Arlo Pro 5S - unreliable junk (missing events, taking snapshots). Pro 4 in same location works f

[chicane]

I've had ongoing headaches with my Pro 5S cameras not detecting events or taking snapshots instead.

Today I did a side by side test with a Pro 4 camera in the same location. Both devices are on 2.4GHz and connected to an outdoor Ubiquiti AP (great signal strength for both). I did try the device on 5GHz and found it to be similarly flaky so reverted to a hopefully more stable 2.4GHz connection. Unfortunately not.

Since I have done this side by side test, the Pro 4 is detecting every event (and recording a video). 

The pro 5 recorded video once, completely missed one event and recorded a snapshot instead for the third event. With the video was choppy and audio partially missing at the start, while the Pro4 was smooth and had audio for the full clip.

Both devices are active under my subscription, set identical under the routine (to record video), and smart notifications set the same.

I've had this replaced with a new sealed unit by support for the second time with the same outcome.

Are these devices inherently faulty? anyone else experiencing similar?

[BrookeN]

The firmware has started rolling out. It should be completed within the next week. As soon as that is fully rolled out the behavior you are seeing will be resolved. 

[BrookeN]

I have this escalated to the engineering team. I will update the community as soon as possible. 

[dcdeforest]

This seems to be a firmware issue, see the following ongoing thread:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro-5S-2K/Arlo-Pro-5S-unreliable-junk-missing-events-taking-snaps...

[chicane]

@dcdeforest correct, it does look firmware related. The thread you linked to is the same one you replied to? 

Arlo Support surely can do better here. They are showing contempt towards their user base who have these cameras that are not functioning in a fit for purpose manner. if they are working on a proper fix, great. But keep it moving. Send some communications out. Or at least roll out the field trial firmware more broadly. 

[BrookeN]

We are looking into this, I apologize for not updating the community. I do not have any new information at the moment. However, as soon as I do I will reach out. 

[volosityga]

What’s interesting is I have the essential xl camera and it is the only one giving me snapshots instead of video, and this just started a couple of week ago, I did a base station reset and it fixed it for a few hours but it is back to snapshots. I have no pro 5 cameras.

[BrookeN]

@chicane are you seeing this still on all your Pro 5 cameras or are there only certain ones?

@volosityga with the Essential camera if the camera is almost completely depleted it will go into low battery mode to preserve battery. When you were getting snapshots the battery was in critical low level. Please charge the camera and see if you see the same behavior. 

[chicane]

@BrookeN it was all of my Pro 5S cameras (on the latest public firmware) prior to the recent release of the field trial firmware to the others. Now they are detecting better. Although still occasional snapshots but not missing events as badly as before. 

Do you have any further update as to how the field trial firmware is going and any ETA for release to public? Or what is the rationale why it being held up from release when it is less-worse than what your customers have now? 

[DudeNJmad]

Yep I'm having the same issue. Why detect motion and only capture a snapshot?  

This new software sux balls.  My pro 4 just stopped working and I regret letting them talk me into the 5S.  I'm going full PoE camera system next time.  I'll record my own footage and back it up to Azure storage.  F this company.  Ever call support?  Not one US based tech. 

[Retired_Member]

See attached screenshots of support conversation.  Apparently if the support person decides he doesn't want to help anymore he just lets you sit there and ignore you.  See conversation from start to finish in the 5 screen shots attached.  Arlo buyers, beware.  When things go wrong support is MIA.

[BrookeN]

@Retired_Member I am sorry to hear that you did not receive good support when reaching out. That is not at all how we want our users to feel. In regards to the Pro 5 taking snapshots instead of recordings, we are aware of this behavior. We have the development team looking into this. I will reach out to you as soon as I have an update. 

[rmrjr45]

Been using the camera for 14 months with no issues.  Three days ago the camera stopped recording and does not send any notifications.   I store locally on a USB drive on the base station.

Here is the trouble-shooting I've done:

Motion-sensing test shows that motion detection is working. 

I  have an active subscription. 

I can record the live-stream and it is saved to storage. 

I turned the unit off and on. 

I rebooted the camera three times by removing the battery for one minute then re-inserting it. 

I restarted the base station. 

No joy.

Any other ideas?  The warranty ran out two months ago, of course.

Thank you for nay help you can provide.

[StephenB]

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@rmrjr45 wrote:

Any other ideas?  The warranty ran out two months ago, of course.

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You could try paid support (using the support center in the app).

You might try a hardware reset -

• remove the camera from the account
• press the sync button inside the camera until the LED flashes amber (~15 seconds)
• add the camera back to the account

[rmrjr45]

Thanks!  That worked!

[chicane]

Typical AI driven time wasting "support" rubbish from Arlo. I have burned tens of hours of my time with this issue that Arlo is showing sheer and utter contempt towards their user base. Customer care - FAIL. 

[chicane]

@BrookeN I have noticed snapshots occuring with the field trial firmware as well as one device detecting motion and not recording any events. 

Any chance of a "please explain" from your internal Arlo colleagues? the time it has taken to get this resolved (or at least a public acknowledgement aside from this forum) is an absolute disgrace. 

[Wolfpretzel]

It is very disappointing that this seems to be a common theme with Arlo. I am experiencing the same issues with my 5S’s. Taking snapshots instead of video despite having plenty of battery and strong wifi connection, not detecting and recording events etc. They seem to work sporadically and take multiple restarts, disarming and rearming to work. One decided not to work for days. 
Even more disappointing is that these 5S’s I have are RMA replacements for faulty Pro 4 cameras that took a lot of pushing from the community to get the problem addressed. 
Faith in Arlo is at an all time low. 

[chicane]

@BrookeN do you work for Arlo or are you a volunteer? 

The latest experience I am facing with my Pro 5S is they will simply stop recording events. The only workaround (that works temporarily) is to reboot the camera then they start recording again, until they do it again.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH. 

[StephenB]

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@chicane wrote:

@BrookeN do you work for Arlo or are you a volunteer? 

---

Only Arlo employees have the Arlo badge next to their user name

FWIW, Arlo has no volunteer mods.

[BrookeN]

The firmware has started rolling out. It should be completed within the next week. As soon as that is fully rolled out the behavior you are seeing will be resolved. 

[chicane]

Hi @BrookeN thanks for your reply. Is this new firmware you speak of the same as the field trial firmware?

Ive still been having snapshots taken instead of video recently. Rebooting camera seems to help temporarily. However why is this happening at all still?

I’ve replied back to the same support ticket that ‘Gen’ had been replying to however no response for over a week. 

[BrookeN]

I will reach out to support and let them know you have not had a response as of yet. We sent the information you provided us back to production. So the firmware is  the same as the field trial, the firmware should resolve the snapshots instead of recordings. I will reach out as soon as it is fully rolled out and follow up with you to see if it resolved. 

[Tredagar]

You shouldn’t have to do a reset I have to climb a ladder to get a camera down.

Mine stopped recording last night haven’t done a reset yet but did get an email this morning saying  I have to control my usage because I have recorded a lot of video lately.(Coincidence)

[BrookeN]

There is a firmware that is rolling out, it will take a couple weeks to be fully launched. This firmware will resolve the behavior you are seeing.  As soon as it is at 100% I will reach out to the community. 

[chicane]

Hi @BrookeN 

Could you please provide some clarity around if this "new" firmware is the same as the "field trial firmware" that I've been evaluating? This morning, my cameras continued to record only snapshots up until 7:43am AEST (local time). Prior to that it was snapshots only from 4:56am. Given there is NO upstream issue for my device, nor does my Ubiquiti Unifi wireless show any connection issues for this camera (no dropouts or drops in wifi experience), is this issue caused by some congestion on the Arlo cloud side? Or please, provide some insight as to WHY this is happening.

Given how pathetic your support team are, you are the only contact we have with a real human, so therefore are our only realistic hope of some useful info.

[chicane]

hi @BrookeN

I’m really looking for an honest answer here. Issue caused due to some congestion with your cloud provider? The performance of these cameras goes through the toilet from 0700 Australian time. This time happens to coincides with many peaks within your main markets. Could you be open and on and tell us if this is why our cameras take snapshots because they cannot record the camera video footage to the cloud?

[AlixO]

Hi - will this rollout be automatic? I purchased 2 new Pro5 cameras a week ago and have had lots of trouble with both - they miss events during the day and also send motion alerts without recording. As soon as it starts to get dark, they stop recording and take snapshots. Sometimes they don’t pick up anything at all when there’s definitely something there. I have two older essential spotlight cameras and they work perfectly. I put the Pro5s in the same spot the essential spotlight cameras were initially, so it’s not the location or the wifi connection. I’m wondering if I need to return the Pro5s because they aren’t working and aren’t fit for purpose.