Which cameras have the best range?

[yegget]

I've been a long time Arlo user, since the first cameras came out. I am mainly using Pro 1 and Pro 2 now. I had an animal chew up one of my Pro 2s last month and now I am down a camera. I've had pretty good success with them, although they can be spotty sometimes on motion. They seem to do what I need though.

Debating spending the money on more Pro 2s, or biting the bullet and getting one of their newer cameras that require a subscription. I see a lot of unhappy customers using newer cameras though. I have some cameras pretty far from the base station and they are obviously not the best when that happens. Are any of the newer cameras better? I'd like to get some facing the back of the property, but it's a good 200 feet away from the base station. The limitation seems to be about 100'. I had one at 150' and it's image gets pixelated sometimes and it really eats the battery looking for signal.

Pro 2s seem to run about $175-$200 a camera, but require no subscription still. Something like the essentials are under $100 camera with battery and Pro 4s are right around $100 ea. Both options have 2K video too.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@yegget wrote:

Which cameras have the best range?

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The range for 1080p is going to be very similar to what you have (could be slightly better, could be slightly worse).  But 2K requires about twice the wifi throughput as 1080p, so 2K won't reach as far.  (4K requites about 3x the thoughput).

One option is to get an outdoor wifi system, and then get cameras that can connect directly to it.  They will need a subscription though.  Arlo doesn't sell outdoor wifi, but there are several companies that do.

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@yegget wrote:

Something like the essentials are under $100 camera with battery and Pro 4s are right around $100 ea. Both options have 2K video too.

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I suspect the Pro 4 is being phased out (in favor of the newer Pro 5s).

One disadvantage of the Essentials is that they do not have a user-replaceable battery.  One consequence is that the cameras cannot be rebooted by removing/reinserting the battery - instead you need to remove them from your account, do a hardware reset, and add them back.

One common complaint with the Pro 4 is that many users are getting some static in the audio.