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I bought this system because I wanted to hang cameras outside of my house so that I can see what's going on when I'm not home and so my wife can feel safer.
I also didn't want to drill holes and run wire through the house.
After doing lots of research, I decided on this system.
I have 4 cameras all together, and 3 of them are attached to trees outside, the 4th is outside, but attached to the house.
I didn't want to get a wired system and run wires to the trees. I put black sleeves on the cameras so that they blend in with the tree better.
After reading many reviews on home security systems, I realized that even the wired systems rarely got good reviews, so why not just get a wireless system.
I have some positive and negative feelings about this system.
The camera sends you an alert, almost immediately (which I love) when it detects motion. A few weeks ago I got an alert and checked it out, to find out that somehow my cats had gotten out of my house and were in the backyard!!
I called my wife who wasn't home at the time, and she ran home.
I was looking at the camera image in real time and when I saw one of my cats in the backyard I was able to tell her where he was and she was able to retrieve him.
For that reason alone, I am eternally grateful to Netgear and their very sensitive motion detection. I never would've known that the cats had escaped if it wasn't for the cameras.
That being said, I have lots of trees near my house, and even with pruning branches, I still get so many alerts when it's windy that I tend to turn off the cameras until it gets less windy.
It would be nice if Netgear can work on an algorithm that allows the camera to "learn" when it's just branches moving from the wind. Also, I had to work on placement of the cameras so that I don't get an alert every time a car drove by my house.
I've since arranged my 4 cameras in a way that I get mostly relevant alerts (except when it's windy).
Battery life: I've had the cameras for about 8 weeks now, and I haven't had to change the batteries yet. One of my camera's is running low because it used to be triggered by every car that drove by, but I bought a spare battery and the battery charger (which took a month to arrive) so that i always have a fully charged battery on hand.
If you don't do that, then you'd have to remove the camera and bring it inside to plug into a USB plug to charge. That would be annoying for me since I don't use the included magnetic mounts because I found that they didn't allow me to aim the cameras well.
I bought the mounts which extend outwards (amazon sells a double pack which is ok) so that I can aim the cameras better.
For me to get on a ladder, unscrew the camera from the mount on the tree, bring it in to charge via USB, then go back out and get on my ladder and try to re-aim the cameras is a pain the butt. With the spare battery I'd just open up the camera , swap batteries, and be good for another few months.
Image: This is why I took off a star (I'd prefer to take off a star and half). The camera is supposed to be an HD camera, but the image during the day is really pixelated, especially if it's windy.
I actually think the night images are better in sharpness then the daytime ones! The cameras internal IR light is puny, but I have security lights outside to light up my yard, so I don't rely on the cameras own IR light.
I don't understand why the daytime image is less sharp then the night time ones, it's almost like the sensor is overwhelmed by any movement, and this is even when setting the cameras to maximum sharpness levels (as well as the recommended medium level).
The camera would never be adequate to read a plate or even see a face very clear, but it's good enough to get a broad idea of what's going on.
I can see when UPS drops off packages, but I wouldn't be able to identify the driver from a line up. I can see if someone is peeping through my window, but again, I wouldn't be able to identify his/her face. Nevertheless, it serves it's purpose because I just want to know if someone is in my backyard.
Range: I have 4 cameras set up, 3 on outside trees.
The furthest cameras are about 100 feet away from the base station. I get 2 of 3 WiFi bars on the camera, so that's ok. I tried getting a WiFi extender in hopes that the WiFi signal would be boosted to the camera, but you'd have to plug the base station into the WiFi extender, which for me defeats the purpose because then I'd have to move the base station away from my wireless router! Nevertheless, I'm always able to get a live feed from the cameras, with minimal buffering, so I have no complaints about range.
Software: The software is easy to use. I get an alert almost immediately when there's motion and I get an email with a 10 second movie clip.
When I get an alert I usually go onto their software (I have it on my Galaxy phone and my iPad) and check the video clip.
That way, if I see something suspicious, I can immediate switch to a live view, which usually only takes seconds to initiate.
The second biggest negetive (which caused me to take off 1/2 a star) is that there's a 1 or 2 second delay from when the camera senses motion, and from when it starts to record.
Why? I don't understand why they can't figure out an algorithm to allow the recording to begin from the second it picks up motion.
It's a digital camera, so why the delay? It's frustrating because sometimes you get an alert, but it passed so quickly that the video is empty.
I have two cameras overlapping over the front door so that i can pick up early and late detections, but really they should just do a better job of starting the recording immediately.
To summarize, a few weeks ago I had to decided whether I'd keep this system or change to a wired system, and I ultimately decided to stick with this and hope that overtime there will firmware updates to improve image quality and speed of recording initiation.
I couldn't find another system that was significantly better then this one, so I just stayed with it.
I would recommend this if you want a general idea of what's happening around your house, just don't expect crisp, sharp images (but really, how often do you see security cameras footage on the news that's clear?
I think most security cameras aren't that sharp anyway. )
11/10/17 update : one of my biggest issues with the arlo pro is that the image quality is poor.
Recently the arlo pro 2 came out, with supposed 1080 HD image as opposed to the 720 of the original.
I purchased an add on camera to try and I have to say, it is a definite improvement. I did take pictures to try and post the difference, but I don't know where arlo stored the picture, so I'll have to quantify my impression by saying that the new camera is at least 25% clearer.
I can actually almost make out people's faces when they walk up to my front door.
In fact, I felt the difference was great enough that I've returned my previous system of 5 arlo pro cameras (thank you Amazon for your amazing customer service) and bought 5 arlo pro 2 cameras. I think the difference was around $400 more, but if I'm already spending this much money, I want to actually see what's going on!
If someone wants my opinion, don't bother with the arlo pro, save up and get the arlo pro 2.
I did call netgear and ask if they had some kind of exchange program for owners of the arlo pro who want the arlo pro 2, where I could send my old cameras in, pay the difference, and get new cameras... But they were completely unhelpful. Netgear should work on their customer service and implement an exchange policy of some kind.
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