What is Arlo Smart Hub

[Lou7117]

What is the difference between a Smart Hub and a Base Station?

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@Lou7117 wrote:

What is the difference between a Smart Hub and a Base Station?

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The main difference is that the smarthubs support the direct access to local storage feature.  The base stations require that you eject the local storage, and review footage on a PC.

[Lou7117]

Thank you for that information.  What is the benefit of having a Smart Hub as opposed to not having a Smart Hub? 

[StephenB]

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@Lou7117 wrote:

Thank you for that information.  What is the benefit of having a Smart Hub as opposed to not having a Smart Hub? 

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What cameras are you considering?

[Lou7117]

I was looking at the XL Essential spotlight camera.

[StephenB]

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@Lou7117 wrote:

I was looking at the XL Essential spotlight camera.

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A smarthub creates a closed wifi network for the camera.  If you have a mesh, then you might get better wifi signal to the camera using your normal home network.  If you don't, then the smarthub would have the same reach as your router.

One benefit of the smarthub is that you can connect local storage (usb flash drive for the VMB4540; microSD for the VMB5000).  That would give you a backup to cloud storage. 

It also opens up the option of dropping the monthly subscription for the camera (using the direct access to local storage feature).   There are quite a few limitations with direct access to local storage, and personally I don't recommend it - especially  if you only have one camera.