Wow, security cameras run off batteries seem like a huge waste, especially CR123As! That's going to be stupid expensive to run. How long do they last?

Edit: I don't see very many details, but do these only transmit when they sense motion? I guess that would save on battery life but seems strange to me

The 'party line' is the batteries will last for about 6 months unless they sense motion constantly. We'll see.



 

If the battery life is good enough I might buy a kit.

Over the last two weeks, my Neighbors Explorer has been broken into twice (once parked directly in front of my house, once, next door in his driveway) and they attempted to pry the door/Window on his G/Fs car...





I've looked at Cam/DVR setups a few times, but running power or any wires too them has always been the Obstacle, that prevented me...





Very interested in this Solution...
Would be very interested in your day to day reports on this and some night vision testing...  





How far can/will they reach?



I'm guessing it only records when it senses movement???  Can you see what its seeing if no moment?



Where/How much video does it store?  I'd like something that has at least 2-3 weeks or a months storage...



Do you have yours set up so you can see it remotely?  Internet or Phone?  



How much bandwidth does it take?
 

Yea, I thought about putting one or two in my Vehicle, but I wondered about Chassis interference and the fact that it will be coming in and out of range everyday...   Wasn't sure if that would kill battery life or if they would re-sync on return to driveway...



I was thinking 5 cams.... Front door, Back door, Gun Safe, Right Side of Driveway, Left Side of Drive Way...



One on the Dash and one looking out the back hatch/liftgate would be cool too, but might start getting costly...





 

You said range report, and I clicked on the thread thinking you were using it to remotely view your target at the range.
Seriously I was disappoint..

 

Thanks for these updates so far...  



Your feedback is exactly the type of real world reporting I want to read, not the glossy box that marketing came up with without consulting the guys that engineered what goes in it...



Staying Tuned!!!! Getting Closer to purchasing this...  





So far my real drawbacks are Battery life and cost of additional Cams, I'd like at at least two more, maybe 3...



Front Door, Back Door, Gun Safe, Truck Cam 1 or 2...



Then I wonder if them going in and outta range, would pose issues?  



Like if I put one on the dash and one in the hatch area looking out? When I leave and come back, would it resync on its on, would this shorten the batt life even more???



Again, thanks for the feedback on your's...
 

You da man...

Nice, any updates?

They have changed their PDF, it use to say no more than 5 min of recording a day.  If its going to get any motion traffic, you are going to be replacing batteries all the time.  Still, looks like a great system for those places that might not see much traffic, but you still want to put a camera up...or maybe just need something quickly and it won't be up long.  

I think if you record 24/7, batteries should last about 5 days.  5 minutes a day x 30 days x 6 months = 900 minutes / 24 hrs = 37.5hrs, is the absolute max.

@pcsutton  - thanks for sharing your review. I stumbled on this cam setup earlier browsing computer hardware site.  I was about to post about this setup and ask for any experience from others as well since im in the market for a solution.  I have a battery powered and motion-sensing light on my front porch that runs off 3 D batteries, which makes up for "dead" spots in the coverage of my 100 W halogen flood lights.  The little sucker just got some new batteries and I cant remember the last time I replaced them, but its been at least 2 years.  Its this one

I really like the idea of running the cams off a battery because at least one location will be hard to run a cable to and I really didnt want to cut any more holes in my sophet or porch for running cable.

Ive got one wireless cam now that I use with motion detection, but ive been contemplating different systems after doing a bit of research over in the Safe & Home Security forum

There is an advantange to having 24/7 recording such as how the typical CCTV/DVR systems, but there are tradeoffs with any system.  With 24/7 recording, you can simply review over a whole time period to spot things that dont look right, instead of getting alerts on everything that trips the motion detection.  With motion detection, you will need to either turn it off when you go outside or else get used to deleting all the alerts you will generate yourself.  

An option that might fit here is a 3rd party Web cam software package such as Netcam Studio but then again i havent reviewed the software package that comes with the Arlo yet either.

With the Arlo setup, is setting up and using an account required to use cameras?  I dont care about access via phone.

These Arlo cams seem to fit my needs - small/discreet, battery powered, wifi and night vision.
The one drawback seems to be the lack of support for windows phones (so far) link

At least one of them, I think I will paint over the white exterior with flat red to help blend in with the brick where it will be placed.

Is local storage of the videos/pictures an option or only cloud? Update - got my answer here

Bump for any updates.

Guys, I haven't made it home yet to try the car thing. Sorry.



I'm in the oil biz and with the way people are out of work in this business...I gotta make hay while the sun shines.



I haven't forgotten.

Thanks!  I went ahead and bought one, just the one cam model to try it out. So far, I am very happy, it has its drawbacks but if you work within the design parameters this is a fantastic little gadget.  I will likely post a thread in the safes/security forum and link back to this thread for reference.

Any more updates on this system? I'm interested but I'd like to see some pictures and real world battery life expectations.

I'm also interested in an alternate power solution for cameras near a power source.  Assuming you get 4 months out of the batteries, a four camera system gets pricey to maintain by the year.

OST

I have been meaning to post an update, if you look up a few posts you will see I bought one based on the OP's review. A good source of information is Amazon reviews with new reviews being posted daily and 400 + reviews IIRC. The Amazon reviews seem to offer an accurate overview, it is great for what it is, if it is going to get a lot of use, actual detecting of motion, like being on all day in an active house this is NOT the system for you.  If you have your safe in an isolated part of the house, garage, basement, this is a phuckin awesome system.

I am still in the trial stage but it works as described, when there is movement, you get an email/text with a snapshot and access to video, the cloud storage also works and if you have limited use it is free after the initial purchase. I am 100% satisfied for the intended purpose and I bought the 1 cam system to give it a try and will be adding a spare cam soon. One criticism is the recording lag, often 2 seconds so you have to set up the system to get the sweet spot recording, creative planning and positioning can fix this problem. I was very skeptical about the range but I am very pleased, I do not want to go into too much detail but my system works better than anticipated over distance and walls.

ETA: Something I forgot to mention. If you are using the Arlo app on your smartphone, which works great by the way, you can just turn the system on/off when you leave the house. Kind of like setting your alarm on the way out the door, there is a scheduling function but I just toggle the system on/off. You can also access with your smartphone/internet browser if you want to look live but that would eat your batteries if you did it often.