Arlo pro 2 vs Arlo pro:

[Lightyears]

Is there any video's  that can comapre Pro 2 and Pro from outside locations that show day and night activity. So we can compare quality of recording, movement and the ability to recognize faces both in a day time and night IR time setting.

If someone has the 2 systems greatly appreciated if you could post them.

[Johnny290]

Sorry about that

[Johnny290]

Pro 1

[Johnny290]

Pro 2

[AncientGeek]

That last Pro 2 image looks great to me!

My only Pro 2 issue has been the IR scatter off the silicone hoods.  I cut the hoods off this week at my lake home and the night image on those two cameras is now fine.

I have not had the "off-line" issue at all and I have not had any battery problems with the Pro 2.

I also discovered the Pro 2 does not appear to have one problem that the Pro 1 does have.  I had discovered my Pro 1 will stay off-line after a prolonged power failure, when the power had been restored.  That's a known issue with the Pro 1.  Over Thanksgiving, I accidentally discovered that this same problem will arise when a Base has been disconnected from the Internet for several days, but the power to the Arlo Base has remained on the entier time.  I further discovered that the Pro 2 cameras connected to that same disconnected Base came right back online after the network was restored, whereas it took several days for the Pro 1 cameras to come back online by themselves.  I popped the battery out of one of my Pro 1 cameras and popped it back in...after that it came back online immediatley, but the other Pro 1 took a few days just like I've seen the Pro 1 behave after a long power outage.  Oddly, I still get motion notifications, but the cameras are "off-line" and no images are sent...just motion notifications on a camera that I have set up to only do motion notifications...and no recording during the day. Anyway...the Pro 2 appears to NOT have that probem.

So far I have had good experiences with the Pro 2 and will keep buying them for my systems.

[Johnny290]

Good to hear

[oillogger]

Last month we had power lost at our home for a little over 9 hours so there was no Internet or power for the Arlo base during that time.  Once the power was restored our Arlo Pro system was active within 30 minutes.  It takes about the first 15 minutes for just the modem to fully link up.  My router provides WAN before I have internet services from the modem.  I was not unhappy for the 30 minute delay. 

Recently I wanted to add another camera to my Arlo Pro system.  After reading quite a few reviews about the Arlo Pro 2 I decided to add a Arlo Pro camera instead.  Mainly due to the shorter battery life of the Arlo Pro 2 and many of the desirable extra features required the Arlo Pro 2 camera to be inconveniently hooked up to a power supply.

[AncientGeek]

30 minutes isn't bad at all.  After longer outages, my Pro cameras have been off for days unless I am onsite to reboot the base station.

I still like the Pro 2 HD resolution over the Pro.  Also I have the choice of whether or not to plug it in and get the extra features.   I don't have to use them, but I have the choice.  I do have at least one Pro 2 camera that has less sensitive audio.   That is a problem.

[jguerdat]

These are good reasons to use a UPS to keep the modem, router and base all powered during an outage. No loss of Internet and your network remains alive during almost any outage.  A ~$100 UPS is all you need unless you experience long outages. I happen to use a 750VA UPS while other use larger ones.

[oillogger]

jguerdat, insteresting, what is the rated half and full load run times for your UPS when it was new?

[AncientGeek]

I use APC network UPS models on all my equipment ... I forget the model numbers. They have pretty long runtimes, but not 24 hours or more. Eventually they run out unless you have generator backup, which I do on two of my homes. Also, the Pro will go “tilt” if the power is on, but the network is disconnected for a long period of time.  In my test it was over Thanksgiving weekend when my nephew needed the Cat-5 cable for his computer, so I gave up the line for the weekend.  The two Pro cameras took a few days to come back online.  The two Pro 2 cameras on the same base station came back on immediately.

[steve_t]

As you've said, I don't think a UPS is designed to keep your devices powered for days on end

[AncientGeek]

Definitely not.  

A UPS is a wonderful buffer against power fluctuations and short outages.  It is excellent when paired with a backup generator to avoid the off and on cycles between a power failure and the restoration of power by the generator.  I use them in many places for network, computer, security, television and IoT devices when possible.

But usually they only hold power for a few minutes.  In the best cases for a few hours.

[oillogger]

I agree a UPS is a wonderful buffer against power fluctuations and short outages and is excellent when paired with a backup generator to avoid the off and on cycles between a power failure and the restoration of power by the generator.  A UPS alone will usually only power the devices connected for a few minutes at best.  The UPS batteries lose capacity with time and need to be replaced every 3-5 years.  I've purchased several UPS systems with generator backup over the last 40 years out of necessity and dealt with the maintenance.  I prefer the UPS systems that are always producing the power instead of the electronics store versions that produce power only when they sense a voltage drop.  By choice at home I do not have a UPS and have not miss it.  40 years later no electronic equipment ever damaged at my home but did lose some freezer food one time after a week without power.  Maybe I'm lucky but my Arlo Pro so far started working fairly quickly after the 4-5 power outages it has been thru since I have owned it.  Maybe it is because of the Netgear router and modem I own.

[AncientGeek]

I suspect you are correct that the equipment makes a huge difference.  Like you, I have a long history using UPS devices...both personally and professionally over approximately the past 40 years.

My personal experience has been that the addition of a UPS virtually eliminated the need to reboot my routers.  Prior to that, I’d have to reboot them several times each year and most of the time, I’d be away from home when it went “tilt”.  Also, something non-critical, but annoying would be the interruption of a projection TV which requires a long cool down cycle before being ready to turn back on ... or even the round trip of a reboot for a TiVo or cable box.  Not critical, but annoying.  Also, we know that a power failure a during a critical point in a firmware update can “brick” a device (which I have experienced), so that’s another reason I like to use them.  It is unlikely, but I prefer to stack the odds in my favor.

[jguerdat]

I haven't run a runtime test on my UPS since it will beep the whole time. The last time I measured current draw of the router, modem and base it was about 40 watts. As such, the math indicates that the 750VA unit could run as long as about 18 hours. I've had it keep the network running for 3 or 4 hours with no problem. No, it won't run for days but then most power outages aren't that long. If it happens, I have bigger problems than my cameras not working.