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Here's what I see when I jump through the hoops:
I note the "RRP" listed on Spark's website appears to be roughly half of what the advertised price is at our big box stores. Eg Harvey Norman is selling the same 2 camera kit for $1199
Yesterday the links to 50% off were available (I used the search box to find them), today I can’t find any links to this promo, only the normal pricing.
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If you pop into the retail store that might be easiest - I did just that yesterday and ended up ordering everything I was after.
Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.
While the Arlo 4k video quality is pretty good, has a nice FOV and good colour night time recording.. the system itself is rubbish and I would not recommend it to anyone for a CCTV solution. The latency on the system is absolutely horrible. 2 way audio is unusable, if you even think about using it for live view for the front door you're wasting your time.. they person will leave before you get it loaded up and the 2 way audio is so delayed it's literally useless, notifications are also slow.
They also have to be connected to their proprietary wireless hub, meaning it has to be very strategically placed in your home, you cannot connect the cameras to your own wireless network.
There are lots of gotcha's with their subscription plan as well, you can't record locally in 4k (with your 4k cameras!!) unless you sub - a change the made recently for force people to the sub service, they don't do thumbnails for local recordings either, making browsing the library a tedious task and you do not get rich notification unless you're subbed. There is a lot of things they do to cripple the system to force people into their subscription service.
You can not access your cameras outside of your network unless you sub or do a port forward, or vpn..
If you are seriously considering them, I suggest you spend an hour looking through the arlo ultra forum and you will see the absolute hate their customers have for the product and the problems they are plagued with. I was one of them and wouldn't recommend them to anyone, for any sort of solution, ever.
Eufy or Reolink Argus are far superior products if you have to go wireless.
dt:
While the Arlo 4k video quality is pretty good, has a nice FOV and good colour night time recording.. the system itself is rubbish and I would not recommend it to anyone for a CCTV solution. The latency on the system is absolutely horrible. 2 way audio is unusable, if you even think about using it for live view for the front door you're wasting your time.. they person will leave before you get it loaded up and the 2 way audio is so delayed it's literally useless, notifications are also slow.
They also have to be connected to their proprietary wireless hub, meaning it has to be very strategically placed in your home, you cannot connect the cameras to your own wireless network.
There are lots of gotcha's with their subscription plan as well, you can't record locally in 4k (with your 4k cameras!!) unless you sub - a change the made recently for force people to the sub service, they don't do thumbnails for local recordings either, making browsing the library a tedious task and you do not get rich notification unless you're subbed. There is a lot of things they do to cripple the system to force people into their subscription service.
You can not access your cameras outside of your network unless you sub or do a port forward, or vpn..
If you are seriously considering them, I suggest you spend an hour looking through the arlo ultra forum and you will see the absolute hate their customers have for the product and the problems they are plagued with. I was one of them and wouldn't recommend them to anyone, for any sort of solution, ever.
Eufy or Reolink Argus are far superior products if you have to go wireless.
Goes for any cameras that is wireless. Easy disturbed wireless signal and they miss the action because they didn't start recording.
Just because they're in a promotion doesn't mean they're good.
MarkM536:
Just because they're in a promotion doesn't mean they're good.
personally I think half price is even to much to pay for them. I wouldn't even use it if I was given another system for free.
I only have personal experience with the 4k versions, im not sure how the 1080 / 2k versions go but their sub forums on arlo community indicates they're just as frustrating.
dt:
MarkM536:
Just because they're in a promotion doesn't mean they're good.
personally I think half price is even to much to pay for them. I wouldn't even use it if I was given another system for free.
I only have personal experience with the 4k versions, im not sure how the 1080 / 2k versions go but their sub forums on arlo community indicates they're just as frustrating.
Absolutely agree.
Consumer gear is low quality rubbish sold at high prices to make them seem 'decent'. Wireless has no place in security equipment, adds to many variables causing failure.
I see it all the time on cctv forums and groups, consumers think it's the best thing then it bites them in the bum! It's something those that know better have to live with.
Good news is that it teaches consumers the price for rubbish and then that keeps cctv installers in business 😀.
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