Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have momentum camera as one of inside cameras, but they no longer sell in retailers, unfortunately. I’ve had Arlo’s essential indoor camera for three months now and it’s not worth the buy. If the internet goes out it does not automatically reconnect when it comes back up. It does this buffering when recording very often so the video is constantly pausing as playing (can easily miss something happening). It also grays out while recording often times. I constantly have to completely reboot and restart it when there is an internet outage just for it get back to working and recording, the last time it did that completely had my nerves shot because it was such a pain in the ‘ssa’. The view is fairly decent when it does record and it does pick up sound greatly. Maybe with a few software updates I’d assume, it’ll be worth the purchase. For now I’ll just to stick to my doorbell cameras with them, and momentum for my indoor cameras.

Fantastic camera. Image quality is solid. I am able to tell what I am seeing and I believe most will have no issues with the quality of the image day or night. Night vision, like with all cameras, requires some finessing in some situations. Don't put anything too close to the front of it or else it could generate over brightening of the image. In a well placed location, the night vision is solid! Audio is clear. When I spoke into it, it was either super clear. Any issues that I had with audio appeared to be related to network connectivity/speeds. Setup was easy. Setup took about 5-10 minutes to complete and I'd wager this would be true if I was setting up multiple cameras. The app was easy to use and clear as to what you are doing (I am using iOS). notifications were super sensitive to start and was triggering my phone constantly, but I was able to tone it back to a reasonable amount. My biggest complaint about this camera is not being able to do 24/7 recording without motion as it is connected to power already and wouldn't have an issue with running out of power.

he Arlo Essential 1-Camera Indoor Wired 2K Security Camera (2nd Generation) has proven to be a game-changer in home security. Boasting a crystal-clear 2K resolution, its video quality is unparalleled, providing sharp and detailed footage both day and night. What sets this camera apart is the Automated Privacy Shield, a thoughtful feature that automatically retracts the camera when disarmed, ensuring privacy for users at home. Installation is a breeze, thanks to the user-friendly Arlo app that guides you through the process. The camera seamlessly integrates with popular smart home ecosystems, allowing for convenient voice commands and easy inclusion in existing setups. Customizable motion detection zones and sensitivity settings enhance the reliability of alerts, minimizing false alarms. While the free trial of Arlo Smart is a plus, the subscription plans for cloud storage might be a consideration for budget-conscious users. Nonetheless, the peace of mind and security offered by Arlo Essential make it a worthwhile investment. In its 2nd generation, Arlo continues to lead the pack in innovative and reliable indoor security solutions.

Summary: A small, inexpensive, and powerful indoor camera with great image quality, the convenience of USB C, but a disorganized new app. I’ve been using Arlo cameras for over 5 years and am heavily invested in the ecosystem with multiple wireless cameras outside and was looking for an indoor addition. I wanted something small, with good image quality, and also wired so I wouldn’t have to worry about recharging batteries and this fits the bill. The image quality from the 2K camera is astoundingly good - there’s really no need for 4K where there’s tons of detail. It also handles low light situations very well and the night vision mode is crazy-good where you can easily make out facial details even in a completely dark room. Motion detection is also very good where you can have it set to be extremely sensitive where it will detect even tiny changes in light. You can set it to be much less sensitive too where it only detects larger movements like humans or animals moving across the frame. I set the detection sensitivity to around 30-40% to prevent an over abundance of alerts for non-important events. The camera is mounted on a small base so it can be easily placed in smaller locations. The angle of the camera is also adjustable and it comes with a baseplate that can be screwed into a wall for a more permanent fixture. The camera has a built-in power cable with the other end being USB C so you don’t have to use a proprietary wall plug but they do actually provide a USB C wall plug which is nice. If you’re an existing Arlo owner, the new app will take some getting used to and I certainly prefer the previous app. You will be forced to update to the new app to use this camera. The main issue is that settings are strewn about the app in illogical places. There are settings such video and audio identification settings for individual cameras such as motion alerts and audio alerts that are located in your “Home” settings under your profile, not in the individual camera settings that are accessed by tapping on the camera in your device list tab. And as a mother reviewer noted, the setting to turn off the indicator LED is hard to find (it’s in Device Settings, tap on the camera name, and it’s in Device info). I found connecting to the live camera feed to be intermittent. Sometimes it connects instantly and sometimes it doesn’t connect at all. When I first started writing this review it wouldn’t connect, now that I’m wrapping up this review a day later it’s connecting just fine. I had similar issues with some of my wireless cameras initially but don’t experience those issues anymore, so it could be resolved with an software update. For the price, it’s a fantastic addition to an existing Arlo system and thankfully most of the frustrations can likely be resolved with app and software updates.

You get a 30 day free trial for their membership, but after that you have to to have one purchased in order to see clips of activity- or you only get motion detection notifications. Going back to Ring.

The Arlo - Essential 1-Camera Indoor Wired 2K Security Camera (2nd Generation) with Automated Privacy Shield - White is a remarkable indoor security camera the delivers clear surveillance video in up to 2K (2560 x 1440) resolution. This camera features a digital zoom allowing you to slightly enhance the visual of an object or section of the room while using the remote app from your mobile device. Setting up the Arlo - Essential 1-Camera is pretty simple. There is only one included power cable that you must plug in to an outlet. Once it's plugged in, you use your phone's bluetooth and wireless connection to configure the wireless network options for the camera. This camera does not support ethernet cables. It is purely wireless network compatible. The Arlo Essential security camera has a ton of nice features. Live video streaming. I use this feature on a regular basis when I am away from the house. The video is always clear and I can see exactly what's happening in my home. Motion detection will provide you with optional alerts on your phone so that you are kept up to date on down to the moment if anything changes in your home. The noice canceling audio is pretty good. You hear what you need to hear without a lot of background noise degrading the sound. Using the camera is extremely easy. The app is intuitive to navigate and easy to customize and control. You can create your own dashboard so that you see all the information and video that is important to you as soon as you open the app. I do enjoy having the Arlo Essential Indoor 2K security camera. It looks great. Has multiple options for mounting and positioning to make sure you capture the right angles. It has a 130º FOV (field of view) so you can cover a pretty wide area. You will have to subscribe to a cloud service for storing and reviewing your videos. I highly recommend this camera for anyone looking for a simple, elegant, dependable security camera.

The Arlo wired indoor cam is good for basic surveillance and supervision of the interior of my home when I am away. My favorite feature on it is the two-way audio communication in addition to the video monitoring I can have on my phone. I can easily communicate with my teenager and her siblings if I need to step out to the grocery store or anywhere else briefly. I can check in on home, ask questions, and communicate as needed. This is all through the app that goes with it by the way. Another couple of features I'll highlight were the wide-angle view, night vision, and the high resolution of the camera. You can go between 720, 1080, and 2k resolutions when viewing as well. My only complaint is that the camera is virtually useless without the paid subscription. You need it for the feed, It has an "event' detector --- which also requires the paid subscription as well, so if you're not planning to get that, I wouldn't get this camera at all. All this aside, it is a good camera, good resolution and quality, and doesn't necessarily exceed its competition, but it is on par with it.

If wifi connection is weak or there is alot of interference, it will not connect. It cannot connect to hub station.

Its broken in one week I was on vacation and Best Buy didn’t replace it

The Arlo - Essential 1-Camera Indoor Wired 2K Security Camera (2nd Generation) has great video and audio capability. Connected to the Arlo app gives you all the flexibility in setting up the camera. You can geofence to turn on and off when certain people leave and come home, although this is for the whole system it applies to every camera you have connected. Setting up and adding the camera is simple with the app. The camera comes with a USB C chord and AC Adapter. If you have a USB C outlet you can use without the adapter. Once added you can set up the camera audio, video and different settings to detect motion and or sound. I like the flexibility to set up activity zones so you can be very specific about where the camera will alert you to motion. I set up by a window and a tree branch and flag waving kept setting it off so I moved the Activity Zone which stopped the false alerts but still protected the doorwall area so if someone walks in it will detect them. Set up also includes the ability to test the motion and audio from low to high. Again I modified this so it stops picking up my robot vacuum as much. I still get the occasional alert but overall much better than if the option didn't exist. The only cons I have are the chord, but that is the product, Arlo does offer cordless options, I didn't deduct a star for this because it is not the cordless option. The privacy window is also a issue for me, it is loud when it opens which means it isn't stealthy when turning on. All in all I would recommend this to a friend.

Arlo cameras are by far the best cameras I've owned and I've owned several other brands and now with this camera indoors I've replaced them all with Arlo. The privacy shield is the best new feature that sold me on this camera, because I'm home a lot this feature makes me feel like I have more control over my privacy. If you own indoor cameras or have been thinking about buying one I'm sure you thought about some hacker or someone at Arlo watching your every move in the house, not anymore! If you are looking to add one to your home security you should consider owning one of these. The privacy shield can be used by turning the cam off or by using it in a smart device routine schedule (Alexa or google). I have mine set on a routine when I leave the house the geo fence triggers my camera to come on and the privacy shield opens to monitor the house while I'm gone and when I get home the privacy shield activates and closes. The 2k video is plenty enough resolution for good video but zooming in to see faces could be a challenge if you have a large room but so does my 4k device. The camera comes with 30 day free trial so you will have access to all the features but after the trial ends you lose functions so just know you need to make that decision. I already have a Arlo system with a hub station and this connected right to that no problem. If you don't have an account already, this unit should stand on it's own without a hub you just need to create a new account and connect to your home wifi.

This camera is great for indoor security. I love the fact that it zooms in 12x to be able to see exactly what is going on. With you being able to zoom into objects you can tell faces, cars that drive by etc. It makes for better resolution to be able to identify things easier. The set up on the camera was fairly easy to do. The directions ere very easy to follow. The sleek design is easy for discreet placement so you can keep n eye on things that are important to you. This day and age it doesnt help for a little bit extra security. The only thing that I am really not a fan of is the clicking sound that it makes while it is recording. I like that fact that it is hard wired as well. Always having it running on some cameras the batteries constantly need charged, with this you can plug it in and not have to worry about replacing batteries. Being able to connect this with your other also cameras was fairly simple. You cannot go wrong with this camera, not only is it affordable you get a great camera for the money.

When I saw that Arlo was going to stop supporting their old model cameras, I decided to get this Arlo Essential camera to replace my Netgear Arlo Q camera... which is still working perfectly fine. For a few years now, we’ve been using the whole Arlo system which includes 3 cameras and the video doorbell and the Arlo Secure subscription. Everything was running fine… until this camera. Installing the camera was as easy as all the other Arlo devices. What really seemed to have messed things up was, while adding the camera to my app, I was prompted to update the app to a new version. Well, the new version is quite a drastic change from the previous version. It erased all the schedules I had set up. The process of setting up schedules is completely different and not intuitive. As for the camera itself, it worked as expected. The 2K image is very clear and the night vision is better than on the Arlo Q camera. The speaker is a lot more clear making it easier to understand the person on the other side. I have mixed feelings about the privacy shutter. While I appreciate the privacy when we’re home, I do not like how you can easily hear it open and close. There are times when we go on trips and hire a dog sitter to stay at our house. Yes, we like to occasionally check in on the sitter. (We had a sitter in the past who invited friends over without asking us.) With the Arlo Q camera, we were able to discreetly check in on the sitter. That will not be possible with the Essential camera and its very noticeable shutter noise. I’m still trying to figure out how to work around that with setting up a routine based on geofencing, but so far I cannot get it to work consistently. Part of the quirkinesses with the new version of the app. The day after setting up the Essential camera, it seemed to have stopped working. It still appeared in the app, and I could see past videos, but I could not get it to stream live video. I contacted Arlo support and they told me that there was a known issue with their Essential cameras. It took 2 days for them to resolve the issue. I’d like to note that I also took this opportunity to ask their support about (re)setting up all my schedules. It took communicating with 5 different support reps before finally getting someone to actually provide helpful information. I even had one rep send me instructions for the old version of the app. Most of them had responses that indicated that they didn’t even read what I was sending them. It was a very frustrating experience. Overall, this Essential camera has left me with mixed feelings. After the technical issues with the camera were resolved, the functionality of the camera is good. It would have been nice to not have been prompted to update the whole app while setting up the camera. Based on my support experience, it seemed even the Arlo support team was not ready for this camera, and the new version of the app, to go live.

The new Arlo Essential is a good improvement on the previous generation - It now offers a privacy shutter that automatically opens and closes based on at-home privacy/arming settings you specify. It's also a slightly modified aesthetic design that allows it to blend in better to your home without gaudy logos on the front of the camera bezel. The camera offers a shelf/table mount option, or converts via a screw-mount for wall mounting with the included stand/bracket. The USB power cable included isn't long enough for some wall mount scenarios, so extension cords might be needed for some mounting scenarios. Connectivity is easy as this camera can independently connect to the Arlo app via 2.4GHz WiFi. If you have a Mesh WiFi system, ensure that it has its own 2.4GHz band for IoT devices to ensure maximum compatibility. Things were easier when I tested it with this setting turned on for my home network. The camera image quality is good, comparable to competitive indoor cams that were used in similar areas of my home. the "2K" version I have is the premium model, and a 1080p version is also available. The camera is able to connect, once set up with the Arlo app, to Google Home and Amazon apps. I was also able to use it with HomeKit using my HomeKit bridge, so its compatible with all of the ecosystems if you have the right bridging gear in your home.

First get this camera when .on sale and it is a very good bargain. I have an area in my basement, the boiler room, approximately 90 feet from the router, no mesh system. Router is about 5- 7 years old. I have tried blink, Lorex and other lesser known wifi plug in cameras with no signal or sporadic signal, make the cameras useless. I have a very old Foscam 7+ years old camera that has a solid connection about 85% of the time. I know weird. So set up of this arlo camera took less than 3-5 minutes, really less. Updates and entering my password took the longest and account for the bulk of the installation time. I set it up in the boiler room eventually. Connection too sporadic but after about 3-5 m8nutes in the new location, the connection has been rock solid. Sound pickup is fantastic and clear during app playback. The live video delay on the app is under 2 seconds, love it. No drop connection or list if signal so far. Now the sound quality is great but omg the picture quality over the Foscam and even many of my other more powerful cameras is just phenomenal. The black and white clarity is just pure clarity. The color pictures is like you are actually in the room. Zoom clarity is not affected.

This little camera came at just the right time and I’m so pleased with the performance. I had someone storing basically all their possessions in my garage while they looked for permanent housing and, to protect myself as well as their stuff I decided to set this camera up in there. It picks up everything! If I’m arriving home it notifies me that the garage door is opening. It tells me there’s a vehicle detected in the viewing area. It tells me there’s people detected when we get out of the car. Every time I get a notification it automatically records whatever it detects. Five minutes after I’ve left the garage into the house I’ll get a notification that motion was detected because the garage light automatically shuts off. If my car continues to settle and makes slight noises I get a notification and they’re recorded. Downloading the app and connecting the camera was simple and easy, one of the fastest processes for a new device setup that I’ve done. I was impressed with the ease of the entire process. Seeing the modes for monitoring was simple and toggling between them takes no effort. The camera is hard wired so no need to worry about charging. The recordings of the audio and video triggered events are clear and precise. I can see how this camera will come in very handy in the future and I’ve already purchased three more for the rest of my home, replacing the other brand I’ve had for years. Overall I’m very happy with this camera and have absolutely no complaints or negative feedback. I would highly recommend to a friend.

I really like these brand of cameras but they are not the best, the cheapest, nor the most expensive. They are a balance wired camera for your indoors that is very basic in functionality but it does have simple app functionality. I do have other cameras of this brand so that makes it easy for me to integrate this one into the mix. I will say that the one thing I don't like it that without paying for an extra dvr service per camera the recording functionality and availability is extremely basic. I am able to see videos of things within the last month and download them to my phone. I don't have an app for my PC or a way to with an app to watch the feeds from my much bigger PC monitor. I also don't like that this needs the plug to work. I think it would have been better to have an option to use a cord or a battery. If the power goes out, then the camera is down. There is also a slight delay and I have not found a way to stop that. The first 2 seconds or so are not recorded when it should be. I would recommend it but be sure you know what you are getting.

I have been wanting an indoor camera to use as I have cats and also have foster cats at the moment. I also live in an apartment and like the option to see if maintenance enters while I'm away. The Arlo Essential camera is a great option as its compact and easy to set up as well as offered at a great price point. The unboxing was super quick and easy. The box includes the camera with cord, a power block, and mounting accessories as well as all instructions. Once plugged in, you will be able to set up directly through the app. There is a button to connect to bluetooth to your phone and then add your Wifi network through the app. Any updates will be installed while setting up. The stand on the bottom allows it to be adjusted to whatever you like to get the correct view. I will not be mounting mine because my apartment is fairly small, but the mounting process looks super quick and easy and only includes a few pieces. You can add the security package for a monthly subsrcription price to upload feed to your cloud and save the video format. There is also an emergency feature where the camera can notify emergency services. There are options to see saved feeds as well as the live feed. This camera has a lot of great features and is perfect for what I'm looking for!

The Arlo Essential Indoor Camera is a wired, 2K security camera. It is a very small indoor camera that is just under 4” tall. The setup is incredibly simple and quick. The part that took me the longest was deciding where I wanted to place it! To setup: Plug it in using the included power plug and attached cord. It doesn’t charge - it is a wired camera so know that wherever you decide to place it, it will need to be constantly plugged in. Then download the Arlo Secure app and follow the simple instructions to get the camera onto your WiFi. The Arlo Secure app is a bit wonky for me. It shows as having been updated in the last week or so, but I find it to be unclear as to where to find what I am looking for - to me it isn't very intuitive. I can eventually find what I want, but it takes time. As soon as you are on your WiFi, you are automatically enrolled into a trial period of the Arlo Secure Service - there is no choice in this. The Arlo Secure Service provides 30 days of cloud storage of automatically recorded clips, animated notification previews and more. I believe it is a 30 day free trial after which, you will be billed, if you sign up. The least expensive plan I see right now is $4.99/mo for 1 camera. Without the service you are not able to automatically record events - there is no cloud recording. You can see events as they stream only. If you choose to record an individual stream to your phone on your own, you are able to do that if you catch an event live only. This is the main thing that gets me about companies like this - I buy their camera, but I cannot use it fully without paying them a monthly fee. There are some nice features with this camera such as the privacy shield. When you don’t wish to have the camera observe anything, you are able to close the shield from within the Arlo app and a physical shield goes over the lens. You receive notifications on your phone when any motion is detected and if you are paying for a plan, it will record the event in 2K and it will let you know if the motion is a person, animal or vehicle. It has 2 way audio so you can speak to and hear visitors. And it has a siren that can be activated manually or via settings in the app as a result of motion. I would recommend this Arlo Essential Indoor Camera to those looking for a basic indoor security camera and who are willing to pay for a monthly subscription if the non-subscription features aren’t enough. I would recommend checking that out before purchase.

We recently purchased an Arlo Pro 5S. We already have an older version and wanted the 5S to scan a further distance in another area. So far it has been great, the night vision in color is a great feature, so far there hasn't been anything at the distance we are surveilling, but it does pick up our dogs very well. The battery also charges and lasts longer than our older version.