Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

Looking to buy arlo want to know witch would be best for home outdoors\indoors

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justdavid13
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Aspirant

Hi I am looking to buy arlo camra set. for exaple bestbuy has them and sams club has it. could i buy the ones from sams club and ad on or is the 4 camra set a starter set?

 

can any one recomend what would be the best set to buy? can you use arlo camras with other brands?

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justdavid13
Aspirant
Aspirant

Thank you for your help. 

 

I will need 6 outside camras and 3 camras inside.

what the most amount of camras you can have on one setup? if i have 10 camras would i need a bigger router?  

 

What the life span on outside camras?

 

can you mix brands of camras?

 

This is prob the wrong place to ask

 

is this the best camra to buy for indoor and outdoor camra use?

 

Thank you again for your help

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

 

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jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

The systems are all the same soyou can mix and match as you need. However, they're proprietary and will only work with the Arlo app, base and servers.

Schorschi
Prodigy
Prodigy

justdavid13 wrote:

Hi I am looking to buy arlo camra set. for exaple bestbuy has them and sams club has it. could i buy the ones from sams club and ad on or is the 4 camra set a starter set?

 

can any one recomend what would be the best set to buy? can you use arlo camras with other brands?


I'd recommend buying the five-camera set from Amazon for $625. That's currently the best bang for the buck.

 

Resell the camera(s) you don't want from the set.

 

Note, that you will need to purchase an outside mount for any and all cameras you want to mount outside. The magnetic mounts are not really suitable for outside. Outside mounts are available for pretty good prices from third parties.

 

For instance, this Wall & Ceiling Mount is available for a fraction of the cost of the original Arlo outside mount (which is white) and much less obtrusive being black.

 

Also, note that the Best Buy bundle (of four cameras) contains one (white) outside mount (besides magnetic indoor mounts), whereas the five-camera bundle from Amazon only contains five magnetic indoor mounts.

 

You may also want to invest in a set of (black) silicone skins to camouflage your white cameras better. Another skins bundle of one green, one black and one camouflage skin is also available.

justdavid13
Aspirant
Aspirant

Thank you for your help. 

 

I will need 6 outside camras and 3 camras inside.

what the most amount of camras you can have on one setup? if i have 10 camras would i need a bigger router?  

 

What the life span on outside camras?

 

can you mix brands of camras?

 

This is prob the wrong place to ask

 

is this the best camra to buy for indoor and outdoor camra use?

 

Thank you again for your help

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

 

TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

 

 


On the basic level, (free), you can have 5 cams, the next $ level is 10 and then $$ 15.  15 is the max number of camera pers base.

The Arlo cam will talk to a base unit only( base sets up its own wifi network for the cameras) (and the 7000 netgear router), and the base is hooked into your router by an ethernet cable.

 

The Q camera is indoors only but does have better rez...it will hook to your own wifi system

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justdavid13
Aspirant
Aspirant

Does it pay to start off on level 2? should i try to buy the q camras for in doors?

 

the amzon pacage is that a level 1 or 2? and when you say level 1 free what are you getting more then level 2?

Schorschi
Prodigy
Prodigy

justdavid13 wrote:

I will need 6 outside camras and 3 camras inside.

what the most amount of camras you can have on one setup? if i have 10 camras would i need a bigger router?  


A single router (Netgear R7000)/base station can handle up to 15 cameras. But: you will need to pay for a subscription to have more than five cameras hooked up to the same router.

 

The free basic subscription allows for up to five cameras to be registered on the same account and base station. You could get additional base stations per a maximum of five cameras and for each base station register a separate account. That saves you from having to purchase a subscription, but is more of a hassle when logging in and out of your (free) accounts. Your call.

 

So, your options for a nine-camera setup are as follows:

 

  1. Get a Premier (paid) subscription that covers up to ten cameras on the same account.
  2. Register two accounts with up to five cameras each and don't pay a dime. You'll need a second base station for this option and have to flip-flop between two accounts to log in and out to monitor your recordings and settings on each account.

justdavid13 wrote:

What the life span on outside camras?


No different from inside cameras, unless outside cameras are exposed to extreme cold. The lifespan is determined by how many video clips you record. The offical use-case is one four-minute clip per day per camera. This will last you four to six months on a fresh set of batteries per camera.


justdavid13 wrote:

can you mix brands of camras?


No. Arlo is a proprietary system and is not compatible with any other cameras.


justdavid13 wrote:

is this the best camra to buy for indoor and outdoor camra use?


That's not a question I can competently answer, because I'm not familiar with other systems.

 

The limitations of Arlo are:

 

  • Noticable delay in recording video when triggered. As a result: you may miss important footage.
  • Battery-operated only. Depending on usage, you'll have to replace batteries more frequently than you like. Batteries are a rare, expensive kind (CR123A), though online you can get a battery for about $1.50 each. Although rechargable variants are available, these require more frequent battery exchanges due to lower capacity than single-use batteries.
  • Requires constant Internet connection. If the Internet is out, Arlo is out.
  • You are at the mercy of Netgear. If they decide to turn Arlo off some time in the future, there is nothing you can do, but use Arlo cameras as an expensive paper weight.
  • Limited coverage. 15-20 ft is the distance you can expect to monitor reliably. This is mostly due to night vision mode, which utilizes the built-in infrared lights. During the day time farther events will trigger video clips.
  • No constant recording option. Due to the nature of Arlo's battery power, continuous recording is not available, as it would run down the batteries too fast. So, Arlo is solely motion-triggered, capable of recording video-clip lengths of between 10 and 120 seconds per motion event. Long-term manual recording is possible, but only for up to 30 minutes.

 

Pros are:

 

  • Arlo is ridiculously easy to install. No cables, no drilling of holes for cables. Just drilling holes for mounts.
  • Total flexibility for programming schedules. You can schedule any recording schedule and combination of cameras. If you don't want your front-door camera to record when you're leaving the house, that is no problem to program. Just program your front-door camera not to record during the time frame when you usually leave the house. Voila.
jult
Star
Star

You say it is "ridiculously easy to install". Well, for me it wasn't. The cameras need to be in really close range for it to function properly.

The WiFi over here is completely filled up. (It's a sub-urb even, if it was in the city it would be worse..)

So no, not easy. Especially since netgear doesn't offer a way to set the wifi channel that is used. That stupid base-station changes channels almost daily here, and it barely, if ever, connects with the 3 cameras for it. 2 are only 10 meters away and I have yet to see it be reliable. Most of the time they're considered offline by the stupid base station.

 

So, instead of marking this as 'Solved', take some advice from me;

 

Buy a different system. The hole-drilling and cabling isn't that much work, it's cheaper than the pain you have to deal with for these arlo disasters.

You can buy POE camera systems from foscam, uniden, axis that are damn near perfect compared to this kiddy crap.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

justdavid13
Aspirant
Aspirant

I was wondering since amazon was recomened to me.

 

is the sale at bestbuy for the 4 camras i think it comes with a router to for $429.99

  • Model: VMS3430-100NAS
  • SKU: 1668003

is this a better deal then the one offered from amazon offers they have 5 camras I am looking to buy a system I am just not sure what to get. i know bestbuy is having a sale this week.

 

can any one make any recommendation that would be great.

Schorschi
Prodigy
Prodigy

Amazon seems to be matching that price currently. They sell the same hardware for the same price. Check here.

 

It doesn't really matter where you buy. I'm sure you have your preferences.

 

When purchasing an Arlo system, you should make sure it has a base station and at least the magnetic mounts, one for each camera. That's how it's usually bundled. Batteries are usually included too.

 

The magnetic wall mounts don't allow total freedom when it comes to orienting the cameras and for outside you should use screw-mounts anyway. So, plan on getting outside mounts too.

 

But $429 is a pretty good price for four cameras. The current price on the Amazon five-camera bundle is $625 and definitely less bang for your buck. I got a five-camera bundle last December for $499 from Amazon as a deal of the day, which is a bit better than the current four-camera deal, but those deals only come once in a blue moon.

 

Also, if you end up liking the system and decide to keep it and when/if you want to upgrade you may want to look into another bundle with base station (rather than just cameras), since that gives you more options. See also this post in which a user argues for more base stations.

 

On a basic plan (the only free plan) you can only operate up to five cameras per account. Upgrading to more cameras you have two choices. Either spring for a paid subscription to hook up more cameras to the existing base station or get another base station with up to five cameras and get a second account for that system on a second basic plan that is free. In the latter scenario you never pay a subscription, but have the inconvenience of having to flip-flop between two different accounts.

 

One other technical limitation is that per base station you can only have five concurrent video streams, whether that's a live view or a recording triggered by a motion event.

nngnng
Apprentice
Apprentice

All i can tell is DON'T do it.... There is just too many issues with the Arlo systems. With your hard working money you can buy something better- READ the FORUM and listen to all the complaint about motion detection.............

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Or ask for help after reading the FAQs and articles.  WHile no system is perfect, there is usually a way to get motion detection to work well.

 

And it beats trolling...

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