Arlo Ultra 2 Customer Review: A Frustrating Security Experience

Stay away from Arlo for your sanity. It's a waste of money, a lot of it. I wanted them to work, but they are a terrible product and company. I have 2x 4k cameras + doorbell. Like many others, in direct line with the base station. I know what I am doing around wireless networks, so this is not due to a lack of tech savviness. I have suffered from the following issues: - Delays in the notifications. When it decides to detect something and notify you, it'll take you about 30-45 seconds to load the feed. By the time you load it, whatever was happening has already happened – rendering these cameras and their security plans completely pointless. - Their image quality isn't good. I fail to understand why so many websites talk about their image quality. It's subpar, to say the least, even in the 4k cameras. And when you check the recordings, sure, it's 4k resolution, but that doesn't mean the camera's sensors are any good. The automatic framing is terrible, no matter how much they spend on marketing. - If you try to solve any problem with Arlo's customer support, good luck to you. Their support system is beyond laughable, their CS reps barely speak English, and they tell you to reset all your devices to factory settings and change your wireless channel. Even after doing that and not going anywhere, they'll insist you do that before they can 'escalate.' They know one thing and one thing only. - If you enable night mode and any motion triggers recording, it'll freeze for a few seconds before continuing the recording. So if somebody trespasses on your property and walks in front of the camera, the recording will freeze right when you need it the most. You will have the choppiest video when you check the feed and the recording. I'd think twice if you rely on these cameras for security; they will not keep you or your loved ones safe. And law enforcement can't do anything with a poorly rendered video. - 90% of the time, it won't detect anything that moves across the camera (from left to right, or vice versa). It only sees things coming toward the camera—quite a problem for a security camera that charges for providing you with 'live' notifications. - I have multiple HomeKit products and integrations that work flawlessly. The only products I've ever gotten trouble from are Arlo's. You can't see the camera stream from the Home app in a reasonable amount of time, and that's if they actually load. - Many of their recordings are pixelated, green, or just invisible. It doesn't matter which camera it is; they all suffer from that at some point. (see attachments) - Their doorbell is the most infuriating of them all. What's the purpose of a smart doorbell? When you're not home and somebody rings, you can see and talk to them, right? Well, not with Arlo. You'll spend a solid 20 seconds looking at a spinning wheel, and by the time you're able to load the call, it will have timed out, so you can't pick it up. - Using Arlo's doorbell as a motion sensor only works if the 'Away' setting is enabled on their app. If you create automations to turn lights on through Homekit, you'll have to deal with endless, pointless notifications. And it doesn't always work. I know many people look at Arlo as a great way to manage their home security. Please refrain from doing that; you'll end up regretting it. Look elsewhere for other products. Hopefully, HomeKit gets supported by much better companies.