How do I upgrade from a VMB3500 base station to one with local storage?

[lpoulsen]

I bought two Arlo Pro 2 cameras (one for work, one for home) and the product page on Amazon said the base station had local storage. I liked this, because I do not like to be tied to a paid cloud subscription forever.

When the cameras arrived, they had VMB3500 base station with no storage.

Can I trade the base station up for a model with storage?

I bought two more cameras for home; they are "Essential Floodlight" cameras. I was expecting them to use the cloud storage on the same terms as the Pro 2, but apparently, after a trial period, they will require a paid subscription. Again, their documentation states that they can use the storage on a base station instead of the cloud, so that is another reason to want a base station with storage.

Finally, the Essential camera seems to be out of battery power after less than a week. What happened to the claim of "battery lasts 3 months"?

[jguerdat]

As you found, the 3xxx series of bases don't support local recordings. If you want to use that by changing bases, I'd suggest the VMB4540 since it uses a USB drive rather than the microSD card in the 5000 (and it's cheaper, too). You'd need to remove all devices from Settings, My Devices and then set up the new hub, followed by connecting cameras to it. You can't use WiFi to record locally - they have to be connected to the base/hub.

Battery life depends on signal strength/quality as well as the amount of recordings and live viewing. What's the average amount of the recordings and viewing performed each day? Needs to be <5 minutes total.

[LarsPoulsen]

I found that the VMB4540 is "not available" or "sold out" everywhere, but I did find it on eBay and Amazon Marketplace at a 25% markup from the "normal" price. I hope that the earlier issues have been resolved by now?

- thumbnail pictures for recordings

- access from local PC

As for the Essential Camera's battery life, it seems to be doing better now that I turned the LED light off.

Is it possible at this point to buy a Pro 2 add-on camera for less than the kit that includes a base station?

[jguerdat]

ANything is possible - you just have to check around at all the sites to see what's offered. I'd be very wary of buying anything from eBay or other unauthorized dealers since there would be no warranty to be honored by Arlo.