Review of Arlo Pro from a Northern Climate Perspective

[JWalker78]

I purchased the 4 pack Arlo pro about 4 weeks ago and find there are things that I like and dislike about this system.  I live in Northern Ontario Canada.  We experience temperate between -40c to 40c throughout our seasons.

I began my research as usual by watching endless video reviews and reading forums.  The consensus seemed to be that the Arlo pro was a really solid wireless camera system. 

So, I decided to make the purchase as the 4 pack Arlo pro had a $200 discount.  I get it home and remove the items from the box was impressed by the quality of the hardware.

So here is my pros and cons list for the device now that I have it installed and have been using it for some time.

Pros:

• Wireless
• Push Notifications
• 7 days free cloud storage
• wide angle lenses
• Ability to add external Backup storage (should be a PROs but this is also a CONs)

Cons:

• Camera Video Quality – even at its Max setting 720p video is not “HD” quality.  Not sure if this is a camera sensor issue, lens issue or encoding issue.  It may be ENCODED at 720p but it is not.  I can take a 120p video and re-encode it at 720p doesn’t make it 720p.    
• Camera battery consumption vs video quality.  They tout 720p HD cameras.  They tout battery life. but reality is you cant have both.  Optimized settings give you 640x354.  That is 354p!  Not even close to this 720p they are bragging about.
• Only one good mount included for an outdoor camera system.  You need to pay $$$ more for the good outdoor mounts.
• No Internal Storage.  All Cloud.
• Backup Storage is not accessible from either web or mobile app.   You should be able to access the storage when on your local LAN.
• Cloud only.  If you lose connectivity to cloud these units are useless(only somewhat useless if you have external backup)  So why is this an issue.  Because your access to the cloud has many areas that can fail preventing your security system to be monitoring.  Your Router, modem, ISP, the Internet and Arlo could go down for some reason rendering this system useless.
• Temperate restrictions.  Last night we got hit with our first cold spell, approx -20c.  I have 2 west facing cameras and 1 east facing.    I was not able to access the 2 west facing cameras until 10:20am when the temp raised to -12c.  So both my front cameras were disabled all night and morning.  This is usually when thieves try and access your vehicles/property.  
• Camera Triggering - Audio.  Useless feature.
• Camera Triggering Motion "Until" time doesn’t work.  Will stop recording at random even though there is something still moving in view.
•  

After making this list I realize this system does not make practical or financial sense for my requirements.  I also hope this post may help other decide if the Arlo system would be worth their purchase.

[JamesC]

JWalker78,

I am sorry to hear that the camera did not meet your requirements. You might consider taking a look at the newly released Arlo Pro 2 (1080p) as some of your cons refer to HD quality.

Thank you for the feedback and organized review.

JamesC