Arlo Essential Smart Home Security Camera CCTV System, 2
Arlo Essential Smart Home Security Camera CCTV System, 2 Camera kit and Indoor/Outdoor Mount bundle, With 90-day free trial Secure Pla
Built-in Spotlight Powerful built-in spotlight with a range of 6 meters means even the smartest intruder will be deterred. Plus get incredible full colour video recording even at night.
” data-position=”triggerHorizontal” />Super-Strong PolycarbonateConstructed from super-strong polycarbonate, the same material used in bullet-proof glass. And tested to withstand temperatures from -20 to 45°C with an IP65 rating for protection from water and dust.
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Arlo Home Security Cameras: Protect What You Love Most
 Essential White |  Essential XL |  Essential Black |  Wirefree Video Doorbell | |
| Video Quality | 1080P HD | 1080P HD | 1080P HD | 1080P HD |
| Battery life | 6 months | 12 months | 6 months | 6 months |
| Field of View | 130 degree | 130 degree | 130 degree | 180 degree |
| Wireless | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works without Base station | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Colour night vision | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Spotlight | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Alarm Siren | Yes | — | Yes | Yes |
| Weather Resistant | -20° C to 45° C | -20° C to 45° C | -20° C to 45° C | -20° C to 45° C |
| Wifi bandwidth required | 2.4 GHz wifi | 2.4 GHz wifi | 2.4 GHz wifi | 2.4 GHz wifi |
| Local Storage | Base station required | Base station required | Base station required | Base station required |
| Weight: | 350 g |
| Size: | 2 Pack |
| Dimensions: | 5.2 x 7.74 x 8.88 cm; 350 Grams |
| Model: | VMC2230S-1VSEUS |
| Part: | VMC2230S-1VSEUS |
| Colour: | White |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | Yes |
| Dimensions: | 5.2 x 7.74 x 8.88 cm; 350 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | 2 Pack |
I bought one Arlo Essential Compact Indoor Plug-in Smart Security Camera to monitor our latest rescue dog when we start to leave it for short periods, and also to get a feel for Arlo with a view to buying further kit to monitor the driveway and rear of the house.
This indoor camera only works on the 2.4GHz WiFi band, which is an issue – we’ve had various bits of kit conflicting on the 2.4GHz band, so I’ve shifted almost everything to the 5GHz band as that has more channels available. For anything remaining on the 2.4GHz band, I want to be able to configure which channel is used to avoid conflicts. Unfortunately, this camera only works on the 2.4GHz band and does not allow me to specify which channel it is to use.
The instructions for setting up the camera in environments where both 2.4GHz and 5GHz are used were almost enough for me to send the camera back unused. We use a WiFi mesh that uses the same SSID for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, without the ability to disable one band temporarily when adding new devices. Had the instructions been fully correct, I would have had to turn off the mesh, re-enable just the 2.4GHz band on our router and change the SSID to the one normally used by the mesh, then add the camera so that it connects to the named SSID, then disable the 2.4GHz band on the router again and turn the mesh back on. That’s a pain to do and disrupts every other device & user using WiFi in the house. Thankfully, the instructions were not quite comprehensive – with our mesh, the camera connected to the 2.4GHz band without issue (as I would expect it do do had I not read the instructions) even though the 5GHz was still operational, and everything worked without issue.
After setting up, the free trial period for the subscription kicks in, so the full range of functionality is available. The smart detection stuff works well, identifying people, dogs and packages. The configuration options for notifications are a bit limited – if we were to buy more cameras, we would want to be able to set different notification options for different cameras, something that doesn’t appear possible. I’m not sure what we will do when the free trial period expires – I’m not a fan of subscriptions, so I lean towards getting a SmartHub and using local storage, then seeing how well it integrates with Home Assistant. Having said that, the current price of the subscription is not unreasonable given the infrastructure it pays for.
In use, the camera has turned out to be very useful, not just monitoring the dog, but also (when I’m working in my home office) letting me know the moment the dog appears by the back door, and also letting me monitor the washing machine and tumble dryer remotely (I can clearly see the lights using the camera). The functionality for monitoring smoke and carbon monoxide detectors is a useful bonus too – although we have a monitored smoke alarm, the carbon monoxide detector just sounds in the house, so were it to go off while I am out, getting a notification on my phone before letting myself into the house would be beneficial – rather than walking in to a potentially dangerous environment, I could open all the outside doors to ventilate, call the emergency number and wait outside.
One thing that doesn’t work as well as hoped is the Alexa integration. Using Alexa on a Meta Portal to monitor the utility room results in a frozen image rather than continuous video. Using Alexa on our LG Smart TV, the TV seems to timeout so watching the camera output cannot happen for long.
Does the job.
Bought to monitor a rat problem in the loft. Works a treat, triggers well and night vision is superb. Thought battery wouldn’t last too well since night vision is on all the time but after a couple of weeks still have 95% battery left. Very pleased.
Une solution intermédiaire
Je rsume. Pour un usage personnel c’est un bon investissement pour faire de la surveillance la demande. De belle qualit , elle s’installent trs facilement comme indiqu. Pas de fil. Pas de percage . Montes en 10mn. Bien prvoir l’endroit pour pouvoir les dcrocher facilement pour les recharger. Pas de prise secteur fournie. Le fil usb plutt court. En cette priode une perte de charge de 10% en cinq jours c’est acceptable. Pour cette solution pas besoin d’abonnement mais vous devrez crer un compte chez le fabricant pour pouvoir tlcharger l’application.
Autre possibilit. Aprs les 90 jours d’essai gratuit vous pouvez prendre l’abonnement de 3 15 euros par mois pour une tranquillit d’esprit si vous vous absent et si vous voulez conserver les images enregistrer mais c’est le jeu. Mais rien n’oblige. Elle peuvent tout aussi bien vous servir pour surveiller vos enfants dans ke jardin. Pourquoi pas. Les images ne sont plus trs nettes aprs la distance indique effectivement mais elles ne sont que des camras de particuliers et le prix justifie.
Caméra surveillance Wifi
Trs bonne camra de surveillance Wifi.
Tout d’abord, ce qui surprend, par rapport d’autres modles, c’est le cot robuste et disons “pro” de ces camras. Elles sont loins de certains modles qui font cheap et qui le sont l’usage. Tout est assez bien pens pour l’installation et le paramtrage. Cela se fait assez bien et relativement vite.
Une fois installes et connectes, ces camras offrent une images vraiment claire. La vision nocturne pourrait tre un peu amliore, mais malheureusement c’est un peu le cas pour toutes les camras. Disons que la fonctionnalit est l mais il ne faut pas esprer voir autant de dtails qu’en plein jour mais a fonctionne.
Reprocher à des caméras Cloud d'avoir un abonnement Cloud ????
Si vous tes venus vous renseigner sur les camras Arlo et donc venir sur cette page c’est que vous tes la recherche d’une solution simple mais efficace pour scuriser votre maison.
Aujourd’hui il n’y a pas 150 solutions…Personnellement j’en vois 3 :
– Faire appel une centrale de surveillance : matriel gratuit mais abonnement minimum de 15 environ pour le basique du basique sans dplacement d’un agent.
– Crer son propre serveur son domicile qui ncessitera l’achat de 2 4 disques dur + serveur ce qui est devenu trs cher depuis le Covid, l’Ukraine etc…Un serveur cote tout quip au minimum 1000 et il faut ensuite acheter les camras dont l’efficacit et la qualit d’images est grandement amliore quand les camras sont branches en filaire (RJ45) sur le rseau…Bref on est plus du tout dans l’installation simple et rapide.
– La solution des camras connectes avec serveur sur Cloud comme les Arlos qui sont vendues moins chres en contrepartie d’un abonnement commenant 3 pour une seule camra jusqu’ 15 pour l’offre “all inclusive” (qui reste tout de mme moins chre que le premier prix de la centrale de surveillance.)
Il n’y a pas une solution meilleure que l’autre. Chacune rpond un besoin prcis. A vous de voir quelle est la solution dont vous avez besoin.
– La centrale de surveillance : Le plus simple : vous n’aurez rien faire, et si la camra ne marche plus vous appelez le service
– Le serveur : Le plus cher, mais vous restez le seul et unique possesseur de vos images, elles ne se baladent pas sur un cloud…
– Les camras Cloud : le moins cher quoiqu’on en dise. Donc pour ceux qui ont mis une deux toiles en commentaires aux Arlos ils n’ont absolument rien compris au principe de ces offres Cloud.
Car il n’y a pas tromperie sur la marchandise, la politique est clairement affiche contrairement aux centrales de surveillances.
De plus vous pouvez tout de mme utiliser ces camras sans abonnement. Vous garderez juste la visualisation des images en direct et les alertes de prsence. Il n’y aura plus d’historique ni de haute rsolution. Personnellement cela me suffit amplement.
Donc si vous voulez une installation facile et rapide sans prise de tte, Arlo rpondra parfaitement vos attentes. Pas besoin de brancher les camras sur le rseau lectrique, et pas besoin de les brancher avec des cbles rseaux. En rsum pas besoin d’tre bricoleur ni d’tre informaticien !
On ne peut pas faire plus simple. Vous posez ou fixez votre camra, vous la connectez et c’est parti ! Temps d’installation par camra 10min grand grand max, l’interface est ultra intuitive .
Je vous conseille de les installer des endroits qui vous permettent de les dmonter facilement pour les recharger.
Ct autonomie, je les ai installe en extrieur au froid et au bout de 6 jours j’ai perdu 10% d’autonomie donc je dirai une autonomie d’un peu moins de 2 mois (en hiver en tout cas).
On apprciera galement leur ct ultra discrte.
La qualit des images est la hauteur de ce type de camra compacte dpourvue d’un zoom optique.
Le zoom numrique ne fait pas de miracle, au del de 10m difficile de reconnaitre un visage. Mais aucune camra de cette taille EN WIFI ne fait mieux.
Si c’est impratif pour vous d’avoir une qualit HD il faudra des camras cbles en RJ45 vers un serveur….Bref la solution 2 quoi…
Si comme moi vous avez juste besoin d’tre alert, ces camras feront parfaitement le job.
Leur dtection est efficace et la reconnaissance plutt bonne, car elles vous annoncent si c’est une alerte animal, personne ou voiture.
En rsum 250 la paire de camras cela reste un bon rapport qualit prix au regard de ce qu’offre la concurrence comme Foscam pour le mme prix en camra sans batterie interne et dpendante d’un serveur.
Personnellement je trouve que ces Arlo rpondent parfaitement aux attentes que l’on peu en avoir, donc n’coutez pas les commentateurs grincheux qui n’y connaissent au final pas grand chose, si la solution 3 est celle qui vous sduit alors foncez !
Fantastic
This security light ARLO arrived at 4pm and had it working by 4.30pm.
It’s so easy to follow and use.
Today fitted to the top of my porch and worked a treat.
Picture video very good.
I originally bought a B###k and 6 hours no connection and just useless.
This is a good little camera if you want a live feed, but there is no option of an SD storage for clips without the cloud subscription.
I cannot praise this product enough to do justice. I had a poor experience from the first unit purchased from a high street retailer, which was exchange but found the same issue (battery lasted a week) – Arlo support are quick to respond and very helpful. They sent a new one out which had 100% battery on install on 6th August, we are now 12th October and only 10% battery life has been spent. By my estimation, the battery will remain charged well over 12months (if required) – Set up is very easy…. pairing up with my WiFi took no more than 3 minutes – The new Unit ordered from Amazon had 67% battery level so I have now left it on charge before placement. DO NOT HESITATE to purchase this camera at this price point. Arlo is a great Company, and so is this product.
Perfect if you don’t need advanced features
The more advanced features require a paid subscription – I don’t use these.
If like me, you’re content with the features that don’t require the subscription, this is perfect. I needed a camera that was accessible over the internet, but absolutely hate the idea of someone else potentially accessing my camera. This camera physically covers the lens (with a white cover so it’s easily visible), and uncovers itself automatically when I’m far enough away from home. No more faffing around with turning around the camera when you get home and forgetting to turn it back around when you leave.
Great item but a pity about changing!
This is my second one of these which go with the four pro version and the two pro 2 versions we have and they are great apart from the battery life on the Essentials as I have to change these every couple of weeks. We live at the end of a close so I expected a lot better!
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to install and run.
Absolute dream to install and works perfectly. Easy to access video recording (Cloud) via the website or app. Been using it for a couple of months and battery is still above 65%. Recharging it takes about 4hrs, no wiring required, a huge bonus. This knocks Hive security out of the water.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent produc
A really effective camera that was easy for me to set up in our garden. I like the fact that it’s wireless and can also that it be unscrewed easily from the bracket, so sometimes we move it to another place temporarily.
Wish it didn’t pick up every leaf moving in the wind, but I guess it’s just being cautious!
Also to note that I dropped it on the gravel while unscrewing to recharge the battery and there was no sign of damage at all.
AWESOME CAMERA 5*
Very impressed with this camera, so impressed I’ve got 3 set up now. Installation was easy and pairing with the wifi MAKE SURE you charge the device first – as I couldn’t connect it at first but in the manual it does say to charge it.
Great footage, can’t complain. Using it for outdoor bunny shed so I can keep an eye on predators.
Subscription is optional, I don’t use it cos I don’t need the footage to be recorded and to be kept on iCloud. Long as I get notifications when motion is detected thats all I want.
So yeah overal 5* and very pleased with all 3 :))
Arlo essential spotlight camera fail.
Researched most cameras before buying have one criticism lack of instructions found help on you tube had a few jiggles setting it up but got help from support line .
Bought with solar charger and later door bell very please with system and a great asset for security for my house . Would recommend one of the best on the market.
These were out of the box easy to install and we now have added additional cameras. They’re magnetic attached to the wall so just installing those in relevant places was easy.
We have now about 8 cameras but we started with the Pro2 cameras. The picture quality is brilliant and night vision perfect. We use them to support my mum living at home independently. We have been able to get her indoors when she has locked herself out, and have captured and difficulty she has got into. We live 5 minutes away so we are able to keep an eye on her.
All the cameras aren’t the same in terms of charging and spotlights etc but they all work extremely well and with very little fuss. The most valuable thing for us is reliability and this has been exceptional. The pictures are good night vision and in daytime and we recently bought one to go outside to watch the garden so she can watch the foxes!
There is two way communication which is great (although sometimes a bit confusing for my Mum!) but it’s been great to be able to call her and she’s responded.
Overall, we have saved around 120,000 in care home fees as a result. Having the cameras has meant that with carers I have been able to keep my mum in her home for the longest time possible. Unfortunately, the cameras are only able to do so much and we are moving her out next week but we have been extraordinarily grateful to be able to use this technology to provide her comfort and to be able to keep her where she wanted to be.
Very reassuring
I’ve used older hub based battery powered Arlo cameras for several years, but tried this instead when I wanted another. I am just using it for reassurance in a remote area and have not tried the motion sensor. The built in white light is useful, but not much better than normal IR for my use. The battery life so far has been “interesting”. The first charge was going OK, but I removed the WiFi hub for a couple of weeks and the battery went flat super fast. I’ve not tried it again, second charge is holding up quite well, but doubt it will be 6 months. Looks like wifi signal strength might be a factor? I don’t think any battery powered camera solution is going to be “ideal” but happy so far trading off expensive disposable batteries with instant swap out for slight inconvenience of taking an hour or so to recharge.
Easy to set up (no wires)
This is the 2nd set of cameras I have bought. They don’t use wiring and batteries don’t last long on older version. This version does not need a hub to connect to Phone/iPad or PC. Also built in batteries that you can charge with a cable. Also has a light that comes on like a spotlight but to save battery I turned it off (easy to do) and night vision is pretty good. Only difference I found is my old ones were magnetically mounted and these need to be on brackets (provided). I always found the old cameras a pest setting up a length of record time but these only record while a motion is there and a few seconds over lap. If you live in a rented property or you don’t like running wires, these are for you. Good value getting 3 cameras and paying for 2 here but watch out some offers sell 3 cameras normally. As said previously = no hub now all wifi. You also get a free 3 month trial where you get a month of recordings instead of 7 days. Although never had a problem with 7 days myself.
Good for the price
Got this camera to supplement 2 others we have indoors. This one is for outdoors.
The ‘charger’ is a short USB cable – better than the special adapter needed for the other cameras.
The wall bracket is rather flimsy, but seems to do the job.
The night vision is not that great – can barely see any detail.
The LED light is pretty feeble – barely lights up much area.
But the picture quality during the day is pretty good – and you can zoom in by pinching the screen.
I’ve connected it to the same hub as my other cameras are connected to (so that I can use the same app), so hope that I won’t need the paid for subscription when the 3 month trial ends.
It’s extremely easy to set up.
4.0 out of 5 stars Ok cameras
Battery doesn’t last that long and there is quite a delay with things happening to you being alerted. You can watch things happening live.. but then it Dosent record things at the same time. Ok for the price but think hard wired ones would have been bette
A good product well made and fully weather proof. Only point is that as we have an active space being monitored the battery is going down a lot faster than the stated 365 days. In fact if we are in I am switching off during the day and only use if we are out or at night time. Would recommend if you can get it at the sale price.
A good system which does what it says on the tin. Mine arrived with about 50% battery on them which was good to test.
Battery charging wasn’t a clear process as you don’t see it charging except on the app, until the LED comes on that is, showing fully charged.
The app is useful but you have to have a subscription. Reasonable enough as it’s not too expensive although don’t start your subscription until the free trial period ends as it will all be running at the same time.
The system is really easy to install and does take pretty much five minutes.
It is too soon to really give an in-depth review though as it has only been operational for a few weeks.
Easy to set up with a phenomenal battery. To those that said they could not set it up, make sure your phone or tablet is running on the 2.4 GHz part of your router, not 5Ghz. If need be just set up a guest network onto 2.4Ghz. and use that for set up as after you can control from 5Ghz.
The camera was found instantly has free three months of smart detections even though they do make things a little slower because it has to be processed by the server its not that bad but I’ve turned them off but the camera has excellent image quality, fantastic night vision with just the infrared, the spotlight is so bright I’ve had to turn it off because it will probably frighten the way the wildlife and disturb the neighbours. Well worth buying the XL for the extra battery life even though it’s bigger in length.
My only quibble is the mounting is really fragile and if you undo it too much it all falls apart which is easily done, the outdoor mount you can buy separately is a lot more robust. Also make sure you have a powerful charger preferably one that is Qualcomm quick charge 3.0 compatible as the battery takes a long time to charge otherwise.
Also a note on security your router really needs to have a setting called PMF because otherwise somebody can de-authorise your network and hack in via the camera, a lot of very modern routers especially AX (Wi-Fi 6) ones have that feature as it’s needed for the WiFi 6 standard.
Good camera, but fiddly to install
Should be straightforward to install, but we had to run the setup process many times, on several devices, before finally getting it added to our Netgear account. Once set up, though, it’s been fine – good image and audio quality, and motion detection seems very good. Having to dismount to charge with USB is a bit of a pain, but it would be the same with batteries. Overall, happy with this camera, but it could be easier to install!
Edit, 15 Oct 20. Now 4 stars, up from my 1 star review earlier.
By moving my camera a few feet my camera is now showing a stable 3 bar signal strength. After speaking to my builder, apparently there is metal studwork in the vicinity of where the camera was mounted and this was attributed to blocking some of the signal.
Battery life.
In just under three weeks my camera has dropped 20%. This was with on average one notification a day and me playing around with the settings, so overall not too bad battery life.
Old review,
Range is very poor. I’ve placed this camera on my conservatory so only 2 patio doors are between this camera and my top of the range router, about 6-8 meters away. I only manage one bar signal on the camera and when I draw my curtains I loose the camera all together, just keeps showing offline on the App. I really had high hopes for this camera as it’s battery operated so no drilling holes for power cables, just really disappointed with the claimed wireless range of the camera. Looks like it’s having to go back and I’ll be taking a look for another Camera.