Review: Netgear Arlo

Introduction

Monitoring your home premises has become a lot easier in recent years. Faster broadband connections and improvements in wireless router technology have made internet-based security solutions like Netgear's Arlo Smart Home Security System easier to setup and much more reliable.

Arlo joins a number of other wire-free home security devices like the Dropcam Pro, Closeli Simplicam and Belkin NetCam HD. While it doesn't pack any Minority Report-style features like facial recognition, its cameras are waterproof, meaning they're just as comfortable at the bottom of the garden as they are in the living room.

They're flexible too. If you don't want to stand them upright, various mounts are available for affixing them to walls, tree branches or other hard-to-reach areas. Unfortunately you can't pan or tilt cameras remotely, but Netgear says that such mounts are in development. Also bear in mind that thieves could potentially make off with cameras, so leaving them unsecured outside isn't a good idea.

Another drawback is that, unlike fixed-position video camera systems that are permanently connected to a power source, Arlo's cameras are battery-operated using CR123 lithium batteries.

The batteries aren't your typical AAA fare - they're capable of lasting between three and six months on a single charge so long as they're not continuously capturing footage throughout the day. But they still have to be changed once depleted, which could prove a pain for maintaining multi-camera setups - particularly if every camera is placed out of reach.

Securing your home isn't the only use for Arlo. You can view live footage being streamed from cameras in real-time using a web portal, Android or iOS app whether in or out of the home. It effectively doubles up as a handy surveillance monitor for checking on children, pets or anything else you want to keep an eye on.

Plans of action

Netgear offers three Arlo Security System packs that come with one, two or three cameras. Once you've chosen, you can pick from three price plans for cloud strage, which starts with a free basic package that comes with basic tech support and lets you use one base station with up to five cameras.

If you intend to use Arlo to capture individual incidents (rather than log hours of footage like you would with a camcorder), the basic package's 1GB of cloud storage, which lets you capture up to seven days of records, should suffice. You can either set the camera to stop recording once cloud storage is full, or alternatively delete clips starting with the oldest ones first.

The premier package, which costs $9.99/month or $99/year (currently £6.49/month or £64/year) includes unlimited phone-based technical support and lets you use one base station with up to 10 cameras. This package ups cloud storage space to 10GB , which Netgear reckons is enough for up to 30 days of recordings.

By subscribing to the Elite package (currently $14.99/month or $149/year - £9.99/month or £99/year), which includes the same support as the premier package, you can use up to three base stations with up to 15 cameras. (As that suggests, each base station can connect to up to five cameras each.) Cloud storage space is bumped up to 100GB, enough for 60 days of cloud recordings.

Base stations contain no storage themselves but can also be used to connect external USB storage devices for saving footage locally rather than the cloud, so having three of them lets you potentially connect up to six external hard drives. Each base station has five lights along the bottom to indicator power, internet, camera sync status, ethernet and USB.

Setup and performance

Arlo can be set up in minutes using a PC or laptop. Its mains-powered base station, which acts as the brains of the operation, connects to your wireless router using a supplied Ethernet cable. Cameras connect to the base station, rather than directly to routers using Wi-Fi, which allows them to operate in a low-power state and lie dormant until needed to achieve their long battery life.

It can, however, prove an issue depending on the shape of your house. I attempted to place a camera to monitor my flat's rear garden, but because my router was in a room where the fibre connection entered the building at the front of the flat, and there were several walls in-between, it was (just) out of range. Buying a Homeplug ethernet extender would've allowed me to position the base station in the room where the camera was, but this would've added to Arlo's cost and complexity.

On the back of the base station are two USB 3.0 ports, an ethernet port, a reset button, a power connection and an on/off button. Once the base station is connected to the router's ethernet port you'll need to insert four batteries into each of the cameras, which is done using a simple release mechanism on their underside. Once powered up, pressing the sync buttons on the cameras and the base station at the same time pairs them.

Once synced, Arlo's web portal makes creating an account and selecting a plan a breeze. After completion you're taken to the main portal page, which presents four tabs: Cameras, Library, Mode and Settings. Cameras gives you a one-page view of your active cameras, each with a battery life indicator and a preview window that lets you view what the camera is seeing at that time.

Cameras don't begin to record until they detect movement, depending on how you have them set. If you want to know what's going on at any moment, the portal lets see what they can see - and you have the option to start recording at any time. The Library tab presents captured footage in chronological order, with the option to add clips to your favourites.

Clicking the Mode tab lets you schedule times for cameras to be alert. Using rules, for example, you could create a "Weekday" mode where your indoor cameras are set to record when motion is detected up until 5.30pm. After that, it could automatically switch to an "Evening" mode where indoor cameras stop recording and outdoor cameras are set to record all movement. It's all done using a drag-and-drop interface that feels a little clunky but gets the job done.

Performance

The Arlo's HD cameras record at a pixel-resolution of 1,280 x 720, which is high enough to clearly make out subjects and pick out details in the environment. They're capable of night video too thanks to an IR sensor that clicks into action when light fades.

You may be tempted to position cameras behind windows to film outside at night, which unfortunately isn't possible. Because light reflects off glass to distort the image, you're better off placing cameras outside.

Motion detection sensitivity is altered using a 'more sensitive/less sensitive' slider in the Settings panel. Where you position cameras depends on whether you'll need make an adjustments - point one at a door, for example, and the default sensitivity will do just fine.

It's only when you point one outside, where there may be people walking past, trees swaying in the breeze or birds flying around that you may have to reduce the sensitivity to prevent video being captured every 10 seconds. It's a situation that would not only prove annoying, your cloud storage would be filled in a snap and battery life would deplete quickly.

Thankfully Arlo is swift at sending notifications when motion is detected. It means you can quickly log in on a mobile device or PC to check what's been recorded and, if necessary, take action.

Verdict

Netgear has an attractive home security system in the Arlo. It offers good picture quality, highly flexible camera positioning and an easy-to-use interface that won't confuse you if you're getting stuck into an internet-connected home security system for the first time. That said, its flexibility can be a doubled-edged sword when it comes to camera placement and battery life.

We liked

Setting up Arlo is quick and painless, and once you're up and running is easy to configure thanks to its rules-based system. Captured camera footage is of decent quality, and the ability to easily move cameras (including outside) means you can capture the area you need with minimal effort. Being able to view the action from a mobile app or desktop browser doubles Arlo up as a handy real-time monitoring system, one that requires minimal maintenance if you get the sensntivity settings right.

We disliked

Because cameras can't record footage through windows at night, Arlo is less suited to buildings that house various flats - unless your neighbours don't mind you nailing cameras to the wall or fence outside. Nor is it a suitable solution if you want to film an area where there'll be constant activity either.

If the sensitivity is too high, not only will you receive hundreds of notifications, it'll prove a massive battery drain and you'll have to sift through hundreds (or even thousands) of useless clips. Depending on the shape of your house, Arlo's cameras may not lie in range of your base station, which could prove problematic when wanting to monitor certain parts of your property.

Final verdict

Arlo's flexibility makes it easy to recommend for indoor and outdoor use. The setup has the potential to shine when multiple cameras work together around the home as part of a rules-based system, and the ability to view camera feeds in real-time is a real bonus.

On the other hand, if you're turned off by the idea of potentially having to replace batteries several times throughout the year or would prefer your video clips not to reside in the cloud (without having to buy a separate hard drive), Arlo isn't for you.

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