Smart home security can be quite expensive when you factor in upfront hardware costs and ongoing subscription fees. There are many excellent value-for-money budget options available, but those of us who prefer a more user-friendly experience will find that more premium devices frequently have hardware and software upgrades that make them well worth the purchase.
The Arlo Pro 4 bills itself as premium and lives up to that claim thanks to its $200 price tag, slick design, and potent hardware.
It can feel extremely constrained unless you pay extra for a monthly subscription or for pricey additional optional hardware, like many other Wi-Fi security cameras on the market.
That’s probably less of an issue for most flagship security hardware shoppers, but anyone looking to “buy once, cry once” should still prepare to pony up every month to get the most from their investment in their own peace of mind.
Without that subscription, the Arlo Pro 4 feels severely limited, but once the gloves are off, it’s downright impressive.
Price and Availability
The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera has a sticker price of $200, placing it squarely in the premium smart camera price range. Even though it is currently $160 at the time of writing, it frequently goes on sale, but even when it doesn’t, you can still get a great deal by negotiating the price. Normally, a set of three cameras costs $550, but bundles are discounted about as frequently as individual items, with three cameras currently available for an alluring $400.
Design, Hardware, What’s in the Box
The 160-degree field of view lens is surrounded by a full complement of spotlight LEDs, a microphone, and a speaker on the business end of the camera, which slides out the front of the Arlo Pro 4 to reveal the battery compartment.
The threaded mount and an interior metal plate for the magnetic mount both reside in the white case’s back, but none of the electronics are housed there. Except for the magnetic charging plate and disassembly button on the bottom, the rest of the body is made of smooth, white plastic.
The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight is relatively minimal in comparison to many wireless devices, which come with so much paperwork that it feels like the entire Library of Congress is packed inside the box.
Only the legally required warnings, a sticker, and a slip informing you that the app will walk you through the entire setup process are left after subtracting the camera itself, the magnetic power cable, and the magnetic mount from the package.
How’s the App and Battery Life?
The Arlo Pro 4 can easily go months between charges, as has come to be expected of battery-powered outdoor cameras.
This may vary slightly depending on factors such as how many hours per day it is active and whether or not you enable the spotlight, but even with a fairly rigorous monitoring schedule, it will have enough power for two to three months at a time.
If you have one in a busy area, be prepared for more frequent recharges because whether it is recording or not will also affect battery life.
The magnetic charging cable must be inserted into any Type-A port in order to recharge the battery. If you’d prefer to draw power from the sun every day rather than plug it in for a few hours twice a year, Arlo also sells a solar panel with the same magnetic connector. The battery can be changed out quickly, so if you’d prefer to replace it with a new one when the charge runs out, you won’t have any trouble finding Arlo or third-party batteries to buy.
Sometimes, Arlo’s app can be a little confusing. The settings are spread all over the place, with some in the account menu, widget settings in the plus menu of the dashboard tab, adding devices in the plus menu of the nearly identical-looking devices tab, detection settings in the feed tab, and automation scheduling sensibly tucked away in the routines tab. Though it can seem a little counterintuitive at first, most of it makes enough sense once you get past the initial learning curve.
Read More: Do Security Cameras Have Audio?
Source: androidpolice
