Arlo Pro 2 Motion Detection/Night Vision/Camera Offline

[cooltraveler]

Just replaced 2 of my 4 Arlo Pro cameras with the Pro 2. Couple of observations

1) Motion sensor set at 100 and it is not as sensitive as the Pro. The Pro was so sensitive that I had to dial it down. With Pro I it was able to trigger the camera each time a car passed my house. With the Pro 2 you have to drive on my drive way before it triggers. This is an isse for my application since I am unable to get it to trigger at my mailbox at the end of my driveway like the original Pro was able to do.

2) Night Vision is not as clear as the original Pro

3) While positioning the camera it went offline. Could not figure out how to get it online other than taking the battery out and putting it back in and re-synced.

Seems 2 out of the 3 ar reported issues. I wonder if anyone is having an issue with the motion detection. I have a 45 day return window... if there is no firmware to resolve by then I will be taking it back.

[Lawenforcer]

I see netgear is silent on all night vision complaints... just cements they are aware they have an issue... Very dissapointing... 

[JamesC]

cooltraveler,

1) How far away is your mailbox where you are trying to detect motion? It sounds like it may be outside the cameras range, resulting in intermittent or unreliable detection.

2) Can you provide screenshots of the Night Vision issue you are seeing compared to the original Pro? Also a picture of where your camera is mounted may be helpful. This topic has been escalated to engineering for further investigation.

3) How far away from the base station was the camera when this occurred? Has the camera dropped offline again now that it has been positioned?

JamesC

[cooltraveler]

James,

Will get pics when I get a chance. In regards to the motion detection. I am comparing it to the results of Arlo 720p unit. Seems something has changed (for the worst) that has caused the differential.. I will concede that if I did not have the 720p unit to compare I would not have brought this point up.

[cooltraveler]

JamesC,

Attached are the pictures you requested. Arlo720P is the Pro and Arlo1080P is the Arlo2. As you can see the difference... one is brighter and one is not. 

[MrTonyToca]

This is a night shot of the back yard, very grainy and washed out, cant really tell any details of the things back there. The arlo pro 1 was the complete opposite of this clarity. 

[cooltraveler]

Does anyone know if it is a firmware issue or hardware? I hate taking things back, but when it cost almost 500 there is a good incentive to do so.

[Brotham]

It could he software, firmware, or hardware, or any combination of those.

Until there's an update from engineering, we're in the dark.

[Paul_FCCL]

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Brotham wrote:

It could he software, firmware, or hardware, or any combination of those.

Until there's an update from engineering, we're in the dark.

---

That might just be why complete silence so far from Netgear, they wouldn’t want to cause a mass return of AP2 until they figure out how to fix it.

[Brotham]

I have a few days left to return mine (why is the time to return items so low in this country?) so if there's no update within the next day or so, there's goes another customer.

[V8]

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Brotham wrote:

It could he software, firmware, or hardware, or any combination of those.

Until there's an update from engineering, we're in the dark.

---

lieterally and figuratively.......

The problem you have is that it's more likely hardware. If it had been software, the same issues being exhibited in the Arlo Pro, would have been rectified in the Arlo Pro 2, but what do i know, I only have 20 years experience of IT delivery, support and design 😛

[JamesC]

I am working with the engineering team to collect information on this issue. They have requested we try a couple different things to see if you experience any different behavior:

-Try another pro 2 camera in the same location.
-Try the pro 2 camera in a different location without any adjacent walls/ceiling near the camera.

-If you have a skin on the camera, try with and without the skin.

Please let us know the results and if possible provide screenshots.

Thank you,

JamesC  

[MrTonyToca]

I dont think any of the requested things to "TRY" are going to do anything, as Im pretty sure those were all the 1st things those with the problems have already done. I purchased a Arlo Pro 2( 2 pack ) and within 1 day my driveway camera went offline and drained close to 40% of the battery. A battery pull got it back up and working and within another 24 hrs that same camera was offline. I returned the 2 pack and purchased another Arlo Pro 2 pack, and lo and behold the driveway camera within a day was offline (a completely different camera, base, etc). So 2 strikes, putting a different camera there did nothing. Now the 2nd request seems pretty hard to not have a wall near the camera when the camera is to be mounted on a wall majority of the time, we cant simply remove a wall for a defect in the camera. I placed these new Arlo Pro 2's in the same exact place, mount position, etc where my Arlo Pro 1 cameras were for several months with NO problems, and expect for them to work at least similar or as good at least! The ONLY improvement seen is daytime camera quality which does me no good if i have to change a battery every 5 days climing a ladder and having 5 minute long videos that I have to pan through constantly for 11 seconds of motion. And I do not use any skins on any of the 5 cameras that I currently have or have had. I really hope the engineer team has some better leads on fixes to these problems other than these questions asked, cuz all of those involved something the CONSUMER needs to do and not something Netgear needs to change within its hardware or software. I have already posted blurry grainy night time screenshots, I dont think those will provide any help to you, and a screenshot of an "offline" camera I do not think will help you either, cuz it surely isnt helping me.....

[cooltraveler]

Hi James C. I have the 2 pack Pro2 and 4 Pack Pro. The 2nd Pro 2 Camera is exhibiting the same behavior at the same location. The other location where the pro2 is mounted permanently is not a gd reference as there are plenty of landscape lighting. What I have noticed is if there is enough ambient light it will look better than the Pro. If you don't have enough ambient light that is when you will see the Pro is better than the Pro2

[cooltraveler]

JamesC

Here are the pics in the 2nd locaton. You can see pro1 is brighter than the pro2. Unfortunately with the Pro shot it was raining at the time which has caused the clarity to be worst than normal. But the lighting is the key, the night vision on the Pro is better than the Pro2.

ProPro2

[cooltraveler]

@JamesC I submitted the additional pictures per your request in previous posts. While "testing" I lost connectivity to one of the cameras again. I had to unplug the battery and replug to get it going again. Rather inconvenient since I have to take the ladder out to go 1.5 stories up. I work for an engineering company and am well aware of releasing products that is not quite ready for prime time and fix it via software. I am confident you can fix the disconnect issues via software, but the night vision would be the a hwardware issue. Perhaps less IR LEDs in the new generation?

[Tofu101]

JamesC... I’ve tried all of your suggestions over the past three weeks ... cameras keep failing with batteries that are run down in less than 2 weeks. This is shameful product launch and your primary retailer only has a 15-day return window so you all had better fix this or you have a massive customer revolt. I’m out over $900 for a useless product!

[Toy4RickS]

Same problems here

4 days left on return policy, going back today.  Don't want to get stuck with these poor products.

It also seems like the lag time to start recording is a bit longer and way more false alarms at the same settings, since we have NOTHING from Netgear that says we will be covered with a SW/FW/HW update, I won't risk it

Rick

[cooltraveler]

@JamesC Unfortunately I took it back today. The same unit disconnected again. With this issue plus night vision, motion sensitivity, it has made this first gen of the Pro 2 not ready for prime time. I also noticed like other users on this forum is the unit conumes more power than the Pro. I use the solar panel to trickle charge the units, with the Pro I might be at 90% as the lowest charge. With the Pro 2 I have seen it lowest at 71 percent. 

Hopefully Netgear fixes the issues in the next gen. I am a willing customer.. just need a working product.

[MrTonyToca]

Take a look at my view last night through the camera.... This is what Netgear considers "NIGHT VISION", it was raining last night but that isnt an excuse as my driveway arlo pro 2 did not look this bad last night, and through hail sleet and snow my Arlo Pro 1 never looked like this.... its sad...

My night vision view last night

[djdannis]

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cooltraveler wrote:

JamesC,

Attached are the pictures you requested. Arlo720P is the Pro and Arlo1080P is the Arlo2. As you can see the difference... one is brighter and one is not. 

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While people are resolving their issues of grainy nightvision video by removing their skins, the other issue to still note is what's shown above. The Pro 2 nightvision overall is darker than the Pro nightvision.

[Tofu101]

I reluctantly returned mine yesterday as well.  No response at all from Netgear acknowledging the issues, combined with  their primary retailer's (Best Buy) lousy 15-day return policy left me absolutely no choice but to throw in the towel.  Unfortunately, Arlo Pro 2 never made it past Beta Testing.  They rushed it to market and failed to tell the end cusotmers of the issues they no doubt discovered during UAT.  The Product Management Team should all be fired!

[Tjmcguiretx]

I️ agree with his observations. I️ just replaced my pro with a pro 2 on my drive way and immediately that first night noticed the night vision is worse then the Pro. Grainy and hard to see. I️ fully expected to be much better. Also added one to my front door, again replacing a pro, and also noticed it. This one is not as bad as there is a light on the porch so it is not totally blacked out like the drive way. Considering own 5 cameras now, 2 are the Pro2 hope they fix this soon. It’s a Hugh investment I️ have in this system and truly like the way they work. Please address quickly! Thanks. Sorry for the I️, symbols here as it’s the iOS issue auto correcting. 

[Maz4]

 Is the problem with the night vision on the Arlo pro2 solved yet?

[JamesC]

A recent firmware update for Arlo Pro 2 has been released that may help address the issue you are experiencing with the camera dropping offline. Be sure your Arlo Pro 2 is update to date with the latest firmware version and let us know if you are still experiencing an issue.

JamesC