Subscription

[Butch64]

Arlo requires a subscription to use many basic features, example ability to null areas of the camera view from motion detection (cars, sidewalk users, etc) to limit unnecessary recordings and alerts.  Camera is useless without this.  Person, package, animal detection also.  Other camera systems keep these enabled with or without subscription.  I had to search Youtube to get answers as Arlo support will have nothing to do with you until after you add a subscription.  After Purchasing an Arlo 4 Pro system, before opening box, I connected with Arlo support (chat box) but was told I did not qualify for a human chat texting.  Is Arlo considering enabling some basic features for non-subscription?   My goal was to use subscription for about 6 months/yr when on travel, but not the other months.  

[StephenB]

You should have gotten a three month trial when you on-boarded the camera.  That would let you set things up and gain experience with the system - so you could then be ready to add the paid subscription when you traveled.  It would also give you access to phone support during the trial.

I will say that (despite the marketing), my Pro 3/Pro 4 batteries don't last 6 months.  If you need activity zones to reduce the recordings, then that will almost certainly be your experience also. The XL upgrade will improve battery life a lot.  Other options include adding in the solar charger, or just powering the camera with the outdoor charger.

---

@Butch64 wrote:

Is Arlo considering enabling some basic features for non-subscription?  

---

You might already have seen this, but just in case you haven't:  https://kb.arlo.com/000062312/What-options-will-I-have-when-the-Arlo-trial-ends

If you have a smarthub (VMB4540 or VMB5000), you can use direct access to local storage instead of cloud storage.  There are a number of limitations, and if you only have one camera the payback period over a subscription is pretty long - around 3 years if you had the subscription in place all the time.

[StephenB]

You should have gotten a three month trial when you on-boarded the camera.  That would let you set things up and gain experience with the system - so you could then be ready to add the paid subscription when you traveled.  It would also give you access to phone support during the trial.

I will say that (despite the marketing), my Pro 3/Pro 4 batteries don't last 6 months.  If you need activity zones to reduce the recordings, then that will almost certainly be your experience also. The XL upgrade will improve battery life a lot.  Other options include adding in the solar charger, or just powering the camera with the outdoor charger.

---

@Butch64 wrote:

Is Arlo considering enabling some basic features for non-subscription?  

---

You might already have seen this, but just in case you haven't:  https://kb.arlo.com/000062312/What-options-will-I-have-when-the-Arlo-trial-ends

If you have a smarthub (VMB4540 or VMB5000), you can use direct access to local storage instead of cloud storage.  There are a number of limitations, and if you only have one camera the payback period over a subscription is pretty long - around 3 years if you had the subscription in place all the time.

[Butch64]

Tks Steven,

Without being able to ignore certain areas of the video frame, alerts will be constant and annoying. You can only have that with a subscription.  Seems wrong of Arlo to disable such a basic feature (that you already paid for in the initial purchase) unless of course you pay for a constant subscription.  Over 10 yrs, that's another $1200 added to your upfront cost.  There are other options out there that allow this feature (and more) w/o subscription and allow you to turn on/off subscription when you want more security when traveling.  Many also have local storage that you can access remotely like Arlo, again w/o subscription.  I used Arlo in past home (left with new buyer) when all was included, was a great system, why I bought it again.  Very disappointed.   I just returned my new Arlo.  Selecting a different one.