Home Security Camera System

Arlo is garbage. I've had nothing but problems and CS sucks. You can read a lot about how terrible their system is by visiting https://community.arlo.com. I wish I read about how customers really feel before I blew over $400 on their crap.

 

I’ve had many cameras and services in the past and they all were junk. My Nest camera is different: it works reliably, excellent video/ sound quality and the App and service are great. It’s a bit sensitive with motion detection but still works great. I have Neat thermostats as well and they work great too. I had one recently fail to connect to my wireless network - called CS and they shipped a new one pronto. No questions asked.

 

Whatever you don't buy any system from Best Buy. They only have a 14 day return policy. I bought mine last year when I had to leave town for two weeks. My problems started a few days into my trip with no way to go back. I feel I got really screwed by BB and Arlo. CS was over seas and the wait times were horrific. It took numerous calls and lots of forced redundant trouble shooting to get anything replaced.
Avoid Arlo like a plague.

 

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Are you able to view the cameras through WIFI on your TV, or just strictly mobile/PC?

 

We have a Blink XT2 system. Initially the wife told me she wanted cameras as just a visual deterrent and didn't want to go crazy. So we bought this off Amazon. If you're active in the area covered by the cameras it will draw down batteries fast. If you make effective use of the activity zone option and scheduling to keep them off during peak times and avoid having them constantly activated by meaningless background activity you get several months of camera life. Maybe 6-8. They advertise I think over a year. This is possible and I've heard some others get that much but it is a stretch if you have normal street activity going on around your house. If you let them run too much and don't turn them off for instance when your kid is riding his bike back and fourth in front of your house, it can kill batteries in a month or two. If any of them are mounted high where it requires a ladder it can be a PITA to drag it out that often to do battery changes. It is reliable and picture quality is acceptable, and there's no monthly fee. Decent for what it is with the compromise being you have to adjust dead zones and scheduling to try to get some battery life and remember to turn them off if you're partying in your backyard.

As time passed my wife went from being satisfied to going "Hey, I heard a noise outside at such and such a time and I looked and didn't see video so I want to know why the cameras were off." And I'd keep telling her, these battery powered systems aren't really ideal if you want to catch everything happening every second around your house. Just certain times when you're not home or you're asleep. I leave them off certain other times when I don't think they're needed to save battery life. Also sometimes we were deactivating when we were active in front or out back and forgetting to turn them back on.

I told her if our goals have changed and we want cameras running 24/7 so if we hear so much as a fart outside while we're on the couch watching TV she can find out who it was, she needs to be prepared to pay to bring in someone to wire something more permanent.

Looks like this is the route we'll go.

 

POE (power over Ethernet) are the way to go. Install isn’t too difficult but crawling in the attack sucks.

 

This. I was lucky enough to be one of the first to beta test the Floodlight Cam, and I actually got it for free; we replaced our outside spotlight (right next to the front door) with it.

I've found the video to be of excellent quality. If I use the 2-way talk feature, obviously there's a bit of a delay, but that makes sense. Aside from that, it's been fantastic. Even though I got it for free, I'd absolutely buy one based on my experience.

We also have:

- Ring base unit & number pad
- 4 door sensors
- Ring wifi extender (for our bedroom)

Unlike many others, I've actually had it tested - neighbor we asked to go in forgot our code. I went back and looked, and there was MAYBE a 10 second delay between the time it kicked off and the time I got a call. Others who have owned it in our area say the same thing, and considering we live in the sticks, that kind of response time is awesome. I highly recommend it.