The Arlo Essential XL Outdoor Camera is a battery powered 2K outdoor home security video camera. This beast comes packed with color night vision, multiple object detection features, and subscription options to allow for expanded features such as emergency response from police, fire, or medical services and long-term cloud video storage. It also has two-way audio for verbal communication, a spotlight with variable brightness settings for color night vision, and a wide range of settings for the various camera features such a video brightness, power management, and included / excluded privacy or activity zones for motion detection and video. In short, this security camera has all the settings a person could wish for, to customize your user experience. Features are great, but function is critical, so how does this camera work and does it meet expectations for the user?
I’m happy to report that the answer is a definite yes! The Arlo Essential XL Outdoor Camera arrives in secure packaging – well protected inside its box. The cam arrives nicely wrapped in a clear protective film, covering both the camera body and lens. The first thing I noticed when I picked it up was that there was a definite heft to the box. The camera is not overly heavy from the standpoint of ease of mounting it, but it is definitely heavier than indoor security cameras I own and feels very well made. The battery comes sealed inside the camera, and the camera does boast a 4x longer battery life than previously, so some of that weight may be due to a larger battery / capacity. At any rate, the weight and solid build of the camera immediately instill a sense of confidence in its quality level.
Setting up the camera for use was pretty intuitive and although it doesn’t contain much for instructions in the box, the app was easy to download and provided detailed step by step instructions accessible online through the app. I did run into two minor glitches that slowed me down briefly, but once I resolved those, set up went very quickly. The first issue was that the quick start guide instructed me to fully charge the camera before proceeding. A USB-C cord is included with the camera and I quickly had it plugged in to charge.
The instructions indicate that the light on the front would turn a solid blue when fully charged. The light blinked briefly when I plugged the camera in, but then turned off. I expected it might remain blinking while the camera charged, so I wasn’t sure if it was charging or not. However, after unplugging it and plugging it back in a couple of times, I decided to just leave it and see what happened. I charged it overnight, and in the morning, the solid blue light was on. It charges fine. Just be aware that there isn’t a blinking indicator light while it charges. Now I know, so easy enough for future reference.
The second minor issue I had was in setting up the two-factor authentication for my phone. I hop online and set my Arlo account set up easily, and the email verification was simple. Accessing the screens to input my cell phone number for authentication? Also easy. However when my security code was texted to my phone, I couldn’t figure out where to input it for a few minutes and it expired. I later realize that the input area was right on my phone screen, but was very dark, so I didn’t notice it at first.
Unfortunately, I then had trouble getting the authentication to reset to I could try again. I kept receiving an “expired” message when I tried to reinput my phone number and obtain a new temporary code. This did give me a chance to try logging into the support options in my Arlo account, and it appeared pretty easy to reach Arlo for online chat assistance. However, I decided to set it aside for a bit and try later, and when I logged back into the app at that point, the security code options had reset, and I was quickly able to configure my two-factor authentication and finish the rest of the camera set-up.
Admittedly, there was a little user confusion on my part, but the one thing I would change about the set-up process would be to have the security code section a little brighter on the screen. That said, the overall process is easy, and the online instructions are good. Having done the set up once, if I were to set up another Arlo camera, it would only take a few minutes.
The Arlo Essential XL Outdoor Camera is a very nice piece of equipment. I’m impressed by the build quality, and it’s a nice-looking camera as well. It looks great mounted outside the front of my house overlooking my driveway area. The 2K video quality seems fairly exceptional and is better than some 4K cameras that I’ve tried out. Being an enthusiast wildlife photographer, I’m pretty picky about photo and video quality, and the Arlo Essential XL Outdoor Camera does not disappoint. Speaking of animals, the camera does a great job picking up motion detection and it provides very accurate alerts for motion. It also does a great job differentiating between animals and people which I tested thoroughly while watching my dogs and my wife go back and forth across my driveway area.
The camera accurately alerted me every time and was always correct as to whether it was seeing a person or animal. Pretty cool feature if you want to be able to observe wildlife in your yard, such as the deer we have in our neighborhood. The noise cancelling audio on the camera also works very well and I get clear sound quality with virtually no wind or other background noise.
The Arlo Essential XL Outdoor Camera connected easily to my home Wi-Fi network and stays connected. My immediate yard is about ½ acre, and the camera stayed connected throughout that entire area when I walked around with it to test the range. I have yet to test the full extent of the battery capacity using the spotlight and other various features related to night vision, but based on my current observations, the camera uses about 1-3% of the battery capacity daily, so I’d estimate a good 30 days and possibly up to 60 days before I’ll need to bring it indoors and charge it.
The camera mounts easily with a backing plate and two screws. It easily attaches and detaches from the plate, so bringing it indoors to charge will be simple and hassle free. Lastly, the feature set of the camera and app software is impressive and it’s really easy to use with variable settings for just about everything from power management to video to audio. Overall, the Arlo Essential XL Outdoor Camera is a well-executed security camera / application package that I enjoy using very much, and the enjoyment of a product is what the user experience is really all about. I definitely recommend the Arlo Essential XL Outdoor Camera for both home security and wildlife observation purposes. It’s a product that is both practical and fun.
