ArloPro 4 Spotlight Camera - 2 Pack - Wireless Security, 2K Video & HDR, Color Night Vision, 2 Way Audio, Wire-Free, Direct to WiFi No Hub Needed, White - VMC4250P

I wanted to install a cameras to enhance my whole house security system. The Arlo Pro 4 cameras are a bit pricey, but I think, over-all, worth the cost. I especially like the magnetic mounts. They are very strong, easy to install, and so far, I have not had any problems with wind changing their positions. When purchasing the cameras, you have a choice of connecting them to your existing Wifi router or using a hub. Since the cameras will only connect to 2.4 G and most Wifi routes broadcasts both frequencies, my mobile device had to be connected to the 2.4 G instead of 5 G in order to set up the system. I didn't want to go into my router and turn off 5 G ... with past experience, when I do things like that, I usually cause another problem and didn't want to risk having all the devices on my system stop working. I purchased the Arlo Hub VMB 4540. Before installation, I went on-line and downloaded the manual for the Pro 4 cameras to my computer and read through it. You first must download the Arlo Smart App to your mobile device. After you figure out how to use that, the installation of the smart hub and cameras is a breeze. Prior to installing the cameras, I tried to find the optimal place to put them by downloading a free App called the Airport Utility App. It allows you to walk around your house and scan the 2.4 G and 5 G signals from your router to see where you have the best 2.4 G signal. (You will also see the signal strengths of your neighbors as well.) You can tell that by running the utility and looking for your router channels 1 to 11 (since these are the channels that broadcast 2.4 G) and see how strong the signals are. Anything from -50 dBm to - 68 dBm is a strong signal and your cameras will work fine in that position. Keep in mind you don't have to use this Airport Utility App. When you set up your cameras, the set-up procedure allows you to walk around the house and check your signals in the same manner for each camera you install. I installed three cameras. I just wanted to have an idea where I could place my cameras for a strong signal before installing them. My Router and Smart Hub are in the same room but about 20 feet apart to prevent signal interference. The ethernet cable that comes with the cameras is only about 4 or 5 feet long. I wanted to keep the hub much farther away from my router and wireless printer to prevent signal interference. The Smart Hub broadcasts a 2.4 G signal which travels much farther than a 5 G signal. I also purchased the Arlo Battery Charging station that allows the charging of two batteries at the same time. The batteries that came with the camera seem to be partially charged and took only about an hour to fully charge. On the other hand, I ordered three extra batteries, and those took several hours to charge to full capacity. I wanted to have a full replacement set charged, and ready to go. so that when the batteries in the camera were low, I could easily replace them all at one time. The batteries in the cameras are holding their charge well and have been in use now for three weeks or more, and all still have about an 85% charge left. It looks like we are on target for what the manufacturer says is about a 3 month window before you have to replace or recharge the camera batteries. When doing this, you don't have to take the camera down and disturb its placement. Simply press the button on the bottom of the camera, and the camera body slips out of the housing allowing you to easily change the battery and slip it back into the housing. You don't disturb the camera's aim at all. Once the cameras are installed, you can play around with the activity zones in the Arlo App and set your cameras to ignore motion in certain areas and alert to motion in others. I also found that the sound pick-up by the camera's microphone and speaker is excellent. Arlo gives you a free three-month trial subscription to their app with all the features. After three months, if you don't subscribe, at a fee of $9.99 per month, you lose most of the features of the Arlo app. I like those features, and most likely will subscribe after the trial period. To ensure that I have a hard copy of all events monitored by the cameras, I installed a 128 GB flash drive on the Smart Hub. This way, the recorded events are not only recorded to the cloud for a period of time, but also to my flash drive. I have the recording on the flash drive set to overwrite previous recordings as it reaches its capacity. Overall, I would rate the Pro 4 camera's 2 K resolution very good. I didn't want to spend the extra money for 4 K resolution.... it was just too pricey. So far, I am happy with my purchase. One disappointment I had, was when I opened the three pack of cameras that I bought, they had only two magnetic mounts and an Arlo adjustable mount. Since I wanted all Arlo Magnetic mounts, I had to order a two pack (doesn't come in a one pack) of Magnetic mounts at an additional cost. My only other disappointment is that in a 2400 square foot ranch house, I could not get signal strength strong enough with the hub to monitor my back patio and entire backyard. I had to settle for only a partial view of the backyard by mounting the third camera at the side of the house where it received a strong signal from the hub. Range extenders for the hub or purchasing another hub wasn't a viable option that would work. A second hub would still have to be connected via ethernet cable to my Wifi router, and that would require another ethernet cable run from the Wifi router, down to the basement, and over and up through the floor to where a second hub would need to be located. It wasn't worth the investment or the hassle.

This camera was easy to mount and connect to the Wi-Fi through the app setup. I have the magnet mount attaching it outside. We get a lot of high wind here, so I was worried about whether it would stay attached, but there have been no issues with that. The picture quality is very good for outdoors. The motion sensing seems to work well, but it will pick up movement from outside objects in the wind. There’s not much you can do about that though.The battery life is better than I expected. I’ve had it for about six weeks, and I haven’t charged it since the first day. It’s still at 67%. I bought the solar panel for it, but I haven’t hooked it up yet. We don’t have it running constantly though. It’s only recording/monitoring at night or when we leave. I really did not want a camera that I had to drill through the house and run wires. That would be significantly more complex.Overall, it seems like a solid camera. It’s a nice looking camera, small, easy to setup, and I think the app is pretty decent. It’s nice the app classifies motion as animals, people, vehicle, etc.One helpful note: there is a common complaint about the Arlo app with adding a spouse/friend to view the camera. You have to do it on a laptop browser. For some reason, it won’t work when they try to do the setup on their phone.

I wish to amend my review on this product. First one was poor because I lacked understanding how to properly charge them. When my new charger wouldn't work, I played around with the cameras until I pressed around enough to get battery compartment to "click" which locks them into place. Duh! That would've even worked with the charger adapter that came with them, but since there were no written instructions, I had to play detective to figure out why I couldn't get them to charge. Maybe I'm the exception instead of the rule of being a bit intimidated by technology, but I'm rewriting a review in case it helps someone else. And note to tech companies - inserting easy, detailed instructions might keep people from having to contact customer service in the future.

I want to like this product. The price is good. Setup and installation is simple.However the software used to view the cameras and events is tedious.In the past I've had a custom camera setup with a DVR. That was expensive and required maintenance.I then switched to the Google Nest ecosystem. While I like the hardware and software, I find the cost of cameras too high especially when a lense can occasionally pop off the camera.Arlo seemed to have a great price point with higher specs but the software is frustrating.ConsConnection to the camera is slower even when on the same network. Night time lighting is not as good as other cameras. Previews are stills and not animated. You have to click a clip to open a page and then click it again to play it. On the PC, every time you view a clip and go back, the time resets to the current time and you have to find the clips again. I am unable to download recorded videos from the PC, but the mobile versions do work.

The motion detector works sporadically and doesn't work at all in below freezing. It means that it records events mainly when it's mild and doesn't activate at all when it's cold despite verifiable human activity. The battery charge lasted about a week so I had to purchase an extra (long) cable to plug it in. Even though it is plugged in all the time, the battery charge often goes below 50% when it is cold which is odd. I purchased two cameras and both have the same issues. Arlo customer services is horrible. A manager was supposed to get back to me a few hours ago and had yet to do so. Of course, Arlo is based in California, so they likely didn't design the cameras for Canadian winters.

I have had to recharge the battery every week so it might as well be wired. Night vision is no better than the essential for 2x the price. And $3 per month. I will be returning it.

This camera has a design flaw with its sound. No firmware update to fix and the Arlo forums are crawling with bad reviews. The sound playback on this device is usually static filled. Sounds like a scratchy vinyl record playback. A phonograph, you know? No? Well Google ‘phonograph’ then. Anyway this is a poorly designed camera. Maybe consider Blink who does not charge a monthly fee for storage.

The camera works fine. But unless you want to pay a monthly subscription for $7-$23 per month all you'll have is an expensive wall decoration. All also sent out a memo stating the older models would no longer work on their platform or wouldn't be updated, so I threw out those ones as they quit working altogether. After that there must have been an uproar, because they changed their stance and siad they would keep them operating. Not impressed with Arlo!

This is a great little camera but still not enough resolution to read a licence plate at 25 ft.