▷Arlo Ultra 4k, Chime and Doorbell review: protect your home in HD 🥇

We have tried for you Arlo Ultra 4K, in this review the latest video surveillance system from the company that was once part of the behemoth Netgear. The quality of the product appears to be quite high, but it all comes at a cost: will it be worth it?

Arlo Ultra 4k review: what is it all about?

Prudence is never too much in the context of safety. Leaving our homes or our workplace under surveillance allows us to enjoy a dinner out or a vacation more lightly. Arlo has decided to focus on this aspect, giving us a high definition monitoring system with an intelligence artificial integrated which allows us to perfectly distinguish any object / individual / animal that can enter its field of view. Through the Arlo Ultra 4K Kit we receive an annual subscription for free Arlo Smart Premier (worth € 89), which uses powerful AI and computer vision technology to provide you with personalized and accurate notifications about what is happening in your home, indicating, for example, the detection of people, animals, vehicles or packages. All this can be managed via a convenient and accurate app on our smartphones.

Arlo Ultra 4k review: the packaging

Let's start by discovering the contents of the kit. Inside the package we find: the camera Ultra 4K, the base Smarthub to which all satellite cameras or other compatible Arlo products are connected, 1 rechargeable battery, 1 adapter, 1 magnetic charging cable, 1 Ethernet cable for connecting the Hub to the modem, the wall support kit, 1 set of screws for wall mounting, the instruction manual and a sticker that warns outsiders of the presence of a video surveillance system.

Design and Features

Plastic Bianca for the central body e plastic black polished on the front, where the lens resides. The camera body is resistant to water, wind and dust, it can easily be placed in an outdoor environment. It is equipped with a double led spotlight of 6500K, very powerful, which manages to illuminate the scene to the point of providing us with images HD in color even in total darkness.

Le dimensions they are 8,9 x 5,2 x 7,8 cm and 331 grams in weight, slightly higher than previous models. Always on the front we find two noise-canceling microphones, located on the sides of the lens, and two motion detection sensors. In previous models we found only a microphone and a sensor.

Inside we find the battery, removable, which promises a duration from 3 to 6 months with medium-low use (eg by deactivating the continuous detection of movements), rechargeable thanks to the magnetic cable. The camera is adjustable thanks to the magnetic support but fixed, it does not need to rotate thanks to its very wide field of view (180 °).

The design of the smartHub has improved, having in fact been reduced in size. On the back we find the Ethernet port, the connector for the power supply and a slot for microSD memory cards (class 10, UHS1, V10). The card can be used to locally store video recorded by the Arlo Ultra. Finally, the base is equipped with an 80 decibel siren, which can be used as an alarm.

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L’Ultra Setup

Installing Arlo Ultra is very simple: let's start by connecting the SmartHub to our modem via an eterneth cable. Then we install the dedicated Arlo app, and from there we start adding and having the various devices recognized, starting right from the Hub which will be the center of our ecosystem.

The app is very intuitive and responsive, it guides you step by step without causing frustration.

What makes the difference: 4K

The big news that characterizes Ultra is the possibility of record video In virtue 4K with some minor limitations.

The SmartHub's microSD card can save 4K videos, but to view them you need to remove the card from the hub and watch them on a computer or other device with a micro-SD card reader (Arlo plans to implement remote viewing of the microSD card within end of the year, probably at an additional cost).

If you want to save 4K videos to the cloud, the only alternative is unfortunately spend € 1,99 per month, in addition to the base price of the subscription to Arlo services (free for the first year). Without this sum, the videos will still be stored in the cloud, but the resolution will drop to 1080p, making the purchase of a 4K version a little less meaningful.

With daylight, the quality of the videos is really impressive: excellent exposure, accurate colors and lots of details even in the shadows. Having also tested it in an external environment, I can affirm that the quality remains the same even in the presence of clouds and until dusk.

Night videos recorded with the 6500K spotlight active obviously do not offer the same quality. However, we obtain noteworthy results: in fact, we are able to distinguish details and even writings in the areas illuminated directly by the light beam.

When the spotlight is off, they are activated 850nm infrared LEDs. The quality perceived by smartphones is acceptable, we do not find excessive noise and the faces are easily identifiable.

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AI: the Track and Zoom system

4K recording comes in handy when we want to zoom in on a certain area of the movie. Indeed the 180 ° field of view it's enough large and without deformations Typical the fisheye, so with the classic "pinch to zoom" command on smartphone we can get an instant enlargement without losing quality. Fundamental if, for example, we need it to view the license plate of a car in the distance, or the identification card of an employee at work.

Zooming is also automated by Arlo with Track and Zoom mode. By detecting movements in the field of view, it makes it the center of the frame by zooming in on it. A small flaw that I found, however, is the "slowness of reflections". By the time it takes Arlo to move the frame and zoom, the subject will most likely have already moved to a new position, defeating the effort of our AI. We hope that in a future software release they will be able to make everything more responsive.

Arlo Ultra 4k review: with Chime and Doorbel it's complete

Not just a surveillance camera, Arlo also allowed us to try two very special accessories: Arlo Doorbell e Arlo Chime, respectively a smart doorbell and its accessory which acts as a mini speaker.

Between the two accessories, the only "autonomous" is Doorbell. Chime alone makes no sense to exist.

Doorbell instead, always connected via SmartHub, it allows us to be contacted via a Voip call, after simply pressing the button. We will thus be able to get in touch with a possible postman or courier even when we are away from home. If, in addition to Doorbell, an Arlo camera is waiting for your visits, then you have complete control of the scene. In fact, Arlo Ultra is able to distinguish the presence of a human being from that of a delivered package, and again from that of an animal, within the scene, and behave accordingly. Through Doorbell it will also be possible send you voice messages which will be stored on the cloud. Chime, when connected to the Doorbell, it will emit a melody (to be chosen among the 12 available) to notify you of the presence of guests if you do not have your smartphone at hand. S.i connect to any power outlet, it has an adjustable volume and can also be used as an amplifier box for the alarm siren, which can be operated remotely.

Arlo Ultra 4K review, the conclusions: buy it or not?

We are undoubtedly ahead of one of the most complete and advanced monitoring and security systems on the market. You will hardly find images with such high quality, an application made and managed so well, premium material quality and a fast and easily accessible dedicated cloud service around.

If we also add Doorbell to the package (Chime is really optional, I recommend it only for really large environments), then the tour is complete and we have 360 ° coverage che also makes us more autonomous in managing visits to our home / office.

All this has one drawback: the price. The basic kit costs € 499, includes SmartHub and a Video Camera (€ 799 with two cameras) and € 89 is included for the first year of subscription. Adding Doorbel, or Doorbel + Chime will cost you € 49,90 or € 99,90. In a company or office these costs are amortizable, perhaps a little less for those who will use them at home. Without a doubt it is a worthwhile product.