Arlo Halts Sales of 4K Camera Amid Complaints From Early Adopters
Arlo has pulled its wire-free Arlo Ultra 4K security camera system from sale after receiving numerous complaints about performance from early adopters.
Arlo Ultra 4K HDR wire-free security camera system
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Since rolling out the wire-free Arlo Ultra 4K security camera system at the end of last Fall, it looks like reception has been less than positive.
Arlo has pulled the 4K camera from sale at Best Buy and delayed a general release of the camera after numerous complaints about performance from early adopters. This news comes after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $32 million, after reporting a $2.7 million profit in the same period the prior year.
The company addressed the complaints by releasing firmware upgrades on Jan. 5, 20, 29 and 30. The companion base station that is included with the camera also received updates on January 15, 17 and 30.
“Knowing that Ultra is a leading technology product with a range of new innovations, we did extensive testing before deployment, as we do with all Arlo products,” the company said in a statement. “That said, after end-user sales began, we identified some performance challenges in specific user environments. As such, we have aggressively worked to release firmware updates to solve these challenges. As a result of the firmware updates, we are now seeing positive feedback on the forums from users.”
BestBuy.com now lists the camera as “coming soon,” while Amazon says it will be released on March 17. The Arlo Ultra currently has 2.5 stars out of 5 based on 40 reviews. Here’s what one customer had to say that echoes pretty much all the reviews:
On way to return! I spoke to Arlo again today, 5th time, since buying the 4k Ultra 4 cam set two weeks ago. I have had nothing but major issues, like so many, so before I returned to Best Buy I contacted to see about resolution, probably out of insanity!
1503 Hours, NO FIX! If you ever needed to have an answer as to what is going on, the bug fixes, or how Arlo is going to make all this right for those of us who have OBVIOUSLY beta tested! Well, I am returning the entire Arlo 4k Ultra!
I was just told by level 3 support, that there’s nothing wrong with the new Arlo 4k cams, and further that there’s been no major reports of issues, lol!!! I was told they would submit the 4th ticket ONLY, and try to process a warranty return.
Paid the extra $19 yearly for 4K live viewing and downloading to 1 cam. It was activated on the wrong cam and was incredibly groening on all close ups in all conditions.
2 of my 4 cams are permanently fisheyed, no adjustments by tech or myself fixed! The same two very grainy also.1 of the 4 cams has not ever worked from day one, tech opened a ticket to return under warranty, but lost my ticket and had no notes of this today!
The 1 cam that worked ok, was again grainy, but also stopped notifications all together day 3. Tech was unable to fix too!
2 cams intermittently notified me but finally started working after the 20th bug fix, however now as of two days ago started failing, both had delayed notifications after 5-8 mins of movement being detected! Both still grainy, absolutely NONE of them ever worked in 4k!
It’s a mess. Do not buy the Ultra! Returning to Best buy after 13 days and back to Pro2, a system that actually worked well. I was so confident with Pro 2 that I gave it 13 days and spent nearly four hours with tech support and another 8 hours messing with this system. Perhaps I should submit a bill, oh that’s right they’re offering 0 compensation for any of the above issues!
I’ve had problems from the beginning. i consider myself very good with technology, networks etc.
This product has just jad connectivity. horrible battery life. I have to change the battery less than every 24 hours (and it takes 6 hours to charge) when there is a lot of motion etc.THEN You have to pay another 20 dollars a year to actually enable the 4k (which doesnt even work), on top of another 200 (which is free for the first year for the added features)
The tech support is horrible and you can’t get ahold of anyone. They are not knowedgeable and give you canned responses that don’t work at all because the product itself isn’t up to par, or the firmware, batteries, something is not operating optiminally.
Tech support tells you it’s some other issue that’s not theirs, which is ironic because my network works flawlessly with a 1 GBPS line. So they gotta fix this, asap. I spent a lot of money on this and I have to replace the battery every few days even for the cameras that don’t have much movement. Defeats the purpose of having this thing.
This is a good example of why some things should be left to the pros. Someone once said life is a like a box of chocolates, but so is being an early adopter. You never know what you’re going to get.
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About the Author
Steve Karantzoulidis, Web/Senior Editor
Steven A. Karantzoulidis is the Web Editor for Security Sales & Integration. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Communication and has a background in Film, A/V and Social Media.
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