topic Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke in Arlo Pro 3

Pro 3 activity zones don’t work unless on AC power

Rara2608 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 16:21:21 GMT

Well Arlo, I’m extremely disappointed to find out (and only after reading comments on the site) that activity zones don’t work unless on AC power. The whole reason I brought wireless was because there is no power available to the building it’s mounted to.
I specifically brought Arlo because of the ability to choose zones as we have a lot of trees around the property. Considering the price, you shouldn’t have to pay extra to have this feature, or any feature really. Very misleading as nowhere does it say you can’t use with battery 😤

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

Shaun1234 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:15:30 GMT

Hi mine work on battery fine, have you got track and zoom on? As these don't work together.
The track overrides the zone features I found

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

Rara2608 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:47:11 GMT

I’ll give it a try.
Do I still set the activity zones and then turn on track and zoom?

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

Shaun1234 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 15:54:45 GMT

I have found that you can only have either track and zoom or zones , you will have to choose what's more important to you, for me track and zoom isn't really needed and just stops me having a full view when watching back, let me know if it fixes it, cheers

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

dcfox1 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 17:03:29 GMT

I have track and zoom on and activity zones are working for me. Not perfect though. but better then before i set them up.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

K80Shooter — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 18:19:59 GMT

Just a little misinformation in this thread.

Activity zones are a crap shoot right now. They work for some and not for others.

On mine wheather I'm on ac power or battery power, track and zoom on or off it does not work.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

Rara2608 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:39:37 GMT

Tried the track and zoom and that doesn’t work either! Starting to wish I’d never purchased Arlo and gone with another brand 😕

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

michaelkenward — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 10:34:28 GMT

For anyone who has not seen this:

What are activity zones and how do I create them?

Note this bit:

You must subscribe to Arlo Smart to use activity zones without plugging in your camera.

How do I set up the Arlo Smart Cloud Activity Zones?

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

K80Shooter — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 16:54:07 GMT

I have tried everything the above link tells you to do. Mine constantly records outside of the activity zones.

The only thing I did notice when going to the page linked above is that the VMB4540 is not listed.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

dcfox1 — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 17:12:44 GMT

I noticed when i get some there is a little movement on the tree at the bottom of it that is in my zone. Its worse higher up but could lower the zone a little but want that area. I dont get recordings when that part is not blowing but the top is.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

StephenB — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 17:54:08 GMT

@K80Shooter wrote:

The only thing I did notice when going to the page linked above is that the VMB4540 is not listed.

Just an oversight.

But there are certainly quite a few folks seeing issues with activity zones recently, and I have experienced some of them myself. That includes recordings out-of-zone for some of my cameras.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

Mizterz — Mon, 25 May 2020 22:29:58 GMT

Has anyone be given a resolution to this problem? I have 3 PRO 3 cameras, on a 3-month trial subscription (which I have been told is the same as a paid Smart subscription). Activity Zones are not working when on battery power. I was told that my case would be escalated, but I have not heard anything since then.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones don’t work unless on AC power

sw3ll3r3 — Fri, 29 May 2020 02:10:18 GMT

You aren't alone! Mine are doing the same thing and my phone is buzzing off the table. I have an open case about the issue...hopefully we hear something soon.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

JamesC — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 19:18:05 GMT

Arlo recently deployed a cloud update enhancing Activity Zone accuracy. This should improve the experience for users reporting symptoms of motion detection alerts and recordings occurring outside of their defined Activity Zones. We are continuing to monitor Activity Zone behavior and will provide additional enhancements in the coming weeks.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones don’t work unless on AC power

Mizterz — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 01:50:02 GMT

Giving up... After almost a month of the problem going unresolved and my support ticket not being updated after 3 requests from me. I am boxing up the cameras and returning them. Good luck to those that may be stuck with them.

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

JamesC — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 22:42:12 GMT

A recent update was deployed to the Arlo cloud that should address the accuracy of Activity Zones. This should improve accuracy by more reliably sending notifications only when motion occurs within defined zones. More work is being done to improve the behavior of Arlo Smart notifications and to fix the Activity Zones error that some users are seeing when not using an AC adapter (battery only). Stay tuned for future updates.

JamesC

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

Rara2608 — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 22:44:29 GMT

Will it automatically update?

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

JamesC — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 21:13:05 GMT

For those still experiencing issues with Activity Zones, please take a look at the following KB articles for best performance and troubleshooting tips:

How do I troubleshoot problems with Arlo activity zones?

What are activity zones and how do I create them?

JamesC

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

tellthetruth — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 19:56:39 GMT

Arlo,

Stop giving canned answers, we want dates and times to commit to the SW upgrade to fix this.

Why does Activity zones only work on AC again? Marketing ply? Had I known I would not buy this junk! Push notifications too?

Tell you SWE's and you management to get off facebook coolaid and profit driven excuses and fix these issues, Or I will also box up my unit and return it.

I am a HW engineer, and my designs always work. Yours can too! Stop the excuses. tic tok tic tok "returning my unit", and flaming Arlo on social media soon!!

Re: Pro 3 activity zones - what a joke

dcfox1 — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 20:08:53 GMT

@tellthetruth They do work with the battery as the servers process the zones but you need a smart subscription to do that. On AC the camera does that. If camera did it it on battery alone it would kill the battery quick without AC. Since you are a HW engineer it should make sense.