VMB4000 local storage stop recording with Arlo XL spotlight cameras

[Kurmeth]

 4-5 Years ago I purchase  Arlo Por 2 pack with cameras  and its base station VMB4000 from Costco and it  recording  well since that time  and keeping its 7 day recordings. 2 Year ago I purchased additional 3 pc of  XL spotlights and was easily able to connect them to existing base station and it worked well  after initial set up and kept  its 7 day recordings.  Before the purchase I asked from Arlo support if those spotlight cameras  are  compatible on future  timeframe without any out of pocket or hidden fees on future. They confirmed it and I made purchases.   6 months ago I suddenly found out that those cameras are not keeping its recordings. I contact to support and they told me that there was preliminary package which hold the recordings, but as they change their policy they start charging additional fees on recording  services with XL cameras and I need to purchase additional subscription.

Most likely there are tons of people out with similar problems  who had promised the future recording without any additional fees.

 Couple of months  ago Arlo technical support  was able to give me some  directions how to get those  existing XL cameras back for recording into VMB4000 station without purchasing any subscription plan, but those instructions were failure. AI is telling that its software issue, but I have doubt to feel that this is just some clicks which need to be done from Arlo side( or from my side), to get it properly working as promised before purchase of those XL cameras.  Any suggestions how to solve it, will be appreciated. I do not want to purchase any new subscription plan as moving soon to Europe and whatever US based  subscription  is,  will not work there  anyway. Thank you.

[StephenB]

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@Kurmeth wrote:

 4-5 Years ago I purchase  Arlo Por 2 pack with cameras  and its base station VMB4000 from Costco and it  recording  well since that time  and keeping its 7 day recordings. 2 Year ago I purchased additional 3 pc of  XL spotlights and was easily able to connect them to existing base station and it worked well  after initial set up and kept  its 7 day recordings. 

Before the purchase I asked from Arlo support if those spotlight cameras  are  compatible on future  timeframe without any out of pocket or hidden fees on future. They confirmed it and I made purchases.   

No idea on who you talked to, but Essential cameras have always required a subscription for cloud recordings.  Arlo stopped offering free 7-day storage on new camera models back in 2018 (starting with the Ultra).

Many people googling for Arlo support end up at scam support sites - especially over the last year or so, when Arlo stopped publishing their support phone numbers.  The only way to reach Arlo support today is to use the support center in the app (and that requires a subscription).

• https://kb.arlo.com/000062461/What-is-the-Support-Center-in-the-Arlo-Secure-App

Options at this point are to

1. get a smarthub (VMB4540 or VMB5000) and use their direct access to local storage feature.  There a lot of limitations, so not a great experience
2. use local storage on your VMB4000 base.  There is no playback in the app or browser, so you'd need to eject the storage from the base and connect it to your PC to see any recordings.
3. purchase a subscription.