me a little unsatisfied with the product. I think that if you must have a wireless camera Arlo is a good starting point. However, since the new features on the Ultra didn’t work well, I’d recommend looking at the 1080p Arlo cameras instead of this one. The Ultra cameras will cost more, and I don’t see any real benefit for the extra cost. 4K will be the new standard moving forward, but this camera doesn’t exemplify that standard.

The new Arlo Ultra Security Camera and Hub are nice improvements from the previous Pro 2 series, adding 4K video, enhanced hub, spot light and an update mobile app along with other excellent features. Setup was rather smooth with the mobile Arlo App, had my system up and running within an hour. The app walks you step by step through the whole process, from setting up the network connection to adding and placing cameras. Covers all the bases in a security camera system. Clear crisp video monitoring and recording. Love the fact you can zoom the camera to read a license plate in the driveway. For me it is great for keeping an eye on the kid and Beagle on our football field size front and rear yards. We live on the edge of the city with ten acres, three acres being in yard and seven acres in woods, it is a big plus to have an excellent view of our surroundings. Features that make the Arlo a leading security cameras system: - “Noise-cancelling microphones that reduces distracting background noises like wind, rain and street activity, providing you clearer distortion-free sound.” - Two-way microphones and speakers for clear conversation, fun when your friend watches your house for you! - One-year Arlo smart 30 days of cloud storage. - e911 service which will send police to your home with a touch of a button. - Weather resistant in all seasons. - Color night vision. - Spotlight built into the camera. - SD Storage. - Good documentation (download). - 180-degree view. Have mixture Arlo Ultra and Pro2 cameras in my system, which work seamlessly together connected to the Arlo Ultra Hub. The hub is backward compatible with all Arlo wire-less cameras. I keep my cameras plugged in so that I do not have to charge them weekly, so I have not tested the battery charge life. What I do like about the wire-less nature of the cameras is that it is simple to unplug them from the charging cable and place them in temporary locations. Arlo is still using Adobe Flash; I believe they need make the move on to html for smoother operations on the PC. On a Windows 10 PC with Chrome you must enable Flash in Chrome and each time you want to view a camera feed must re-allow Flash Player within the interface to run. The mobile app does not require that extra exercise to view the camera feed. Coupled with our home/garage security system the Arlo Ultra gives us an extra security layer that keeps us feeling comfortable at home and away.

Packaging- a lot of precise detail go into the presentation of the Arlo Ultra. Seeing how it was packed made me more eager to see how it is with performance. Setup- The installation was very simple. You can eyeball the pieces and know exactly what to do. Arlo made it easier because all you need to do is download the Arlo app and it will walk you through the installation. It takes under 10 minutes including the firmware updates. Performance- Clear live image that you can playback at 4K quality. The Arlo Ultra is wireless and waterproof so you can mount it anywhere. Feel free to use your imagination if you think I’m kidding. The app have a bandwidth meter to show you the signal strength and I find that very useful when finding a placement for my camera(s). The Arlo smart hub does not come with a micro sd card for recording but it have a slot. I had a 32gb so I was able to use it after a quick format. Some may not need it because Arlo offers a few different cloud recording plans that fits different budgets. I recommend doing a trial to see if you need it. I notice a lag when connecting to the camera for a live view. Even the audio is delayed. To test this further I turned the light camera light on and it took 5 seconds if not longer to turn on. The camera is within WiFi range. I think that lag is a big flaw because every second counts when it comes time to react during an emergency. Quality- I’ve been using the Arlo Ultra for a week and I can only say that it feels like good quality. It has a nice glossy finish that I think will make it easy to wipe clean. The camera has a magnetic mount that allows you to take it down to charge it and clean it. I can’t tell if the casing will fade or look dingy after being out in the elements for a long time. Cons- I worry that someone can grab the camera off the magnetic mount if they are low enough for them to reach. A lag when connecting live feed. Pros: Quick setup and easy wire free mounting Budget friendly cloud plans sd recording option 4K live feed and recording Alerts on my Apple Watch I think the Arlo Ultra will be a great addition to any security system already in place. It is perfect for our house and I plan on adding more Arlo cameras later after I’m sure on how long it will take to recharge since it’s wireless. I feel like this is the perfect camera I need to optimize my current surveillance system. It is also easy to takedown which make moving out easy so you don’t have to leave your Arlo behind.

DIY Home Security System are becoming more and more the norm given how many options they are and how easy they can be. The Arlo Ultra is the next great step for Alto and so far it has been both great and frustrating. PROS: - I really like the design of this! The Camera is sleek and very easily blends in with its non-chalant white look and black face. Just overall it’s very appealing. - To me, outdoor security cameras are so much more appealing when they are wireless. I think it’s a lot more appealing to not have to drill an additional hole for power and run a power wire to it. It’s very simple installation since it is battery operated - but if you want to you could have it plugged into a power source 24/7 via the charging cord. - Set Up for the device was mostly easy (see cons) as all you do is plug in the Hub to the Ethernet and sync everything else via the Alto App. - I mounted outside and it was pretty easy. Since it’s lightweight and only requires one screws, there isn’t a lot to it. Plus since it’s all magnet based for the camera, you can swivel it around and take it off if you wanted to use it inside for awhile or charge it. - Once set up, it’s simple to use! The app is very user friendly minus a few things, and you can set up alerts and activity zones and view live streams whenever you want. - The Arlo Ultra comes with a 1 year free subscription to it’s cloud storage service so I can’t comment on how it works with no paid service, but it is nice to be able to see all the activity moments throughout the day. - Additional features that are great are the spotlight, two way audio, and of course the video quality is very nice! CONS: - Set-Up was not as easy as it could have been. I had trouble connecting to the camera for awhile, had to install a firmware update over and over because it wasn’t working, and it just isn’t as plug and play as it should be. Once you get past that it works great though. - I understand as a wireless camera, it probably needs a Hub. But I am just not a huge fan of the Hub setup, it seems more and more smart home devices are going for this and it just gets to be cluttered. - The BIGGEST issue I had with this Camera is the lag. First off, when I open the app it takes awhile for the Camera to load even though I have 150 mbps of internet and my phone is connected to the same WiFi. On top of that lag time, there is a 5 second delay between what is going on live and what you see via the app on your phone/tablet. To me that is a huge negative that you have those two lags together. Maybe I am asking too much from a security camera but it seems pretty standard to me that you would have a live feed given how easily other devices can stream things live (video chat, etc...) - Another issue I have is the 4K HDR. I assumed I would be blown away by the video quality but its just okay to me, not as high detailed as I would think given the specs but still very good. - In terms of the app, there are a lot of hidden settings that you need to dig into. One of those is you need to turn on 4K Streaming and when I turned that on my camera would display a black feed to my phone (Galaxy S10+) but worked fine on my iPad. So therefore I had to turn off 4K streaming since it makes the camera mostly useless from my phone. BOTTOM LINE: I think for most people looking for a DIY Camera system, they will likely go this route. It’s ease of use and wire free installation will make up for it’s faults, and overall will make people happy.

This is my first time using an Arlo product and I’m quite impressed by it. The Arlo Ultra 4K UHD Wire-Free Security Camera System is very user friendly and very intuitive to get up and running with ease. I currently have an off brand security camera that is also wifi capable, but requires an electrical outlet. My experience with this Arlo has left me with a great comparison between the products I own. This Arlo Ultra 4K provides a great picture quality and audio recording for my needs. I like to have a camera of this nature monitor my front walkway and front door. I can see who is coming and going and when deliveries are being made. My desire for this camera is strictly for residential purposes, but I’m positive this would be a great asset for a business owner setting as well. Main things included in the package to get you up and running are the following: 4K camera unit, wall mount w/ magnetic base, smarthub, rechargeable battery, and cables. You will also need to install the Arlo app to your smartphone, and in my scenario it worked seamlessly on my iPhone. Getting the smarthub connected to your network is easy as you utilize the Ethernet cable to plug into your network. Power up the camera with the battery installed and you’re up and running as the app will walk you through the process and it guides you very well. Once I had the smarthub and camera synced up, it was time to figure out where I wanted to place the unit for best usage. I was able to drill a small hole within my home’s vinyl siding in order to get the mount drilled in. The mount has a magnetic face to it and therefore the Arlo 4K camera has a magnetic base and it connects easily and strongly to one another. Position the camera how you like for your viewing area and it holds position very well. I really liked being able to place this camera outdoors without having to run wires and cables to hide them. The battery has been doing really well so far, as it’s down 15% and it’s been running for about 4 days now. I live in the northeast US and experience a good cycle of all 4 weather seasons. So far I’ve gotten the camera wet in a rain storm and it’s still working really well. Depending on which way the rain is blowing / falling it will distort the lens of the camera and possibly effect what you see and record. I’m assuming snow will be an issue for me when winter time is upon us as well. I have my camera in an uncovered area as I don’t have the ability to mount it under an overhang of some sort. The camera has a lot of great features which I’ve been playing with since getting this set up. The ultra-wide 180-degree panoramic view is nice. It gives me a full scope of my target area without a fish eye lens effect or cutting off the edges of my area. Great to be able to get a true full view of a larger zone. The advanced night vision works really well as I tried it a few times late at night. The infrared camera ability depicts the person and surroundings really well and it’s what I was expecting. The added bonus of this camera is that it has an integrated spotlight which lights up your target area and can create a color video to see a better picture of what’s happening. The light I feel is a nice security feature since it will activate on when motion is picked up and deter any potential bad guy from the area. I also have the ability to activate a horn like alarm from my app in order to make an audible sound to deter someone and let them know they’re being monitored with two way conversations from the mic and speaker. The Arlo Ultra also comes with a 1 year plan of Arlo Smart Premier Service which I feel is fantastic for having as a provided plan by Arlo. After that 1 year is up I can subscribe to different tier levels of playback service, and at a quick glance they seemed affordable. I wish this was a non-pay service to be able to monitor these videos. Another feature offered is an e911 action which will allow your Arlo Smart app to access emergency services. This seems like a unique feature that sets it apart from competitors. If someone is truly breaking into your house or you spot suspicious individuals, I would think this could be a great asset in order to alert the right authorities to your home address. On that note as well, you can also have the app contact a friend or neighbor for example similar to the e911 feature. This could be useful if you see something happening and can quickly have a neighbor across the street be alerted that something is occurring at your residence. The 4K camera is a big step up for me from my previous 720p camera which gives me a general idea of what happens at my front door. The Arlo 4K is very clear and detailed for my target area within about 6-10 feet. After that distance I have noticed that images tend to get grainy and blurry when I try to zoom in on something which is unfortunate. I was hoping to be able to see and read out a license plate of a car in my driveway about 20 feet away and couldn’t make it out at all. I could see what kind of car it is easily, but in daylight hours and camera set at BEST VIDEO QUALITY of 4K I was unable to read the license plate. This was a bit of a let down, but I’m toying with settings and trying to see if I can make adjustments to see these types of items better. The app is pretty easy to use and allows for some tweaking on which alerts you want to receive and you can also set a zone for your alert region. The camera has the ability to notify you of motion or person or animal for example when the alert pops up on my iPhone XR and Apple Watch Series 3 (non cellular). Great to see a snapshot picture of what the camera is alerting me about on my Apple devices. A few other nice features I’ve found while I’ve used this for the past few days have been the power management aspect. I can set this on a battery conserve method and it reduces the quality of the video, or I can go to a best video setting which will ensure I’m getting the highest content but the battery duration could suffer a bit. There is also an optimized setting which gives you a balance of video quality and battery life, and that is where I’m running it currently to help prolong until my next recharge. Another nice feature which I’ve utilized, but haven’t found fully useful yet is “auto zoom & tracking.” This feature helps to track a person for example as they come into view of the camera. In this scenario the camera eye tracks the person moving and follows them. In my case a UPS delivery was made and the camera tracked the person walking into the driveway to the front step and then away from the house. Interesting to see this feature, but I don’t know if it’s fully useful yet as I didn’t really find any benefit from it. There also is a feature for package detection in the beta stage within the app. I have this activated, but haven’t seen it function yet so I can’t fully give feedback about that. One concern I have with this product is for anyone that may have an older version of an Arlo camera they invested in. From what I gather this new Arlo 4K camera and smarthub only work with 4K camera units. Therefore for a consumer, who has a previous camera, they will not be able to use that older camera unit with this new smarthub. I hope that Arlo fixes this issue and will make sure to allow previous Arlo camera devices to be used with this new smarthub since it’s all within the same ecosystem. So far I’ve been happy with this security camera and feel confident in the Arlo brand. I’ve had great connectivity and am able to get a view from the camera via my smartphone when I’m away. No issues with connections or blur. Overall I feel it’s a pretty good camera with a high price tag at almost $400, for which you’re getting a smarthub base and a single 4K wireless camera. For me this is pretty good functionality, peace of mind home usage, and hoping for long term use with this. Hoping this helps you out in your decision. PRO: Small and compact design 4K video quality Wireless and wire free Great app for viewing and alerts Security monitor features to deter CON: Expensive price tag Backward compatibility Blurred imagery for distance viewing (license plate) Comes with only 1 rechargeable battery Needs a 2 or 3 hole base mount for better stability

I’ve had a few recent security cameras that were total dogs. These weren’t cheap no-name cameras. A few have retail prices of several hundred dollars and were made by major, well-established manufacturers. With the exception of two brands, every other security camera I’ve tried has been a total failure. The biggest common problem was connectivity. Most of the dog cameras failed to maintain connectivity. They’d work fine for a little while but eventually lost connectivity during the day. That’s a dealbreaker. I’m not even a demanding user. Other than our doorbell camera, we only need camera coverage when we’re away. I don’t need to see my home when I’m there. Therefore, I need rock-solid reliable remote connectivity. This Arlo camera has so far proven to be very reliable as far as connectivity. I believe the included hub is a major reason. So far, I’ve had no issues connecting, even if it sometimes takes a minute or so to connect to live footage. The Arlo camera was easy to set up, configure, place and use. The included magnetic camera mounts are very strong and can be installed pretty much anywhere. An Arlo account is mandatory but easy to create. The camera can either work off of battery or ac power (with optional additional equipment). The user-replaceable battery can be charged without removing it from the camera using the included magnetic USB charging cable and AC adapter. Battery life depends on usage. I typically get a full day or two of use per charge. This is for an 8-10 hour period, not 24 continuous hours. Video quality is very good but not what I would consider spectacular, even in 4K. With 4K enabled, it’s about on par with the HD quality of my other reliable cameras, particularly the one that rhymes with “west”. The Arlo can capture up to a wide 180 degree area. The one and seemingly only area of weakness that I’ve noticed is backlighting. If there are any bright light sources like windows or lighting in the frame, they blow out the exposure of the immediate surrounding area. I even get overexposure from windows on somewhat bright overcast days. I tried adjusting brightness but it only marginally improved the overexposure and is the only setting available to do so. I attached photos of the same area recorded on the Arlo camera and photographed with my smartphone. The properly exposed photo is the cell phone. I did not make any exposure settings. That’s fully automatic exposure. The two overexposed photos are the Arlo camera. One is before and one after adjusting brightness. Low light and night vision recordings are very good and the camera has a motion triggered light for full color recording when triggered. Motion detection is good as well. If something passes in front of the camera, it gets recorded. As good as my doorbell camera is, there are occasional times where it will inexplicably miss motion triggered events. The app is very good with alerts and notifications of triggered events. The camera also does a good job of detection people in a scene, even if they face away from the camera and stay on the fringe edges of the recorded area. The camera also supports two-way conversations and can sound a loud alarm on demand. The app is easy to use and a full year premium subscription trial is included. The premium subscription includes up to 10 cameras, 30 days of video playback, activity zones, person detection and e911. The camera also supports an external USB for constant video recording. An optional CVR subscription is required for that feature. The live viewing, activity history and playback all work very well on the app, even remotely. The app also supports fingerprint login. I am satisfied with the Arlo cam. I like the reliability, ease of use, recording quality and even the added bonus features. It’s not the cheapest option but the premium is worth it, especially with far inferior cameras out there selling for similar or higher prices.