Fundamental Upgrade Query

[Minburn57]

Hi there, after a wicked run of posts/responses during a period of dismal performance of my most basic 5 cam/old, basic base station system - purchased in early 2016 and still going strong, I pulled away in a big way from the forum . . . 

But now, I have a need and with all the hardware since that earliest offering of Arlo, what is best for my need:

I am in need of an additional cam to increase the total to 6.  Base Station is original VMB3010.  Cameras are all C3030.

Again, what is the best way forward at this point if I simply need another camera and performance/feature wise, it really doesn't have to do much more than these existing cams?  I don't understand the limitations any longer (thought it used to be 5 cams max for that particular base station?) let alone all the options available since.

Thanks

[DannyBearAgain]

The 3000 Base is not compatible with the newer cameras, some newer cameras can have direct connection to the local wifi. Any camera model after the pro2 requires a subscription plan for cloud storage.

[StephenB]

---

@DannyBearAgain wrote:
The 3000 Base is not compatible with the newer cameras, some newer cameras can have direct connection to the local wifi. Any camera model after the pro2 requires a subscription plan for cloud storage.

---

@Minburn57:  And if you add a 6th unsubscribed camera to your account, you will lose the free 7-day cloud storage for your VMC3030 cameras.  So you will need a single-camera subscription for the added camera.

Cameras that can connect directly to your home WiFi are

• the Pro 3 Floodlight (not the normal Pro 3)
• the Pro 4
• the Pro 5s
• all the the Essential models

[Minburn57]

Thanks for the informative response, StephenB.

Time to educate myself on features of WIFI connected cams (ex. notifications, viewing and such) as well if I want all of these 6 cams to connect the same way, what base stations or methods available to do so.

I was thinking a bit more and if purchasing another cam, perhaps get one with greater features and (more importantly) better spec on resolution, FOV and such and figure the most economical way to have that work with others.

Away for two years and much has changed.

Thanks again

[Minburn57]

This is going to sound like a pretty simple query, but I'm not understanding the use of more than 5 cameras with my existing base station.

If I purchase a 6th camera, can it be connected to my existing base station that currently serves 5 of the older Arlo Cams?  I'm getting turned around with the terms 'can stream' only a maximum of 5 cameras but 'can view' only one at a time.  The latter I'm thinking fairly straight forward, but then what the hell does 'stream' mean other than possibly meaning an network connection between camera and station but not necessarily viewing live video?

If by purchasing a single cam sub I can have all 6 cameras connected to my existing station, have push notifications for all when activity, and only viewing them one at a time, then the only thing I need to do is seek out an older Arlo that can hook up to that base station.   And from what I'm reading, quite possibly an older Arlo that uses 4 x CR123A batts as I typically get a few months out of those at worst even through very cold winters up here (northern Alberta).

Appreciate any and all input into this.

[DannyBearAgain]

Streaming is used to define a camera sending it’s video to the arlo server, either by live viewing initiated by the app or triggered by a recording event. This is generally a max of 5 cameras at the same time.

A Base/hub has a limit of 15 cameras that can be connected to it, there is no limit to the number of Base/hubs although this depends on the internet through put they are connecting to and how busy your wifi is working as the base wifi meshes with the local wifi router.

Arlo states that you can have unlimited cameras on an account but this requires you to have multiple locations.

Arlo has a 5 legacy camera limit per account unless you have a subscription.

[Minburn57]

Thanks

Getting a better sense of the situation at hand after quite a while away and reasonably happy with my older 5-cam system.

Much food for thought over the past 24 hours.