Arlo Pro cameras having to charge the battery every week

[bengler1951]

I am 65 years old. I told the salesman at Best Buy in Lincoln NE that I had to put these 15 feet in the air.  I had to put them up in the air because of a walkout basement and to see better.  The salesman said they batteries last 4-6 months.

After installing the system and getting it to work well, the batteries were dying in less than 7 days.  I had the sound off the cameras, the cameras were set at 1 minute video only. I did not do live at all.

Arlo Pro system has not had battery chargers out for months. I have a 4 camera set, and have to use one camera to charge the batteries.  I should not have to be climbing up a 15 foot ladder every week to replace cameras. I should not have to be lied to by the Best Buy Salesman and the articles written about Arlo Pro cameras say 4 - 6 month battery life.

This problem has been ongoing with the techs at Arlo Pro.  Yesterday was the last straw. Some broken english tech, told me, just set them at 10 second recording, and don't have them on while you are home.  Wow, what a statement. I have over 800 dollars invested.  I have spent countless hours on the phone only to be told that they do not have any chargers, that the outside waterproof power cords will be available someday.

Really?????  And they do not want to give me an RA number. If they give me an RA number, Best Buy will refund my money, so I can get cameras from a company that cares about it's clients.

Not only have these cameras been put out too soon, they cannot accomplish all they state they can. I am highly irritated.  I have had these for at least 90 days and keep getting a run around.

My case number 28078768 has been memorized by my old brain.  Does that tell you how many times I have had to give it to them.  They do not answer emails for weeks, give you the run around on the phone.

I am going to try one more time tomorrow April 24, 2017 to get ahold of Corporate.  This run around and lack of empathy, and the lies about batteries lasting 4 - 6 months.  They will only last that long if you don't use them and just leave them die in the cameras.

False advertising, lack of care for their clients is huge.  I always bought Netgear products, that is why I bought these.  I want a full refund, so get corporate to call me and give me an RA number so my Local Best Buy can refund my money.

Good luck to the rest of you. I feel there will be many of these showing up at garage sales this year.

[jguerdat]

I'm 67 and would likely never put them 15 feet up since that's far too much view for each camera which may be leading to excessive recordings. How many total minutes of recording per day per camera are you seeing? Rated battery life is for 5 minutes or less of recording and live viewing per day. The other typical possibility is a weak signal between the base and cameras. What do the WiFi indicators show? What house construction do you have? Any other 2.4GHz devices near the base?

Can't explain your support issues but we may be able to help you here. Post screenshots​of the various cameras so we can make suggestions.

[bengler1951]

Best Buy told us the batteries would last from 4-6 months.  We told them how high we needed to go and did not want to be changing batteries once a week.  They opened up some literature and assured us that the batteries would last as the brochure said.  How can a camera be too high, if you need to see over a rise?  Pretty pricey cameras if you can only do 5 minutes a month.  Might as well have thrown my money away. Who can you believe?  Talked with Support more than 6 times and on hold for 20 minutes at a time, and poor english speaking people not able to answer questions.

They came out with the cameras with out chargers and also with out the outdoor waterproof plug in cables as promised by them and Best Buy.  So how is this my fault?  Poor product, poor customer support and I do not recommend these unless you want a 750 dollar toy and not expect it to do anything you were told. I don't waste money.

[jguerdat]

If you check the specs, you'd see that the cameras cover a 130 degree view, which is extremely wide angle (you can also tell this from the actual view). In camera terms, it's a fisheye lens. That's why it can be too high, especially if you have any desire to see details. That wide a view will invite huge number here of recordings since it sees such a large view. Obviously, if there's no movement, recordings aren't an issue. Also, no one said anything about 5 minutes a month - it's 5 minutes per day to get spec battery life. You can record more but have to charge batteries more.

No one from Netgear promised anything about weatherproof cables, etc. except as a future product. Various add-ons are slowly (perhaps too slowly) being released. Many of us here have had these cameras since release and are also waiting for them. It's not anyone's fault other than to have expectations that can't be realized yet. And if you believe what a salesman says as gospel, you should be doing more research before purchasing.

[kmiller8821]

I managed to get one of the coveted external chargers, and I can tell you, they are making a huge difference for me.  When I used to charge just in the camera to 100%, I'd get a few hours before it would drop to 99, 98%.  Now, I charge the battery in the external charger, and so far, all 5 (FIVE) of my cameras have stayed at 100% for over 2 1/2 weeks.  I adjust my sensitivity and I worked hard on placement.  The cameras that get little action actually last a long time, I just charged them at around 40% because I wanted to use the new charger and push them all to max.  Placement, length of recordings, and weather all impact battery performance.  I also set my cameras to 'record until motion stops', this has reduced most of my recordings to 16 seconds or so and it extends when necessary.  I believe that's also helped.  I also keep my cameras at optimized battery life.  You might consider checking all your settings and just go over each one and adjust it as needed. Use the motion range test to see how far out your detecting and perhaps consider turning that down or moving the camera to capture less.  My camera over my garage was initially able to see the street and recorded off and on all day.  I adjusted it so that it only sees the sidewalk and my driveway and now unless kids are getting home from school and such, it rarely goes off. 

[jguerdat]

FWIW, I have recently recharged both of my Pro cameras and noticed that they hang at 100% instead of the previous quick drop to 95%+/-.  Maybe the latest firmware updates changed something?  I don't have the recharging station, just the cameras.