Netgear Arlo Go camera review (must read)

If you are looking for a home surveillance camera that is easy to install and use, you've got to the right place. 

In this article, I will review the Netgear Arlo Go.

Netgear Arlo Go is a small wireless surveillance camera that can be used to monitor your home, office, or even help you hunting. You can watch everything on your mobile since the camera works with cellular communication. The camera MSRP price is $429.99.

The first advantage of the Arlo Go is the use of cellular technology to transmit live and recorded video to a mobile device, the camera also has a slot for SD card, rechargeable batteries, and is weatherproof. 

The 720p HD resolution is enough to capture video with a great quality that can be recorded locally in the micro SD memory card and in the cloud.

It's possible to integrate the Arlo Go with Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can give voice commands to show camera live feed on your TV.

The Arlo Go has a compact design and it's small and light enough to be installed in different places without drawing too much attention to itself.

It weighs only 11.8 ounces and measures 3.0 by 2.7 by 3.5 inches.

A rechargeable lithium-ion battery is installed in the back compartment close to the Sim card and micro SD memory card.

At the top of the camera, there's a sync button used for pairing with a phone.

The Arlo Go has 720p video resolution, this means the image displayed on a monitor has 1280 x 720 pixels (horizontal x vertical).

This resolution is also known as HD (High Definition) and it's enough to let most customers happy with the overall image quality.

When talking about the resolution the more pixels is better, some cameras offer Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) or even 4K resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels) but the prices are usually much higher and they use more storage space.

The HD resolution is enough to have a balance between quality and video storage and transmission over the cellular network. 

Battery life is not easy to estimate, it depends on the usage, recording time, temperature and other factors, however, the manufacturer expects to have the camera running for at least 1~ 2 months using the cellular technology.

The camera uses a 3660mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery and some users have reported running the camera for more than two months.

There's in a LED to indicate the camera battery level so you have a better idea when it's time to recharge the battery

If you can't wait for battery charging or want to have a backup just in case the main battery fails, just purchase an extra battery pack.

It's available on Amazon for $59.99. Click here to visit the page

There's also a charge station that allows charging more than one battery at the same time for $29.00. Click here to visit the page.

The Arlo Solar Panel is weatherproof and connects to the Arlo Go camera using a Micro-USB port with a water-resistant 6-foot cable.

The Arlo Go can use a solar panel to power the camera and save battery life, Netgear sells this accessory for $79.00 but there are also other vendors that have similar products at a lower price. 

The camera has an internal microphone and speaker that allows you to talk to somebody that is close to the camera by using your mobile phone.

This feature is very good and the sound is clear enough to have a conversation.

You can configure your Arlo Cam to send alerts when there's some motion in front of the camera or if it detects some audio.

This feature is very interesting, so you can have an alert for something that is happening at that time and location and it's also useful to save storage space as the camera is not continuously recording.

Users have reported that the motion sensor sensitivity is too high and the camera generates a false alarm with simple movements (trees for example).

During the day, sunlight changing and shadows are also the cause of false alarms and the camera trigger excessive alerts that use too much of the data plan that is based on the number of camera alerts.

With a 110º field of view, this camera can be installed on corners to monitor a room with practically no blind spots. The minimum distance to focus is 2ft.

At night time, the Arlo Go detects the lack of light and turns the Infrared on,

The camera's specs show the use of 850 nm Infrared LEDs, this means you can see the red dots (LEDs on) when looking at the camera.

The infrared light provides up to 25 feet of night vision.

With IP65 weatherproof rating, the camera is water resistant but not so good to work in environments where the temperature is too low. 

The camera specs say the Arlo Go can work with temperatures from -4° to 113° F (-20° C to 45° C). But at -4ºF is hard to keep the battery working.

Are you using the camera for hunting ? The Arlo Go can help you that !

There are accessories to camouflage the camera. Pretty cool, huh ?

This picture is just an example, there are other options available at the stores to match the type of camouflage you need for different situations.

People usually install the camera on trees with this type of camouflage, so its easier to get a live feed from the camera without drawing too much attention.

The Arlo Go comes with a mounting hole that allows the attachment of a metal stand for wall, pole or tree installation (very useful for hunters).

The Arlo Go comes with a mounting hole that allows the attachment of a metal stand for wall, pole or tree installation (very useful for hunters).

You can also just let the camera in a flat surface if the angle is OK. 

The app for the Arlo Go is the same one used for the other Arlo cameras.

The camera configuration is pretty easy, just create an account using your email, and chose the camera model in the setup screen.

The next step is to point the camera to a QR code in the mobile phone, the reads the code and makes a sound (happy chime).

After this simple step the camera is ready to go, just hit the finish button.

At the top of the App it's possible to monitor the motion detection activity (small running man), the battery level and the number of alarms (15).

The Arlo Go can integrate with Alexa (Amazon’s virtual voice assistant) so you can control the camera feed by voice, just say a command to and Alex will stream the live video from the camera to a TV.

If you have a Google Chromecast connected to your TV, you can also say a command to the Google Assistant to stream video directly to a TV.

You can use your mobile phone or Google Home device for that.

When buying your Arlo Go camera you get a Sim Card with 15 minutes prepaid service that allows the camera stay online for this short period of time, and you must select a plan if you want to continue with the service.

There's also a slot for a micro SD card, the maximum storage capacity the camera can handle is 32GB, so there's no need to buy more than that.

For the SIM card activation you have two options:

To activate the Arlo Go Sim card with AT&T just call the Business Support number: 866-353-4110 if you are a customer or call 888-296-4561 if you don't have an AT&T account. Make sure to have the ICCID and device IMEI.

The information is available on the bottom of the Arlo Go box.

Besides is the fastest way to talk to somebody to activate the service, some users have reported that the SIM card activation over the phone is not easy.

Sometimes the AT&T representative doesn't know how to activate the service and you need to wait a long time while they figure it out.

Arlo Go users have also reported that takes only 5 minutes to activate a SIM card in an AT&T store. Usually is the best option with less headache.

Users have reported that this two-way talking feature works fine as long as the camera has a good and strong signal from the data carrier.

There's a step-by-step process to use Arlo Go with Verizon, just click the link to visit the web page

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-212039/