Customer Ratings & Reviews

I was looking to add cameras to my Arlo Ultra 2 system and this was an easy choice with both additional cameras as well as the convenience of a charging dock. Setting these up were extremely easy where they’re plug and play with an existing SmartHub 3. All I had to do to add them as new cameras to my existing system without having to use the included hub with this bundle. Battery compatibility…this is interesting. The battery size, shape, and connector are the same so I can use my Ultra 2 batteries in the Ultra 3 cameras however the Ultra 3 batteries don’t seem to work in my Ultra 2 cameras. The blue light comes on indicating they’re powered but they don’t connect with the app. The charging dock does at least work with the Ultra 2 batteries but it was a bit disappointing to not have full cross compatibility with batteries. USB C charging on the cameras is another nice change from previous cameras which had a proprietary magnetic charging cable making it so I don’t have to find a special cable every time I need to charge. The downside to this new USB charging port is that you can’t place it on a flat surface to charge and monitor at the same time without placing the camera on its side. That was possible with the previous magnetic charging cable that had a flat surface. The highlight of getting this bundle is the charging dock which makes it so you can quickly swap batteries and always have one charged and ready to go. The strange thing about this charging dock though is that it uses a proprietary wall adapter and it’s not USB C like the cameras. Would love to see that be USB C as well. They include a Premium subscription trial with the bundle but I’ve found the Plus plan that I’ve been using with my previous setup to provide the features I need, however I can see the Premium Plan being a good deal for the additional 24/7 monitoring features it provides. I’ve been happy with Arlo Camera systems and this has been a nice upgrade but I would have loved to have full battery compatibility.

Arlo is a big name in wireless security for a reason. They hit a lot of benchmarks that users are looking for. The biggest benchmark seems to be simple install. As someone who installs security cameras regularly, at face value, it doesn't get much simpler to install. Is that the reality however? The answer is no. The install and setup of this Arlo Ultra 3-Camera system did not go smoothly. First, this kit includes a smart hub, a battery charger, 4 batteries, 3 cameras, and 2 power supplies. The first instruction for install is to fully charge the batteries before attempting setup. Guess what it doesn't tell you? Which charger cable goes to the battery charger and which one goes to the smart hub. The connections work for either, however the output of the chargers is different and these power supplies are not interchangeable. If your batteries are solid orange, you are using the correct power supply. If your batteries have a flashing orange light, you are using the wrong power supply. This is also not shown anywhere in the directions. To be honest, not a lot is shown in the directions other than download the app and follow the instructions. After figuring out and labeling the power supplies and charging my batteries, I attempted setup. After four attempts, by Smart Hub would not connect to network and was not able to be detected by the Arlo Secure app. I logged into my router and could not find the smart hub on my network even though it was connected via ethernet cable to the router. I found out that the supplied ethernet cable did not have continuity in a couple pins, which Im assuming was the result of a bad crimp. After figuring this out, I used one of my patch cables and we were finally started. After getting the Smart Hub setup, the Arlo Secure app could not find the cameras. I was able to find a work around by pressing the pairing button on the inside of the camera which allowed me to sync the cameras to the Smart Hub. Once setup, the picture quality was underwhelming in live view, despite changing the settings to allow HD viewing in Live View. Recorded view is a little bit better, however gives me the feeling of simulated 4K vis actual 4K recording, The analytics from Arlo, however, have always shown to be pretty solid. This is by second set of Arlo wireless cameras. The first set I ditched quickly as the battery would only last about 4 days before needing a charge. These current cameras I have had setup for about a week and are currently sitting at 84%. I will be interested to see how these do in my colder climate as that weather seems to effect battery life. These cameras to allow you to sign up for Emergency notifying services, however I work for an emergency service so this is not necessary for me. If I wanted to secure a camper, rental property, or apartment, I would definitely consider these Arlo Ultra 3 Camera setup. They allow a quick and simple solution for temporary or fluid situations. If I was a home or business owner, I would go a different route and get a legitimate wired system for my premise.

I bought these before doing my resarch. Upon doing that, I found that they didn't have very good reviews and all cameras would require a paid subscription to access the features I wanted. So I just returned them all.