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

[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?

[StephenB]

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@roundball wrote:

Yet your Pro5 Firmware and our Pro5s Firmware are not the same, they’re different.

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Both have the same part number (VMC4060P) which I think is clear evidence that there is really only one camera model (just branded differently in some countries).  FWIW, I always found the "s" in Pro 5s to be a bit odd, personally think they should just call it Pro 5 everywhere.

Sorting out differences in firmware is tricky because

• New firmware releases are done quietly (nearly silently)
• Some folks are on Field Trial software, others aren't.
• Arlo almost always uses a rolling release process, so it can take a long time for a new release to reach everyone.
• Firmware in Europe often lags behind other geographies (I think linked to the Verisure partnership).