Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is our first security camera of any kind. It was a want of my wife’s to have an additional layer of security and piece of mind around the property. I was skeptical, but have found the interface easy to navigate, performance is good on all fronts, battery life, light output,of light video quality, audio quality, though I’ll admit audio output for voice could use a slight bump in db. Overall I feel a good investment and plan to add more to the perimeter of our home.

Charged the Camera followed the steps to connect the camera tried for over hour and the camera will not connect this is the second one i have gotten that does not work, not happy with this

Great picture and I love the spotlight. Most impressive is no charging for 1 year!!

Very reliable camera. Can easily pull the camera feed via the app, Google or even on my TV using Chromecast and a single command to Google Home. Great battery life and overall image as well. Setup went without a hitch. Highly recommend.

We have had two of these die in just over a year. One will not accept a charge at all, the second only lasts about a day when not plugged in. They also make no recordings in that time period.

We keep this camera at our business, it is high up on the building outside. It was a pain to have to keep going up a ladder to when the battery is dead, so we purchased this for the long battery life. This camera is awesome, and the battery life is insane! The super bright light is amazing at night, and captures our entire front parking lot.

Good camera with great picture it takes a little time sometimes to load live footage but overall it’s a good camera for the price I paid if your wondering about a budget friendly camera this is it don’t hesitate to get it

I've used other cameras before but none have been this easy to set up, I'm impressed with the setup, picture and capabilities and I am hoping to be impressed passed the trial period.

Bought two. One DOA out of the box. Other wouldn’t synch up. PITA to have to take back to the store for refund, but no questions asked and refund was prompt.

Do not buy does not work always have to charge and have to pay monthly lies

Bought 2 of these Essential XL and 2 Ultra 2 XL to replace my first gen Arlo cams. Been impressed so far and pumped about the super long battery life. Video quality is excellent as well

What an amazing camera! Great visual and audio even with rain or wind. Extremely easy to install and start up! Super easy “activity zone” set-ups to avoid unnecessary interruptions. Definitely will recommend anyone to purchase if you want the best quality camera!

Great picture, easy to setup and install. Also installed the solar panel which was also easy to setup and install.

Could not be happier with my purchase! Clear, sensitive and have had it up for over a month and still have 95% battery life!

Setup on this camera was truly a breeze, and the video quality is excellent. The nighttime spotlight video is as good as daylight shots. Sensitivity is about right in default setting, so no adjustment necessary. Highly recommend this model.

We have 24 cameras in all. From essential doorbell, essential spotlights, pro 4, pro 3 floodlights and ultra 2. Great pictures and videos night or day. Floodlights work perfect for lighting up large dark areas of our property. Very happy with every aspect of Arlo. Easy to contact and work through any problems. What 2 or 3 problems i had were on me and you can get help through the app without having to call. I have recommended to family and friends who have purchased Arlo and not a single problem

It's a plug and play system - download the app - the camera is lite weight easy to install - three screws for the mount - mount screws into the back of the camera - sync with the app - produces crystal clear picture day or night

Great camera, great quality, long battery life, keeps my family safe, alerts me when it should, etc.

I needed a light on my front door that turned on when someone approached and this is perfect. After charging the setup was quick and easy. I replaced my original Arlo camera with this one. I love that the battery lasts a year!

The Arlo Essential XL camera works as advertised. Setup involved a couple of minor issues, but once operating, it works well, provides excellent video quality, and is easy to control from your phone. As I said, setup was simple enough, but not completely straightforward. There is a very small “setup guide” included in the box, but all it tells you is that you need to install the Arlo app on your phone to do the actual setup and that it’s a good idea to charge up the device before doing anything. This is where I ran into my first problem. Nowhere does the guide tell you WHERE the plug is on the device for the charger. Included is a short USB cable but no actual charger, so you will have to provide your own charger. I ended up going to the Arlo website and searching for information on this camera to finally find out under exactly what rubber flap the charging port was located. It seems that it would have been a simple matter to include a statement or a diagram about this in the setup guide. After this, setup went smoothly except for one other, slightly annoying thing that I’ve come across with other devices that connect to your home wireless network. This is that this camera will connect only to 2.4 GHz networks. Like many of us certainly do by now, my home network system also provides a 5G network, and my phone normally connects to that. So I had to disconnect my phone from the 5G network and reconnect to the 2.4G for the setup process. Not a big deal, but it seems like 5G has been around long enough that home devices should be able to connect to 5G networks. Once setup is complete, you can reconnect your phone to the 5G network. Once installed, the camera is easy to use. It can be turned on and off, there is a light that can be turned on if the location being viewed is dark (darkened room or it’s nighttime outside), the audio picks up everything, there is a motion sensor which sends alerts to your phone, and the camera works well in low light. I found that I did not want to leave the camera on continuously if it is pointed at an area where motion is relatively constant, which is most anywhere. If you do this, you receive a steady stream of motion alerts, which quickly gets annoying. Arlo does have features where you can set it for animal/vehicle detection, person detection, and package detection, so it can be set to only notify when one of these is detected. I find that the best way to use the camera is not as a 24/7 surveillance camera but rather to leave it off except for the few minutes when you want to turn it on briefly to check on the area it covers. If it’s an outdoor area where vehicles or people might be moving by, you’ll start to get motion alerts, but once you’ve checked the area, you can turn the camera off again. The same is true for surveilling indoor areas. Doing it this way preserves battery life as well. Regarding battery life, the documentation claims that a single charge will last a year, and this can certainly only be true if the camera is not left on all the time. But it will take a year to check this claim. Having a long battery life is very helpful, though, if the camera is mounted in any out-of-the-way place, which is how most people will use it. The app includes a battery life indicator as well. The camera offers other features, too. The audio is two-way, so you can talk to anyone you see on the camera. It is weather-resistant, so it can be mounted outdoors. Mounting is simple. There is a base that can be mounted to a wall or whatever, and the camera is then mounted to the base by screwing it on a mounting post on the base similar to how a regular camera is mounted to a tripod. You can set up an account (at potentially extra cost) to permanently store video recordings. Some plans have 7-day rolling recordings (anything over seven days old is deleted unless you save it). You can set up an automated schedule so the camera will turn on at certain times, record whatever it sees, and then turn off again. You can create “activity zones” within the camera’s field of view to limit only to certain areas motion that will set off the motion detector and create alerts. There is an alarm/siren button on the app that turns on a siren on the camera and calls 911 if you see a crime in progress or something like that. Overall, a camera like this is great for home security. Having several of these around your property can allow you to keep track of what’s going on when you’re away from home. If you want a good, home-security camera, the Arlo Essential XL will fit the bill nicely.