Arlo Essential Spotlight Camera Review After 3 Months

[@Byteofgeek]

Hope you enjoyed the video guys, leave your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE

[@smartnothard2400]

Great for simple home or small cctv project. But, every time I change the batteries I almost give up trying to re-sync the cameras as this is a nightmare! Free tip. You can power these direct if running power to them is not a issue with distance or water proofing etc. Any 1-2amp plug with a good quality usb cable will do but you might need to modify the battery door on earlier models, if not using the genuine Arlo wires.

[@walter24148]

I like the system, my mother is up in her age, and I like the fact that she can call the police, the fire department, or the EMS from that one app, plus it makes me feel good knowing she doesn't have to rush around to see who is at the door, when she can simply see who it is and tell them she is on her way to the front door, you get a ton of options for 2.00 a month and that is well worth it to me, I bought it for her birthday and I will be paying for her subscription. We'll worth the money imo.

[@serwombles8816]

Great review and helpful. Totally agree with you regarding their subscription price

[@really9025]

Just bought two Essential cameras to add to my existing Arlo system. I just realized how I got ripped off after watching your video. I will be shipping back to Amazon this morning. Thanks for your review!!!

[@Byteofgeek]

Thanks for watching 👍

[@rosieo469367]

Fantastic review. Lots of information. I appreciate the effort you took. Great video.

[@Byteofgeek]

Glad it was helpful!

[@macevez]

Thanks for your review. It was very helpful and informative.

[@Byteofgeek]

Thanks for watching 👍

[@mikeprivate8211]

The video was great! It verified the same issues I'm having so I'm going to stop trying to make them work, accept the loss and buy from a different manufacturer. Not trying to be disrespectful I'm just tired of being the one who always loses out while the companies lose nothing. This is the 5th company I've lost out from. The others: StraightTalk, eBay, Allstate/SquareTrade Buyers Protection Plans, Snapper/Poulan and several solar security light companies where the lights lasted just beyond the warrantees then failed mostly due to water ingress.

[@galaxys8300]

Hi, excellent informational vid. So how do you get it to work with the base station where you can record and monitor? I have had the system since it came out, have three models, to include this one, and all was well until the three months were up. 3030 and 3040 all still working as it should (stand alone) but with the essential, dead as a door knob. Thanks

[@pOpCoRn0531]

Very insightful review and discussion. I'll eat up sub for my system, I've decided. Security is security after all.

[@user-lz6dm5lk9y]

Thank you for the video. I know virtually nothing about these types of cameras, but I am looking into buying one for a very specific purpose. I want to record the inside of my front door any time I am not home because my landlord has been coming into my apartment whilst I am out. I caught him once a couple of months ago. I was at home asleep in bed. He knocked, but I ignored him since I was asleep in bed and expected no one. He then used his passkey to come into my one room apartment where I was asleep in my bed. I was very upset and told him NEVER do this again. He replied "it WILL happen again." He seems to think he has the right to come into my apartment any time he wants. Every time I leave now, I worry that he is nosing around in my apartment. I would like to catch him on film. I do not want to run a camera 24/7. I just want to run it if I go out to run an errand, walk my dog, etc. Please would you recommend a camera(s) that would a really good fit for my purposes? Thank you very much!

[@Al_lan]

Your review is one of the best I’ve seen on the Arlo

[@Byteofgeek]

What did you like about it?

[@DD-tk1yu]

On my Arlo Essential, I can not get the number off my feeds. I have no feeds and there is a number 36 that I can not get off. Should not be any feeds. Can you help??

[@rocee1140]

I just bought the arlo essential and I don't want to be discouraged

[@markrichardson1833]

Wait for ties

[@davidking2080]

I agree that the better way is to buy the cameras together with the base system. It save much more money in the long run.

[@jessboysen1976]

Hey man, great review I agree with everything you said. I was given the system as a gift it included four cameras. Set up was easy and the cameras work great - I am still in the 3 month trial period. Sounds like I should prepare for a porking when this trial runs out.

[@Byteofgeek]

Thanks for the feedback, fortunately you were gifted it but it still isn't right to have to pay for the ongoing use.

[@PatrickDunn-h1q]

Excellent presentation! I just need to have a camera to watch a sump pump to assure it i still working. Will Arlo essential do that?

[@Byteofgeek]

Not really and I wouldn't recommend a battery camera for continuous recording best going for a mains powered one or at worst a battery one with a solar panel.

[@PhillipDlugach]

Good info. All I'm wanting is a camera to view incoming visitors. What do you recommend?

[@Byteofgeek]

Lots of options here, if you just want simple and are able to do it then some people just get an indoor camera looking out the window. Cheap option, pretty much all of them have local and cloud recordings. Anneke, Ezviz, Reolink all produce something very similar. If you don't fancy that and want something outdoors then is a hard wired camera an option or does it have to be battery? Ezviz has impressed with their hardwired camera, Reolink have good ones as well both those and WUUK make good battery cameras.

[@nickhowe5770]

aw your review on Arlo pro I was gonna buy it glad I watched your vid what do u recommend for local storage any help you could offer would be great tysm nick

[@ryant75]

I used the essential for a short time and went back to the Pro 2. It worked better and free simple storage with original base and memory stick.

[@MrHuck]

I have the Arlo pro 2 system and looking to add a camera and found all these new Arlo products. But I’m not doing no subscription service.

[@jasonhywood1918]

Also wondering if these can be added to pro2 base station? Is there a max cameras you can add to a base station?

[@ryant75]

@@jasonhywood1918 yes. You should be fine initially. The essential starts to act a little wacky and then doesn't work or just buffers entirely until you get this description and pay monthly. That's why I got rid of it and start using my old beat up pro 2 that never had a problem it's still giving strong after 5 years. I have five cameras set up to my old base station also

[@1tunner599]

I was wondering why my camera stopped recording, thanks for the video

[@Byteofgeek]

Glad I could help 🙂

[@cprflorida]

I purchased 4 about 2 years ago, and 2 of these pro quit working, new batteries, and yet it refused to connect. It is a pain

[@tomcao3710]

Do it have batteries and can you tell me how to install battery?

[@Byteofgeek]

They do but you can't change the batteries in these cameras

[@George_USMC]

I had issues getting mine to connect, I think I was too close to my router, once I moved it to the next room it connected right after.. strange. Thanks for the video

[@Byteofgeek]

I've heard of situations like that before, thanks for watching 👍

[@shasza003]

That is news to my ears, I didn’t know I have pay for subscription for storage. I am not happy. I’m going to return back to the store!😮

[@Byteofgeek]

Sadly something other manufacturers are starting to do now ☹️

[@Phillipmoreno1]

Thank you for the subscription part I was going to try to use this as a add on to a already 5 camera system. Since you have to but the plan I'll go to eufy .thanks mate

[@Byteofgeek]

Thanks, glad it was useful 👍

[@CraWL2_99]

I just got one a second camera and it doesn't want to connect to sync to my phone. Idk how to fix this.

[@Byteofgeek]

OK a couple of things come to mind, make sure phone is on 2.4ghz WiFi easy to forget when you've not done that for a while, the other is to reset the camera with button on the base. Also you only need hold the button for just a couple of seconds when pairing, any longer and that can cause a problem

[@sammiemohammed476]

Thank you so much

[@Byteofgeek]

Hope it was helpful

[@zombiegod1402]

Hi how are you doing do you have to pay for iCloud description

[@susanmcelaney1651]

How long do you charge the camera?

[@kimchiles7011]

My battery ran all the way down while I was out of town. It is dead. I try to charge it, it blinks blue, but doesn’t charge. Why??

[@Byteofgeek]

I've had this with one of the cameras I'd not used for a while. Do you get no charge at all?

[@nicklangello3401]

Not sure if you can help or not. I have the arlo pro 2 with 2 camera and hub. I then bought 3 essential cameras model Vmc2030. After the free trial online storage and monitoring is there a way to connect them all together to record on the hub or external hard drive. The essentials camera give me an alert but if whatever set it off is nit still there I cant see what did set it off

[@Byteofgeek]

I believe you can only connect essential cameras to the following hubs VM 5000, 4540, 4500 and 4000. Is your hub one of those?

[@nicklangello3401]

@@Byteofgeek Thank you for getting back to me. My hub is VMB4000rs. I use 1 app to view all the camera but the essential cameras won't record

[@jas350]

Buyer beware when it comes to this camera. It is a scam camera. What I mean by that is during the trial period everything will work perfect. After the trial ends that is when nothing but problems happen. It constantly buffers. If you walk by the camera it will show you 5 minutes after it senses someone. Will not get signal to Wi-Fi. It is just a nightmare scam camera. If you want to waste your money go ahead but I am just wanting everyone not to purchase this.

[@Byteofgeek]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think it is a case of buyer beware but really for the reason that without the subscription they are just streaming cameras. I pay for the subscription every so often so I can do testing for my channel and I've not experienced what you have so I wonder if something else is going on with your camera.

[@kinkleung]

I am about to hit the end of the first free 3 month subscription. Thinking of getting a base station to provide local storage for camera footage instead of paying for subscription. Any experience can be shared? Basic requirement for me is when motion detected, start recording to the base station.

[@Byteofgeek]

I believe that should be possible just not with any of the advanced detection. However I haven't tried this so hopefully somebody else will be able to confirm for you.

[@DemShotta]

@@Byteofgeek Wireless doorbell is excellent, so I purchased this last week and it arrived today. 10 hours later and it still won't connect. About to box up and return. Not remotely even interested in the Nest offerings although I primarily use Google assistant. Any suggestions?

[@Byteofgeek]

@@DemShotta I guess you've got Eufy and Ring as options but I've tried neither right now. Blink is another option which was very easy to set up but I feel is a bit basic compared to something like the arlo system. You could always go with the lesser known brands, I know some people have had excellent results with those, Reolink being a decent choice for example - although I did have problems with their notifications when I reviewed their indoor camera 🙂

[@kinkleung]

@@Byteofgeek Got the Arlo Base-station VMB4540. Very easy to set up. After changing the configuration from router to Base Station, detected motions trigger the saving of the video footage to both the cloud and the Base Station. All the setup done in less than 30 mins. All good.

[@DemShotta]

@@Byteofgeek "Betcha I can make you laugh" I'm kind of particular about my tech so I clean my devices regularly. Turns out the screen protector had to high a gloss on it. As I logged in to my account to start the return process while eating dinner, I figured I'd try one more time. Phone had a lil smear across the screen now and I guess that was enough. "Bingo!" it recognized and set-up with out a hitch. I distance tested the unit after to see if there was lag or anything to still warrant a return and nothing, all good now. 🤷🏾‍♂️ go figure?

[@marleymar2644]

How do you get the red lights to come on

[@Byteofgeek]

Turn the spotlight/colour mode off and they'll come on automatically when it's dark

[@mikeprivate8211]

Both of my Arlo Essential Gen 2 are just about not worth even having because they constantly lose connectivity. One camera is only 20 feet from wifi and the other is 75 feet and the camera closest drops off just as often as the other. That is my biggest disappointment, however, there are more disappointments as well, such as, the sync time when you tap the app icon, then tap devices i get the two cameras displayed as ready to tap again to start them and IF one or the other or sometimes both sync it takes upwards to 30 seconds. Another is that if you leave that screen to use your smart phone for anything else, when you return you have to go through the 30 sec sync waiting period, every time. So if you're doing something and you hear a disturbance outside, by the time the cameras are up and running you've missed what it was aside from a tree falling in front of them or what ever the disturbance was rests long enough to see it 30 to 45 secs later if the cameras even sync at all. When they sync and I leave my phone on the cameras they might last 15 mins. before dropping off and I have to tap the arrows on each camera and wait and they might sync but usually don't. My opinion: Total waste of my hard earned money and now I have to start over and buy some other cameras. I can assure you they won't be Arlo and probably not wifi cameras either because it just adds another possible fault and WiFi is too susceptible to spurious signal interference. If thieves catch on I'll guarantee you they could use either an amplitude modulating or frequency modulating generator to knock the cameras offline I'm guessing. The facial expression for this purchase gets the cartoon character "Droopy".

[@cindyamaya8014]

My Arlo I can’t connect it. The blue blinking it just blinks and then turns off?

[@Byteofgeek]

It sounds crazy but make sure you're selecting the correct camera. I mistakenly selected the essential instead of the essential spotlight and it did the same thing.

[@cindyamaya8014]

@@Byteofgeek it has 3 options. The essential indoor, essential camera and then essential camera spotlight idk what XL. I have choose the essential camera. Then I charge it and the blue light blinks and blinks when I’m doing the process and turns off same as the second camera

[@Byteofgeek]

Try doing a factory reset by holding the sync button down for 15 seconds until you get a rapid flashing blue light then try the sync process again. I take it these are new cameras?

[@cindyamaya8014]

@@Byteofgeek yes they are new bought them at lowes. I been charging them for the whole night one does a blinking like for a while and turns off and the other one turns orange and then off

[@Byteofgeek]

Make sure you don't hold the sync button down for too long when you start, you only need to press it quickly for just a second. Also, check that you're connecting to 2.4GHz network and not 5GHz

[@DDLTex]

You can purchase a VMA 3600 Solar Panel

[@romerome719]

One of my cameras are displaying green or purple lines vertical on the left side of the screen. They disappear when the spotlight is on or if it's bright enough but it's these lines any other type of scenery. Is it defective cuz none of the other 7 cameras do it. Just the one

[@Byteofgeek]

If a reset of the camera doesn't fix it I'd return it if still in warranty as that doesn't sound right.

[@mitchstavely1]

Arlo is the worst system I have every bought. They never stay connected and I certainly can't count of them for any kind of security. Plus, it's a hassle having to change batteries constantly.

[@carolyncruz757]

Mine is not staying charged... Box claim 6 months..not staying charged 6 days

[@Byteofgeek]

The battery isn't brilliant in these cameras but does it look out at a busy road? Maybe try changing the angle of the camera and therefore what it sees to see if that helps.

[@FishOnIsMyHandle]

Ours would not even sync with the Arlo app....& didn't work with wireless. I'd run.

[@Byteofgeek]

That's not great is it, should be better at this price point.

[@chuckhammons]

Same here I called support and they told me it will. Not work with out a subscription what a rip off!!

[@dkevvv]

I have an essential and after 3 months they stop recording video. They make you purchase their service. NOT!

[@Byteofgeek]

They become useless once the trial has ended, should be in big print on the box!

[@EvertR-sy6ze]

How often do you need to charge/change batteries?

[@Byteofgeek]

Really depends on how busy the area is that it's covering. I thought in a high traffic area it wasn't that great and you can expect to be recharging every month so getting a solar panel might be one option. Quieter areas could easily last for 3+ months but unlikely to go beyond 6 months.

[@Eternalloveofspirit]

I live on a busy street. We charge once a week

[@kevinjohnson7101]

I’m re charging my cameras every day .. no matter how much I change the settings .. it notify me on everything. Which is good but .. it uses to much of the batter life

[@pstrevino]

Yep... I am stuck with these cameras and no spotlight... what a rip off

[@Byteofgeek]

There's so much better on the market certainly when you consider the total cost of ownership

[@walter24148]

Did you try turning the flash light on in the video screen mode...

[@pstrevino]

@@walter24148 Yes I did.

[@losmoore3358]

Yeah in the market for wireless cameras., but Arlo is definitely expensive. And if Arlo Essential is getting cheap in price then other add on is still expensive, but then they take away other benefits to wear i don't want to pay for the cloud. I will pass on Arlo. Thank u for your video.

[@michaelacosta8065]

How to fix when they don’t record and save the video ?

[@Byteofgeek]

Has your trial now expired as that would cause this to happen?

[@dsawyer8]

Sub has not run out but seeing this they are going back. I'm not into greedy companies

[@pamelamiller4946]

I will never buy another Arlo security camera again. Had a little over a year. They all are not charging. Sorry system!! DO NOT BUY!!

[@mattmccarty72]

I have purchased an Arlo Pro2 and everything started out great, yet a year later and now all cameras are pixilated and their customer service which is absolutely horrible just can't seem to find the issue. This problem is company and camera wide. When the company decided to compress video files, they altered the video quality being stored. Storing crap video is useless to every home "security" camera. I will never purchase from this company again.

[@chrisharris7958]

These cameras are worthless IMO, just a ripoff to make money with subscriptions or selling poor base station. I'm taking mine down and replacing them with Reolink cameras, which don't require subscription or base station to store video, just an SD chip, up to 128 GB. And they don't require internet access like Arlo Essential does.

[@robertchristian3510]

Who needs to worry about getting burgled when these Arlo clowns will rip you off.

[@annabellejonesify]

It’s a piece of shit. Would not recharge after 2 dead battery cycles. Thumbs down to Arlo Essentials.

[@earlcampbell257]

The video and audio are grayed out on my arlo aps. how can i fix them.

[@ronaldmoss463]

Thank you very much

[@Byteofgeek]

Thanks for watching, hope it was useful 🙂