Arlo
Support

Donnadags · ‎2018-07-17

Now it says it’s time to change your batteries. How is that even possible? All 5 cameras? To which I was told the same thing as the battery drain to check with my isp to change the channel. What the heck is going on?!

Jeff3113 · ‎2018-08-15

I know your frustration. Seems the product degrades right after the warranty expires. Go figure.
I do know a company WASSERSTEIN, has created products to remedy in part these issues. One product replaces the Pro battery pack with an AC charger. $18. Cheaper than a battery.
I chose the extended USB cable to charge with and extension cord.
This is a very tough situation. Most everyone has made several hundred dollar investment in these systems.
To have things degrade after the warranty is VERY BAD for consumer relations.

bran100 · ‎2018-08-15

Holy crap. I pulled one of my cameras down yesterday, charged it for about 20 hours and installed it again this morning. I looked about 15 minutes ago and it had about 25% left, and now it's completely drained. What a piece of crap. My Nest doorbell cam sure works great. I'm going to trash the Arlo system and go with Nest.

MikeBravo · ‎2018-08-18

Had to change yet another Pro battery out. This one with only light recording (well within the four minutes per day for four to six month endurance) lasted just a month-----during the summer.

I can't imagine what will happen when it gets really cold.

MikeBravo · ‎2018-08-21

Got another arlo alert that a camera's batteries were 'tired' at 12%, that I should change them.

Like I have been accustomed to, I pulled the batteries out, changed their order, put them back in and, voila, the batteries were back up to 37%. Taking it a step further, I checked the batteries with my trusty batter tester and meter, picked out the two strongest ones, .3.04 & 2.94v, then I added to used batteries I saved, both 2.94v.

The camera now reads 66%. It is taking a good bit of sweat equity, changing batteries every month to six weeks, but by doing so I am getting the full six months out of most of them and saving a ton of money.

Too bad Arlo doesn't value its customers.

Anyway, the camera is back up, but of course it took a while because the phone app is constantly BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING.......

RaylanC · ‎2018-08-21

Literally just hung up the phone with a Level 2 support person. Several of my cameras have lost 25% - 35% power in 3-4 days. Getting bad picture on 4 out of 7 cameras and they are still treating me as some isolated case. I kinda lost it on him, though he was not responsible but at that moment, unfortunately was the face of Arlo, and pointed out there were hundreds of customers across the globe still being put through the paces with premature battery drain, etc., and indicated how well documented the issues were in this forum. I told him I was minding my own business when his engineers decided to screw up the system last May and yet, even to this day, after some 4 months, Netgear/Arlo could not bring themselves to simply say, "Yep, we screwed up and pushed out an under-tested firmware and we are trying to fix the damage."

However, he had the nerve to tell me they were aware of an issue with the night vision not turning off and draining the batteries but, they have fixed that??? Fixed it?! I think not! But I told him how callous his CEO's stock exchange listing announcement was.

Nevertheless, I see no other choice but to bow to his demands and climb up another tree and bring one of my poorly performing cameras to within 3 feet of the base station and try it there and report back. Honestly! There has to be some other recourse.

MikeBravo · ‎2018-08-21

Hope you continue to fight the good fight, RaylanC, as there are many of us out there who have invested heavily in this system and don't have the resources to switch to a whole new system (like Blink) and who will have to continue to struggle along.

The problems of lack of responsibility by Arlo reminds me of Comcast several years back when they began to deploy their new HD DVR's and all hell broke loose. They stonewalled forever before finally began to fess up, but only after they took their sweet time doing it.

Ironically, Arlo's customer support mimics Comcast's to a disgusting extent.

Dakmd · ‎2018-08-25

I’m hopeful that that the battery drain issue is solved. Today I just got off the line with support concerning the battery drain on all cameras (since a botched firmware update). The tech informed me that the average life of the battery is 2-3 months! Netgear apparently is releasing a new firmware package within 1-2 weeks THAT WILL CORRECT THE PROBLEM and restore original longevity to the batteries. In addition there will be a new ‘button ‘ when you go LIVE with ‘update firmware ‘ for each camera and the battery functionality will be restored after you update each camera. The process will take about 2 minutes / camera. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will solve the problem. By the way the fact that my microphone button doesn’t work and the sound quality has deteriorated should also be corrected. I didn’t make this up!

MikeBravo · ‎2018-08-25

@Dakmd wrote:

I’m hopeful that that the battery drain issue is solved. Today I just got off the line with support concerning the battery drain on all cameras (since a botched firmware update). The tech informed me that the average life of the battery is 2-3 months! Netgear apparently is releasing a new firmware package within 1-2 weeks THAT WILL CORRECT THE PROBLEM and restore original longevity to the batteries. In addition there will be a new ‘button ‘ when you go LIVE with ‘update firmware ‘ for each camera and the battery functionality will be restored after you update each camera. The process will take about 2 minutes / camera. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will solve the problem. By the way the fact that my microphone button doesn’t work and the sound quality has deteriorated should also be corrected. I didn’t make this up!

Great to hear-----if its true. Just had to change out another Pro battery that only lasted three and a half weeks with light recording.

We shall see.

RaylanC · ‎2018-08-26

I guess it depends on the tech support rep you talk to. None seem to be on the same page. As I posted the other day, I was told the battery drain issue had been fixed by a subsequent firmware that was pushed out. Not so! I am watching my Pro's battery percentages drop like rocks.

I have lost all faith and confidence in Netgear. The entire support team is abysmal and either woefully uninformed regarading their own products or just outright deceitful. I for one will never spend another nickel on a Netgear product of any kind.

Dakmd · ‎2018-08-26

I share your frustration. I am hopeful that the alleged firmware update will solve the issue. I am totally prepared to invest in another reliable system. However, I don’t want to jump ship, invest in a new system only to hear Netgear solved the issue.

chak · ‎2018-08-26

Hope it's true. This issue has been ongoing for so long. Is there anyway that we could hurt netgear stock?

MikeBravo · ‎2018-08-27

@Dakmd wrote:
I share your frustration. I am hopeful that the alleged firmware update will solve the issue. I am totally prepared to invest in another reliable system. However, I don’t want to jump ship, invest in a new system only to hear Netgear solved the issue.

In our case we can't afford to start over anytime soon.We're also already disappointed that they are projecting only two to three months of endurance when the older, cheaper, inferior cameras are supposed to get four to six months.

Dakmd · ‎2018-08-27

Rest assured that if they don’t correct their stocks will plumit because nobody will be buying the product.

hardway · ‎2018-08-27

I'm trying to troubleshoot the same issue with support over their chat. I have 4 cameras installed last December and since late May the batteries don't last more than 4 weeks, even with ZERO recordings in some cases.

So, the "expert" chatting with me asked to do this (this is a copy & paste from that chat):

1. Change the power management of you cameras from balanced/optimized to Best battery life
2. Change the Recording length of your cameras to a fixed length of 10 seconds

OK, #1 is almost acceptable, even when I know the image quality will degrade. However, how can support suggest #2??!!! I spent $500 on these cameras for security, how can I limit the recording of security-related events to just 10 seconds??!! Are them out of their minds??!!

I'm crossing my fingers for the "promissed" new firmware to resolve the problem.......

RaylanC · ‎2018-08-27

Well, the negative reviews are piling up on Amazon and I only viewed those that related to the Arlo Pro. That won't help their stock value rise. I would encourage users who purchased through Amazon, no matter how long ago, to do the same. I went back through my orders to an Arlo Pro purchase and posted a review without a problem.

MikeBravo · ‎2018-08-27

@hardway wrote:

I'm trying to troubleshoot the same issue with support over their chat. I have 4 cameras installed last December and since late May the batteries don't last more than 4 weeks, even with ZERO recordings in some cases.

So, the "expert" chatting with me asked to do this (this is a copy & paste from that chat):

1. Change the power management of you cameras from balanced/optimized to Best battery life
2. Change the Recording length of your cameras to a fixed length of 10 seconds

OK, #1 is almost acceptable, even when I know the image quality will degrade. However, how can support suggest #2??!!! I spent $500 on these cameras for security, how can I limit the recording of security-related events to just 10 seconds??!! Are them out of their minds??!!

I'm crossing my fingers for the "promissed" new firmware to resolve the problem.......

Yes, they are. Much like Dell, Microsoft, and of course, Comcast, they will tell you anything to get you off the phone or conclude the chat.

I've never adjusted any of my cameras to maximum battery life and some of my basic Arlos will get six months with light usage (of course, when I get the e-mail telling me my batteries are 'tired', I merely remove them and change their order which usually gets me at least another month).

All but my most critical cameras are always set to ten second recording, mainly for the basic arlos because the motion detection is so awful it doesn't make any sense to allow them to record longer events that the camera missed entirely.

MikeBravo · ‎2018-09-04

Now, this is yet another reason why so many of us realize that Arlo is not really owning up to their issues.

One of my cameras that has been reading 12% battery life (while I find the time to pull it down and check the batteries AGAIN) suddenly today, all by itself, now reads 24%.

Figure that one out, Mr. Arlo.

ShayneS · ‎2018-09-04

Hi MikeBravo,

The Arlo Development team is currently investigating reports of this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have further information

MikeBravo · ‎2018-09-05

@ShayneS wrote:

Hi MikeBravo,

The Arlo Development team is currently investigating reports of this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have further information

ShayneS & The Powers That Be:

That's good to hear, however generally your product and service has been trending slowly towards complete ineffectiveness.

Fortunately for me, I have only successfully recommended your product to one person ( a family member no less which is fortunate because I don't think they'll sue me) and that was long before I began to experience all the maddening problems and issues that have slowly soured my opinion to the point that we have begun to consider removing all our Arlo gear, trying to sell it on Amazon or eBay, and they starting over.

The only thing saving you is what a pain that would be.

One thing you can do is immediately create a member user advisory panel like Comcast's 'Insight Committee' or Microsoft's Insider Test Circle. Assign several of your best CRM folks to it and-----LISTEN!

Another thing you can do, like so many smart companies do, is send out a regular (weekly) e-mail 'blast' keeping us informed of the steps you guys are taking to fix all these issues.

Its either that or just keep going on the way you are until you lose so many uses that your business tanks.

Netknut · ‎2018-09-25

I scapped my previous security system to go with Arlo in April of last year.

The 'battery problem' began a few months ago on all 5 cameras.

The Arlo Tech indicated the battery life 'was 1.5 years'.

Must be time to find another system!

jguerdat · ‎2018-09-25

My batteries have already exceeded that time. I'd expect at least 5 years out of them unless they're constatnly being recharged.

MikeBravo · ‎2018-09-25

@Netknut wrote:

I scapped my previous security system to go with Arlo in April of last year.

The 'battery problem' began a few months ago on all 5 cameras.

The Arlo Tech indicated the battery life 'was 1.5 years'.

Must be time to find another system!

I wouldn't place too much stock in what any of their techs tell you.

I haven't yet had a reason to trust anything they tell me.

MikeBravo · ‎2018-09-25

@MikeBravo wrote:

@Netknut wrote:

I scapped my previous security system to go with Arlo in April of last year.

The 'battery problem' began a few months ago on all 5 cameras.

The Arlo Tech indicated the battery life 'was 1.5 years'.

Must be time to find another system!

I wouldn't place too much stock in what any of their techs tell you.

I haven't yet had a reason to trust anything they tell me.

Here's a perfect example of the continuing issues with battery reliability:

One of Arlo Pro cameras just went from 47% at 9:00 am this morning to 25% at 3:00 pm.

How can you possibly manage your protection when at any moment the reading of battery life is just an illusion?

MikeBravo · ‎2018-09-27

@MikeBravo wrote:

@MikeBravo wrote:

@Netknut wrote:

I scapped my previous security system to go with Arlo in April of last year.

The 'battery problem' began a few months ago on all 5 cameras.

The Arlo Tech indicated the battery life 'was 1.5 years'.

Must be time to find another system!

I wouldn't place too much stock in what any of their techs tell you.

I haven't yet had a reason to trust anything they tell me.

Here's a perfect example of the continuing issues with battery reliability:

One of Arlo Pro cameras just went from 47% at 9:00 am this morning to 25% at 3:00 pm.

How can you possibly manage your protection when at any moment the reading of battery life is just an illusion?

So, here we go again.

While watching the two cameras that suddenly went from around 50% battery life to 22-24% overnight and then lasting at that level for almost a month, one of my Arlo Pro cameras did the same thing.

However, like one of our other Arlo cameras, this one went from 23% last night at 9:00 pm to 27% at 7:00 am this morning. In other words, according to Arlo doctrine, that the battery levels are very accurate, then obviously the camera must have spontaneously partially recharged itself.

They'll probably claim it is a new feature they invented and immediately charge us more.

pc2k17 · ‎2018-09-27

September 26, 2018

Production units will see the firmware update in the next 24-48 hours.

Firmware versions:
Gen 3 and Gen 4 Base Station 1.10.0.9.23037
Camera VMC4030 (Arlo Pro) 1.092.0.17_25364
Camera VMC4030P (Arlo Pro2) 1.125.11.1_25366

Arlo Support

Arlo App for Support

Arlo
Support

Arlo App
for Support