Arlo Certified Accessory, SmartHub Add-On Unit, MicroSD Card Local Storage, Optimised Functionality & Improved Battery Life, Designed for Arlo Pro 3, Pro 4 (+XL), Pro 5, Ultra 2 (+XL), White

Really good quality cameras and easy to set up

I've used this camera for several months now.Recently someone on a bike broke a window in a car on my driveway and the camera did not record it at all.The camera sometimes misses to activate, e.g. when someone is riding a bike, it activates only sometimes.Other issues with the camera:* The 6-month battery life works only if you aim the camera at some place where nobody goes. I live on a small dead-end street, and with the very low traffic, when I set up the camera to watch the street, it survives maybe 3 days on a single charge.* HomeKit integration does not work at all. It supposedly supports HomeKit integration, but it never finishes setup.* The base station can store video, but only one person can view this video on their phone. I shared the access to cameras with my wife, and she cannot access it on her phone. If she logs in using my account on her phone, then the app logs me out on my phone and I don't receive notifications anymore.* The camera takes about 2s to activate. With some cars driving on my street it starts recording when the car is exiting the view.I am very disappointed in this product. Many reviews on the Internet say this is one of the best security cameras, but I don't understand how this is possible. Image quality alone is useless if the camera doesn't record what it was made for.

The media could not be loaded. This kit came with all the necessary instructions to set it up easily. There is an Arlo Hub that connects to your router with a short cable. Each of the cameras connects wirelessly to that hub. We located the cameras around our property and although we did have to re-site our router to ensure all the cameras could ‘see’ the hub it didn’t take very long to get good signals from each camera. Each of the batteries with the kit did have some charge in them so we were ‘up and running’ on day one. Shortly after the installation we bought two additional batteries and a double charging unit. So far, the batteries have lost about one third of their charge in 7 weeks since the last full charge. We have now set up an account with Arlo and pay the monthly subscription. The quality of the video is superb. In daylight you can zoom in to an amazing level of detail. At night the lights on the cameras are activated and the short video with this review shows our front garden with one of our nightly visitors – Mr Fox. The microphone on the cameras also works well and we have used it to speak to delivery people while we were out of the country.

Fantastic product, great quality, easy to connect up / install. My only problem is battery life. I’ve had to disarm them while at home using the geofencing. Another great option by the way. The motion detection is that good it picks up everything every time and you want it to otherwise it’s missing stuff right?This uses battery especially at 4k. you can reduce the view 180 to 120 etc and also the picture quality but that kind of takes away the point of buying the top quality cameras. We had the family round all sat in the back garden and with it detecting movement all day it killed the camera in a day. Which isn’t a problem but like I say I’ve now disarmed them while at home but what if somebody damages my property while their disarmed and I don’t see them. You’ve basically got 3 white blobs on the wall for nothing at £500. I think I’ll get the solar panels for them but then that kind of ruins the aesthetics and you might as well of just got wired cameras. Fantastic product but battery technology just isn’t there yet. Will not last anywhere near 6months unless you have them switch off all the time.

Ok, so these are a nicely built, solid to the point of maybe being premium security systemUpsides, feel good, look good, totally wirefree, not bad image quality by day and usable quality by nightDown sides, in no way shape or form will the batteries last more than a couple of weeks. I don't know how they managed to eek 6 months out of one, my use case is occasional and 6 weeks is the best I've seenWhilst the 4k video quality is good it's by no means worth the cost premium over the 2k or even the 1080p cameras. 4k is best case whilst connected to a power source, as soon as it's battery and WiFi it reverts to 2k anyway.The main plus to this system is ease of install. Alas that's also it's weakness. The WiFi range is pitiful. My cameras are all line of sight to the base station, max distance maybe 10 meters, min distance les than 2 meters, but all cameras will spend a good amount of their time " off line". Arlo give no end of unhelpful tips but long and short is their range is at best 5 or so meters. Again, in what world they managed to get their claimed range I do not know.Latency is also a major issue with this system. If you get a notification then log straight in you're looking at 40 seconds or so before you get a picture, so it can't really be considered as a real time systemCouple this with the app. When they're new they throw in 6 months of premium do it all/ record it all for free. Once that expires my 5 camera set up has cost me 15 odd quid a month, without the upgrade the system really is of no value whatsoever. There is no way to record locally or on device and without the premium all one can do is log onto the app to see the cameras in real time (well, less a minute of latency anyway)Nice but by no means worthy of the cost of this system. And let's be honest, not really of any benefit beyond spying on your cat whilst you're at workAll in all you're better to go for a wired system with a hard drive recorder linked. I know you'll have to run wires and I get the simplicity of this system is a draw. But for me the price Vs the compromise makes this system externally poor value, and once the free premium upgrade ends it also makes it yet another monthly subscription that no one actually wants to paySo Paul's top tip; keep on looking, or pay an expert to install a system properly