Netgear Arlo Pro

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The Requirement

I was contacted recently by a customer requesting an urgent CCTV installation.

They were going to be travelling, their current CCTV system was not working and they needed something installed with 24 hours that would enable them to remotely monitor the goings on at their office.

As it happens I had just completed a whole bunch of research into wireless CCTV systems and had a short list depending on the end user’s requirements.

This particular installation looked like it could benefit from the new Netgear Arlo Pro.

The cameras in the original Arlo used CR123 primary batteries (4 per camera) and the major complaint was the cost of having to frequently replace batteries.

Netgear listened and they came out with the Arlo Pro whose cameras make use of a rechargeable LiIon battery. The Pro also introduced two way audio.

The Arlo Pro Solution

The 4 camera system was purchased for this job. It comprised the Arlo base station, 4 camera with rechargeable batteries, 4 mounts, power supplies and Ethernet cable.

Setup involved connecting the base to your current internet router and allowing it to go through a syncing phase. Then one by one syncing each camera to the base before installation.

Next step was to load the app. onto your Iphone or Android device and go about the registration process. Once registered the app. will let you know if there are any firmware updates for the base or cameras and you should then immediately be able to view any of the cameras wherever they happen to be right now.

Once you are happy everything is working, it’s time to install the cameras. You can place your Arlo camera a maximum of 300 feet (90 meters) from the base station. The maximum line-of-sight range of 300 feet is reduced by each wall, ceiling, or other major obstruction between the camera and base station.

The rear of the camera is magnetized so all you have to do is screw the domed mounts into place and then the camera just magnetically attached to the mount. You can then rotate the camera on the amount to achieve the view that you require.

The system comes with 7 days of cloud storage included. When 7 days worth have been used it drops off the seventh day to make space for the next day on a FIFO basis. There are subscription options to give you more storage. Being motion based, and unlike traditional CCTV installations, the cameras only record when motion is detected. This conserves battery life and also gives you a library of events only based on motion rather than having to sift through hours of recordings looking for the event that you are after. There are rules that can be set for each camera governing motion sensitivity, alerts, alarms and days of week to be active. This does not stop you from requesting a live view at any time from any or all cameras but doing so for an extended period will run the batteries down pretty fast.

The system has been running for a while, still on the originally charged battery. Time will tell how long the hold their charge in a busy work environment as opposed to a home solution where there would be less movement.

 

 

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