Arlo Wifi Cameras - Missing Motion/Detection....Not impressed. Great branding poor execution.

[nakonechnyd]

Hey Everyone, So I purchased the Arlo Wifi Camera setup a couple days ago via Costco (Thank god) to try and replace my current Wifi Camera setup from my alarm/smart home provider Vivint. So far the cameras esthetically and design wise are very pleasing to the eye and easy enough to install/mount but that’s about as far as it goes. With-in 4 hours of having the camera mounted viewing our front door it was down to 74% Battery life... it missed me answering the door twice less than 5 ft away from it at 100% sensitivity... the other camera faces our street which is a quiet side street but occasionally a car will drive through or whatever...not one recorded clip...now on day 3 at 100% sensitivity setting. 

Needless to say I was pretty excited about getting these to replace my Vivint cameras but these are HUGE disappointment and far from ready for the market place. I don't recommend these and think if you’re going to purchase them at their price point and get an exceptional security feature for your home, guess again you can do better with your money. I'm shocked there's not even a feature to make specific areas with-in the cameras view to trigger the motion recording. That’s like Motion Detection Software 101!!! Really Arlo? 

Arlo has a great branding campaign and the design is 9/10 for me but the actual reliability of these cameras falls way short of what Arlo promises. Very disappointing. Thank god I bought these at Costco so I can return them and seek out other more reliable options. The 2 - 10 second lag time before the motion starts is inexcusable. Like I said...if you’re going to launch a product to protect your home and keep your family safe...at least make sure it works Arlo and stand behind your product...your selling a falsified product promise to your consumers. Worry less about the dollar and more about improving your product. 

Design - 9/10 

Functionality - 2/10

Reliability - 1/10

I don't recommend this product over other more reliable ones in the market. Dont be fooled by the branding campaign.  

[nicholshornlake]

I boxed up my Arlo system, and installed Lorex poe system. Motion detection is spot on from any direction. To me the Arlo system is very unrealiable. Live and learn I guess.

[nakonechnyd]

How long have you had the other system? Can you provide the Model #? Is it Wifi or Cabeled? Thanks so much! 

[nicholshornlake]

Has been installed for about a month.

[pcs0snq]

I can't help but think some of this is in the installion. I have the same system and it's excellent. $245 for a wireless system that is up and running in an hour or so, and with and impressive smart phone app, is way more then I had thought it would be. My delay is around a second. I saw a youtube of one that was 15 sec. I have yet to see any other wireless system available for home use like this. 

[nakonechnyd]

It's far from a installation issue. It's quite odd how Arlo has made that a thing "installation issue" instead of a hardware issue and winning people like yourself over to think if you have a problem that's what it is. That term shouldn't even exist truthfully. If your happy then all the power to you....but honestly this is not a good level system for its cost. It's very dissapointing and poorly executed.

[Paznici]

ARLO - detects motion only at 4 - 5 ft distance.

[nakonechnyd]

If 4ft - 5ft of detection is the limit for these then that's pretty pathetic to even call it a security camera.

[pcs0snq]

Both of mine are mounted high as the recommend. 7' and 9'.  The inside one on full sensitivity has a range of +25'. 

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Paznici wrote:

ARLO - detects motion only at 4 - 5 ft distance.

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 If you only have 4-5', the camera is bad or the setup missed something. How high is it? What is the sensitivity set for?

[jguerdat]

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pcs0snq wrote:

Both of mine are mounted high as the recommend. 7' and 9'.  The inside one on full sensitivity has a range of +25'. 

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Paznici wrote:

ARLO - detects motion only at 4 - 5 ft distance.

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 If you only have 4-5', the camera is bad or the setup missed something. How high is it? What is the sensitivity set for?

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Agreed.  Screenshots can help.  I get 10-15 feet with motion AT the camera, more across the FOV.

[Paznici]

It is about 10 ft high. I tried to set the sensitivity higher than 80%, but it gets back to 80%. And I discovered another defect: if it detects the motion, it only records 10 seconds, even if the motion continues, like some guy is messing with your car, for example.

[Paznici]

Mine is outside - if i place it at 7' anyone passing by can take it...

[Paznici]

Actually I just measured and it is at 7'. I'll try again to change the sensitivity.

[nakonechnyd]

Honestly I've moved the Cameras now as of yesterday afternoon to an outside location...(Both of them) to give them the benefit of the doubt and they still miss motion, don't record when their suppose to o, lag on motion recordings. Their JUNK honestly junk...Sorry but these micky mouse cameras won't protect or save your home. The cameras likely miss so many things going on around you that you'd have no clue even happened and in reference you think "wow things are pretty quiet and my camera shows everythings all fine". But thats far from the case....the cameras are actually missing multiple actions. 

I'm taking them down tonight, throwing them into the box and their going back to Costco. I'm buying a more reliable system. These are garbage. 

[Paznici]

I wanted to return them too to Frys, after i spent over one hour and a half on the phone yesterday with a very polite customer service from Taiwan, but with no improvement. But because i liked the night-vision quality and the good enough video, I called again today. A more knowlegeable rep from Taiwan, took about 2 hours on the phone, re-synked the cameras, increased sensitivity, increased the recording time higher than 10 sec, and got a motion detected a little farther, about 10 ft. However now anytime a car passes by on the street, over 35 ft away, it gets a recording. She explained that because the car has more heat than a body, it is detected much farther... So if an unwanted comes here, it would be detected only if about 9 ft from the camera, but all cars passing would crowd my cloud with unnecessary recording... I'll keep it a few more days and probably return it.

[JamesC]

nakonechnyd,

It sounds like positioning or interference could be causing the issues you describe. Take a look at this article to be sure your cameras are positioned for best performance: How do I optimize my Arlo Wire-Free camera’s motion detection performance?

If you continue to have issues, consider contacting the Arlo Support Team for further assistance. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link. If you have any additional questions/concerns feel free to private message me. I would be happy to help.

JamesC

[Elcaminokid]

My Arlo is missing more than half the people entering the building.  I have set the sensativiity to the maximum and still not recording those entering.  Watched the video recommended and set accordingly but still not catching all.  Finding people entering and walking past the camera before it starts to record resulting in a picture of the door closing.

[jguerdat]

Post a screenshot of the camera's view.

[nakonechnyd]

I gladly returned my Arlos weeks after purchasing. If you want a fisher price equivalent security system than that's what you'll get with Arlo. I now have an Lorex system and it catches everything I want it too. Wireless cameras are no where near where they need to be in our era to be reliable. They're garbage and although arlos design is cute and simple...it's exactly that...nice to look at but completely unreliable. Just return them don't waste your time hoping they'll start working properly. They won't.

[Magosanx]

These are garbage, very well said, I am having the same problem, I have two different Arlos set up as the book say it's been moody, sometimes one will catch me walking and other times will catch me already in my car and other times won't catch me at all, the other day I had a record of some dude walking away my front house to the road, did I get a record when he was walking in to see his face??? Hell NO. I am already getting rid of mine just waiting to do the research on a better wireless system. Alro has great features but non of them work, not to mention recorded all cars passing by my house 20 feet away from my door but me walking in or out I don't get recorded 😞

[JamesC]

It can sometimes take some trial and error to find optimal conditions for your Arlo system.

Take a look at the tips in this article to be sure your cameras are positioned for best performance: How do I optimize my Arlo Wire-Free camera’s motion detection performance?