camera starts recording on and only stops when Motion stops

[NerdGlasses]

First of all, Arlo is great in theory. A wireless camera that is accessible from anywhere in the world with an internet connection? Wonderful!

But in reality, it's a system that is more gadget gimmick, than a useful, usable security option.

However, if you could make this one change in the system, I'll deal with the usability issues on the app; I'll deal with the limitations of the camera settings; the lag in response to motion; etc., etc... If you could just make it so that the camera starts recording on motion and doesn't stop until the motion stops (with a user setting for max mins), then I'd finally be satisfied.

Otherwise, here's how it works now, and an example of what I actually get: A UPS truck pulls up, and Arlo kicks in (late) and starts recording after the truck is already parked (very annoying), but then I get 30 seconds (my setting is 30 secs) of the truck sitting there as the driver gets the package from the back. Then Arlo shuts down, the driver gets out with my package and walks up my driveway (about a 20 second walk) at which point Arlo is starting up again for another 30 second clip. Arlo starts up again and then records 30 seconds of the driver already walking away after dropping the package at my front door.

If this were an intruder or someone "casing the joint" I'd never get an image of his face. Is that a real security system?? Now, if I could set Arlo to stay on and record until the motion stops or my setting (I would choose 5 minutes) I would get all the footage I need. Battery life wouldn't matter to me because 1) if the motion stopped at 15 seconds, the recording would stop or; 2) if I could capture real "show-to-the-cops-footage" I wouldn't care if I had to replace the batteries more frequently.

That said:

PLEASE CHANGE ARLO TO STOP RECORDING ONLY AFTER THE MOTION HAS STOPPED OR BASED ON OUR USER PREFERENCE!!! Thanks!

Anyone agree or experiencing the same? Please chime in and hopefully the folks at Arlo make it happen!

[Gotcha]

100% agree!

We noticed this immediately and we are utter NEWBIES to Arlo (only having it a few days thus far). It will catch a motion (which is generally useless) and then you'll see the subject leaving. What good is that???? Whether you want to call this a security camera or not (which, why are you selling it for such purposes if there is some minor difference, or a matter of semantics)?

PLEASE FIX AND ALLOW US TO UPDATE THE SOFTWARE!

At the moment, we still have the box and may be returning it. We've heard Dropcam doesn't have these issues.

[hb13]

I agree.  I believe this is their way of having you set your motion detection and recording time to longer intervals.  Instead of 20-30 seconds, they would probably tell you to increase to 60-120 seconds (even though it doesn't compensate for 3-5 minutes of activity)... so you would then need to consider paying for Premium 30GB or Elite Cloud Storage instead of the Free Basic 1GB.  It IS a worry that the camera doesn't keep recording until motion stops, only hope that their continued motion is enough to reactivate the sensor if they moved further away but still in view.  The user selected 10, 20, 30 seconds of recording after motion detected should only apply and stop recording if the initial motion detected stops.  If motion continues, recording should continue seamlessly.  I doubt many users would complain that old recordings that haven't been favorited or downloaded already are being deleted to make space for something that is occurring for an extended amount of time and not just a passer-by.  

Also, it seems the motion sensors are only directed in one linear line of sight instead of picking up motion that enters the frame and auto-focusing on that motion until it leaves the frame.

I hope the next model of Arlo Systems have 3-5 multi-directional sensors to have capability to detect motion within the full range of view and not just directly in front or at least have a faster detect-record response and higher quality HD resolution. I was expecting more from the current 720p HD at the best quality setting.

[el_timm]

This is a basic feature for any security camera, and has been for years.  To not offer this makes this product fail in comparison to equally priced competitiors.

The feature to "record until motion stops" is a must have.  

In addition, if a rule is triggered on Camera A, and is set to start recording on Camera B, camera B should also continue recording until Camera B's motion stops.  The idea would be to string together the exact events so a review of the video will allow someone to follow a person from Camera A into Camera B without any interruption.  Currently that would take stringing together multiple videos, with gaurenteed gaps.

[Luna]

This is exactly why I logged on to Community - I thought I was doing something wrong becaue I assumed it's obvious that the camera should keep recording until motion stops, and was looking if there was a setting I needed to change - very dissapointed to find there is no "cure" for this other than to set to record everything for longer.  Our door is in an urban alley, so people walk by all the time, and at typical speed, they are out of view in 10 seconds.  Disappointed to learn that I need to record everything for longer in order to catch any misdeeds going on in the alley.

[JG]

I agree that this suggestion would significantly improve the product.

[zebra500]

YES, YES, YES. Give US the option to wear out our batteries. I totally agree with this request. For security and other reasons. I use 4 cameras to monitor my turtle rescue environment and the unwanted dangerous raccoons that want to eat them. By the time I get the alert, the varmints have already left. On another note when the camera does capture them, the recording stops and I miss either where they came in or where they exited the yard.  

It would be, probably, THE best improvement you could make for your devoted users, and save a few helpless turtles not to mention all the other reasons posted by other comment posters.  

Com' on...Just do it!

[MerryweatherIT]

YES PLEASE! Was very surprised that it didn;t offer this feature out of the box. Seems like a silly system to have to wait for the camera to sense motion and start recording again, it creates major dead spots in the recording. Recording should start when motion is detected and stop when motion is no longer detected. I bet 95% of cameras would be set to that mode if possible.

[AlexisAndrews]

amen...with the number of people wanting this...please get this asap

[brianz]

I agree.  Picking a time that works in all scenarios is very difficut.  I would gladly give up battery to record on motion + a few more seconds as opposed to the current implementaiton of record so many seconds after motion.

[Nickelblue]

POWER OUTAGES....which we experience often in Arizona because thunder storms...when power outages occurs the arlo system has no way to reboot the system on its own... other than you have to take the batteries out for a period of time and then replace them..say you are on vacation for a week and the power goes off on the first day of your trip... well you are out of luck...no such security cameras until you get back and reboot.....sounds like a bad designer flaw.... not a secure feeling ....