[Security Cameras] Nest Cam Outdoor Vs. Arlo Pro?

[DaveTN]

I’d like to hear comments from users of these two systems.

I need two HD Outdoor cameras (for now) with the ability to add others. It appears both systems can do that.

I want motion detection, the ability to talk/hear, and the ability to monitor on my android phone remotely.

It appears the Nest can do all that, but for two cameras the subscription would cost $150 a year for 10 days of storage. That seems awful high to me. The Arlo Pro appears to be able to do (some of) that free for 7 days.

It’s not clear to me if the Arlo Pro does video recording, live video on demand or the ability to talk/hear?

The night video of the Nest appears to be hands down the best, but I couldn’t find a lot of samples of the Arlo Pro.

The Nest appears to be able to be hard wired to AC power, while it appears the Arlo Pro is only available with rechargeable batteries?

Right now I’m leaning towards the Nest (lower cost for cameras) but the wife doesn’t like that $150 a year plus $50 more a year for each camera I add.

 

Here are the two I'm looking at:

https://nest.com/camera/meet-nest-cam-outdoor/

http://arlo.com/en-us/products/arlo-pro/default.aspx?cid=us-arlo-srch

 

Edited June 17, 2017 by DaveTN

[Sidecarist]

We have a non pro arlo system used to monitor our driveway. The batteries last 6 months or more (4 CR123). Easy to change with my setup, but if the cameras were up high it could be a pain.

Night vision is OK out to 30ft or so. Not as good as a mid priced game camera. 

Motion detection is a bit slow for catching vehicles. Sometimes we only get the back half of car from the side.

It's easy to monitor from your phone, but only one person can do it at a time.

Im happy enough that I'm thinking of expanding it to 4 cameras.

I don't know what the pro version offers extra, maybe the sound recording...

If you are intersted PM me with email and I'll send you a short night video of a deer on the driveway, about a 500k mp4 file.

[Sidecarist]

Here is a link to download the video of the deer.

Downloading Lower_06_16_2017 2_00_03AM_1497592803920.mp4

Edited June 17, 2017 by Sidecarist

[leroy]

Dave....

Am about to install some ARLO stuff at my house to watch the doors... As near as i can tell, the ARLO basic subscription will "on demand" the camera... It will not do audio... Which i dont care about anyway.. The ARLO is 720 p day and nite... They are a helluva lot easier to put up than the hard wired ones and im old and gimped... The ARLO was an easy choice for me... 

leroy

[DaveTN]

38 minutes ago, Sidecarist said:

Here is a link to download the video of the deer.

Downloading Lower_06_16_2017 2_00_03AM_1497592803920.mp4

Thanks, but I get an error from TGO that says "

"Sorry, there is a problem

The page you are trying to access is not available for your account.

Error code: 2C171/1"

[Fourtyfive]

I have three indoor Dropcams (Nest). Had them for about 4 years, love them.

[Dustbuster]

Have 2 nest cameras that someone gave me that work great. Especially when the camera can decipher between something moving and spotting a person... the annual fee isn't bad compared to installing a 4 or 8 channel system which can be well over 2 grand upfront. The nest gear is user friendly and easy to setup. Good value for what u get based on what we have worked with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sidecarist]

Well.... pm me your email and I'll send you the mp4 file it's small. 

[seez52]

I have an indoor arlo pro that I use to monitor a remote location. It runs on AC. Has audio to listen, not sure if I can talk back through it. You can watch live, or set up a schedule to monitor and it will record 7 days with no additional monthly charges. It's pretty wide angle so outside it probably wouldn't work that well, it's not rated for outside I don't think. It works great for my purposes and it was super easy to set up. 

I'm only at the remote location about once a week and I wish it had  a feature that sent a notification if for some reason it disconnects from the network.   

[TSprint1]

We use several Arlo cameras both inside and outside and have been happy with them except for the battery life when it is cold (30 deg or less).     Anyone else

had this issue?. Arlo customer support hasn't been much help.

[Sidecarist]

I've had the best luck with duracell and panasonic brand batteries. Energizer and some other brands seem to be of lower quality. I'm swapping batteries at about 6 months. I date the batteries with a sharpie when I install them

[wewoapsiak]

I'm sure you've done some research, but here is an alternative.

• Cheap dell desktop from dell outlet.
• Blue Iris recording software, phone app is extra purchase though
• POE network switch
• CAT5 ran to turret cameras such as LTS or Dahua from Wrightwood Surveillance

I have 3/4 of the outside of my house wired this way with 5 cameras, and I have no complaints.  Higher initial cost, but I don't pay an annual cost.  ipcamtalk has a lot of info, some guys sniff their own self-important flatulence, but good info.  https://ipvm.com/calculator is also a good source for "pretesting" cameras.

 

[seez52]

I've been wanting to put a camera down my driveway but so far it's going to require running some wire. And because it's about 1000' down the hill that's a lot of wire.

[JeffL]

3 hours ago, seez52 said:

I've been wanting to put a camera down my driveway but so far it's going to require running some wire. And because it's about 1000' down the hill that's a lot of wire.

Ethernet is only good for 100 meters. You'd have to get some repeaters in there for a network camera. I'm looking at getting a Ubiquiti PoE camera or two for the house. They come with PoE injectors, but I'd get a PoE switch in place of that. I can install the software on my desktop and have it back up video to Google Drive. They also have a 500GB standalone DVR if you'd rather do that.

[seez52]

7 hours ago, JeffL said:

Ethernet is only good for 100 meters. You'd have to get some repeaters in there for a network camera. I'm looking at getting a Ubiquiti PoE camera or two for the house. They come with PoE injectors, but I'd get a PoE switch in place of that. I can install the software on my desktop and have it back up video to Google Drive. They also have a 500GB standalone DVR if you'd rather do that.

the problem is I need a decent camera, one that can see about 1200 ft. Most of these IP cameras are short range wide angle affairs. So I can do wireless with Ubiquiti unit, but then I need some power at the remote location. I was on the IPcam forum and they only way was to run AC over the 1000', and of course at that distance even with a small load the wire was going to need to be pretty heavy, which ran the price up. It's too bad Tesla didn't get that wireless power thing figured out.

[DL126]

7 hours ago, seez52 said:

the problem is I need a decent camera, one that can see about 1200 ft. Most of these IP cameras are short range wide angle affairs. So I can do wireless with Ubiquiti unit, but then I need some power at the remote location. I was on the IPcam forum and they only way was to run AC over the 1000', and of course at that distance even with a small load the wire was going to need to be pretty heavy, which ran the price up. It's too bad Tesla didn't get that wireless power thing figured out.

I once ran a remote wireless camera off of a 12VDC marine battery with solar panels tending the battery. It was a cheap, crappy camera but it worked fine.

[Ronald_55]

7 hours ago, seez52 said:

the problem is I need a decent camera, one that can see about 1200 ft. Most of these IP cameras are short range wide angle affairs. So I can do wireless with Ubiquiti unit, but then I need some power at the remote location. I was on the IPcam forum and they only way was to run AC over the 1000', and of course at that distance even with a small load the wire was going to need to be pretty heavy, which ran the price up. It's too bad Tesla didn't get that wireless power thing figured out.

Any chance the power poles to your house run close to your driveway? If so you might investigate a "temp" power meter 1/2 way down or so. Might end up being cheaper than all the power wire. Then you could put a POE injector in the middle to boost the power and data signal if you did an IP cam. You would just need some cat5 or cat6 if you needed wired connection. Or a wireless repeater if you did wifi.

You could use a nema weatherproof enclosure to house your stuff at that pole. This one is about $50.

 

[seez52]

I really hadn't considered a secondary meter, it might be doable. There's a transformer about 2/3 of the way down that it could come off of. I don't know how much middle TN electric charges for service like that?

a solar set up would work. I never did check into the cost of that with a battery and associated electronics.

 

6 hours ago, Ronald_55 said:

Any chance the power poles to your house run close to your driveway? If so you might investigate a "temp" power meter 1/2 way down or so. Might end up being cheaper than all the power wire. Then you could put a POE injector in the middle to boost the power and data signal if you did an IP cam. You would just need some cat5 or cat6 if you needed wired connection. Or a wireless repeater if you did wifi.

You could use a nema weatherproof enclosure to house your stuff at that pole. This one is about $50.