Is Arlo just over rated and too expensive? Help me off the edge.

[Manchester]

So I just purchased an Arlo kit at Costco and set up one of the cameras yesterday.  With little over 24 hours of setup I'm thinking of returning it.  

Basic functionality like being able to take a picture automatically using IFTTT rules doesn't even work since taking pictures isn't even an option in the IFTTT Arlo channel.  Not to mention the fact that it took almost 10 minutes for a rule to fire.  So what's the point of relying on a third party service?

Since there is no direct API for the cameras unlike most other makers, it seems like there is good hardware with severely lacking software. 

Anyone figured out how to make this work properly?

[JamesC]

Manchester,

Currently, within the rules for Arlo Wire-Free cameras there is no feature allowing a snapshot on motion detection, however this can be done when live streaming. When live streaming, there is a camera icon on the interface that allows for a snapshot to be taken.

What IFTTT rule are you attempting to use that takes 10 minutes to trigger?

JamesC

[Manchester]

Will Netgear offer access to the cameras APIs in the near future?  Will local storage be enabled?  This last is needed due to winter storms where internet connectivity is lost from time to time.

I was testing the email trigger.  If there was API access to the cameras, IFTTT wouldn't be needed.  Since IFTTT is free to the consumer, there is no SLA regarding latency and availability.  It's all best effort.  

[Charlesknight]

"Currently, within the rules for Arlo Wire-Free cameras there is no feature allowing a snapshot on motion detection"

That seems a bit of an odd statement given that the alert emails contain a snapshot from the video it's recorded - so the functionality is already (sorta) happening on your server...

[JamesC]

Manchester,

There is some discussion of this topic in the Arlo Idea Exchange. I encourage you to visit these ideas and offer your support by adding Kudos as this is how the developers determine which ideas need the most focus.

Local storage backup will be available as a feature on the Arlo Pro Base Station which is backward compatible with your existing Arlo Wire-Free cameras. For more information on this feature, see here: What new features does Arlo Pro offer?

JamesC

[Manchester]

So a few questions about Arlo and hopefully this thread will end.

Netgear is promoting to C-Net that the Arlo Pro is compatible with the original base station.  Does that include local storage?  Seems like the base station is just intercepting the video stream and coping it to the local USB drive.  If that's the case seems like the original Arlo cams should also support local storage.

Since Arlo is creating it's own WiFi network, is there anyway to ensure/verify the security?  Basically if the "Netgear65" WiFi network gets broken into the bad actors have free access to the rest of your home network.  Not to mention the fact that the base station can create havok on your current network due to using the same channel.  Had to manually change the channel on my 2.4Ghz network yesterday but lo-and-behold, the "Netgear65" wifi netowrk the base station is creating switched over to the same channel today.  Really annoying.

[JamesC]

Manchester,

Arlo Pro cameras as well as Arlo Wire-Free cameras are compatible with the original Arlo Base Station. For either of these cameras to take advantage of local storage however, they must be connected to the Arlo Pro Base Station as it supports the local storage feature.

The Arlo Base Station is designed to follow the channel of the closest router, so the behavior you describe above is by design. For more information on the SSID created by the Arlo base station, see here: Why does my Arlo base station broadcast its SSID and is that a security risk?

JamesC

[Manchester]

So if I understand your post correctly, an original Arlo cam will save video locally to an Arlo Pro base station but not an original base station and neither camera is able to save to the original base station even though it has USB ports.

The base station will grab the nearby wifi network's channel and by design use that same channel.  This is "by design" feature makes no sense.  Based on other threads, this channel piggy backing is causing others issues with their wifi networks like I have been experiencing.  Only way to get around this is to put the base station 20 ft away from your router based on the other threads.

[JamesC]

Manchester,

Correct on both statements.

Moving the base station away from your router should help with the issue you are describing.

JamesC