Arlo Ultra - not yet backward compatible, quality of picture issues

[chipwell]

So I have the Arlo 2 system with 3 camera's and 2 lights at my cabin.  Works great, but I could use a wider angle on the front porch and one additional camera.  I needed a system for my ranch in Folsom Lake area.  I have teenagers sneaking out of the house! So thought I would buy the 4 camera Ultra system, and switch out the camera's up there and have one left over to put on the system at the ranch.  First problem, the camera's are not yet backward compatable.  I need to buy a new base station, but that won't run my Arlo Pro 2 cameras.  Second problem, the 'wider' angle really isn't that much different.  It's a bit better, but the quality of the picture is much worse than my Arlo Pro 2 (so not sure how 4K is better?)  Third problem, my network connection at the ranch is only 2 mg up and it needs 4 to do live feed which is the ONLY way you can see what's happening because without the free 7 days, there is no record of what happened in the past so paying a subscription is required for this camera to be useful at all.  Honestly I really don't care about 4k, my Pro2 quality is fine.  What I really wanted to improve upon with the Arlo Ultra was 1) Wider angle view, 2) built in light so I didn't extra equipment and 3) better voice quality... Arlo Pro 2 when I try to talk to people at the door up at the lake from my phone its so delayed that it's not useful.  Faster to call them direct if you can, or do sign language, but even the picture is too delayed to work as a 'real time' communication tool.  Still I'm happy with the Pro 2.   Oh another issue.  I bought extra batteries and a two battery charger to make it easier and faster to just switch out batteries when they get low.  The new Ultra not only has a different size battery, it uses a different charging cord so I now would have to buy a whole other set for the ranch house.    I'm going to look at a longer term solution.  Now that Arlo is not part of NetGear and with the changes to this product and their lack of support for those of us who bought the Arlo Pro 2 system (in December 2018 I might add) I am rethinking putting any further money into Arlo.  Think I will check out ADT at this point if I am going to have to pay a monthly charge anyway.

[JamesC]

chipwell,

The internet connection you describe could be problematic and might be the reason for the delay you mention. Who is the ISP? What kind of connection is it (cable, dsl, LTE, satellite, etc.).

JamesC

[jguerdat]

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@chipwell wrote:

I need to buy a new base station, but that won't run my Arlo Pro 2 cameras.

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The Ultar base will run the older cameras. It's the opposite that doesn't work yet pending a firmware update.

[Christine_57]

I was very disappointed that the base station isn't backwards compatible. I (wrongly) assumed it was, since the previous Arlo literature touted the backwards compatiblilty as a selling point. I bought the Ultra add on camera to add to my other six cameras (the original Arlo, Arlo Pro and Arlo Pro 2) and two base stations and was surprised that I wasn't able to add it to my system.  I sent it back. Arlo, IMHO, blew it with this one.

[jguerdat]

The older cameras/devices ARE compatible. The Ultra cameras just don't connect to the older bases since the firmware doesn't support them. It depends on how you interpret the statement.

Firmware updates for the older bases has been promised for the future...