Arlo Go 2

In all honesty I can not express how terrible thee cameras are. I don’t know how there is no class claim against them. Take my advice and stay right away from this camera. It has made our life hell. From false notifications right through to no notifications and the random camera going in to limp mode. Each time it gone off line or to limp mode,… Read more

you have to grab the ladder climb up unscrew it delete it off the app reset it and install it again. The battery life is rubbish. The solar panel rubbish. You do not get no where the advertised time out of the battery. Also notification to not detect animals is selected yet we received 89 notifications of animals! Some were nothing or just an insect or it was an Animal, yet failed to detect a vehicle and that was selected as an action for it to do. I have 5 cameras of these and all are rubbish! Customer service and wards is amazing but it does not change the fact of the torment these cameras have created for us.

Needs a means of securing it – We are long term users of security cams from all manner of trailcams, including 4G, to Arlo and Ring WiFi models. We were chasing the silver bullet of a hybrid which could be deployed out in a paddock, but had better user interaction, incorporating such niceties as an interactive spotlight, colour night vision and two way comms. Things that most… Read more

if not all stand alone trailcams just can't manage. At a price point the average person could afford.

The Arlo Go 2 is it. At last!! But it's still got a little way to go.

This model uses the Arlo WiFi interactive app platform. It has been designed to run on either wifi or the LTE mobile phone network, and can be loaded with a Simcard and an SD card for manual recording of images. It will automatically try to link with WiFi as a priority - to save 4G data use, but will then default to 4G if no WiFi is detected. Additionally the user can manually disable either of the pathways. This aspect is useful because if WiFi is left active in an area where it's not available, the unit will waste power trying to search for one.

We tested ours first in the normal wifi environment for a few months and found that image quality, two way communication and features are pretty much as applies to standard Arlo WiFi cams ... which in our experience has always been perfectly adequate.

What we were really after though, was a half decent replacement for our network of trailcams, which are more expensive, but fall down in many areas compared to WiFi cams, particularly with terrible night shots.

After testing in the stand alone environment, operating solely in 4G, these are our findings: - There is zero security for the cam itself. It would be exceptionally easy for an intruder to simply unscrew and remove it. The temptation is to place it higher, but then you're looking downwards ... rather than "at". The units have inbuilt GPS tracking, so they can be tracked if stolen ... as long as the offender isn't so dumb as to not disable the cam! This is really frustrating for us, and the only reason we haven't bought another half dozen of them. - Other than a very short range of digital zooming by grabbing the image and pinching it wider, the cam itself has no zoom function, and needs to be placed very close to the activity zone to gather detailed info. This then makes it more vulnerable to theft - see above. - The unit is ostensibly only available in white, although some distributors list an optional black case. Again, making it very easy to spot, and perhaps remove. If ONLY somebody made a Camo type securable case for these .... - Despite us having an existing Arlo account, Arlo steadfastly refused to join this cam to the subscription once the free 3 month trial period expired. Despite the cam showing up and being fully usable in our existing Arlo interface. In fact their webpage claimed we didn't have a subscription despite us having used 3 existing Arlo cams for the past 6 years!! We had to pay for a separate subscription. - This is another oddity we can't fathom ... despite being usable over 4G, the cam has no apparent means to transmit an image, or even a notification to our mobile. It can ONLY send images/notifications to a device connected to the internet. Which makes it completely useless in an environment where we have no internet. Despite it sending these very images and notifications via 4G! So from this perspective it cannot replace our 4G trailcams however desperately we want it to! - The unit is very susceptible to distortion from even light dew and rain, and nobody seems to make an enclosure for it. At the very least we would have expected a hydrophobic lens exterior. - Activations and notifications occur very quickly, even over 4G. Much better than the trailcams, which can have a frustrating lag time. - We bought ours with accompanying proprietary solar panel, and its operation is a bit mysterious to us. It seems to activate to charge the batteries only when it feels like it. When it does it charges really well - better than expected - right up to 100%. But then it will either continue to trickle charge, or simply randomly go off, and not come on again until it feels like it - whether that be 30%, 40% or any arbitrary percentage for that matter. As I said - mysterious, and zero capability for user input/adjustment. I really wish we could understand this feature a little more clearly. - the supplied mounting base is not particularly durable. Already it's experiencing slippage of the camera downwards despite it being tightened as much as possible. - data usage seems reasonable. We bought a 6gb data card plan which was on special with our provider, and the unit is tracking well under usage for the 3 or 4 weeks we've been trialling it, with what we'd class as average use/activations. - The unit is susceptible to wind and will need to have its sensitivity adjusted downwards to avoid many unnecessary trigger events when the breeze stiffens up. This is easy to do via the interface, but with in-built tech capable of distinguishing between animal/human/vehicles and packages - really well - it seems truly dumb that it can't recognise shade moving on the ground as a result of branches swinging in wind!!

Other than that, the remaining features are as applicable to the Arlo wifi's ... Great colour images - with the unlit night vision being good too - better than the best quality we can get from our trailcams, ability to store recordings in the cloud, I think for a month (with subscription), good spotlight with ability to adjust brightness and switch on/off remotely ... but no means to adjust length of activation that we can find, reasonably clear audio/mic, ability to activate two way comms or a siren, and reasonable battery life.

We really want to get a few more, but we're hoping the several minor teething issues we've raised are addressed first ...

EDITED ... This cam failed a couple of months out of warranty. Began sending regular nonsensical motion alerts, wouldn't communicate, mount broke. Despite restarts and software updates it never came back again. The issue of randomly charging only when it felt like it from the solar charger never went away either, so it was arguably a dud from the start. Cannot recommend this model, despite it being very promising initially.

Dysfunctional camera and solar panel – Update: Camera stolen April 2023. GPS tracking in the camera does not work/is so inaccurate the police were unable to locate the camera from the GPS information provided. The Go2Pro is one of the only cameras not included in the replacement program by Arlo even though I was advised the camera would be replaced, Arlo then retracted that offer and… Read more

advised it would not be. The camera is retired even though it was released within the last 18 months and there was no anti-theft device sold for this particular camera which would have been handy. As I am unable to speak to anyone from Arlo Australia aside from representatives who read from a script, I am unable to discuss any of my concerns with management.

Purchased this combo in Aug 2022. Had trouble with it ever since. Small parts required replacement which took months and had an Australian tech expert intervene, then the part was replaced the next day. Now the solar panel does not charge the battery. The advertisement states that ‘you’ll never have to charge the battery again.’ Not only is this false, it is misleading. I am attempting to have the solar panel replaced as it only charges the battery to 50%. Have had the camera turned off for over a week with full sunny days and now the power is decreasing daily. I have provided ARLO with all documentation requested, yet they still refuse to acknowledge receipt of the documents sent and send repeat requests to update the case. Absolute waste of money. On a side note, the camera quality isn’t the best either. Purchased this to use remotely which I won’t be doing as there is no guarantee the battery will be operational via the solar panel charge. When attempting to resubmit the documents today, there’s an error message. Overall, waste of time and money as the first unit purchased had a dysfunctional battery which was replaced by the store I purchased it from. The saga continues but this product does not meet my expectations or the advertising promoting it.