Seems like I’ve stumbled upon the reason much of Arlo’s line of cameras and doorbells are 40-60% off right now… as the smart home video pioneer has a number of new products in the hopper. And, two of several unreleased products I’ve identified are displayed above: The Arlo Essential 2 Video Doorbell and Arlo Essential 2 Wire-free indoor/outdoor camera. The Arlo Essential Indoor camera will also increment to v2, but the appearances are so similar it’s not even worth running the render.
As to why companies refresh, it’s often to improve technology to keep competitive pace in the consumer marketplace. But it’s also an opportunity to reduce hardware manufacturing expenditures. I suspect it’s more of the latter in this case and, as such, wouldn’t hesitate recommending currently available models (at deep discount).
Since I can’t speak to potential technological changes, I focus on Arlo’s visuals. I’m generally bullish on competitor ecobee’s expanding smart home, yet don’t appreciate the front & center branding on their upcoming video doorbell. By comparison, Arlo strikes a nice balance above advertising Essential 2 Doorbell in a more subtle, stylish way by moving to a debossed, side-positioned logo (vs the current model’s approach). To this point, the Arlo Essential indoor/outdoor cameras have featured substandard mounts compared to earlier models and the Ultra line. I just don’t like visible screws on my home any more than the previously mentioned loud branding. And I’m hopeful the Arlo Essential 2 gets paired with a more visually pleasing and practical magnetic mount.
I don’t expect we’d see 2k video from the ‘Essential’ line vs the ‘Pro’ and ‘Ultra’ tiers, but who knows. :)
The specific doorbell pictured above is a hardwired model. I assume they’re also working on a battery-powered variant, but the only one I’ve “seen” like that is the optionally ‘touchless’ doorbell being worked during peak COVID.
It’s mildly interesting to see these on big sales, but I avoid cloud and subscription-required solutions like the plague, so it’s a no.
I would love to see Arlo go back to the magnetic mount. I have 3 original Arlo Pro cameras with the magnetic mount, and two Arlo Essential. The Essentials have a better and wider picture, but I HATE having to screw the cameras into the mounts. It relegates them to the lower mounting points, as I am of an age that I don’t want to get on ladders. I have the pole with the mesh bag on the end that works perfectly to take down and put up the Pros on their magnetic mounts.