Installation

Arlo provides us with a couple options when it comes to monitoring our home in a way that allows us to figure out what is going on within at every point in time, but we first have to prepare the cameras and set up the kit. With our Arlo kit open, we slide the bottom of the cameras off to install the four lithium batteries that are included in the box. We now only have to connect the Ethernet cable Netgear included to the base and our router before synchronizing the camera with the base by pressing the SYNC button on both devices. All the steps for setting up the Arlo security kit are also detailed in Netgear's quick start guide.


Once all of the above is done, the Arlo cameras can be placed at a maximum of 300 feet away from the base station, and we can always check on the base station's camera-specific LED in order to make sure they are synced. If the LED is blinking in amber, one of the cameras is too far from the base station. You will obviously also have to pay attention to metal objects or thick walls when setting up your home system kit since such obstacles will definitely reduce the maximum distance between the base and the camera. Also make sure to create your own personal Arlo account whose basic subscription model is to be had free once you've finished physically setting up your kit.

Arlo Application

Visit the Arlo Web Portal and enter the right password and username to get to get the exact same interface as on your PC on your iOS or Android device so long as you have the corresponding Arlo application installed. You can modify the settings of the Arlo smart home security camera as you please, all while taking a look at the videos that have been recorded with the Library option. There is also a calendar - clicking on a day with a green tag would allow you to watch all recording taken on that particular day. You may also download the footage to your PC should you want to.


Whether taken in full daylight or at night, the images are of great quality because of IR lighting and the 720p format. There are also some other features. Use Modes and Rules to configure each camera, for instance; the camera inside our house could, as such, have its motion sensor turned off with the "all motion off" option while the camera outside of our house could still have its motion sensor set to "all motion on". We could also have a sensor turn itself on or off at a specific time of day.


There is unfortunately no way to copy and paste a schedule, and we had to manually schedule every day via the mobile app or a PC, by drag- and dropping two labels into an hourly schedule. Setting up the Arlo schedule is admittedly much easier on a PC. We spent quite some time going around and experimenting with the app to get the hang of it. Our overall experience with the app shows that some things could be done to make it easier and more user friendly. We would also like to state that Arlo's FAQ support website is actually pretty good; questions are answered methodically and we found everything we were looking for quite easily.


The camera will start recording with a one to two second delay once its motion sensor detects movement (running kids or fast vehicles and objects won't be caught on camera), and the length of such a recording can be set to be anywhere from 10-120 seconds (the recording time can be chosen via the app's settings). Such an event will also trigger a notification that is sent to your device. The notification can be sent to more than one recipient if more than one email address is specified for notification. We can also watch the content multiple cameras stream simultaneously or follow one camera. Play and pause buttons have been included, and you can take photographs. We can also record the stream, but there is unfortunately no zoom. There was a 7.88 second delay before the stream appeared after we pushed play.


Not only can you download the footage to a client PC, you can also share these videos and photos with friends via the app—this particular option is only available with Netgear's Premier and Elite subscription, though. Also keep in mind that videos and photos can be deleted from the library, but do so and they will still remain in the cloud for another seven days. So keep that in mind before making personal recordings. If you own a NAS server, you won't be able to use it to store any of the Arlo system's footage since all videos and photos will be put into the cloud. Netgear has mentioned that the company's own NAS models will soon be able to connect to the Arlo system; however, Netgear should make this system compatible with other NAS models as well.