Customer Ratings & Reviews

I recently purchased the Arlo Essential 1-Camera Indoor Wireless 2K Security Camera (3rd Gen) in white to monitor a specific area within my home, and overall, I’d rate it three stars — positive, but with some caveats. First, the setup process was impressively easy. The instructions were clear, and I had the camera connected to my Wi-Fi and positioned exactly where I wanted it within minutes. The plug-in power means I don’t have to worry about charging or replacing batteries, which is a huge plus for continuous indoor use. The 2K picture quality is very good — clear, detailed, and sharp enough to easily identify faces and small movements. Even in lower lighting, the camera performs well. The motion detection and notifications are responsive, and I appreciate being able to check live footage quickly through the app. However, my biggest disappointment — and the reason for a three-star rating — is that you can’t view recorded videos without an Arlo subscription. This feels limiting since the hardware itself is great, but the full functionality is locked behind a paywall. Unfortunately, this seems to have become standard across most camera brands, so I’ve accepted it as part of today’s smart home ecosystem. In short, this camera delivers excellent video quality, easy setup, and reliable performance, but the subscription requirement for recordings keeps it from being a perfect purchase. It’s a good camera — just be prepared for ongoing costs if you want full access to your footage.

Great addition to an existing Arlo camera system since all the footage is on one app. The setup was easy in that I just plugged in and added the camera to my existing system. I just set it on the dresser in my son’s room. It was nice to look in on him, and it sent me a notification to see if he cried, which was good when I was downstairs at night. I did move it to our living room to see how good it was watching the dogs. When they barked, I got a notification but since they bark whenever someone is near the house outside. I received multiple notifications, and it was more distracting than helpful. The two-way audio is ok but the audio is not that loud so I do not feel like my dogs could hear me as they did not respond. The video was very clear and at night the night vision was decent. I had hardly any delay when looking at live footage. The only issues I had were the fact that you needed to set it on something and the audio was low in sound compared to others. For the money it is worth it. I do like the privacy shield however I did not find us using it since either I feel you’re ok or not with an indoor camera or not. I did not feel like there was a need to turn it off when we were at home. Also, it would be nice if there was a way to make the color blend more with our decor like different skins so this could be more subtle.

This product arrived well packaged. There was sufficient material to absorb shocks and drops in the box that the camera was in and the box. I seriously doubt that any harm could come to this package in the normal course of shipping. Additionally, the package was well thought out and easy to open, and was very easy to understand what was where upon opening. Once opened, it was clear what was needed and I would recommend having the app ready to go. The app was highly rated when downloaded from the app store. I downloaded it onto an iPhone 17, iPad Air, and Google Pixel 9 Pro and the user interface seemed to be similar between devices and clear in what did what in there. Once the camera was setup (took about 5-10 minutes), the picture quality was clear, the audio was easy to hear. Overall no issues with the camera, setup or packaging. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a camera in this form factor (set on a table, desk, end stand, etc). No issues with it connecting to Wi-Fi for internet.

The Arlo Essential line is an excellent series of cameras for someone looking to monitor their home without professional install and with a very low cost to get started. I've just received both this (TINY!) 2K indoor plug camera and the Indoor Pan Tilt version, so my thoughts will be pretty much the same for parts of their shared experience. Where Arlo differentiates themselves from so many other camera brands is the fact that they are a US-based company and that they tend to have very good privacy protections for their users (so far...). Unlike a few other well--known brands, Arlo will not share your video with law enforcement or the government without your permission unless they are presented a warrant. #Unboxing and first impressions# Unboxing the Arlo Essential 3rd Gen 2K Indoor Plug camera was pretty pleasant overall. The camera arrived in an extremely small cardboard box foreshadowing just how small the camera inside will be, with all cardboard packing materials inside to ensure safety for shipping. There is thin plastic film on the camera itself, but otherwise the packaging is all recyclable. The camera comes with a wall/ceiling mount that also functions as the tabletop mount with nonskid feet. Unlike the Pan Tilt version, the smaller 2K Indoor camera comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable that is detachable from the power adapter. Like the Pan Tilt version, I was able to test the standard Indoor camera with different USB-C power adapter and it worked just fine, so if the included one gets damaged you have options as long as they provide the correct output wattage. #Using the Arlo Essentials camera# The Arlo Essentials 3rd Gen Indoor plugin camera was really easy to set up, even moreso that it was the second camera I'd done from the brand in the same week. Arlo includes a 30 day subscription to their Arlo Secure subscription which is normally about 8 bucks per month per camera (or 18 bucks/month for unlimited cameras). Without the subscription, you can't record video and get no AI recognition features, but you can watch live video at no charge. It was incredibly easy to set up the camera in the app. I just had to follow simple instructions in the Arlo app and tap a button on the camera body, and it was able to add it to my network with zero fuss. Just like the 3rd gen Pan Tilt model I reviewed, the 3rd Gen 2K Indoor plug camera supports both 2.4 and 5ghz wifi, so you do NOT have to put this camera on a 2.4ghz only network! That's such a huge selling point especially for less tech-savvy people who don't want to mess with "IoT networks" and want things to "just work" out of the box. Video quality is really good. The real time/Live video feed is very high framerate (appears to be 60, but not sure exactly). The recorded videos arrive with different framerates depending on the amount of motion in the clip. The downloaded clips look great, with few compression artifacts. The Indoor camera has a really cool privacy shield feature that slides a very obvious white disk over the lens, so you KNOW that the camera is not recording when it's engaged. From past experience, it helps put people at ease if you can show they aren't being recorded when they are in your home except late at night. #Final thoughts# I think Arlo has a decent value proposition with the Essentials line. You can spend a bit more money on a camera or system that has local storage and doesn't require a cloud subscription. You can also find camera systems that have much cheaper cloud subscriptions for a single camera. However, once you're at the multi-camera stage where you have 3 or more, the unlimited camera sub for Arlo is pretty reasonable, and the person/pet detection works really well in the week that I've had the camera. Considering it's a US based company with a strong track record for privacy, I'd consider Arlo as a premium option for security cameras. Considering the Arlo 2K camera comes in at a shockingly low MSRP for a name brand camera, it's easy to recommend if you are picking up several and can take full advantage of the low price for the Unlimited plan.

If you’re looking for a plug and play, add-on camera for inside your house, this is an easy choice. I already have an Arlo wireless camera system but for indoor use, those can be less convenient if they aren’t connected to power where you have to recharge them. The wireless cameras are also much larger than this unit which is fairly svelte and also has a built in stand. In terms of setup, this was as simple as adding this camera to the Arlo app and it took no less than a couple minutes to get up and running. The convenience of being wired is awesome. No batteries to recharge and it’s always on. I also love the fact that it uses USB C for power so you can use whatever cable that you’d like. A welcome change they made from the previous generation Essential camera is having a USB C port on the back of the camera vs the previous version where the cable was attached, so you can power this with any cable you have laying around. Additionally, since this uses a standard USB C connection on the camera, you could theoretically still use this as a wireless camera with a big enough power bank. A not-so-welcome change is that they went with a USB A power adapter which is incredibly odd considering my previous version had USB C. So the cable that’s provided is USB A to USB C. It’s a nice, long cable which is nice but I thought the days of USB A were over. The 2K resolution is perfectly fine for indoor use. The 4K resolution I think is useful for outdoor use but I don’t think you really need more than that for indoors. I already have been using the Plus Arlo subscription with unlimited cameras so this didn’t cost me anything extra in terms of a monthly cost. I feel like their unlimited camera Plus subscription is a great deal for what you get. Still definitely recommended as you can still use any USB C power source that you'd like but just a bit odd to revert to USB A for the adaptor.

So mI have had Arlo products for years. I have always found them to be solid mi-grade consumers that are fairly priced and relatively feature rich. When this Essential 2K came out, I was excited to get it. The timing was perfect, because the week before, I recieved Arlo Essential outdoor-cam. The original plan was install it at our Silverdale tiny house. Our son is a US Navy Nuclear Engineer at the Kitsap Submarine Base. When we learned he was going to be stationed there, we purchased a few acres, made a few improvements and had a "tiny-house" installed for him until we retired. Now this is the perfect companion piece. It can cover the enitirety of the living / kitchen area of the house, while the outdoor cam can moniitor the lane leading up to the home. Arlo has their subscription plan, and it's reasonably priced. They also (I have read), offer a "hub" that allows for localstorage. Weare going witht he subscription. Our thinking is we can monitor the camera's here from Colorado while he is out under the Pacific Ocean, and we can notify local law enforcement if needed. And having the recording "in the cloud", we can be assured that if the hiuse is ever burgularized, they can't steal the recording. OK, onto the techy stuff. I won't dwell too much here as there is ample great info on the BB site and my fellow TIN reviewers. Setup was simle. We already had the app, so adding the additiopnal camera was simple. Video quality is great, in both full light and in the dark. For the price, this is a great choice, especially if you already have the Arlo infrastructure.

I have outdoor cameras everywhere and some indoor ones. The Arlo 3rd gen essential indoor camera fits my Google Home system without the price tag of Google home native cameras. This cameras has quality build, and is light. It is an Arlo product so I know I have a good product with real durable materials. It does not feel as premium as the ultras, but this is a really good value to add to my Arlo system. It does show on my google home widget, though it takes a while to load. Connectivity is easy—almost plug and play and the set up is easy enough without using a hub, as the Arlo secure app easily adds it with the rest of my cameras. It does require subscription though, if I want to record continuously. Luckily, this is used for my toddler’s play area and the privacy screen is a really great addition because it helps with us being able to monitor our toddler remotely, and for the our babysitter to still feel that there is some sort of privacy—because the shutter actually opens and it indicates that we are there to watch, which sort of provides a partial consent or handshake with our sitter every time we watch. The quality of the video is good, but needs really good light to see quality. There is a decent detection notification except that sometimes it says that there is glass breaking when it’s just a toy that fell down. Overall it is a good device especially for the price. The subscription will add up, but if you will only use it like me, where I want to see and hear my toddler live from time-to-time as we provide a good level of privacy, this is a good buy.