Adding doorbell to Pro 2 system

[Lundgaardp]

Got 5 x Pro 2, what happens if I add a Doorbell to this system - do I need a subscription, or can the Doorbells free functions be used (along with the running 7 day cloud for the Pro 2's)?

[Edinburgh_lad1 · Accepted solution]

You might be asked to upgrade your user experience to the new one, i.e. with Feed. Don't do that, as you'll regret it - there are lots of problems with it, which is well documented on this forum and elsewhere: essentially an alpha version still. 

With the doorbell, you'll have to subscribe or if you upgrade your Base Station to a better one, you'll be able to save footage locally - you can see do live view and get notifications for free, but to save footage, you must have a subscription of a kind. I must warn you, though, that locally stored footage is slow to access and you won't be able to access it outwith your local network - for that, you'll need a port forwarding feature set upon your router, so you should be looking at a paid subscription in this case.

A number of users have recently complained that since adding a new device, they've been put on a free trial for their Pro2 cameras and then they weren't able to add them back on once removed after the free trial. Since these cameras stick out like a sore thumb for Arlo, Arlo seems to be doing everything possible to move their customers from free storage onto paid storage. This is despite the fact that they offered precisely that feature as a selling point initially (so called unique selling point), but changed their minds after - their model is no longer device-based but subscription-based. 

So, my recommendation - which is based on my personal opinion - is that you don't do it, but that you get a doorbell from a different company. I know it may not be as convenient, but at least you'll save yourself a lot of hassle (for the time being). 

[StephenB]

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@Lundgaardp wrote:

Got 5 x Pro 2, what happens if I add a Doorbell to this system - do I need a subscription, or can the Doorbells free functions be used (along with the running 7 day cloud for the Pro 2's)?

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You'll lose the free storage on the Pro 2s unless you get a subscription for the doorbell.  That's because free storage is limited to accounts with 5 or less unsubscribed cameras.

There is a workaround - which is to install the doorbell to a different account and then share it to the main account using the "Friend" feature.

As @Edinburgh_lad1 points out, if you get a 2nd gen doorbell the account will be migrated to the new "Feed" interface.  And even if you use the workaround, you'd need to migrate the original account to "Feed" to get the sharing to work.

With "Feed" there are no custom modes.  While you can modify the three built-in modes, you cannot add any more. There are also challenges with the combination of geofencing and scheduling.  Arlo says they will be adding back custom modes, but they haven't said when.

If you don't use custom modes or geofencing, then you could proceed with adding the doorbell now.  If those features are important to you, then you might want to wait for a few months and check back here.  

[Lundgaardp]

Thank you so much - I'll stick with my Pro 2's, and get a Yale or Ring Doorbell instead.

[Lundgaardp]

Geofencing and custom modes are important - Thank you so much - not changing anything exept buying a different brand of doorbell