I have the old Arlo2 system that's subscription free up to 5 cameras holding 7 days footage. Been a absolute workhorse for 7 years, endless UA-cam videos derived from what it's captured. It's just so sad Arlo went down the subscription model. And thats cut me out of ever thinking of buying Arlo again.
Sadly it seems to be the route many camera suppliers are going. The main difference with Arlo to most IP camera suppliers is that you have no choice if you want to see recorded footage. The TP-Link Tapo cameras that I've been replacing all of my security cameras with have an optional subscription, but it's not necessary if you can use local storage. I do have a Ring doorbell though, and that needs a subscription which goes up every year too.
Warning Never Purchase any security from Arlo! "If you see the file 'metadata', it means Arlo has data points on our cameras. In other words, they can see we're using the USB, so they purposely corrupt a file rendering all recordings lost." someone warned after the fact... Can't give to police if they 'write protect it' when you plug in Your USB that you purchased. You’re paying for a paperweight unless you pay for their subscription and it does not perform as 'advertised' - I Warned You.
Hi, I recently got mine, everything else is fine with the mine but the rain drops stays on the lens forever (I had to have mine face down as much as possible) so the rain drops stays on the lens and won’t go away until I physically go wipe it dry. Had anyone got a solution to that? I had to have mine installed in a non-shed non-cover area so whenever it rains it will get wet.
I’ve not had an issue with rain on the lens as I’d mounted them on the trunk of a very large conifer tree that shelters it from both rain and prevailing winds. I wonder if a water repellent such as Rain-X might work. I use that on crash helmets and car windscreens to make water run off quickly.
I just bought 2 Arlo Pro 4 cameras and one Indoor camera at a discount. I intend to get the cloud plan. I hope I don’t regret it. If I like it, I will upgrade to more cameras.
When the free one month trial of the Arlo Cloud service came to an end I had the choice to swap it with my Arlo 4, add the 5 and pay for two cameras or just stick with the 4. I stuck with the 4 as I could see no benefit swapping to the 5.
Arlo is terrible... I've had the pro 5s for about 4 months and that thing is nothing but problems.. won't connect to HomeKit, glitchy videos, laggy and never goes live when I need it to. and my Internet speed is not the problem... I had the pro 3's and never had these problems... looking for other cameras to switch to and dumping these things in the trash. wouldn't want anyone else dealing with this junk!
I would agree with you. I still have the Arlo 5 as well as the original 4, although since the initial 1 month free trial ended it’s only used for live viewing. But that’s only when it’s actually got some battery life in it. I set up both Arlos to have the same parameters as my Swann and TP-Link cameras in terms of sensitivity and frequency of alerts and I barely get a week out of the battery. I can hand on heart say that I am much more satisfied with the TP-Link Tapo cameras than I am with the Arlo. I’m slowly replacing all of my cameras with that system, even the older Swann cameras I still had.
The lack of onboard storage kills it for me. There is the option of buying a hub module to allow cameras to connect centrally and store footage locally, but it’s very expensive and doesn’t actually include the storage. It gets very expensive. It’s direct rival, the Blink system does things a similar way but much, much cheaper. It’s also so much more popular which tells a story in itself. I would consider the Eufy 2C camera system as a strong alternative. You’d get two wireless 2K cameras for around the same money as the Arlo, but get 16gb local storage included as well. Much better value. Personally, when it came to spending my own money, bearing in mind I have a lot of different test cameras I could have used, I recently replaced all of my older cameras with the latest TP-Link Tapo cameras. I’m up to 8 now after about three months of owning them and plan to get a few more. While they do a battery version, that wasn’t entirely necessary for my application so I went with the much cheaper wired cameras (for power only, the footage is still wireless). The cameras have proven to be very good, but just as importantly the app works very well and I can easily access footage from all cameras very quickly. A good camera can be quickly let down by a poor app.
@@ToughMonkey Thanks for this review. Both models are sold in North America with SD card, isn't that local/onboard storage? Or they're different in your country/EU?
@@diezelpopa2896 I can’t comment on the North American models, but the Pro 4 and Pro 5 definitely don’t have on-board storage of any kind. The only way to get any kind of local storage is to buy the additional Arlo SmartHub which allows USB storage. I’ve checked with the Arlo UK website and it confirms that no Arlo Pro model sold here is compatible with SD cards. The Arlo Go has on-board SD card recording, but is only a 1080 camera. The Arlo Ultra has SD card recording via a base station.
It’s easier to steal an Arlo on the magnetic mount. Moght not be an issue unless it’s in a busy area, where kids get up to silly ideas, but it could happen
Yes, I agree. You'd need to be sensible on where you place it on a magnetic mount, but if you can place it somewhere out of reach (back garden or within reach of an upstairs window) the magnetic mount is so much better. Especially since the battery barely lasts a week if you have all the settings ramped up.
@@ToughMonkey i’m looking forward to finding out. I will test them withou the mount first to see how battery holds up. Though about the battery, is it really an issue? I thought the benefit of the fixed mount was that you can pull the camera out of its housing to get to the battery without changing the angle / setting of the housing. This should be a benefit
While you can remove the battery, and the innards, from the outer casing and leave the casing attached to the screw-in mount, the magnetic charging cable attaches to the bottom of the outer casing so you need the outer casing to charge the battery. It’s just a bit of an odd design.
Hey buddy, I’m good thanks. Hope you are too. She would have come back with the ball. She’ll focus on something as though it’s the best thing in the world right up until the moment she gets totally bored and wanders off. And she’s never been interested in shoes, fortunately. Had a few months licking slippers, but generally she’s only interested in her own stuff.
@@ToughMonkey it’s good to hear from you. I’m doing reasonably good, still struggling with the covid tho. It’s why I’m taking a break from the game as well, the twisting and turning still makes me dizzy and it’s been so long now it starts to affect my day to day life as well. But yeah.. And yes, I remember we had a dog when I was a kid who ate shoes, not funny lol. Say hi to the storm for me and I’ll see you!
If you want to pay extra for something unnecessary then be my guest, Arlo will shed tears of joy for consumers that do. To be honest, that's the least of the Arlo Pro 5's problems. After setting it up in a moderately busy location I found it drains the battery in under a week. In comparison to the other systems I'm currently using, it's a poor product.
I wouldn’t say they’re garbage; I’ve tested many cameras and ecosystems that are considerably worse. However, they do have significant failings that leave them hard to recommend.
@@ToughMonkey Too much buffing for me, when I receive an alert on my phone from my Arlo cameras, I expect to be able to see what's going on right away. I figured it would be some delay due to it being a wireless system, but I shouldn't have to wait through 30 seconds of buffing before I'm able to view semi real time of what's going on, and for that my friend, Arlo is garbage. Where I'm at, 30 seconds is like 2 hours for these super thieves around here, which is the main reason I snatched all $1,000 + of my Arlo cameras and spotlights down and went with a wired camera system so I can see real time & right when I'm alerted. Arlo is ok for a kid who wants to view and protect their room or candy while they're away at school but for serious security, wired cameras are much better hands down, not to mention the speaker is much louder than Arlo's speaker.
Arlo's customer service is aweful never buy this product.. I have never found something worse in my 30 years of buying technology products. Even after paying 1500 for equipment and 20/month for their subscription, they did a software update that took down my 4 cameras, have recovered 2 and have spent 7 weeks trying to speak to someone. You can only communicate through leaving a message on a web type form page, they keep saying the same robotic things. They don't read the problem and it goes on and on and on. There is no phone number since the service is in India. You can't speak to anyone. They say they will phone you and don't. It is aweful. We are now going to take them to small claims court to get our money back. The product BTW, we had the first generation that they shut down to start their subscription product so then rebought all second gen, has to be reset a min 2x a year for something going wrong. This was before our 2 dead cameras.
Wow, that’s pretty poor. I lost patience with them too. After the 30-days free cloud access for the Arlo 5 ran out I didn’t continue it, simply using it as a live camera. But, at the settings I use the battery lasts less than two weeks and I’m tired of constantly having to take it down and charge it. It loses all the convenience of a wireless device. I still have the Arlo 4 in operation, which oddly has slightly better battery life, but it’s one of many cameras that I’m slowly replacing with the TP-Link Tapo range of cameras. I’ve been using them for 7 months now and I’m up to 7 cameras and am far more impressed with both the camera and the app, so I’m forgoing the wireless function of the Arlo and going back to a wired camera (WiFi, but powered by a mains adapter). Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I have the old Arlo2 system that's subscription free up to 5 cameras holding 7 days footage. Been a absolute workhorse for 7 years, endless UA-cam videos derived from what it's captured. It's just so sad Arlo went down the subscription model. And thats cut me out of ever thinking of buying Arlo again.
Sadly it seems to be the route many camera suppliers are going. The main difference with Arlo to most IP camera suppliers is that you have no choice if you want to see recorded footage. The TP-Link Tapo cameras that I've been replacing all of my security cameras with have an optional subscription, but it's not necessary if you can use local storage.
I do have a Ring doorbell though, and that needs a subscription which goes up every year too.
Warning Never Purchase any security from Arlo! "If you see the file 'metadata', it means Arlo has data points on our cameras. In other words, they can see we're using the USB, so they purposely corrupt a file rendering all recordings lost." someone warned after the fact... Can't give to police if they 'write protect it' when you plug in Your USB that you purchased. You’re paying for a paperweight unless you pay for their subscription and it does not perform as 'advertised' - I Warned You.
Hi, I recently got mine, everything else is fine with the mine but the rain drops stays on the lens forever (I had to have mine face down as much as possible) so the rain drops stays on the lens and won’t go away until I physically go wipe it dry. Had anyone got a solution to that? I had to have mine installed in a non-shed non-cover area so whenever it rains it will get wet.
I’ve not had an issue with rain on the lens as I’d mounted them on the trunk of a very large conifer tree that shelters it from both rain and prevailing winds. I wonder if a water repellent such as Rain-X might work. I use that on crash helmets and car windscreens to make water run off quickly.
@@ToughMonkey Thank you I will looks for those to see if it helps 🙂
I just bought 2 Arlo Pro 4 cameras and one Indoor camera at a discount. I intend to get the cloud plan.
I hope I don’t regret it. If I like it, I will upgrade to more cameras.
When the free one month trial of the Arlo Cloud service came to an end I had the choice to swap it with my Arlo 4, add the 5 and pay for two cameras or just stick with the 4. I stuck with the 4 as I could see no benefit swapping to the 5.
over $100 to cancel Arlo after use BS
I cancelled my subscription a couple of months ago when they inflated the price yet again.
Arlo is terrible... I've had the pro 5s for about 4 months and that thing is nothing but problems.. won't connect to HomeKit, glitchy videos, laggy and never goes live when I need it to. and my Internet speed is not the problem... I had the pro 3's and never had these problems... looking for other cameras to switch to and dumping these things in the trash. wouldn't want anyone else dealing with this junk!
I would agree with you. I still have the Arlo 5 as well as the original 4, although since the initial 1 month free trial ended it’s only used for live viewing. But that’s only when it’s actually got some battery life in it. I set up both Arlos to have the same parameters as my Swann and TP-Link cameras in terms of sensitivity and frequency of alerts and I barely get a week out of the battery.
I can hand on heart say that I am much more satisfied with the TP-Link Tapo cameras than I am with the Arlo. I’m slowly replacing all of my cameras with that system, even the older Swann cameras I still had.
Appreciate the video. The lack of onboard storage and stupid screw mount over magnetic on the Pro 4 has ruled the latest Arlo out for me.
The lack of onboard storage kills it for me. There is the option of buying a hub module to allow cameras to connect centrally and store footage locally, but it’s very expensive and doesn’t actually include the storage. It gets very expensive. It’s direct rival, the Blink system does things a similar way but much, much cheaper. It’s also so much more popular which tells a story in itself. I would consider the Eufy 2C camera system as a strong alternative. You’d get two wireless 2K cameras for around the same money as the Arlo, but get 16gb local storage included as well. Much better value.
Personally, when it came to spending my own money, bearing in mind I have a lot of different test cameras I could have used, I recently replaced all of my older cameras with the latest TP-Link Tapo cameras. I’m up to 8 now after about three months of owning them and plan to get a few more. While they do a battery version, that wasn’t entirely necessary for my application so I went with the much cheaper wired cameras (for power only, the footage is still wireless). The cameras have proven to be very good, but just as importantly the app works very well and I can easily access footage from all cameras very quickly. A good camera can be quickly let down by a poor app.
@@ToughMonkey Thanks for this review. Both models are sold in North America with SD card, isn't that local/onboard storage? Or they're different in your country/EU?
@@diezelpopa2896 I can’t comment on the North American models, but the Pro 4 and Pro 5 definitely don’t have on-board storage of any kind. The only way to get any kind of local storage is to buy the additional Arlo SmartHub which allows USB storage. I’ve checked with the Arlo UK website and it confirms that no Arlo Pro model sold here is compatible with SD cards. The Arlo Go has on-board SD card recording, but is only a 1080 camera. The Arlo Ultra has SD card recording via a base station.
Arlos plan is ~£10 for unlimited cams
Which wireless camera would you recommend?
Super helpful-thank you so much for this comprehensive review!
It’s easier to steal an Arlo on the magnetic mount. Moght not be an issue unless it’s in a busy area, where kids get up to silly ideas, but it could happen
Yes, I agree. You'd need to be sensible on where you place it on a magnetic mount, but if you can place it somewhere out of reach (back garden or within reach of an upstairs window) the magnetic mount is so much better. Especially since the battery barely lasts a week if you have all the settings ramped up.
@@ToughMonkey i’m looking forward to finding out. I will test them withou the mount first to see how battery holds up. Though about the battery, is it really an issue? I thought the benefit of the fixed mount was that you can pull the camera out of its housing to get to the battery without changing the angle / setting of the housing. This should be a benefit
While you can remove the battery, and the innards, from the outer casing and leave the casing attached to the screw-in mount, the magnetic charging cable attaches to the bottom of the outer casing so you need the outer casing to charge the battery. It’s just a bit of an odd design.
😂 did the dog bring back the ball or the shoe?
Hope you’re ok man, been a while.
Hey buddy, I’m good thanks. Hope you are too. She would have come back with the ball. She’ll focus on something as though it’s the best thing in the world right up until the moment she gets totally bored and wanders off. And she’s never been interested in shoes, fortunately. Had a few months licking slippers, but generally she’s only interested in her own stuff.
@@ToughMonkey it’s good to hear from you. I’m doing reasonably good, still struggling with the covid tho. It’s why I’m taking a break from the game as well, the twisting and turning still makes me dizzy and it’s been so long now it starts to affect my day to day life as well. But yeah..
And yes, I remember we had a dog when I was a kid who ate shoes, not funny lol.
Say hi to the storm for me and I’ll see you!
Dont cry buy smart hub.
If you want to pay extra for something unnecessary then be my guest, Arlo will shed tears of joy for consumers that do. To be honest, that's the least of the Arlo Pro 5's problems. After setting it up in a moderately busy location I found it drains the battery in under a week. In comparison to the other systems I'm currently using, it's a poor product.
I agree. I have the hub and solar panels on my arlo pro 2s and have no issues. Do your homework and you won't have problems
Solar battery? Think again Arlo.
Arlo cameras are garbage, don't waste your money.
I wouldn’t say they’re garbage; I’ve tested many cameras and ecosystems that are considerably worse. However, they do have significant failings that leave them hard to recommend.
@@ToughMonkey Too much buffing for me, when I receive an alert on my phone from my Arlo cameras, I expect to be able to see what's going on right away. I figured it would be some delay due to it being a wireless system, but I shouldn't have to wait through 30 seconds of buffing before I'm able to view semi real time of what's going on, and for that my friend, Arlo is garbage. Where I'm at, 30 seconds is like 2 hours for these super thieves around here, which is the main reason I snatched all $1,000 + of my Arlo cameras and spotlights down and went with a wired camera system so I can see real time & right when I'm alerted. Arlo is ok for a kid who wants to view and protect their room or candy while they're away at school but for serious security, wired cameras are much better hands down, not to mention the speaker is much louder than Arlo's speaker.
Arlo's customer service is aweful never buy this product.. I have never found something worse in my 30 years of buying technology products. Even after paying 1500 for equipment and 20/month for their subscription, they did a software update that took down my 4 cameras, have recovered 2 and have spent 7 weeks trying to speak to someone. You can only communicate through leaving a message on a web type form page, they keep saying the same robotic things. They don't read the problem and it goes on and on and on. There is no phone number since the service is in India. You can't speak to anyone. They say they will phone you and don't. It is aweful. We are now going to take them to small claims court to get our money back. The product BTW, we had the first generation that they shut down to start their subscription product so then rebought all second gen, has to be reset a min 2x a year for something going wrong. This was before our 2 dead cameras.
Wow, that’s pretty poor. I lost patience with them too. After the 30-days free cloud access for the Arlo 5 ran out I didn’t continue it, simply using it as a live camera. But, at the settings I use the battery lasts less than two weeks and I’m tired of constantly having to take it down and charge it. It loses all the convenience of a wireless device. I still have the Arlo 4 in operation, which oddly has slightly better battery life, but it’s one of many cameras that I’m slowly replacing with the TP-Link Tapo range of cameras. I’ve been using them for 7 months now and I’m up to 7 cameras and am far more impressed with both the camera and the app, so I’m forgoing the wireless function of the Arlo and going back to a wired camera (WiFi, but powered by a mains adapter).
Thanks for sharing your experiences.