Netgear’s presence into the home and business security space began with the Arlo Wire-Free camera launched in 2015.
Now Netgear has returned with the Arlo Q, a 1080p HD camera boasting with a 130-degree field of view, 2-way audio, cloud recording, instant email alerts and a quick setup – making the user experience a simple one.
What’s Included
Vice President and Managing Director for NETGEAR A/NZ, Brad Little explains that the “Arlo Q adds on to their existing Arlo wire-free cameras”.
The Arlo Q has a 1080p HD resolution, night vision – 850nm up to 25 feet, imaging sensor, full colour, CMOS, 8 x digital zoom, speaker and microphone.
Connectivity with Smart Devices
The Arlo Q app is available to download from the Google Play Store and iOS App Store. Little explains that, “the app is really simple to set up, it’s easy to use and it’s extremely intuitive.”
Maximum Recording Time for the Arlo Q
The Arlo Q has 7 days of cloud recording when it detects motion. There are upgrade plans available that allow continuous recording.
“If someone has a small business or if there is something that they want to record 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, we offer a 14 or a 30-day plan which stores all the content in a cloud, which is really to access from a phone, tablet or a browser,” says little.
Audio Quality
Little discusses that the Arlo Q’s two-way audio works great.“The camera can trigger alerts based on noise events.”
“The key benefit of this is that the Arlo Q will send a direct email alert by capturing noise frequencies such as a window breaking, and this is certainly an advancement in security camera technology,” Little said.
Bandwidth Usage
The maximum bandwidth usage when streaming on 1080p is 1500 kbps. Little says that, “it’s very easy to scale the video up or down based on bandwidth and the strength of your internet.”
Motion Detection Feature
The motion detection feature on the Arlo Q is a step up from the first generation Arlo cameras.
“We can now power the camera 24/7 by AC power meaning that the infrared is more effective and we now have a wider field of view,” Little said.
Wireless Frequencies
Arlo Q cameras use 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
User Experience
The Arlo Q’s features all worked as advertised. The setup was a seamless process and in under 10 minutes I had downloaded the Arlo app and setup the camera. The live streaming in day and night mode had excellent video quality, and the noise alerts were consistently accurate.
An ongoing issue with previous IP cameras has been false alerts caused by inaccurate motion sensors. The Arlo Q solves this problem as it offers the solution of ‘Activity Zones’, a feature that allows you to set your own sound and motion detection areas. The benefit of this is that it significantly reduces any false alarms, so even if your dog or cat is walking past there won’t be a trigger.
The second feature of the Arlo Q is ‘Modes’, which allows the user to set a number of rules that communicate with your camera. The three default Modes are armed, disarmed, and schedule. Both armed and disarmed mode allow you to turn the sound and motion detection either on or off. Whilst schedule allows you to literally schedule the feature for your desired times or days.
The Arlo Q is available to purchase now for $349.00 from some of Australia’s major electronic retailers such as Harvey Norman, JB-Hi-Fi and Domayne.
The Arlo camera catches a “Kangaroo Mob” in the act.
Check out the Arlo Youtube channel for more videos like this one. Arlo users upload footage captured by their Arlos on a daily basis.
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