Video doorbell ignores activity zones

[bmwdriver7175]

What else can go wrong so many issues with this doorbell including activity zone is being ignored and I get motion alerts for activity nowhere even near the activity zone I have the video and screen shots to provide it if it helps.

[jguerdat]

One thing that was explained to me is that cars can cause reflections that bounce off things in your zones, causing false triggers. Since the doorbell looks straight out, it's hard to reduce that effect. I've created a zone and also set my motion sensitivity in my modes and rules to 35 which works pretty well, minimizing recording cars while still recording people at about 15-20 feet from the door. Not perfect but very workable.

[bmwdriver7175]

Thanks for your reply. I too thought about that but reviewing the videos doesn’t show that. One thing that every video does have in common there is a vehicle driving through the camera view but NOT though the activity zone, not even remotely close to the zone. It’s not every vehicle just some. Really frustrating trying to solve. Thanks.

[atox828]

I have the same issue. I'm using a custom mode as reccomended, I have turned the motion detection to 1, I have turned the motion sensitivity to 1, but it sitll triggers when cars drive pass about 40-50ft away, outside of my activity zones.

[house6104]

Will record cars going down street. Will NOT record when some one comes up porch. Now get this, if I come out of house through front door it will record me, hummmmm? HELP.

Ive tried setting motion at 100%  58% same problems.......

[house6104]

I just deleted zone , at 58%.  Walked up porch, Doorbell recorded just fine. Watched  like 5-6 cars drive by didn't record them

Must be SERIOUS problem w/ zones.

Good luck guys.

BEST SUPPORT IS TRIAL & ERROR!

[house6104]

I just deleted zone , at 58%.  Walked up porch, Doorbell recorded just fine. Watched  like 5-6 cars drive by didn't record them

Must be SERIOUS problem w/ zones.

Good luck guys.

BEST SUPPORT IS TRIAL & ERROR

[tmc721]

I'm having the same issue. I've tried setting activity zones, sensitivity set to 25 (and deleting activity zones, creating new ones, etc)  and still it will pick up cars WAY out of the zone. I don't get it. 

Not sure if it matters, but I also tried zooming the field of view of the camera so that the street is out of view. That doesn't help either.  Getting super frustrated with this thing.

[house6104]

I just deleted all zones, main concern people on porch, packages.

Set motion detection at like 55%

I catch a few cars, big trucks infrequently, could adjust even more, but that’s not a problem for me.

[bmwdriver7175]

Last I heard was support was forwarding to engineering if enough people open a case and send proof of activity zones not working with screenshots of the activity zone and then a video or screen shot of motion it’s hard to argue then that it’s user error or setup error. That’s what I did and now I will wait to see if they fix this. I hope others will do the same. By the way this motion problem is not just in doorbell but any camera with motion zones setup. I had not previously discovered this problem until I started powering my cameras full time which allowed me to setup zones.

[bmwdriver7175]

These people don’t have a clue. Today I received questions like who is your isp what is your internet speed can you run a speed test. Does it happen with router and cellular access? What does cellular access to the app have to do with a doorbell detecting false motion? It doesn’t travel with me? God help us these support agents are nothing more than people stalling until someone gets around to figuring out the real problem. I think it’s time to bite the bullet and sell the system and move on. There is much better out there my kids are using other brands and working without any serious issues.

[Darkmatter83]

Wow really!? That’s crazy so your saying put the sensitivity to 58% and leave activity zones off? What about the smart settings? What did you turn on and off in there? Cars and people I assume you left on and turned off all other motion?

[Darkmatter83]

Wow really!!?? Glad to hear that worked. What did you set your smart notifications to? Reason I ask is I have them set to cars and people and turned off all other motion and it’s picking up all other motion to my amazement something I don’t even have selected.

[Darkmatter83]

Glad to hear it’s not just my cameras. This is crazy, I submitted video proof in email they asked me for. Then I reach out to them since I hadn’t heard from them in a while. And they closed my case since they said they hadn’t heard from me. Like come on.

[Darkmatter83]

Your 100% right. I’m curious to know what brands are working better as I don’t want to make the same mistake again as I’m ready to Throw my two video door bells from Arlo in the garbage. Enough is enough.

[bmwdriver7175]

What makes matters worse, now the doorbell detects motion and doesn't record anymore.  This thing is pure garbage.  I've been waiting for answers for over 3 months.  I would accept covid causing delays, but I know better since I've been a user on here for nearly 5 years and the support was just as bad.  My son in law sent me video of his 2k Eufy camera and how it tracks the people in the view.   Pretty slick, I think I will check it out, about ready to sell this whole arlo system.  Don't need the aggravation anymore.  Ironically he started out with a couple of Arlo cameras and figured out pretty quick that they were not for him as he had issues and could never get them resolved so he took them back to the store and went with another brand.  I should have done that long ago.

[Darkmatter83]

Yikes so this is more wide spread then just video door bells. Well ironically enough I just heard back from Arlo again asking for video and pics of the issue. Will see where this goes as I have been down this road before and it went no wear. But I I am relentless on things like this as I can’t return and get my money back at this point. So will see where it goes and I will update when I know more. One thing I don’t get is all the reviews that are coming out on the video doorbell saying how great it is. This confuses me as I clearly am not the only one having this issue

[tmc721]

I think maybe those who are satisfied don't have as demanding environments. I live on a very busy street so was getting hundreds, literally, of alert. Right now, it's sort of working but I have the FOV really narrowed down (not optimal as makes is difficult to see faces) and sensitivity turned way down.  It's seems pretty good now but I'm not really thrilled with the compromises I had to make to get it work.  And lately now the activity zone is showing up as a green block on my recordings. Ugh. I just don't have it in me to deal with it or support right now.

As an aside, I'm way happier with the Arlo Pro 2's I have installed at my vacation house. No doorbell there. But I love the 7day recording history for free. Kind of bummed I went with the Arlo Pro 3s for my home. I have them set up to record locally but didn't realize I'd need a subscription to do what I can do with the Pro 2s for free. Sucks. I should dump the whole system.

[bmwdriver7175]

Don’t hold your breath I have twice sent pics and video nothing ever happens other than we will let engineering know. That was months ago. It’s a stalling tactic. Support is clueless. They are just stalkers for the clowns that do the programming somewhere and who knows where that is.

[Darkmatter83]

Oh your properly right and not holding my breath, this will be my last push on this if it doesn’t work out I’m dumping the whole system at least that way I won’t be paying them any monthly feel and I will feel better about that. Such a stupid company for sure. Don’t care about customers as well. Going to follow up with them tomorrow, but I was surprised someone took the time to reach out to me today. Usually i don’t hear back from them

[Darkmatter83]

Yes I think your right about the demanding environments. That would make sense. Ya your right no way you should have to make all those compromises for something that should be working for how it was intended. Really sad of a company that just doesn’t care about its customers.