Review on Arlo Audio Doorbell Wire Free Weather Resistant by Balthazar Cooper

I'm a big fan of Arlo cameras (Arlo Pro in particular) and have been patiently waiting for an Arlo doorbell solution to pair with my installed cameras very excited when Arlo's doorbell rang recently. INITIAL VISION: Overall good concept but very poor execution of the product to be sold. I have to admit that I'm very disappointed with this first iteration of Arlo, I think they could have done much better since it's not a complex technology. Based on my initial observations and interactions, I would guess that the product was rushed to market just in time for the holidays (and growing competition from Ring and Nest) without being properly tested and debugged. I wouldn't necessarily say it has a large number of critical flaws unless you intend to use it as a doorbell with existing chime wiring and chime. And it definitely has a large number of serious flaws in relation to a number of its key functions. COST: I was a little put off by the price at first given the very limited technology used in this device, but decided to give it a try. anyway, since I've already integrated Arlo cameras into my home automation ecosystem. If I didn't already have Alro cameras I would look elsewhere. EVALUATION: On a scale of 0 to 5, I'll give it a 3. INSTALLATION: Installation is really easy and straightforward (anybody who can use a screwdriver can do it). RATING: If I give a rating of 0 to 5, I'll give it a 5. DEVICE RECOGNITION: Device recognition was an issue in my case until I factory reset the device. This fixed the detection issue and I was on my way. Now, to reset your Arlo Doorbell, you need to press and hold the small SYNC button (located between the two batteries) inside the device for 10 seconds. Batteries must be inserted, otherwise it will not work. RATING OF FUNCTIONALITY: With a score from 0 to 5 I give this function a 4. REUSE EXISTING BELL AND WIRING: You don't need existing doorbell wiring to power your Arlo doorbell, but you do need wiring if you want to reuse your existing doorbell. I have an existing, perfectly working doorbell, and I don't feel the need to shell out the extra $50 for the Arlo Chime since the Arlo doorbell needs to interface with existing mechanical and digital doorbells. Unfortunately, I've found that this isn't the case in my case, and the troubleshooting guide was pretty useless in my opinion. The online support documentation for this was a joke in my opinion, so I decided not to waste any more time and move on to the device features, Interface with existing cameras and the ecosystem and come back to it later as it wasn't a full deal breaker. FEATURE SCORING: On a scale of 0 to 5, I'll give this feature a 0. MOTION DETECTION: Motion alerts work just like Arlo cameras, so no complaints. In my case, I activated the camera to start recording video and receive a phone notification of motion alarm. This also works well in silent mode. If you want, you can set everything up so that when motion is detected, the base station alarm is triggered. You can also enable an external alarm, but that's not part of the standard Arlo ecosystem (at least not yet). EVALUATION OF FUNCTIONALITY: From a score of 0 to 5, I'm giving this feature a 5. INDICATORS AND DOORBELL VOLUME: Even with the speaker volume set to 100% (found in Device Settings -> Sound Settings), the volume is poor. When you are at the door, you can hardly hear any announcements and voice communication from the phone app. FEATURE VALUE: On a scale of 0 to 5, I'll give this feature a 1. SOUND QUALITY: The sound quality from the cameras is not very good, but the sound quality with the Alro doorbell ranges from dismal to terrible. The marketing videos are fake and misleading in my opinion. Don't expect what is shown in marketing videos to reflect the reality of the product. But wait, it gets worse. The sound quality is terrible and I often heard annoying beeps and feedback echoes in the doorbell. FUNCTIONALITY RATING: On a scale of 0 to 5, I'll give this feature a 1. PHONE POWER CONSUMPTION: Using an iPhone 6, I found that the Arlo doorbell and interacting with the Arlo iPhone app had a significant impact on the battery life of the had iPhones. Within an hour and 30 minutes of experimenting and debugging, including installing a doorbell, my phone's battery level went from 88% to 38%. While it's not a deal breaker, I believe the phone's power requirements are significant. This is a higher leak rate than watching videos from the same period. I am very interested in who is to blame. EVALUATION OF FUNCTIONALITY: On a score of 0 to 5 I'm giving this feature a 3. POWER CONSUMPTION PER DOORBELL: I found that the power consumption of the new batteries in the Arlo doorbell is a little more than I expected after installation, and about an hour and a half 30 minutes of debugging and experimentation. Battery level increased from 98% to 91%. Nowhere is it as strong as on the phone, but statistically significant. FEATURE RATING: On a scale of 0 to 5, I'll give this feature a 4. GENERAL INFO: Based on the characteristics of the Arlo doorbell and my observations, I have to say that I'm terribly disappointed. I'm considering returning the doorbell due to poor performance when interacting with my existing doorbell volume and audio quality. Overall I am very disappointed and feel like I wasted my time with this product. I actually lost the overall features and functionality of the Arlo doorbell compared to what I already had with my existing Arlo electric doorbell and camera.