Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

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Ksw
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Star
I have 2 Arlo Pro 2 cameras and 2 Arlo Q Plus cameras. What is happening is that the Q Plus devices need to be rebooted/restarted frequently as they become unresponsive when trying to view live feeds as well as stop recording from motion alerts. What is up with the Arlo Q Plus? Is a firmware update on the way?

Thank you.
55 REPLIES 55
Ksw
Star
Star

Thanks for the detailed post.  Interesting to see so many people basically having the same issue, and no real responses with timelines for a fix from Netgear unfortunately.  I guess I will be dropping my CVR plan as well, as it seems to be massive waste of money, and then go searching for 2 of the programmable timers mentioned in another post (Century 7 Day Heavy Duty Digital Electric Programmable Timer Dual Outlet Switch) since that seems like the only real *workaround* for the problem until Netgear has their engineers work on a firmware update.

Ksw
Star
Star
Maybe I'll go with that smart plug as well... Thanks
WalkerMax
Initiate
Initiate

+1 on the unreliability of the Q Plus cameras due to regularly locking up. We bought the Arlo Q Plus for our retail store in May 2017. We purchased the Q Plus at a premium price because we wanted the best reliability. The fact that it is AC-powered and we used the hardwired Ethernet connection should be the most reliable, right? Not the case! This camera is the most unreliable and worthless purchase we made in a long time, and it happens to be in the most critical area - security.

 

It regularly locks up without any indication - the led is on and the camera apparently working away providing our security. However the camera is not recording anything and of course nothing is available on the cloud storage. We are not alone with this buggy operation. Read the Arlo Q and Q Plus support forums - there are many people complaining of exactly the same malfunctioning, without any real response from Arlo. You cannot restart it through the app. The only way to reset it is to physically pull the plug and restart it by plugging it back in. Then it will be OK for a day or a week or so.

 

We've had three security situations since we installed the camera. One was an obvious stalker who was bothering a cashier. When the police arrived, we went to the camera to show them the suspect. Guess what - locked up! Another was a bad check passer, again - locked up no video. The latest was a theft off a shelf in front of the camera. Again - you guessed it - locked up no recording.

 

We are now going to install the camera power supply on a timer so that it shuts off every day and gets reset. What a stupid thing to have to do in order to achieve any reasonable operation.

 

Stay away from Arlo products unless you are using it as an expensive toy or dummy camera.

Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice

I’m surprised the Q Plus is still being sold when this issue exists with ALL of them. If you’re thinking of getting the Arlo Q Plus then don’t. Get the Arlo Q instead (without the CVR plan).

If you have a Q Plus, I’d suggest testing it out for a week or two so it’s always armed and recording on every motion/audio that’s detected (e.g., point it to a street). You’ll likely notice the same issue. The camera stops recording for hours, or days if it’s not restarted automatically.

If you haven’t noticed this issue, it may be because you don’t have your camera armed all the time or have the camera in a place were there’s frequent motion and audio that allows it to record every few minutes, 24/7.

I’ve been working with Netgear support to find a fix for almost a month. After exhausting every troubleshooting step we could think of, it was assumed it was a hardware problem. I shipped my Q Plus to Netgear on 1/10 and in 7 days I received the RMA Arlo Q Plus. During that week, before the RMA arrived on 1/17, I connected a new Arlo Q camera to the same place where the Q Plus was connected. All three of my Arlo Q cameras recorded without any interruptions during that week, including the new one.

A day after the RMA Arlo Q Plus was connected, it had the exact same problem as my original Q Plus! It also stopped recording to the cloud, then after 4 hours, it started recording on its own. During this time my other Arlo Q cameras were still recording. Then a day later it stopped recording to the cloud again. This time I was able to restart the camera after two hours using the app.

It’s unlikely that my original Q Plus and the replacement RMA were from the same bad production batch. To me it looks like the issue exists with ALL Arlo Q Plus cameras.

There are many users that have reported the same problem in 1 star reviews on Amazon, Best Buy, and other sites, as well as this forum for the Arlo Q Plus or Arlo Q on CVR plans. This issue doesn’t exist with the the normal Arlo Q, which is why I’m still keeping those.

Since I was able to do all testing within 30 days I’m going to return my Q Plus to Best Buy tomorrow (although it’s now the RMA camera). For all the other people stuck with these defective Q Plus cameras, I’d suggest you contact either Netgear to see if they’re going to have a recall. A security camera that regularly stops recording gives a false sense of security.

Ksw
Star
Star
I returned both of my Plus cameras as well; unfortunately I had enough with them. Good to know the Q (non-Plus) is not affected though I will likely try a new brand now, not certain. Interestingly I've had zero issues with the Arlo Pro 2. But there are less expensive alternatives and I have some lingering frustrations from the Q Plus...
shodannet
Initiate
Initiate

Reporting in to say I also have this problem. Seems to only happen to one camera (ironically the camera most set up to avoid any interruptions as it's ethernet). Generally what happens is when there is enough activity being triggered (eg: our dog reacting to something outside), it eventually becomes unresponsive. Live views never connect, restart commands fail to restart and I know the internet connection is fine because the other camera is on wifi and it works fine. From this camera I can see the light on the problematic camera is a solid blue.

 

Each time this has happened I havent been anywhere near home so restarting it in person is out of the question, and it defeats the purpose of the camera if it becomes unresponsive when you're away and something is happening. These have a 1 year warranty right? Bought it last march so still have time

Hydro130
Luminary
Luminary

Count me in as another Q Plus cusotmer with this issue...  I just noticed it recently, since I rarely ever check my clips these days.

 

I think it must be a somewhat recent firmware issue though...  I bought my Q plus last fall, and I know for sure it was working properly then, since I was very regularly checking its performance for a while after I set it all up.

 

I've made no changes to my Arlo setup or my local network since then.

 

This is definitely frustrating - hopefully a future firmware update will fix this!

ITGuy4Life
Tutor
Tutor

I have two Arlo Q's as well and have the same identical issue. I was hoping that a resolution had been found and started looking through Google and forums. I stumbled on this post and here we all are...with expensive cameras that dont record after set amount of time.

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

I only have one Q but it records all the time, without need to power cycle or jump through other hoops. My main issue with it is the low framerate - it varies but can be as low as 4-5 fps. Doesn't matter if CVR is enabled or not.

Geekqualizer
Tutor
Tutor

I got my arlo Q plus in November 2016 and I loved it.  I also have 2 original Arlo cameras and they are having no issues (other than the recording delay which I’ve come to terms with but prompted this purchase)  The Q+ was really clear and the video was smooth (on Wifi) and I never had to worry about it... for about 6 months or so.  This is a busy location and gets a lot of events every day. 

Not sure exactly when it started but I noticed I wasn't getting e-mail notifications and they were not in spam etc.  The arlo website indicated no issue just that no events had occurred for a few days.  I then tried to get a live view and was unable to connect.  I was unable to restart the camera through the arlo website so I unplugged the camera for a minute and then plugged it back in.  It started working and ran fine for a few weeks and then it happened again.  This has continued since then.  Occasionally I am able to restart the camera on the arlo website but usually I must unplug the camera.  I also started to notice pixilation in the videos after 5-10 seconds. 

Since the video was dodgy and this is a POE device I connected it to POE.  No difference.  It continues to lock up and have video issues.  Every few week or so (it isn’t consistent) I have to restart the camera, so I put it back on wireless and bought a wireless outlet, so I could power cycle the camera remotely.  Not great but at least I can restart it if it stops working. 

I then thought about the local recording so I checked the SD card.  It was still recording video events to the SD card even though I wasn’t receiving notifications.  So my guess is that it has something to do with the notification/Arlo remote control processes since this is what is actually not working.  My camera is recording events but I am not being notified and they are not making it to the cloud.  Full disclosure: I have only checked the SD card twice when I wasn’t receiving notifications so I suppose it is possible that the camera locks up sometimes too but I just didn’t check the SD card.

 

For the support staff – 2 things that would help your consumers and your technicians –

  • add a restart timer to the device so it could be restarted automatically. Adjusting the time may help your techs determine the timing causing the issue. 
  • Allow the website to read videos from the SD card so we can see what we missed without having to climb a ladder and eject the card and then re-aim the camera after we finish.  If the video is being recorded, then you can narrow down the scope of this issue. 
Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice

The post above summarizes the same issue others have experienced with Q Plus.

 

It looks like Netgear attempted to fix this, along with similar issues on the CVR plan, with a firmware upgrade on Feb 22:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Firmware-Release-Notes/Release-Notes-Arlo-Q-Q-FW-1-8-3-2-17494-23nd...

But it caused a more widespread problem with the time/audio that started impacting even more people:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Q/Arlo-q-shows-wrong-clip-length/m-p/1512060#M6087

 

Not sure if it's related to fixing the above issues, but today a widespread issue occurred impacting all Alro users:

 

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Stories/Arlo-Service-Down-Temporarily-Unable-to-Login/m-p/1521...

 

I hope they fix these critical issues since when it works, it's a great system with one of the best cloud-based plan. I don't want to switch to Nest or another brand. I just need Arlo Q and Q Plus to work and remain working at all times.

 

Silverdodge
Star
Star

Often the live feed on my requires a restart to work.  Thos cam is total garbage - wish I would have bought the nest.

Silverdodge
Star
Star

Let me update my previosu post, live feed does not seem to work at all anymore.  Thanks Netgear.

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

Several back end improvements have been made that should alleviate some of the issues being discussed here. Please let us know if you continue to experience issues when streaming Arlo Q cameras and viewing CVR.

 

JamesC

Silverdodge
Star
Star

Still same issues, I click on live button, it says please wait for about 40 seconds and just goes back to live button.  Do I need to unplug device and plug back in for the changes to take affect?

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

Silverdodge,

 

You might try rebooting the camera. What browser/app are you using? Do you see the same behavior on both?

 

JamesC

shodannet
Initiate
Initiate
When I contacted netgear support they claim it's because my upload speed isn't sufficient (1mbps). I find it suspicious that it's always the same camera that has a problem regardless if it's on wifi or Ethernet. And now it's not recording audio in some videos which I don't think has anything to do with upload speed (unless netgears coded in something that drops all audio if the bandwidth is saturated)
LBM
Initiate
Initiate

Yeah, sadly, this device is not reliable.  I'm using it to monitor a vacation home and I have to reset it every couple of days and power cycle it less often when it is totally hosed.  Luckily, I can recycle the power remotely and if I couldn't do that then I'd be really screwed.  I'm using the hardwired Ethernet configuration.

pete8888
Aspirant
Aspirant

Same problem here, both wireless and (POE) wired, device just stops streaming after a few hours and requires power off/power on to get it streaming again 😞

pete8888
Aspirant
Aspirant

Backend fixes do not seem to have helped, all that happens now is streaming stops after half an hour with a timeout message. This is even WORSE than it was before the "fix"

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

I'd open a case here with support for a possible RMA.

astrojak7
Aspirant
Aspirant

My camera also will work for weeks at a time and then for whatever reason stop responding for days until I manually power it off and on.  This really is frustrating and defeats the purpose of having a camera like this!!!  Obviously I'm not alone, so I hope this gets fixed soon or I'm replacing this with something that is reliable.

JérômeP
Apprentice
Apprentice

Hi all,

 

I have one Arlo Q Plus and I have exactly the same issues.
I have just opened a thread in the french forum here: https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Q-Plus/Arlo-Q-Plus-une-cam%C3%A9ra-non-fiable-qu-il-faut-red%C3%A...
Strangely I'm the first to start such discussion on the french forum.

 

I'd like just to know the status of the issue today:
- do you still have this issue?
- what are the firmware and hardware version of your devices? (mine has firmware 1.9.0.0_269 and hardware 6)

 

As suggested previously, I use now a timer to automatically restart the device everyday. Do you still need this work around?

 

Thanks in advance,
Jérôme

ShayneS
Arlo Moderator
Arlo Moderator

@JérômeP

 

  Have you tried contacting customer support regarding this issue? I have attached the link here for you - Arlo Tech Support

LBM
Initiate
Initiate

At some point during the past serveral months things seemed to have stabilized and I'm no longer needing to reboot the camera.  I have no idea why but I won't complain :-).