Arlo Pro 3 floodlight

[katakuri]

I am not really impressed with the app, all the feed clips captured by motion sensing should have about 10 seconds of leadin footage instead of seeming like it only starts in the middle of the incident. I assume whomever is in charge of buffering that footage is incompetent.

Also more than half the cars that drive through the activity zone do not get captured, even if they're the huge amazon rivian delivery trucks. This product has been out for a couple of years, why aren't there signs of refinement

[jguerdat]

Buffering generally means the camera needs to be AC-powered since it implies that the camera is always active and recording. That would drain the battery quickly so isn't available unless plugged in (and then it's 3 seconds, not 10). 

Arlo has never been promoted as a product to capture wide areas of view. With PIR sensors people can be detected out to maybe 25 feet, just as with motion-detection outdoor lights, etc. The fact that you can get detections of vehicles at larger distances revolves around their larger IR signatures which is not a product design feature for any of Arlo's cameras.

[StephenB]

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@katakuri wrote:

all the feed clips captured by motion sensing should have about 10 seconds of leadin footage instead of seeming like it only starts in the middle of the incident.

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If the floodlight is on battery power (even with a solar panel), then there is no pre-roll.  Pre-roll requires too much power (since the camera is always capturing video). The PIR sensor wakes up the camera when it triggers, and that is when the recording starts. 

If it is on AC power, then Arlo's "foresight" feature kicks in, and gives you 3 seconds of pre-roll - not 10 seconds.  Of course more is always nice, but this also depends on memory constraints in the camera.

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@katakuri wrote:

Also more than half the cars that drive through the activity zone do not get captured, even if they're the huge amazon rivian delivery trucks. 

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How far away are the cars from the camera?   

EVs (like Rivian) won't generate as much heat as a gasoline or diesel vehicle, so would be less likely to trigger the PIR sensor.