Arlo or Nest ?

[Deschodt]

I'm looking at replacing my outdoor D-link cameras, they crap out too often, need rebooting too much, and night vision just went away on both withing 2 weeks of one another ;-)

I'm narrowing it down to Arlo and Nest for simplicity and integration with apps and alexa.

Arlo pro 2 is now rechargeable and zero wires. Otherwise I would not consider them.

Nest - well I liked their thermostat and their support and by all accounts the simplest setup. The catch there is they stupidly designed their camera with a fixed wire that has a usb plug at the end so you need to snip the wire and void your warranty unless you can drill a 1" USB sized hole in your wall (and I have a spot where it goes thru 2 walls and I cannot go fishing for a USB that big)

So right now leaning Arlo for easy install but preferring Nest on price and software.
Actual opinions of owners or people who researched this or have bad experiences with one or the other is welcome !

[Gogar]

enjoy!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nest-camera-hacked-hacker-spoke-to-baby-hurled-obscenities-at-couple-using-nest-camera-dad-says/

[chapo]

Ring?

[PD41]

I like my Ring. Got the doorbell and added the floodlight cam over the garage looking at the driveway. Cost $30 a year but then goes up to $100 for 2 or more cameras. Got a new router for my FIOS from Frontier my provider and the live view is real fast now. Night vision is excellent.

[craigster59]

I have Arlos around the house and a Ring floodlight/cam over the garage. I prefer the Ring. The Arlos send notifications all the time when activated. People walking or cars driving by. They don't record when notifications aren't activated. I think if you sign up for monthly service you get better options.

[Deschodt]

I'm hearing from colleagues that the non wired ones (battery - rechargeable) drain fast and have a lag between the detection and sending you the info, so that wired is preferable.. opinion ?
I'm thinking of splicing the Nest/Ring one - Arlo is out if you go wired. I just can't drill giant holes in those locations...

[recycled sixtie]

I have the Blink camera system indoors and out. The blink units are not hard wired and use AA batteries. I have found that Energizer AA lithium batteries last much longer than regular AA batteries. These are not rechargeable but surprisingly enough they last months including the outdoor ones which are presently experiencing -29F.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

I'm hearing from colleagues that the non wired ones (battery - rechargeable) drain fast and have a lag between the detection and sending you the info, so that wired is preferable.. opinion ?
I'm thinking of splicing the Nest/Ring one - Arlo is out if you go wired. I just can't drill giant holes in those locations...

Non wired ones have some lag like the Blink has a five second delay to get the info.
The Blink weighs a few ounces and a small screw is all I used to attach the ones outdoors.

[darrin]

agree with Ring recommendation, running 2x floodlight cameras out back and a doorbell up front -- pay $90 for the 3 (3x $30), believe the $100 subscription level covers unlimited units (and alarm monitoring). Ring also has some new solar powered options available, with the remote located solar panel keeping the rechargeable battery topped off -- Ring software does a good job (for us) at defining both borders (areas where motion will and will not trigger recording/lighting) and trigger materiality (i.e. we have it set so that squirrels/birds don't trigger a recording, but our 50lb dog does)

[stevej37]

Nest Cams are Hi-Def.
Makes a big difference when viewing.

[darrin]

not trying to be too big of a ring fanboy, but was curious of their resolution and checked -- ring cams and doorbell are 1080p, so hi def too

[wildthing]

I have Arlo. Haven't tried Ring. Would I trust Amazon with everything? Maybe... but not yet.

Disclaimer: I own shares of AMZN but not NTGR.

[Racerbvd]

Another one for Ring, installed a doorbell after Thanksgiving, no problems and happy with the video.

[cstreit]

I'd look for a system that works on the standard protocol rather than relying on proprietary (hence way overpriced) components. Cant recall at the moment, the systems that do this, but seems like many of these systems are mostly marketing instead of unique tech.

[Deschodt]

I ended up with Nest based on negative recommendations from colleagues about battery operated ones in general and the tradeoffs on speed/wake up time...

The caveat is the design on the wired Ring and Nest is silly, with non detachable USB cable that needs to go through a wall, so you have to cut the cable unless you want a giant hole, especially if you are fishing/feeding the cable through several obstacles. The nest HD looks crisp as hell though and I picked them on past experience and res, they tend to have quality products..

I ended up cutting the cable and soldering the ends back together. Harder that I anticipated, there are 2 power wires, as you'd expect, but also in the middle a shielded sleeve containing 2 tiny wires presumably video and sound (?), like a few strands of hair each. You have to peel that shielding off, strip the insulation (hard to do without breaking the tiny wire), and it makes for very precise soldering of tiny wires sitting too close together, followed by annoying rewrapping on the 4 wires (I did not have shrink tubing this small). But in the end, it worked, so it's fine.

The nest software is truly super simple to setup and configure for detection. The magnetic mount is clever but in some ways limit the angles you can do, so you must pick the mounting spot more carefully than you would with a traditional articulated mount. Night vision is head and shoulders better than my old D-link (when it worked ;-) I'm sure Ring is great too, just letting you know Nest is nice and doable, and the picture quality is phenomenal.