Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera review – let there be light and added security

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• VERDICT

The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera is a versatile addition to any home to increase your security and peace of mind and literally shed more light wherever it is needed.

Arlo is one of the leading companies in the huge wire-free security camera market and its latest Arlo Pro 3 Wireless Floodlight camera is a fine addition to the impressive range.

It is actually the first wire-free floodlight camera with a motion sensor that can activate the onboard LED light when it detects movement.

Other floodlight cameras need to be hard wired to power so it’s an effort to install them.

It could also cost you more money if you need to hire an electrician to help you.

But you don’t have that worry with Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera – it’s as easy to install as the other Arlo cameras.

The beauty of the wire-free design is that is frees up users to place it anywhere they want rather than being limited to where they can only access power.

And it’s also completely weatherproof as well so you can place it anywhere.

For our review we installed the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera on our front porch so it could illuminate the driveway and front yard.

This is quite handy especially if it is able to illuminate a path or stairs which are hard to navigate in the dark.

What you have here is basically an elongated Arlo Pro 3 camera which has a larger rechargeable battery than the regular Arlo Pro 3 – but you can use the same Arlo battery charger.

The LED light fans out on either of the camera. It is a surprisingly thin panel – that’s the advantage of using LED light. It has a pretty slick and modern design.

Installation is as easy as drilling three holes and attaching the camera mount and then screwing on the camera itself.

It took us 10 minutes to drill the holes and mount the camera – and no electrician was required.

The camera’s mount is also versatile so it’s easy to aim it exactly where you want.

But with a 160-degree field of view, it’s going to catch everything you want anyway.

The next step was set up the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera and link it to our wi-fi.

Because we already had a base station for our other Arlo cameras, the new Floodlight camera recognised it right away and proceeded to add it to the network.

But the good news is you don’t need a base station to install the Arlo Pro 3 Flood Light Camera – it will work on its own.

All you need to do is download the Arlo app to complete the set-up which is pretty straightforward.

Users can also name the camera – usually where it’s located. Ours is called Front Floodlight and it joins the other Arlo cameras we have installed in our home.

The camera provides 2K quality – resolution is 2560 x 1440 – and it also includes HDR so your videos are clearer in all conditions whether it’s bright light or near darkness.

At this resolution it’s also possible to zoom in on live videos and saved videos to see something closer.

Now the first thing you’ll discover is the LED lights are really bright at 3000 lumens and illuminate quite a wide area. It was bright enough to shoot a movie in this light.

We had to turn it down to about 70 per cent.

This is done through the app which will also allow you to control the activity zones so you can determine where the camera will detect motion.

You can also manually switch on the light through the app as well to light up the area of you are monitoring through the app.

But you need to go to another section of the app to arm the Floodlight Camera to activate the light to detect motion.

This was a little confusing at first because we though setting the activity zone would have looked after the motion settings.

It would have been good to locate these settings here rather than having to find them in another section of the app with our other cameras.

There is also two way audio onboard so you can talk to anyone on front of the camera.

And if that person is someone you don’t know or don’t want on your property you can also sound the built-in siren which is also quite loud at 80 decibels.

The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera comes with a free three-month trial of Arlo Smart which provides even more features like intelligent notifications which can distinguish between people, animals, vehicles and even packages.

Users can access their cloud recordings for up to 30 days with the service.

Alternatively, you can record to an SD card if you already have an Arlo base station.

The battery will run for weeks before it needs recharging and you can also check the percentage level in the app and you’ll also receive a notification when it’s time to recharge.

Customers can also buy an Arlo solar panel which can keep the Floodlight camera continually charged.

The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant as well as IFTTT for easy interaction and automation.

The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera continues Arlo’s legacy as a market leader in the security camera space.

Security cameras have become a vital addition to our homes and the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera is a great way to start or a tremendous addition to your existing set-up.

The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera is available now and is priced at $449.

VERDICT
The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera is a versatile addition to any home to increase your security and peace of mind and literally shed more light wherever it is needed.