Arlo Q baby monitor

[Lburg]

I have had 4 Arlo Qs about a month.  They are not suitable as baby cameras.  I created multiple accounts for viewing for myself and the wife on different devices.  Most nights we have one tablet setup viewing all cameras live.  That tablet will be connected from 7 PM to 8 AM or so.  Some nights that tablet will work through the night(Most nights it doesn’t).  When it does, after some period of time the other devices with other Arlo accounts will try connecting and it will say the camera is unavailable.  (Scenario - wife takes tablet to bed.  I want to check in on kids from living room. )

Even though it is still currently streaming on same WIFI on the original tablet.  I know its there and working because I can walk into the room and see it working on original tablet.  Why do I get inconsistent results trying to view the same cameras live?  Its either a bug or there is some form of bandwidth throttling going on.  The only way to fix this is to reboot my AP.  Or sneak into the kids’ room and unplug the Qs. 

I chatted with support.  Did you reboot camera? Did you set channel to 1,6,11?  Are they connected to the internet?  This took like 45 minutes.  They told me they have no advanced support when I asked to speak to someone else.   

TLDR

Multiple accounts setup to see same cameras.  Some can view cameras. Some say unavailable.  

[JamesC]

Lburg,

Arlo Q is not designed to continuously live stream, after the stream has been live and idle for a period of time, it will time out. You might take a look at the Arlo Baby if you would like uninterrupted continuous live streaming throughout the night.

Is there any consistency with which viewing devices display the error and which are able to initiate the live stream? If you log out of the app and log back in, do you still get the same error?

JamesC

[Lburg]

JamesC - Thanks for the reply!  

Is there documentation on the time out "feature"?   I see no mention of a limitation on live viewing anywhere in the manual or on the product page or Amazon.  This seems like a big deal (and very misleading to the consumer). 

I get that Netgear is trying to limit the streaming on these cameras on their servers.  An "are you still watching feature" like Netflix would be much better.  The timeout itself should not result in a need to physically reboot the camera.  This is a bug.  The camera cannot be rebooted via the Arlo app at this point.

Consistency - Once its timed out no one new can view on any device until a reboot has happened.  Sometimes the original device can still view.    I have isolated the Qs to one AP in my house I do not have much else on.  But its still a giant pain to reboot at when a child is crying.  

Purchased the Qs over the Baby because did not need to move the cameras.  Also eventually plan on moving them to be security cameras when each kid is older.  And because I did not know about the timeout "feature".

Any chance local streaming comes to the Qs like the Baby?

[consoul_cable]

Had a similar issue with my Q, ended up going with a Wyzecam for the kids room. They are 25 bucks and have free cloud storage like Arlo, but with local storage like the Q Plus. Also allow for continuos streaming, continuos recording, and the option for time-lapse. I still love the quality of the Q, but just couldnt compete in this space with the Wyzecam, something a fraction of the cost. Alro Q went back to the dining room.

[jguerdat]

I have a Wyzecam, too, but the limitations are too much for me to recommend. 5 minute "cool-down" between 12 second fixed recordings is a no-go. About the only thing I really like is the continuous recording to the microSD card although that's a reactive solution since you won't get alerts if you're not recording on motion.

It's cheap enough to try but the whole thing about a silk purse from a sow's ear comes to mind.