Arlo VMB5000 Smart Hub - Reviews

(3.7)

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For Arlo VMB5000 Smart Hub, 13 customer reviews collected from 1 e-commerce sites, and the average score is 3.7.

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26.5.2019

This is a review of the Arlo Ultra/Pro/Pro 2 Smart Hub WiFi base station add-on and not the other Arlo accessories featured on this Amazon page.This unit is designed to extend the base station range for your compatible Arlo cameras including the new Ultra model. I have found the range of the base station to be fairly limited so this might be a product you need to invest in. I have reviewed the base station in an overall review of the Arlo Ultra system which is attached below. Ideally the range of the base station supplied with Arlo cameras should be adequate but if not this is the best, latest model, to buy.It is the same model that ships with Arlo Ultra cameras.Overall four stars as it would be better if you didn’t need to buy one of these.Review of the Arlo Ultra Camera System and Base Station:Arlo, owned by Netgear, have a long tradition of producing home security cameras. This is at least their fourth iteration of Arlo cameras within a similar design frame - the original Arlo, the Pro, the Pro 2 and now the Ultra. The main distinguishing factor is the quality of the video footage. These cameras are capable of producing 4K video.In this pack you get two Arlo Ultra cameras, a wireless base station, two batteries for the cameras, and a magnetic and fixed stand for the cameras. You also get a 15w UK charging unit and a charging cable that attaches magnetically to the camera. There’s also some basic instructions. Very usefully the cameras also come with a year-long subscription package - the Arlo Smart Premium pack which allows, amongst other things, 30-day cloud recording and the fine tuning of events the camera picks up on through the selection of active zones, differentiation between people, animals and cars, and in the future, hopefully, the recognition of parcels being delivered.Set up is relatively straightforward although this is not helped by the minimal instructions included with the cameras - brief set up instructions for the base station and the same for the cameras. More detailed instructions including a proper manual are available online although I struggled a little to find these - I suspect because this is a new product. In essence you plug the base station into your router - and this does have to be a cabled connection. In my case the base station then performed a firmware update. Once the base station is working you simply add the wireless cameras to the system. All this is done using the Arlo App which is available for iOS and Android phones. You have to use the app to set the system up so if you don’t have a phone of tablet running iOS or Android this is not a system for you. Both of the security cameras also performed a firmware update once connected to the base station. It took around 10 minutes. As the cameras are battery powered, and connect to the base station wirelessly, you can pretty much position the cameras anywhere. This is even more the case as the cameras are weatherproof and can be used either indoors or outdoors. This all depends on you having a WiFi link to the base station of course. A useful tool built in to the app will show for each camera the WiFi strength in your chosen location. You can therefore select an optimal location with a good WiFi signal. You should also chose a location where you are advised of potential security issues without picking up the everyday movements on, for example, a busy road.In terms of fixing the cameras in place you get a magnetic mount designed to fix a camera to a wall, and another flexible mount which is designed to be screwed on to a firm surface. In my case I simply wanted to place the cameras indoors on a flat surface. This works OK but if a camera is knocked it easily slides around on smooth surfaces and is not incredibly stable.So far I have found the battery life of the cameras to be remarkably good. In five days the percentage of battery usage has only been a couple of percent. Arlo suggest that the batteries have a potential life of around six months before they need to be recharged and my initial experiences suggest that is realistic. You can use the cameras attached to a cabled USB power supply but only one charging cable is included in the pack and at about 2 metres long its use is limited. That said, Arlo sell a much longer cable should you wish to power the cameras.The cameras have a couple of useful additional features. A powerful LED spotlight is built in to them which can be set to come on at night when an alert is detected, or when you are viewing a camera’s live footage at night to assist with night vision. The cameras also pick up sound alerts very well and allow you to speak via the cameras, again with very high-quality results. Further, the cameras have a 180 degree view without too much distortion.The base station provides an unfettered WiFi link to the cameras which should reduce camera dropouts or other issues associated with a traditional overcrowded home WiFi system. I experienced no outages at all, although the WiFi reach of the base station is not particularly impressive. Arlo sells additional base stations to boost the WiFi reach. The base station has a memory card slot so that footage, including 4K footage can be stored locally as well as in the cloud. The memory card is not included though. There’s also a built in siren in the cameras and base station which can sound automatically if a camera detects an alert.The camera system can be set to come on at particular times, or can be based on your location, and other family members’ location based on linked mobile phones. This works very well indeed. You can also fine-tune alerts, as mentioned above, based on whether the camera detects a car or a person and more.The big selling point of the cameras is, of course, the video quality, but 4K video can only be streamed locally - so when you’re in the house. This seems a little limited! However, the 4K does allow high-quality tracking with zooming to areas of movement which is useful. On this it’s worth saying something about subscription models. This may not be at the forefront of your mind as for the first year you get a subscription to Arlo’s Smart Premier cloud recording plan. In essence any video footage relating to an alert is stored remotely for 30 days so you can review it. You also have the option of storing alerts locally on a memory card in the base WiFi unit - although if that is stolen then you lose that footage. The Premier service does not include 4K recording to the cloud so if you want that it’s an extra charge of £1.49 a month per camera. After a year there is NO cloud recording available without a subscription - whereas there is for all of the other Arlo cameras. This is clearly a negative factor and limits the usefulness of the system subscription free. You also lose the smart alert system which can distinguish between people, cars and animals. The subscription for cloud recording, excluding 4K, is £6.49 a month or £1.99 per camera. The £1.49 charge for 4K cloud recording is additional to this. To get either 14 day or 30 day continuous recording, which means that whether there is an alert or not you can rewind the video, is yet another additional cost per camera. Plus your camera needs a mains power supply but only one power cable is packaged with base station and camera kit no matter how many cameras you buy so if you buy more than a base station and one camera you’ll need to buy additional power cables which are unique to the Arlo Ultra camera. Costs of the continuous recording service don’t seem to be on the Arlo website and I can’t activate it using the app with an Arlo camera powered so can’t give a price at the moment. I’ll report back when this is sorted.The build quality of the cameras is excellent. The base station is a little more plasticky though.The Arlo system is clearly an expensive premium camera system. It offers a package of services and functions probably not met by any other home security camera manufacturer - here I’m thinking of 4K video, complimentary cloud recording for a year, the inbuilt siren, the camera LED security light etc. I am not sure the cost justifies the price though, and if you want to extend the system, which makes sense bearing in mind the initial investment in the kit, additional cameras still cost any eye watering £300+. Perversely, the cameras come with so many options in use it’s actually quite complicated to get them to work just as you might wish, so I’d recommend the kit to more experienced users. Also I have been unable to link the cameras to my Samsung SmartThings system. SmartThings allows me to link to my Arlo account but the account says that no cameras are registered which is clearly incorrect. Hopefully this will be resolved as it would be good for house lights to come on if the cameras detect an alert.I’d advise some caution in relying on some reviews of the Ultra system as there seems to be some confusion in evaluating this new camera range - incorrect comments place the Ultra system as a mid-range Arlo camera system whereas it’s the top model, and suggest that if the camera is stolen locally-stored video will be lost but the video is stored on the base station for all of the connected cameras, and not on the cameras themselves as a reviewer suggests. The cameras themselves do not have memory card slots.

11.6.2019

This hub is needed to operate the Arlo's latest UHD 4k camera, the "Arlo Ulra". I have an Arlo Pro 2 system in place already so decided to compare the two. The one biggest difference is the range is not as good as the previous hub.The previous hub had no problem connecting to an Arlo Pro 2 camera at the back of the house, but the same camera in the same position could not connect to this hub, so I ended up moving the hub to the middle of the house before cameras at both the front and back of the house could connect.A minor difference between this hub and the previous one is that this one has a single microSD card slot which allows for the optional local video storage.

16.7.2019

The Arlo system is a premium home security system that was created by Netgear, the California-based computer-networking company, so comes with a good pedigree to justify the price of the equipment. Arlo Technologies is now a separately traded entity and this Smart Hub is an add-on for the wire-free operation of certain of their battery-operated cameras, giving a longer wireless range while still connecting to the Internet via your home router. I haven't used the Arlo system in any of it's earlier incarnations, and I only have one Arlo camera currently, but it seems to be good-quality with some useful features including the connecting of a USB drive to the hub for a local video backup.

10.5.2019

While I have every sympathy with the first reviewer and don't wish to contradict what they are saying, as I experienced some circular install issues myself in connecting cameras to the hub, but wow was it worth persisting! I now have four cameras operational, all delivering crystal clear 4k images (see example photos), any activity reported and up into the cloud to view pretty much instantly on phones, tables and computers. My friends who have added cameras to their existing security contracts are all very envious about the capabilities Arlo Ultra delivers for a one-off (cloud storage bill to come after 12 months) whereas they paid a hefty install fee up-front,

29.11.2019

This is identical to the base unit that came with your Arlo Ultra. If you've cameras with marginal coverage, it's easy to remove them from your current system and add them to this as a a second base associated with the same system, so that wireless coverage works out. Cameras added to this hub won't record on the existing SD card so you need to buy a new one to go in this unit. Obviously it also needs to have a wired ethernet connection.Overall a good buy to fix the bad wireless range of your existing Arlo Ultra system.

20.9.2019

It's a Netgear system and I've grown to trust them, this new base station is a good advert for Netgear build quality. The absence of the siren is a shame, but it works well. I had a few challenges connecting my existing camera's but using the app to do it rather than the Sync button worked every time. I had a few intermittent problems with the 2nd Gen base stations, but these niggles haven't appeared (as yet) on this unit.Overall, I'm very happy.

26.10.2019

Easy to install a second base unit. Use Wi-Fi extenders, Ethernet over power lines or mesh Wi-Fi units with cat/5 socket to enable you to place the additional hub anywhere around your home or garage. You need a good Wi-Fi link to connect and see the video (ie over 8mbps).