Otherwise, it's our favorite outdoor smart cam on the market.įor home security tips, check out six places every home should have security cameras, how to prevent your home security cameras from being hacked, and the best cheap home security systems you can buy.The Forbes Home editorial team is independent and objective. If you're a HomeKit loyalist or looking for a home security camera to use without a subscription, Arlo's Pro 4 might not be the best option for you. Where it falters, most people simply won't notice, or mind the slight drawbacks. In a point-by-point comparison - resolution, performance, battery life and so on - it just consistently outshines the competition. It's a great camera with almost no real weaknesses. More importantly than either of these features, however, is just the general quality with which the Pro 4 was designed. The Arlo Pro 4 has emerged as the outdoor security camera leader in a few important respects: First, its spotlight and siren add a level of security deterrence that other cameras in the same price range don't often match second, its integration with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa (and to a lesser degree Apple HomeKit) truly make it more smart home-friendly across different ecosystems. Still great, but facing tough competition That said, easy usability with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa is a nice perk for many users. You know, all those awards that I definitely didn't just make up. I've had readers reach out to me about the hub and have asked Arlo in the past for comments on the device's availability: The company said it's not discontinued, but declined to tell me when it will be available again.įor HomeKit users, that barrier is a real bummer that stops Arlo from running away with all the awards for smart home compatibility. The problem is the SmartHub isn't available at retailers and hasn't been for months. Yes, the same one necessary for local storage. On the other hand, to take advantage of Apple HomeKit (which Arlo technically does work with), you'll need a separate Arlo device called the SmartHub. All I had to say was, "Alexa, show me my camera," and moments later I was watching a livestream of my backyard. When I tested the camera with Alexa, for instance, calling up the live stream on my Echo Show 8 and using two-way talk, it worked quickly and effectively. like the Arlo SmartHub (more on this later).Īrlo works well with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. In addition, the Pro 4 doesn't have an SD card slot, which means any local storage will require a separate device. Wyze is much more useful without a subscription, with those 14 days of cloud storage for events. Nest, by contrast, offers person, vehicle and animal alerts for free, along with three hours of event history (that's paltry, but it's something). The Arlo Pro 4 really isn't that: Without paying for Arlo Secure, you lose out on smart alerts, event history and a handful of other features. If you're allergic to more subscription services like I am, then you might want to buy a camera that will work well enough to avoid the monthly fees. The intent is always to get you to end up paying over time. Free trials abound here - Wyze and Google Nest both offer a free month, while Arlo offers a generous three months. It's no secret that smart security camera developers want to hook you with a monthly subscription. Which brings me to my one criticism of Arlo: the lack of subscription-free features. The one thing Wyze has that few other companies offer is 14 days of free cloud storage. That's really solid, and since it only takes about five hours to charge, your monitoring should remain nearly uninterrupted year-round, even if it's a little less efficient than it seems. ![]() Over the course of a week and a half of testing, though, the Pro 4 only went down about 5% - which put the battery life on track for about seven months for me. Arlo says the battery should last between three and six months per charge, which is fairly standard among wireless cameras. But it made me a little nervous about the impact on battery life: Wi-Fi is less energy efficient than other communication protocols, like Bluetooth or Zigbee. Unlike the Pro 3 - and other cameras from generations past - the Pro 4 connects directly to your Wi-Fi, which is convenient, since you won't need a separate hub. In the settings, you can also fiddle with a slew of other tools, like auto zoom & tracking, power management settings and activity zones (with a subscription). The Arlo app is simple and straightforward, with all the features I want to toggle easily accessible on the live stream screen. From there, I was able to start testing out the Pro 4's features right away, manually switching the spotlight on and off to see the difference (bright enough during the night), triggering the siren to see how loud it is (loud, but not deafening) and zooming into various corners of the live-streaming video.
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