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?

[BrookeN]

Okay thank you for that information. The same will apply to you. The field trial will be pushed to your devices throughout the night. Tomorrow monitor the behavior and let me know if you see it still occurring.  

[-Gerbs]

@BrookeN  Ok, thank you. 

[AlixO]

Thank you @BrookeN . The issues I’m having are mostly when the light is low and in the dark, so I may need a couple of days to see if it’s resolved with the field trial firmware. 

[roundball]

@BrookeN

Some update info for you:  I have 4 model 5s all on my Arlo plan.

They were all installed with direct WIFI.

In an attempt to get half of them working more reliably I moved 2 of them to a Base Station. ( and neither of them has had any failures since )

Last night I did receive the field trial firmware you coordinated for us.

FWIW, the firmware change was only on the 2 cameras on WIFI.

The 2 cameras on the Base Station did not receive any firmware change.

Thanks again for being so helpful to us BrookeN.....

[roundball]

@BrookeN 

Well, it's only one example so far...but  I hope what I just experienced is permanent.

Amazon delivery truck pulled into the driveway.
The driveway 5s on WIFI notification & recording started immediately before he was even out of his truck.

Then the front porch 5s on WIFI notification & recording start immediately as he started walking towards the front porch.
I got up, went to the front door, and he was only just going back down the porch steps.

Now THAT's the way my cameras used to & should work...very fast & capture everything.
Hope this was not just a fluke example and continues like this as the normal routine.

[Roaringpants]

So far all good for me, however the problem was always worse at nighttime so keeping my fingers crossed. 
Cheers from the UK

[-Gerbs]

@BrookeN  My cameras are working as they should. Thank you for helping. 

[-Gerbs]

@BrookeN  Only 3 out of my 4 cameras received the update. 

[chicane]

That’s how that should work @roundball.. although how many customers are lulled into a false sense of security with cameras that will not record when they need to.
We are in the fortunate <1% of customers, the >99% aren’t. 

@BrookeN what’s the internal word on why the delay publicly releasing this field trial firmware?

[roundball]

@BrookeN 

Strange thing has happened to one of the 5s WIFI cameras with the Field Trial Firmware on it…suddenly went  off line, can’t get it working again no matter what I try through the app.

Tomorrow will have to get a ladder up and try to reset / onboard it to a base station as I have to have the security cameras functioning.

Concern with that is whether it will even work on a base station with that Field Trial Firmware on it…will find out tomorrow.

[roundball]

@BrookeN  -  06/09/24 AM Update

Another strange thing happened to the same 5s WIFI camera with the Field Trial Firmware on it.

I checked all the cameras on the secure app at 6 am this morning and to my surprise, that particular 5s appeared to be back online and working.

I walked outside to see if it would detect & record and it did so immediately.

I don't know if it was a glitch in the "Field Trial Firmware" (FTF) that then somehow corrected itself...or if someone at Arlo associated with the FTF reset something or what.

NOTE:
Given that "Field Trial" user information is important...I'm going to leave the 5s on WIFI and NOT move it to a Base Station yet...in case more information related to this incident might have value.

[-Gerbs]

I have other motions turned off and now my cameras are recording motion when shadows from the trees shift on my yard and when tree branches move from the wind. Is there something else I can adjust to stop this?

[roundball]

I am not a support staff or highly seasoned security camera guy.

But, I've had that same situation and in my case, was able to "reshape the activity zone" so the tree branches were not involved.
Might see if you could do that...or even make "multiple smaller sections of activity zones" and still have decent activity zone coverage for the most important areas of your concern.

[-Gerbs]

@roundball  I will give that a try, thank you. 

[Edinburgh_lad1]

Maybe someone could enlighten me in case I'm missing something:

Users spend upwards of £200 on a Pro 5 camera, then at least £2.79 per month (or £8.99 if they have more than one) to then spent weeks testing firmware that should have been thoroughly tested before this ""unreliable junk" was released (using the phrase from the title), not to mention the frequent climbing up and down the ladders and the associated hassle.

I hope Arlo is at least offering a free service plan as a sign of goodwill gesture to those that are affected by this issue. 

I think this situation is crazy and there's something fundamentally wrong with this company in terms of its approach to the customer. If I were affected by this issue, I'd be writing a CEO complaint to Verisure, rather than taking part in Field Trial Firmware testing, and all that nonsense.  

@JamesC  your products are commercial products that cost a pretty penny; this isn't supposed some kind of hobby circle of enthusiasts that are taking part in collective testing of firmware that was produced by someone clearly out of their depth. 

[chicane]

@roundball adjusting activity zones to work around it makes no difference to be honest. 

[roundball]

Always works for me...it's the whole point of activity zones being adjustable.

One or multiple activity zones can easily be set up in sizes & shapes.

I have activity zones specifically tailored on every security camera I have up to eliminate false triggering:

Examples:

Subdivision car traffic passing the end of the driveway;

Tree limb/leaf shadow movements across the concrete driveway;

Deer walking across the back half of the back yard;

Etc.

Etc.

[chicane]

@roundball The firmware defect applies with activity zone set or not. 

[roundball]

No effect on mine...live example:

Driveway camera activity zone is set to stop just short of the edge of the subdivision street and cars go back & forth all the time...no triggers.

[Roaringpants]

My camera has started missing events again and not showing notifications. Last night I went out into the driveway stood in front of the camera waving my arms and the spotlight came on but there was no recording of the event and no notification. I’ve now noticed that the motion icon was greyed out randomly? When I switched over to standby waited a few seconds and then switched back to Home hey Presto the motion icon lights up again And the camera starts working again, so it could be all along that the problem is something to do with the motion detection randomly switching off? I am using a strong Wi-Fi connection. I’ve only had this camera just over one week and when it works, it’s great. Hopefully somebody from Arlo will be reading this and be able to sort this out as soon as possible as I’m getting tired of  Being a beta tester. I am using the latest trial firmware that was pushed out over the weekend. So just to recap, the White icon motion detection keeps randomly dropping.

Thanks from the UK

[chicane]

The development team know what the problem is - they can see it all in their debug logs.

How flat footed the company is in general with acknowledging/releasing the firmware is a 101 lesson in how to not to treat your customers.

[roundball]

• I took this snapshot from this recording of a Deer walking along side of the cars & driveway…my activity zone stops just short of the street so cars going past don’t trigger recordings.

 

[BrookeN]

@-Gerbs I will look into that other Pro 5 and see if I can have them add the field trial on it. For catching the trees and such you can change the activity zones as suggested. You can also change the motion sensitivity and see if that helps.

@roundball Thank you for all the updates they really are appreciated. 

[-Gerbs]

@BrookeN  Ok, thank you. 

[-Gerbs]

@BrookeN  Now I have 2 of my 4 cameras that are detecting motion, but not pushing notifications. The other 2 are working fine.