Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera - Wireless Security, 2K Video & HDR, Color Night Vision, 2 Way Audio, Wire-Free, Direct To Wifi No Hub Needed, 160°

I have had this camera for less than a month and after the first week or two, I began having serious issues with the functionality and reliability.There is a high amount of crime in my area, and currently people are stealing catalytic converters. If it happened to me, though, there would probably be no evidence, because the camera randomly fails to record activity in the middle of the night. I ran through all troubleshooting with Arlo support, who respond quickly, but aren't terribly helpful. One day when the camera was failing to record, the battery drained rapidly, despite the fact that I have the solar panel, which was keeping the battery at or near 100% until then. The battery dropped to 24% despite recording nothing. I got it working for a few days after a ... MoreI have had this camera for less than a month and after the first week or two, I began having serious issues with the functionality and reliability.There is a high amount of crime in my area, and currently people are stealing catalytic converters. If it happened to me, though, there would probably be no evidence, because the camera randomly fails to record activity in the middle of the night. I ran through all troubleshooting with Arlo support, who respond quickly, but aren't terribly helpful. One day when the camera was failing to record, the battery drained rapidly, despite the fact that I have the solar panel, which was keeping the battery at or near 100% until then. The battery dropped to 24% despite recording nothing. I got it working for a few days after a lot of climbing up and down a ladder to resync, get the serial number of the battery, etc. Support seems unable to answer why I have so many issues with the reliability of this camera. Even when it is recording, it will completely fail to recognize and record a person walking up to my door and back. This is simply useless for a security device, and especially frustrating that it cost so much. Now I can't connect to the app without turning off my wifi connection on my phone (times out and gives error that states "cannot obtain current location"), and my second Arlo camera has been disconnected completely for some reason. I have not yet been able to resolve this, as I'm sure I have to drag the ladder out again and resync. Once I got logged in after turning off WiFi, I noticed the camera stopped recording activity at 11pm and I found the issue at 4am. There is no way there has been no activity to record - Saturday nights in my neighborhood are very active. I will update my review if support actually resolves these issues, but so far they have not expressed any sympathy for my extreme frustration, and worst of all, no actual solutions for these issues. I'm out a lot of money for something this unreliable, and the amount of issues I've had in less than a month is absolutely insanely aggravating.

Compared to an Arlo Pro 2

Installed the Pro 3 Floodlight Camera one week ago when overnight temperatures were as low as -20 dgrees C. The Pro 3 provides a far better video experience than the Pro 2 camera installed nearby. The Pro 3 seems to use far more juice and takes forever to recharge compared to the Pro 2 which is not unexpected. What was unexpected it that Arlo's Pro 3 2K cloud recordings cannot be viewed in my browser online and need to be downloaded first. In addition the Pro 3 is "unhappy" at low temperatures that are tolerated by the Pro 2. Tips for the Pro 3: dial back the default motion sensitivity or you will be recording every passing snowflake; turn off audio detection or you will be recording every gust of wind. Arlo has a bad reputation for the weather proofness of their ... MoreInstalled the Pro 3 Floodlight Camera one week ago when overnight temperatures were as low as -20 dgrees C. The Pro 3 provides a far better video experience than the Pro 2 camera installed nearby. The Pro 3 seems to use far more juice and takes forever to recharge compared to the Pro 2 which is not unexpected. What was unexpected it that Arlo's Pro 3 2K cloud recordings cannot be viewed in my browser online and need to be downloaded first. In addition the Pro 3 is "unhappy" at low temperatures that are tolerated by the Pro 2. Tips for the Pro 3: dial back the default motion sensitivity or you will be recording every passing snowflake; turn off audio detection or you will be recording every gust of wind. Arlo has a bad reputation for the weather proofness of their products, so I have tried to seal potential points of water entry with tape/removable putty.

Don’t buy - failed after a year

Okay - I wish I had read these reviews. DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA. This camera is sold as a outdoor camera- I had it for one year and it stopped charging I contacted arlo and they said because it’s past the one year they would “give me” a 30% credit towards a new one. I asked about repairing it - oh they don’t do that, just spend a couple hundred dollars to replace it so you can do it again in a year. Stay away. Honestly shocked this is how they handle a product just past one year warranty. I won’t be using the credit.

Good so far

Set-up and mounting were pretty intuitive. Considering it runs on a battery, the Floodlight is pretty amazing. I'm having some trouble preventing the floodlight from tripping when people walk past on the sidewalk; I'd like it to turn-on if there's movement on the driveway but not with movement on the sidewalk. There's a function to make a custom fence area that will trigger an email alert, but nothing to fence off an area I would like monitored. We have a lot of pedestrian traffic, so I'm finding this is draining the battery pretty quick. I may have to solve this by repositioning the camera's field of view. Overall, very happy.

Inconsistent recording and connection problems

I am about to return this.The detection settings are inconsistent, particularly for sound detection (which, for where our camera is installed, is necessary). Either the camera will detect every little sound, such that wind and rain will set it off (and drain the battery), or you could have a marching band in your driveway and it wouldn't detect the sound. There doesn't seem to be a happy medium.The detection settings I could live with, if it weren't for the connectivity problems. Twice in the 3 weeks we've had it, an internet blip has caused a loss of connectivity with the device. For our Nest doorbell cam, the connection resolves itself as soon as possible. The Arlo Floodlight cam does not. The only thing that has worked is to reconnect to the network, which ... MoreI am about to return this.The detection settings are inconsistent, particularly for sound detection (which, for where our camera is installed, is necessary). Either the camera will detect every little sound, such that wind and rain will set it off (and drain the battery), or you could have a marching band in your driveway and it wouldn't detect the sound. There doesn't seem to be a happy medium.The detection settings I could live with, if it weren't for the connectivity problems. Twice in the 3 weeks we've had it, an internet blip has caused a loss of connectivity with the device. For our Nest doorbell cam, the connection resolves itself as soon as possible. The Arlo Floodlight cam does not. The only thing that has worked is to reconnect to the network, which requires pulling the device down to re-sync.I wanted to like this camera, given that it videos in color and can be powered on a rechargeable battery, a solar panel (what we have installed), or an AC connection. The installation is simpler and more straightforward than a camera that should be hard wired. However, in this case, I'd recommend going with the hard wired camera, and saving yourself a lot of headaches in the meantime.

Piece of Trash

First, I would like to warn everyone the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight is a piece of trash. Save your money and buy a better quality product. Initially I was introduced to Arlo when the alarm company I use gave me a free camera for signing a contract. That camera works fine. Pleased with the results, I bought the doorbell. Again, a good product. I was really looking forward to the production of the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight and bought 2 of them. They both worked fine at first but then suddenly the motion detector stopped working on both. Uninstalled the cameras and reinstalled to no avail. Weird thing is I can manually turn on the lights using their app. Also, don’t waste your money on the solar battery assistant. Another waste of money. They do not fully charge the battery. I ... MoreFirst, I would like to warn everyone the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight is a piece of trash. Save your money and buy a better quality product. Initially I was introduced to Arlo when the alarm company I use gave me a free camera for signing a contract. That camera works fine. Pleased with the results, I bought the doorbell. Again, a good product. I was really looking forward to the production of the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight and bought 2 of them. They both worked fine at first but then suddenly the motion detector stopped working on both. Uninstalled the cameras and reinstalled to no avail. Weird thing is I can manually turn on the lights using their app. Also, don’t waste your money on the solar battery assistant. Another waste of money. They do not fully charge the battery. I am 67 years old and am not fond of climbing up and down the ladder to bring the camera in the house to charge the batteries. So, I have thrown away over $500 on Arlo products. Customer support was no help.

Poor support from Arlo, connection issues

When this works, it works very well. Clean picture, bright light, good alerts. However, about a month after I installed it, it started disconnecting from my network for 24-36 hours every week or so, and then would magically reconnect and go back to normal. I don't have issues with any other camera systems in my home, some of which are farther from the router. The Arlo app always reports a "strong" wifi connection. I reached out to Arlo support. They took nearly a week to respond the first time. I sent another follow up request through the app and did not receive a response for nearly a MONTH. I sent a third request and they finally responded asking for some info, and I'm now on day 4 waiting for a response. Meanwhile, the camera continues to disconnect from the ... MoreWhen this works, it works very well. Clean picture, bright light, good alerts. However, about a month after I installed it, it started disconnecting from my network for 24-36 hours every week or so, and then would magically reconnect and go back to normal. I don't have issues with any other camera systems in my home, some of which are farther from the router. The Arlo app always reports a "strong" wifi connection. I reached out to Arlo support. They took nearly a week to respond the first time. I sent another follow up request through the app and did not receive a response for nearly a MONTH. I sent a third request and they finally responded asking for some info, and I'm now on day 4 waiting for a response. Meanwhile, the camera continues to disconnect from the network every few days. I've restarted my router and the camera several times. It's the only device on my network with issues I was planning on adding more Arlo cameras to my network but based on poor customer service I'll be looking into other camera systems. Maybe Ring.

Too simple

This camera/light comes with less than basic instructions. You need to get the Arlo App. to find out even the most basic steps to install the unit--like charge it before installing it and you need to scan a QR code to get it synced with whatever device you will use to monitor it. After a couple weeks I still cannot figure out if it can be turned on for live monitoring; it does do a great job of detecting, and differentiating between, motion/animals/people/vehicles and recording a brief video. Unless you purchase a separate solar or plug-in charger the unit must be dismounted to recharge the battery. I am glad that I purchased this but more so because I am resigned to spending $50 more for the remote charging cable.

Unreliable

When it's working the camera/floodlight works well. The problem is it frequently loses connection despite my router and modem being plugged into a UPS and the router providing a very strong signal to the camera.I understand that a loss of connection can occur for many reasons, but the main issue with this camera is that when it does lose connection your only option is to reset it manually by using the re-synch button on the camera. Think about that for a while if your intended mounting is in a not easily accessible location OR (as in my case) when it is being used to remotely monitor a property a far distance away. To put that into context, I use Logitech LogiCircle cameras on another location of the same property that have been working flawlessly for years. If ... MoreWhen it's working the camera/floodlight works well. The problem is it frequently loses connection despite my router and modem being plugged into a UPS and the router providing a very strong signal to the camera.I understand that a loss of connection can occur for many reasons, but the main issue with this camera is that when it does lose connection your only option is to reset it manually by using the re-synch button on the camera. Think about that for a while if your intended mounting is in a not easily accessible location OR (as in my case) when it is being used to remotely monitor a property a far distance away. To put that into context, I use Logitech LogiCircle cameras on another location of the same property that have been working flawlessly for years. If they lose connection for any reason they automatically reconnect to my internet once the issue that caused the loss of connection (power/internet outage, signal interference, low bandwidth, etc.) is resolved. Moreover, I have used even more of those LogiCircle cameras on the same internet connection, located at a further distance from the router.What is more frustrating is that after reading the support forums (something I wish I had done before buying this) it becomes clear that this issue has been reported by many users to ARLO for some time and they have done nothing to resolve it. As it stands, for my intended use this product is garbage.I realize many users have had a great experience with this unit, but I have not. Do yourself a favor and read the ARLO support forums then consider carefully before buying. My ratings obviously reflect the non-working status.

Usually Dead Battery; Subscription is NOT Good

I have Nest cameras plus Arlo Pro 3 floodlights. The Nest is much better in several respects.The Nest cameras are "on" all the time - you can easily go live and "rewind" up to about a week to capture clips. The Arlo camera only records when it detects motion. So when you go to your My.Arlo account, you'll just see a bunch of still images that are links to the video files. Searching through all these files is MUCH more cumbersome that simply zipping through the Nest video to see the motion/noise notifications.The Arlo video recordings won't playback in Chrome on a Mac. Yes, that's correct. If you're using a Mac and running Chrome, you can't simply click on the video file to watch it. This is absolutely absurd. To review recordings on a Mac, you need to download ... MoreI have Nest cameras plus Arlo Pro 3 floodlights. The Nest is much better in several respects.The Nest cameras are "on" all the time - you can easily go live and "rewind" up to about a week to capture clips. The Arlo camera only records when it detects motion. So when you go to your My.Arlo account, you'll just see a bunch of still images that are links to the video files. Searching through all these files is MUCH more cumbersome that simply zipping through the Nest video to see the motion/noise notifications.The Arlo video recordings won't playback in Chrome on a Mac. Yes, that's correct. If you're using a Mac and running Chrome, you can't simply click on the video file to watch it. This is absolutely absurd. To review recordings on a Mac, you need to download the file and watch it in a viewer such as QuickTime. That's reason enough to NOT buy the Arlo.Arlo claims that you'll only need to recharge the battery every 6 months or annually or something like that. This is complete B.S.; I find that the battery is dead in days or a week or two at most. You''ll need to recharge the battery at least monthly, and you should probably plan to recharge every 2-3 weeks, if you want to be safe.The ONLY advantage to the Arlo (over Nest) is that it has the floodlight built in. However, since batteries quickly discharge, what I mostly have at home is an Arlo camera+floodlight that doesn’t record nor does it “flood” the area with light. It just hangs there, uselessly, waiting to be recharged again and again and again…If I had to do this all over, I would have purchased a couple more Nest cameras plus a plain ol’ motion-detecting floodlight. In fact, even though I’ve spent $500 for these Arlo camera/floodlights, I’m probably just going to abandon the Arlo B.S. altogether and do just that - add motion-detecting floodlights and 1-2 more Nest cameras.