Night Vision very dark compared to pro 1

[Johnny290]

I just received one arlo pro 2 camera, to add to my arlo pro system. The night vision is very poor compaired to arlo pro. If there is no fix ,i will return the arlo pro 2 camera. Sorry to say

[steve_t]

How is it poor? What hardware version and firmware?

[Johnny290]

13833 firmware .very dark compared to pro 1

[steve_t]

Can you see if there's a firmware update available? You might need to restart the base

[Johnny290]

1.9.4.0_15548 Base station firmware .i did a restart. Pro2 poor night vision. , pro1 good night vision

[steve_t]

My base is on the same firmware but my Pro 2 cameras have a newer firmware

[Johnny290]

My pro 2 camera firmware 1.124.10_15483 is this the correct firmware I should be on.

[Johnny290]

Maybe I had a firmware update overnight I'm not sure how is your night vision working on the pro 2 cameras

[jguerdat]

You have the latest firmware now.

My P2 night vision isn't as bad as some have posted but is lacking somewhat in contrast and/or definition compared to my Pros.

[Johnny290]

Hardware version is H3 night vision is very poor very dark not worth keeping for the price I paid unless they have some kind of fix

[steve_t]

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Johnny290 wrote:
Maybe I had a firmware update overnight I'm not sure how is your night vision working on the pro 2 cameras

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Mine work great. Marginally better than the Pro cameras, which was a nice surprise since a few people reported they were worse. Also on H3 hardware with the latest firmware. Perhaps it is a faulty camera. Playing with the brightness setting doesn't help enough?

[Johnny290]

Thanks I had a firmware update overnight I'll see if there's any Improvement tonight thanks for the information

[steve_t]

OK cool. Fingers crossed that fixes it!

[Johnny290]

No good my night vision is very poor on the Arlo Pro 2. I guess I'll have to return it

[AncientGeek]

I have 6 of the Pro 2 cameras and a bunch of the Pro and Standard Arlo wireless cameras.  Two of my Pro 2 cameras appear to have night vision issues, but both of those cameras have the silicone skins on them.  I trimmed the hood on the skins because I knew that IR scatter would ruin my night vision.  However, those two cameras still have issues and I suspect it is IR scatter.  When I am at that location the next time, I will trim the hood completely off and see if it helps.

I just took another Pro 2 camera (with no skin in it) outside to check it and it has excellent night vision which matches my experience with my indoor Pro 2 cameras.   

Do any of you have silicone skins on your Pro 2s?  That seems to be my only night vision problem.

[Johnny290]

I wish that was the case I only bought one all over Pro 2 camera and I'm not using the skin and the night vision is poor my arlo pros have a great night vision

[AncientGeek]

OK,  I did more tests and I see differences now.  The Pro 2 images are a bit darker, but also wider angle.  Notice the side of the garage on the right and a trim board on the upper left.  The two cameras are side by side about two inches apart.  I tried both Best and Optimized image quality on the Pro 2 to see if higher resolution exacerbated the problem.  I did not see a difference.  I do recall reading somewhere that higher resolution cameras require more IR light and naturally produce darker night images.  I remember reading about this on the Axis site.  I think it is why they don't offer 4K cameras with IR capability.

Pro 2Pro

[Johnny290]

Mine are more than dark they are just about black

[AncientGeek]

That stinks.  And no light scatter from any nearby objects?  Also the dumb question about the plastic having been removed from the front of the camera?

[Johnny290]

I removed the plastic I tried cleaning the lens I tried removing the battery I'm resyncing the camera no light scatter just looking into a dark backyard put Arlo Pro next to it everything looks great Arlo Pro 2 is very very dark. I am going to return this to Amazon and I'm thinking about going to Best Buy and getting another one and trying my luck

[AncientGeek]

Assuming Night Vision is turned on in settings (another dumb question), it sounds like you have a defective camera.  Perhaps the IR illuminators are not working at all.  If you have some other IR camera, you could point them both in the same direction and turn them both on.  If the Arlo could "see" using the IR illuminators from the other camera, that would seem to indicate the IR LEDs are not lighting up.  Curiosity only, of course, since a defect is a defect no matter what.

[Johnny290]

Night vision is turned on I can see the LEDs lighting up but they seem to just point at the ground I see the ground lit up about 10 feet in front of the camera but that's it everything else is very dark

[AncientGeek]

Bummer.  Definitely sounds like a factory defect.

[Johnny290]

Another thing is the sound is not nearly as good as the pro 1

[AncientGeek]

I've heard that also.  I did a quick test in my garage between a Pro and a Pro 2, but I didn't do a really good test. In the quick test, I couldn't detect a difference on my cameras.  I'll have to do a better test with another person at the other end.