Pro 4 question-

[uidhufsno]

Hi everyone. I currently own 2 Arlo Pro 2's which I have been pretty happy with. One more recently suffered water damage from amending the port to plug up to a solar panel. Long story short, it's a goner, the warranty has long expired, and I now only have one working camera.

I just purchased a Blink camera system, which I have been less than thrilled with compared to Arlo. So back to Arlo I go.

Should I buy a used Pro 2, or go ahead and upgrade to the Pro 4? I've been researching and it looks like the 2 will be unsupported as of 1/2025. I think my biggest draw is that I've been reading the Pro 4, (unlike the 2) requires a subscription service to access basic functions like the 7 day motion recording I've come to love. Can someone confirm or explain this to me? Is the Pro 4 basically useless (other than for live viewing) without a plan? I'd welcome any advice or first-hand experiences. Thanks in advance.

[StephenB]

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@uidhufsno wrote:

Can someone confirm or explain this to me? Is the Pro 4 basically useless (other than for live viewing) without a plan?

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Subscription features for currently sold cameras include

• cloud recording 
• smart notifications
• activity zones when on battery power (including solar panels)

Note that some (not all) Arlo cameras have hardware implementations activity zones, which can be used w/o a subscription if you are using AC power.  The Pro 4 is one of those.

As far as local storage goes, there are a lot of limitations, and IMO not a good user experience.  So personally I think the subscription is the best path.

Although you can connect the Pro 4 directly to your home wifi, if you want to access local storage from the app, then you will need to get either a VMB4540 or VMB5000 smarthub.  (Other VMB4xxx bases do not support direct access to local storage).  Then you'll need to add your own local storage - a microSD card for the VMB5000, USB storage for the VMB4540.  That needs to be at least 16 GB.  Generally 128-512 GB is more than enough.  I recommend using a USB thumb drive for the VMB4540, and not using an SSD or mechanical hard drive.

One aspect is that the feature seems hit or miss - many people run into unexplained problems with the app not being able to access their storage.  I had that issue myself for several months on one of VMB5000s, but not the other.  It is working now, and I have no idea what fixed it.

When working as designed, it has quite a few limitations:

• Recordings only accessible from the primary account (not friend accounts)
• Recordings only available from the app (not my.arlo.com)
• No ability to make manual recordings or take snapshots
• No thumbnails - all videos need to be downloaded to the phone to view.
• Remote access requires router setting changes that many find difficult (and which aren't compatibile with some internet service providers).

In addition, with the new "Feed" user interface (which you will be migrated to at some point in the future),  accessing the local storage requires more steps than accessing the cloud storage.

[jguerdat]

Yeah, but...

Your Pro 2 will continue to work as before minus any support. Not a huge deal since the last firmware update was Sept. 2021. Lack of official support doesn't mean you can't get support here.

All of Arlo's cameras since the Ultra was introduced in 2018 have required subscriptions for cloud recordings - nothing new here. If you also buy a new SmartHub, you can use local recordings without a subscription and use the app to view them directly. However, that's not close to the cloud recording experience so if you're thinking of going that way, be sure to test it out before making a final decision.

Pretty much everything these days is going to a subscription model. You may find others that don't require it but check into what limitations there are without that sub. 

[StephenB]

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@jguerdat wrote:

Your Pro 2 will continue to work as before minus any support. Not a huge deal since the last firmware update was Sept. 2021. Lack of official support doesn't mean you can't get support here.

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@uidhufsno has a failed camera, which needs to be replaced.   

[jguerdat]

One needs replacement, the other will continue to work.