A single camera at the front door leaves the back of the house unwatched, which is the usual argument for buying security cameras in pairs. The pair is cheaper than usual for part of Amazon’s customers: the two-camera Arlo Essential 2K kit goes from $129.99 to $65.55 on Amazon for Prime members, a 50% cut, as an early Prime Big Deal Days price. That works out to $32.78 per camera for the third generation of Arlo’s battery-powered model.
Two 2K Cameras With No Wires to Run
Installation is the easy part. Each camera runs on a rechargeable battery and connects over dual-band Wi-Fi, picking the stronger of the two signals, so there is no cable to pull through a wall and the camera can go wherever the mount fits: above the garage, under the porch roof, on a fence post facing the yard. Arlo rates the cameras as weather resistant and says setup takes minutes. The cost of that freedom is that the batteries have to be recharged, and the listing gives no figure for how long a charge lasts, which I’d have liked to see.
The picture is 2K with a 130-degree field of view, wide enough to cover a driveway or most of a small yard from one corner. A 12x zoom lets you look closer at a face or a license plate after the fact, and at night the camera can record in color with the help of a built-in spotlight. Each camera also has a siren that you can trigger from the app if you see someone who should not be there.
Alerts are where the subscription comes in, and it is worth reading this part carefully. The cameras can tell a person from a vehicle, a pet or a package, and send animated previews of the event to your phone, but those intelligent alerts belong to the Arlo Secure plan, along with 60 days of video history and a 24/7 emergency response service. One month is included. After that a paid plan is required for those features, while live streaming and basic motion alerts continue to work without one. I would decide whether I am willing to pay monthly before choosing Arlo over a brand that stores video locally.
Compatibility is broad for the price. The cameras work with Alexa, Apple Home and Google Home, and also with Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT, so a detected motion can switch on a light or send a notification through whichever system the house already uses. With an Echo Show, asking Alexa to show the front door camera puts the live feed on the screen.
Several versions share the same page, so the configuration matters: the Arlo Essential 2K (3rd Gen) two-camera kit is $65.55 instead of $129.99 on Amazon in White, in the standard battery version with the one-month Secure trial. It is an exclusive Prime price under the Early Prime Big Deal label, with free returns.