Poor Battery Life / Loss of Connectivity / unfair return policy

[Moogie]

This system looked great on paper:

Easy Setup

No Wires

Mobile app

But it was too good to be true. In the 6 months we've owned this system we've been replacing batteries every 7-10 days under normal recording settings. Cameras drop out of network connection even when the base station has a clear line of sight to the camera(s). Buying rechargeable batteries didn't work, and non-rechargable batteries are not cheap when you burn through 4 of them per camera in a matter of weeks. 

I've gone through tech support to resolve the issue and after not finding a solution they asked I pay to ship cameras back to Netgear for refurbished products, which I get why they do that. Most customers will not pay the $5-$10 to insure, ship, and track the packages back to them.

The final straw is our house was broken into recently. 2 of our 4 cameras were down and we now lost all confidence in this product.

I would love for Netgear to refund us the purchase price as this system is not cheap and we are at the end of our rope trying to resolve the problems. We are beyond the 2 week Best Buy return policy, and 90 day American Express Purchase Protection. 

We have netgear routers and other products, but stay away from this one. 

[adaiah]

I seem to have the same issue with one of my cameras.....!

[JamesC]

Moogie,

How often are these cameras active and recording? Normal usage is defined as around 4 minutes per day in order for the batteries to achieve a life expectancy of 4-6 months. You can find out more here: What is the battery life for NETGEAR Arlo wireless cameras and how can I extend their life? It might help to know a little more about your home network, such as your ISP, download/upload speeds and what model mode/router you are connected to. I also see you currently have a case open with support and encourage you to continue working with the support team to resolve this issue.

Regards,

JamesC

[Hula_Rock]

Sorry to hear that your house was broken into.....

I also found out the hard way and learned a valuable leasson about this system.  "ARLO" should not be used as a Primary system to protect your assets, its a good, budget, monitoring system to compliment a traditional alarm system.

[Moogie]

James,

The cameras are recording in 10 sec blocks, 5-6 times a day, so about 2-3 minutes per day. We've reduced the resolution and camera sensativity with no luck in better battery life. 

ISP is TWC, with 30MPS down / 10MPS up using a netgear nighthwalk and netgear AC1200 repeater. All wifi signals to the cameras are full bars.

Still working with support to resolve.

Thanks,

[Moogie]

Thank you Hula.

Yes, we have robust security system which went off within 10 seconds of entry, unfortunately police response time was 15min. Since the cameras were down, we were unable to get any usable footage of the criminals faces or which direction they took off in after exiting the house. That would have helped the police in narrowing their search of the area. 

I know there are a lot of limitations to a wireless system which we can live with, but battery life of days instead of weeks shouldn't be one of them. 

[Hula_Rock]

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Moogie wrote:

James,

The cameras are recording in 10 sec blocks, 5-6 times a day, so about 2-3 minutes per day. We've reduced the resolution and camera sensativity with no luck in better battery life. 

ISP is TWC, with 30MPS down / 10MPS up using a netgear nighthwalk and netgear AC1200 repeater. All wifi signals to the cameras are full bars.

Still working with support to resolve.

Thanks,

---

Thats a defective camera......

I have  AT&T gigapower (average 800-900MB) connected to a NightHawk AC1900, 30 second clips,  9-10 clips a day, optimized resolution.  I recently changed out my batteries right at the 5 month mark.

Replacing these batteries (4) puts a tiny dent in ones wallet.