Floodlight no longer recording to Local USB drive

[Bossman3]

Hi,

I've had Arlo since 2019 which included 3 "Pro2" cameras and the VMB4000r3 base (not a cheap setup). My main reason for getting Arlo was because this setup allowed me to record to a local drive without having to pay for a cloud subscription. Everything worked great and I was very happy with the setup.

Fast forward to January of this year when 1 of the cameras stopped working. I was a bit disappointed at the fact the camera lasted less then 4 years but no big deal.

So I jumped on the website to see if I could find a compatible replacement. When I came across the Arlo Pro3 Floodlight on sale it seemed like a suitable replacement. I pulled the trigger, installed it and it all seemed to work just fine. ...I was a happy camper! It worked just like before ....recording to local drive.

However, just recently I noticed the new floodlight camera would send notifications of motion detection but it would not record anything. Trying to trouble shoot the issue I also noticed that the manual record button also disappeared.

After doing a ton of research I'm discovering something very upsetting. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that the floodlight is compatible with my base but the "record to local" feature has been disabled in order to force people to get a subscription.

I need confirmation that this is actually the case. If so I find this to be very dishonest and purposely deceptive. Nowhere on the website does it say it's compatible with base VMB4000r3 but that a subscription will be required for it to work.

At this point it's beyond the 30 day refund policy so I'm currently the owner of a massive paperweight.

I need an Arlo employee to contact me.

[DannyBearAgain]

As your new camera is still under warranty you can see what support entitlements you have by using the mobile app, open the settings menu, select support and choose the new camera for details.

The VMB4000 is compatible but you need to remove the USB backup storage device to be able to view recordings on a pc.

cameras models after the pro2 require a subscription plan to record to the cloud library so when your trial subscription ended you lost the ability to record.

If you put the pro2 back into service will it start working again?

[MannyL358]

I'm not sure if you're an employee or even a real person. Your responses seem to be coming from a generic template that you cut and paste from.

I would like to have someone from Arlo contact me, or provide me with a number to call.

[StephenB]

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@Bossman3 wrote:

I need an Arlo employee to contact me.

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This is a user-to-user forum.  There are two Arlo mods ( @JamesC and @ShayneS ).  I've tagged them to call their attention to your request.

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@Bossman3 wrote:

it seems that the floodlight is compatible with my base but the "record to local" feature has been disabled in order to force people to get a subscription.

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False.  The VMB4000 can record locally, but the only way to see the recordings is to eject the storage and connect it to a PC.  This has always been the case for the VMB4000 and VMB4500.  The two smarthubs (VMB4540 and VMB5000) do allow you to access local recordings from the app, but not the browser.  But those are the only two bases with that feature.  

With your base, the footage you see in the app and browser from legacy cameras (like your Pro 2s) is all stored in the cloud.  Arlo stopped providing 7-day free cloud storage for newer camera models back in 2018, with the Ultra.  The floodlight is one of these newer models that need a subscription to get any cloud storage.

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@Bossman3 wrote:

Trying to trouble shoot the issue I also noticed that the manual record button also disappeared.

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Manual recordings are made to the cloud, and not stored locally (also true with the smarthubs btw).  So the floodlight needs a subscription to get this feature.  Another caveat - the manual recordings are only 1080p.  So if you have 2K local streaming enabled, you lose this control even if have a subscription.

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@Bossman3 wrote:

Nowhere on the website does it say it's compatible with base VMB4000r3 but that a subscription will be required for it to work.

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I agree it should be much more prominent. 

That said, it is there. 

• https://www.arlo.com/en-us/light/arlo-pro-3-floodlight-camera.html

See footnote 3 at the bottom of the page:

Renewal of an Arlo Secure subscription is required to maintain Arlo Secure features after the included trial. These features include cloud storage, object detection, activity zones and video history.

The datasheet also says this in a footnote on the first page.

• https://www.arlo.com/en-us/images/pdf/Arlov4SupportDocs/ArloPro3Floodlight/Arlo_Pro_3_%20Floodlight_...

Plus it is printed on the box.

But I suspect the confusion here is that you perhaps were not aware that all the recordings you see in the app and my.arlo.com are actually coming from the cloud, and not from the USB storage. 

[MannyL358]

Thanks for the response ....I've come to the conclusion it's time to move on from Arlo.

[Dave2023]

I had to learn the hard way as well. The floodlight is useless without a subscription. I only had mine for 3 months before the light and recording stopped working. It alerts with motion but doesn’t recording anything and won’t light up.