Arlo Pro3 Wireless Home Security Camera System CCTV, WiFi
Arlo Pro3 Wireless Home Security Camera System CCTV, WiFi, 6-Month Battery Life, Colour Night Vision, Indoor or Outdoor, 2K HDR, 2-Way Audio, Spotlight, 160° View, Alarm, 2 Camera Kit, VMS4240P
From the brand
Arlo Security
| Weight: | 316 g |
| Size: | 2 Pack |
| Dimensions: | 7.8 x 5.2 x 8.9 cm; 316 Grams |
| Model: | VMC4 |
| Part: | VMS4240P-100EUS |
| Colour: | White |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | Yes |
| Batteries Included: | Lithium Ion |
| Manufacture: | Arlo |
| Dimensions: | 7.8 x 5.2 x 8.9 cm; 316 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | 2 Pack |
Fantastic product, easy to install up, connect to hub, good quality – even the sound. Although I have benefited from a discounted purchase price the system plus the separate features were still expensive.
One of the issue is battery life especially if camera monitors a busy area. For the one that is installed in front of our house we bought a charging cable that is connected permanently so we can can plug it in the socket when low battery or gone on a holiday. We thought it was better than to get the camera off or use a ladder to connect the cable charger. We leave our external light on during night time for a decent vision. Probably a Floodlight Arlo Camera would provide a better vision especially if no external light.
However looks better than other wired CCTV systems and some of other Arlo cameras’ battery last longer.
We have installed another camera near one of our house window so when low battery we open it up and get the charging cable through that can be easily be connected to the camera. It doesn’t take long to get it fully charged.
These cameras are great and easy to set up and access via the app.
Would highly recommend
We are using this for home security, the alerts to your phone are great and the picture is really clear.
Night quality is nowhere near day quality, but it still does the job. Software setup was simple. Only issue I have is I am surprised about an external hard disc ? When I saw the base module (which weighs nothing and looks the size of a 5.25 hard drive), I thought OK, buy drive from Amazon and fit it in there. Not so, hard drive has to be external and connected by USB. This make the footprint of the base module, so much uglier and I just don’t understand why ?
I also have no idea so far of what’s stored on the web and what’s stored on the hard drive ?
True Arlo quality. Not as good as the Ultra series from Arlo ofc, but does its thing. I can recommend to all who wants to spare money but at the same time wants to have a good surveillance camera.
Don’t like that there are no guidance instructions for working your way through all the various fine tuning options. You have to guess and stumble your way through by experimating. No explanation of what the options mean! You get two magnetic mounting brackets – which I wouldn’t advise using because it would be so easy to steel the camera- and one screwed extension bracket. I went on line with Amazon and bought two more screwed extension brackets. Overall, impressed with quality, but early days yet.
Very easy to set up and install. It looks as though the batteries will last about 2 months before a recharge, quite a bit less than the headline period often quoted of c6 months, but manageable. One the bugbears is that the motion detection facility persists in alerting us to cats even when the cameras are set to spot people and people alone. Having said all of this at current prices the Pro 3 set offer decent VFM and I’m pleased that I bought them.
All my cameras are close to the base unit, so no issues with connectivity. I also managed to hook up an old ARLO HD camera (720) to the network. Pictures are very clear and the functionality is very good with geocaching (system turns on when my phone leaves the house) and detection zones that can be customised by the user. I think this is a good system
Night vision, picture quality and motion detection all very good. WiFi performance rather weak even though there’s no walls between the hub and the camera. Battery life could be much better. First recharge needed after 2 weeks! Worried about the corrosion resistance of the recharging contacts as we live by the sea.
Excellent design and image quality. But, I did not realise on ordering that I needed a subscription to unlock all the features – not necessary on my previous (earlier version) Arlo cameras.
Did quite a bit of research before I chose Arlo but very glad I did. Installed and set up easily, but be prepared to take time time with this (all similar systems need this time). Responsive customer services very helpful with queries. Image quality and operating features excellent. All my cameras are permanently connected to chargers and I would recommend this unless you use video zones to to isolate unwanted movement, eg bushes and trees. Also, you will not have to disarm cameras during the day if you are, for instance, working in a garden which is under camera surveillance. I use four cameras to record motion triggered clips and have purchased a fifth camera that, when installed, will record constantly to monitor vehicle movement in and out of the close we live in (neighbours very happy about this). Really pleased with this system.
The cameras are easy to set up and install. Works with Apple HomeKit seamlessly. The settings are simple to understand and offer a range of camera options. Night vision is amazing, tracking is spot on and image quality is fantastic. The only negative is battery life, mine ran down in 3 weeks not 6 months as described in the product info. If you can access the cameras easily and recharge them they are a very good product.
Simply, I’ve learnt that you cannot beat a wired system. Not just for the obvious case of battery life, but for general reliability. I have 200mbps Virgin broadband with 20mb upload (deliberately increased to try and improve). My findings:
– The batteries are appalling in ‘busy’ motion areas, especially in cold weather, lasting approx 1 week. Arlo say that even with motion zones set, the camera still uses battery to process the motion and ignore it. The front house camera is simply useless without being connected to mains power. It watches a low footfall pedestrian pathway and medium traffic central housing estate road. One car approx every 10 mins at busy times, perhaps.
– Almost every time I have attempted to access live view via the app, for whatever reason, the response is slow and not at all as advertised. It frustrates me as I’m trying to see who’s at my door, whilst in the Supermarket… watching a circle go round and round. Sometimes, a simple restart of the app helps. Other times, the Hub is needing a restart as cameras fall offline. Pointless’ springs to mind. This is sometimes the case in the middle of the night and also during peak times for broadband usage. A real hit and miss. Arlo support simply haven’t got any answers and I don’t really blame them.
I still however, do like the system. Having tried this now, I wouldn’t purchase again. I would resort to a more expensive and more reliable WIRED system that simply ‘works’. But for now, it suits. I have purchased third party outdoor chargers for front and back to save having to go up a ladder every week, two-weeks. Only improvement is battery, still they take a while to load, sometimes and still fail to connect to Hub. When these products are advertised on large American house, I simply can’t see them working too well. My shoes box sized house struggles with super fast internet. Again, Arlo have no answers. Each use case is different which is why you SHOULD buy and try.
Couple issues I’ve had around detection:
1) mistakes pets for humans, if they’re up on tables, counters, etc
2) motion detection triggers automatic recordings which are a touch late – when you view the recording, the person/pet who triggered the camera has already been in the room for a few seconds by the time the video starts
Other than that, worth noting that the USB storage option (for those who don’t want to pay extra for Arlo’s cloud service) is useful, and let’s you view content from your USB drive on your phone, but doesn’t let you delete videos from the USB. For that you have to remove the USB drive from the Arlo hub and plug into your PC.
2K gives a good balance between the visual quality and the storage required. I bought the three cam option. Set up was easy but you need to ensure the hub is located to give the three cams a good signal – this may not be possible if you have cams at front and back of your property (a second hub/subscription may be needed). So plan before you buy and read the Arlo FAQs on their support site. That said it’s very good quality product and quick to set up.
Quality video stream and easy to connect to the hub but the battery on these if you use with full functionality is poor lasting only weeks rather than the advertised months. ideally these should be supplied with outdoor weather proof power connection.
Also watch out for the cloud subscriptions and make sure you set system to record on hard drive or SD card depending on your hub base type. Check the system compatibility table to see what camera can be used with what hub . Ideally you need WiFi in the house and a smart pad or phone to download the arlo app to view the files or live viewing. Failing that you can use as a dumb system and record onto SD card or USB drive.
Has a really clear microphone and speaker for emergency contact too.
However, if you have the sensativity turned up to make sure that you pick up plenty of movement, the batery will drain within 48 hours so the additional charge leads would be a must.
The multi user app option is really good, and the master user can specify which camera’s different people can see. You can also grant and deny each user the abilty to change camera settings should you wish to.
Overall: Very impressed
Solid system if somewhat overpriced. Motion detection could be further and activates best when the movement is across the camera, so not ideal when looking straight down a driveway. WiFi range is good even when 20m from base station. Charging the batteries is annoying without a charge station as you have to remove the camera which can mess up the activity zones. Camera playback is good when full screen on a PC, but would be nice to have the cameras display in 4 real quadrants.
If you are upgrading from Arlo or Arlo pro these are worth it but from Arlo Pro 2 you are just paying extra for the Spotlight and slight increase in video quality.
At 2k the video is very clear, there is a wide angle lens option so you can see more. Can’t fault them for their night vision and colour night vision (using the spotlight) it is also very clear.
The sensitivity has been improved over the older model which is great, sometimes a little too sensitive but this can be tweaked.
As with all Arlo cameras, they are very easy to install. You get one magnetic mount and one screw mount, it’s a shame you didn’t get two of each. These will work with any existing screw mount you may have.
These are wireless cameras but I suggest you get the charge wire so that you don’t have to compromise on any settings.