Arlo Essential Spotlight Camera, Wire-Free 1080p Video, Integrated Spotlight, Color Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, Rechargeable Battery, Motion Activated, Direct to WiFi - No Hub Needed, Works with Alexa & Google Assistant

Pros: Includes a built in siren that can be activated manually which is quite loud and obnoxious. Features a small but very bright LED spot light that goes off when motion is detected. This can also be turned on manually if desired too. It’s the only camera I’ve ever used whose motion capability was able to catch my cat walking by. I tested one of Netgear’s first battery powered camera systems like this and it has come a long way since 2012. The video stream is decent and considering its running off of battery, it’s pretty impressive. It’s hard to say how long the battery will last consistently but so far it seems to use around 5-10% per day. This based on a decent amount of motion events and uses in the app checking the live feed occasionally. This is all with the camera’s power management set to Optimized. I tried Best video, which as far as I can tell yielded little to no improvements to the video quality.

Cons: This camera is cloud only apparently as there is no slot for a microSD card or way to offload the recordings somewhere local like a NAS. To make this worse unlike other Netgear Arlo cameras, there is no free tier at all for this camera, the only option is to pay a monthly fee. It does technically work in a free mode, but that just means there is no way to record anything, it’s just view only at that point. Sure it comes with a 3 month trial for free but still, why am I paying $130 for a camera that is useless without an active subscription Internet access? There are cheaper cameras that offer both cloud and local recording options. There is no way to permanently turn off the motion push notifications on the Android app. It only offers to pause them for up to 24 hours. Sure I want my camera to record on motion but that doesn’t mean I want my phone/app to annoy me every 5 seconds that a gust of wind moved the tree branches in front of my house. Uses a built in battery which means when it dies, it will have to be removed completely and provide no security monitoring while you wait for it to recharge. Ideally with replaceable batteries, the downtime is almost nonexistent. I assume this was done as a custom built in battery is most likely better than any of the standard replaceable capacities but still. Also along with the rechargeable battery discussion, it comes with a USB cable, but no wall charger. Again, this is too expensive for that to not be included when cheaper cameras include this. It does at least list the power requirements on the bottom of the camera which are 5V @ 2 Amps.

Overall Review: Overall this is a decent camera considering it can run on battery however, the 100% cloud only functionality is a massive deal breaker. Adding on the high price for the camera too does no favors for this device. I am happy battery powered cameras have come a long way but this just isn’t the one.

Pros: Arlo’s Essential Spotlight Camera comes in a nice tiny box with minimal things to get you going. You receive a white 3-holed plastic base for mounting, 3 aluminum wood screws, 3 plastic stubs (most likely for soft interior wall panels), the connecting pivot with tightening knob and the camera itself along with a flat-style 6” USB to micro-USB cable for recharging. After signing up with an account on Arlo, you set up 2FA and your network SSID / Password, press the button on the bottom of the camera for syncing, then have it scan a QR code generated on your screen as a pairing ID / token. From there, everything else moves to the App itself. I had no issue installing the Arlo Security App on a Samsung Galaxy S7 or an Ipad Mini Gen 2, or browsing to it on a Desktop. I had to reset the device once as it claimed at first to receive poor reception from our tri-band wireless router barely 10 feet away, one room over. Once the pairing was done a second time and the firmware updated, things proceeded smoothly. I signed into the Arlo app, and there was no problem to ID the camera, set it up, and configure various device options. Keep in mind since it relies on wireless, there is a small delay between a change such as motion detection or other settings being changed in the app to being reflected in the camera output. You can change motion detection settings, crop the region you want recorded, enable or disable night mode, and change a few other parameters. The camera had no problem during testing pinging our phones with SMS to let us know motion was detected when we were walking in or out from our home; about 20 feet from the mounting location nearby, again with a slight delay for live feed. It appears to save battery as the camera retains a low-power state but will automatically record a clip when it detects movement past your specified motion (but not noise) threshold or you hit play (go live) on the app or browser page. Viewing and configuring settings on a desktop was by far the easiest, then phone, then tablet last of all. Overall the video quality is okay for night 1080p as I wouldn’t expect a super high res feed given the item’s cost. I’ll have to run it long-term to see how long the battery lasts but if I can a couple weeks’ runtime from it at a time I’d be happy.

Cons: --You can’t really use this camera as a separate software package to your own Network; it requires an Arlo Account and paid subscription to use as well as always-on Internet. While Arlo's plan is not terribly expensive on its own and priced well for a plan of having multiple cameras for a home is expected, it’s too bad there is no local networking option. --The software review of the feed while great on desktop and workable on a phone, is quite poor on a tablet. You can’t resize the camera feed configuration window and even going live does not let you give you a larger PoV when on a tablet (it does on phone). It made determining if features were working a bit frustrating and many of the menu buttons and icons on a tablet are extremely small. A phone was clearly the designed target for this software. --We have forests and rural property near our location and with the motion threshold still at about 50%, it was detecting cars (fine) but it would also trigger the alerts on bugs flying by when the spotlight turned on. I wonder if there is even a sweet spot where bugs would not set it off but there would still be enough detection for people? I can’t fault the camera too much as it is motion of course but something to keep in mind depending on your location. If you have a rural location this may not be the best device for you. --Video quality is just, okay. On Desktop, zooming into the video feed leaves a very aliased mess as if too much EV is applied and no AA; at least during the night. Daytime review is fine.

Overall Review: Overall I can see the product serving as a good deterrent and okay peace of mind since I have not used any other security cameras to date. Setting up was very easy and the hardware is simple to use, however the software needs refinements and more options. Arlo has done a decent job in making a functional product that is certainly usable. However with the quality I’ve seem from the feed so far, I have to ask if this would really stop a potential crime or break-in vs offering simply a deterrent. It is good that you can capture audio, there is a bright LED light for the dark, and the software is easy enough to use if sluggish. Since you can’t run a local network feed, having your phone / browser / tablet always nearby and on and ready to review a camera alert seems to get cumbersome quickly, however you can always disable particular alerts in the settings. If Arlo would consider offering a local networking option without subscription or a toggle for local and network recording (to a user’s memory card first, then to cloud after or both), this product would be even more useful. The software, while functional and easy to read, could use further improvement and a description box of what, exactly, each option does or recommends would be nice to see. As usual for modern products, no user guide other than a quick set-up is included in-box. Everything is online. If you lose internet or disable your wireless, no communication can be made with the camera. This would in one swoop disable someone’s security so there needs to be more thought put into this as well from Arlo’s end. If you have weak wireless or spotty internet, this is unfortunately not a product for you.

Pros: I have had this security camera installed for 9 days. After a full charging cycle overnight the battery level is a 86%, so maybe a recharge every 6-7 weeks from my estimates. The camera is very easy to install and adjust using the app. Wi-Fi connection was seamless with my Nighthawk router on the 2.4G band. Once mounted everything is done via the app. The Arlo app is very easy and intuitive to use. The settings are easily laid out and labeled appropriately. You can set the camera to automatically notify you by motion, people, vehicles, animals and others. Sensitivity is adjustable, so if you have constant movement from something in the field of view its possible to mask that out with the sensitivity. It’s possible to set up an e911 call or call a friend if you get a notification while not at home. The captured videos last as long as there is movement up to 300 seconds. The videos are stored on the Arlo cloud for 30 days. They are easily viewable and able to delete them from the app. For night viewing the camera has a built-in, bright, LED light. It woks very well and easily illuminates the area when any movement is detected. You receive a notification on you’re your linked cellphone. I use an iPhone 7 with no issues. The Arlo comes with a 90 day trial for storing your videos for 30 days and after that it’s a subscription for $2.99/month.

Cons: When it comes right down to it there are not really any cons at this price point. Maybe recharging the camera every month or two is about it. Any that is not bad for a wireless camera device. The $2.99/month fee may be a turn off to some as well after the trial period expires.

Overall Review: It’s a great camera with a clear 1080p 130 degree field of view. Easy set up. Great app. Instant notification to your phone. Nice

Pros: Factory mount is nice and secure The spotlight is a very nice additon, but I chose not to use it as I didn't want the extra battery drain. The PIR motion activation seems to activate when you'd expect it to. Customer service is highly available, and effective.

Cons: The mobile app is horrible. It effectively forces you to sign up for a subscription, even though the camera comes with a free 3 month trial. I had to engage their support for a refund. Mobile app would give me a thumbnail of a notification, then when I selected it, it would take 3-5 minutes to load, then it would take me to the live stream, not the notification. Events took a further 5+ minutes to show up on the timeline. For a security camera, having to wait 10 minutes to see what just happens is completely inexcusable. I ran through the camera setup about half a dozen times before the app would find the camera. I could see the camera on my wifi (and ping it), but the app would just sit there and hang. I have a robust home network, and saw no connectivity issues with any of my other IOT devices (cameras included). Battery life: Bad, just Bad. I used the camera for two days, and estimate in my relatively low traffic area that I'd get about 29 days of usage out of a charge. That's much lower than competitors. No Magnetic mount option, most competitors offer this. Sharing the camera with my spouse was clunky, and took three attempts before the correct options showed up for her. Geo-fencing was so slow and inaccurate to basically be useless.

Overall Review: Decent hardware let down by extremely poor software. For backstory, I work in IT, have an extensive networking background, and have used multiple NVR's at work, along with a few different product lines of home camera solutions. This was by far the worst home solution I've used.

Pros: No hub needed

Cons: None

Overall Review: Great cameras, I have the Pro 3's so I bought these for a friend and they work fantastic. If I were to redo my camera system I would not hesitate to use these as my main cameras. Picture quality is fantastic. Battery life is great. Friend said he has only had to charge it once so far.

Pros: Easy to setup and maintain Adequate lag for real-time feed to start Built-in light Decent video quality Good audio Good app / easy to arm/disarm individual cameras or the whole system

Cons: Takes 3-4 seconds for the feed to start, when watching via the app. It's not really bad, but I wish it was faster. Limited mounting hardware comes with the kit. But there are good aftermarket offerings.

Overall Review: I have owned security camera systems from multiple different vendors. Though not perfect, this system is very robust and reliable. Compared to other system the quality and experience have been excellent. I have heard people complain about the subscription cost and vendor lock-in, and they are right. It does cost money to run, and one is locked-in with their proprietary ecosystem. In an ideal world, I would go back to open-source or subscription-free or open ecosystem solution, as soon as I found something that works even half as good as the Arlo. I don't like paying the fee and not being able run my own detectors with OpenCV, but I like having something that does what it is supposed to do without needing to worry about it or perform anything but minimal maintenance.

Overall Review: I would recommend this product.