The Arlo Essential has just been announced, with two rather surprising design decisions.
For the first time in the their history, going way back to the innovative camera line launching as Vue over ten years ago, the company is doing away its iconic and infinitely practical magnetic mounting. A threaded mount may provide some benefits, but beauty and simplicity aren’t among them.
Also, in a first for an Arlo battery-powered, outdoor camera, the Essential communicates over WiFi directly to your existing router. As in: no dedicated hub or bridge in the mix. I assume the decision is expected to make the Arlo Essential more accessible, easier to understand. I would hope it helps overcome Arlo’s biggest ding over the years, in the time required to bring up live video.
The $130 Arlo Essential is a direct competitor to the similarly endowed $100 Ring Stickup Cam, but includes an LED spotlight (perhaps of minimal value, tbd) and siren. Also waiting in the wings is the Wyze outdoor camera, that’s expected to clock in under $100 on 6/23. Arlo Essential pre-orders begin now with general availability slated for July 13th.
Of all the technology in my home, the Gen 1 Arlo’s are easily the most annoying and overpriced gadgets I own. A steady diet of CR123’s and 30 seconds to show video make me want to hurl them into the trash. I live in a very windy city, and the constant false alarms make them useless.
In intrigued by this new line, but I’ll let Dave be the guinea pig.
100% agree with Frank Furter. I’m in the same boat and want to chuck them most days. Mine went offline Wednesday (no power outage) and when I got it to come back on Thurs all cameras were drained to 3% battery life when they had been at 85% or higher. The slow lag time to start recording & playback is maddening. I miss the most important videos because the camera misses the “intruder” and doesn’t start recording again even if there is movement. All the reviews say go Arlo but their support sucks & the experience with these first gen cameras has turned me off Arlo for life.
I ended up migrating from Arlo to Ring two years back. There’s a lot I really like about Arlo, but the speed to get live view wasn’t one of them. Their video doorbell does interest me, given a better view of packages, but not interested in tearing everything up to try.