Will EOL on VMB4000, etc follow recent camera EOL announcement?

[FMaly]

The recent EOl on my Pro cameras is disappointing. While the lack of firmware updates is likely not an issue, the cancellation of the 7 day storage and notice of movement certainly is annoying. The product was sold with the promise of this service. The camera hardware will continue to work, just no cloud storage support.

So, before I even consider upgrading equipment...can anyone determine what the EOL might be for my VMB4000 hub? If I go with Arlo Essential cameras, what's the plan on EOL'g them as well in the near future (Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice....) or my two VMB4000 hubs as well?

Given that I would continue to get cloud storage if I upgraded to a paid subscription service, this move by Arlo seems to be much more related to flushing the available free, short-term cloud storage and notifications than anything to do with firmware updates, repair/replacement of cameras, etc. that was mentioned in the Jan 1 letter.

Thoughts/recommendations would be very appreciated.

[DannyBearAgain]

If you purchase a subscription plan the EOL equipment will continue to magically work.

Arlo has not yet issued a customer letter to me for the EOL on the VMB4000 Base station although they are advertising pro/2 EOL is still coming.

It is still unclear as to the depth of arlo’s actions going forward as well to the eventual receivership/liquidation outcome that would follow.

It would not surprise me  that the Netgear stockholders have bleed arlo to almost extinction through the parent company. This is common practice with spinoffs and if they fail to increase profitability they eventually end, hence the money grab in desperation.

IMHO, wait for definite advice from arlo before you decide to reinvest or look at other options elsewhere.

[Rob1307]

I've invested almost $2K in Arlo Pro equipment over the past few years and, like you, I'm pretty disappointed by this EOL nonsense that Arlo has come up with.  Once bitten twice shy as they say, so no plan now to ever buy their equipment again. I was thinking, however, about the possibility of connecting a NAS/Cloud hard drive to the base station USB/local recording output port and then accessing the files remotely from my laptop when I'm on the road. Is this even possible? Has anyone tried it.  

[StephenB]

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@Rob1307 wrote:

I was thinking, however, about the possibility of connecting a NAS/Cloud hard drive to the base station USB/local recording output port and then accessing the files remotely from my laptop when I'm on the road. Is this even possible? 

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The VMB4000 only supports FAT32 formatting, with no more then 2 TB drives.

What NAS or Cloud drive are you thinking about?  My own NAS (ReadyNAS) couldn't be used in this way.  

[Rob1307]

I was looking for a solution if it exists. I don't have an answer to this... but there are backup hard drives out there with ethernet and USB connections which might work???...USB from the base station to the hardrive/NAS and ethernet to my Netgear R7000 Readyshare modem or EX7000 repeater as a possiblity? Don't know. Not an expert at this stuff. Just looking for a solution if someone with more expertise can figure this out. You would hope that the ARLO folks themselves would have offered some sort of solution rather than just hanging all of us out to dry. Really disappointed with this company.

[jguerdat]

I don't know of any consumer NAS that can be connected as you are considering. Most have a USB port that can only be used to import files from, say, a thumb drive - it's not an active bidirectional port that could be used to connect the base or hub to. Basically, you have to record onto a USB drive connected to your base, eject it and then copy or view the files.

[donnalesage]

Funny, the content I wish to express is constantly being deleted.  Perhaps this review will make it to posting.  Arlo Netgear is doing a huge disservice to customers who purchased 5 or less security camera units/system with the guarantee at the time of purchase that a 7 day look back and recordings would be free of charge.  At the time of purchase there was NO EOL (End of Life/usage) listed and the customer was fully under the assumption that the merchandise purchased would perform unless damaged or broken. What ARLO NETGEAR is doing by applying the EOL policy is forcing their customers who purchased products under a "false" pretense of FREE 7 day recordings, to subscribe to a PAYING SUBSCRIPTION (when the EOL is enforced/determined by the company) in order to even be able to contact the company for a person/representative to assist the customer with ANY questions, concerns, or resolutions with their products. Otherwise, you are referred to other customers knowledge for support or old internet searches for resolutions of any issues. ARLO NETGEAR, then puts the customer in a position where they have to purchase new camera security systems or PAY a subscription fee up to a fee of $9.95 per camera per month.  Do the math...your free 7 day service that they have the ability to EOL every 4 years after the last production will no longer be free.  Pretty great set up for ARLO NETGEAR.  Not so good for consumers and clients.  THIS is why the FTC plays a vital role as a consumer advocate.  I encourage those who feel mislead to contact the FTC agency, file a report and they will list other agencies that can also have a report filed.  

[StephenB]

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@donnalesage wrote:

  Arlo Netgear ... ARLO NETGEAR ... ARLO NETGEAR ... ARLO NETGEAR

If you want to complain to various regulators, you need to name the right company.

Netgear has nothing to do with the EOL policy.  They spun off Arlo back in 2018, and all Arlo stock was redistributed to their shareholders.  So they have no ownership stake in Arlo.

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@donnalesage wrote:

applying the EOL policy is forcing their customers who purchased products under a "false" pretense of FREE 7 day recordings, to subscribe to a PAYING SUBSCRIPTION

You apparently have not read the revised EoL.  Arlo is now saying that the free 7-day cloud recording for the legacy cameras will continue indefinitely.