New user, motion detection and battery questions

[tawas]

New to Arlo, just picked up the VMS3330W-100NAS *(Arlo wire free 3pc camera) from black friday at Walmart, for $179 I thought it was a pretty good deal.  I referenced a few reviews and for the price I expected some of the negative ones, but still decided to go through with the purchase.  My question is, since the promotion that comes with this package is that I am given 3 months of Arlo cloud service; is the only recording these offer motion based?  I can't seem to find any option to disable motion based and just have it record and be sent to cloud storage.  I was just curious if this model allows for anytime recording, or if there MUST be motion for recording to happen.  Another question is the about the motion detection, what are the best sensitivity options? How far will the motion detection reach? Another typical review I'm reading is that the batteries aren't lasting as long as the package claims they should.  What are other brands or rechargeable options that are optimized for lasting long?  I know on the packaging it claims not to use counterfeit or offbrand batteries, but surely some sort of other brand has a reliable long lasting battery.  I'm just looking overall on here for these answers, as the instruction manual included gives just about ZERO information about this camera, really poor on that end.  Overall I'm curious as to the best option for optimized battery life, and recording dependability.

[StephenB]

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@tawas wrote:

  I can't seem to find any option to disable motion based and just have it record and be sent to cloud storage. 

You can also make manual recordings from the web ui or the app.  It is possible to disable motion detection - you can create custom modes to do that for specific cameras.  https://kb.arlo.com/42/What-are-modes-and-rules-and-how-does-Arlo-use-them

Your particular camera package should also give you 7 days of cloud recording with the basic (e.g. free) subscription after the trial runs out.  FWIW, newer cameras (Ultra, Pro-3, Ultra) don't offer that.

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@tawas wrote:

I was just curious if this model allows for anytime recording, 

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If you mean continuous recording, then the answer is no.  It's not practical to offer that with a battery-powered camera.

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@tawas wrote:

Another question is the about the motion detection, what are the best sensitivity options? How far will the motion detection reach?

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There is some useful information here: https://kb.arlo.com/37/How-do-I-position-my-Arlo-wire-free-camera and https://kb.arlo.com/000056582/What-is-the-Arlo-Smart-cloud-activity-zone-feature

I find that camera positioning and cloud activity zones are the most useful ways to manage motion detection.  Cloud activity zones do require a paid subscription though. 

You can adjust the motion detection threshold for each camera - though I haven't found that to be all that useful myself.

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@tawas wrote:

 Another typical review I'm reading is that the batteries aren't lasting as long as the package claims they should.  What are other brands or rechargeable options that are optimized for lasting long? 

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Battery life depends mostly on how much video the camera streams.  If a camera frequently loses its connection with the base,  that can also sharply reduce battery life (looking for the base uses a lot a battery).

I use different camera models, so I don't have direct experience with rechargeable batteries for your cameras.  But based on posts here, I suggest that you look into Tenergy rechargable batteries (particularly the ones that say they are compatible with Arlo).  Battery life will be shorter than with non-rechargable batteries, but you will save quite a bit of money on batteries if you go with rechargable ones.

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@tawas wrote:

... the instruction manual included gives just about ZERO information about this camera, really poor on that end.  

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I agree they ought to have more info in the manuals.  There is quite a bit of useful info in the knowledge base.  You can search that with google by adding site:kb.arlo.com after your search string.  Similarly you can search the community with site:community.arlo.com.