Arlo Baby Monitor Review

Arlo Baby Monitor

Features

One of the Arlo Baby Monitor’s strongest points is that it has a wide range of features, some of which you aren’t likely to see on most other baby monitors.

• Camera And Audio

First off, the camera itself. Some baby monitors have camera feeds with quality that makes them look like deleted footage from the Blair Witch Project, but this one has great, crystal clear quality.

It’s 1080p, HD, and streams at 30 frames per second (fps). This means that you’ll have no problem seeing exactly what your baby’s up to at a glance.

It also has a night vision mode. Night vision on baby cameras is often poor quality, but this one is surprisingly clear so that even in the dead of night, you can keep track of your little one.

You can optimise the night vision a bit by keeping a small light on in the room and making sure there aren’t any reflective surfaces in the camera’s field of view.

The monitor doesn’t come with its own screen for you to watch the feed on. Instead, you stream it live on a smartphone or tablet by using the dedicated Arlo app.

This is very useful as it means you can move around your home freely while still keeping watch. 

On the other hand, it does also mean that if you want to keep track of your baby constantly then your tablet or smartphone will basically be converted into a baby monitor screen that you can’t use for anything else.

You can get around this by getting a cheap phone or tablet to use as a screen, but it might also have been nice for it to come with its own dedicated monitor screen.

Either way, a cool feature is that you can control the camera’s field of view with the app, so you can change your viewpoint without even getting out of your chair.

The audio quality is also very good - you’ll be able to hear your baby clearly and are sure not to miss any noises that need your attention.

Depending on where it’s placed, you might have the problem of picking up a little too much surrounding noise, especially if you have noisy pets. Still, though, you can rest assured that you’re not going to miss anything important.

The audio link also works both ways, meaning that you can speak to your child through the monitor, which is useful if you need to reassure or comfort them from afar.

Another audio feature is that, as a bonus, the monitor can play music or white noise to calm your baby down. The speaker quality is decent and should satisfy a baby’s needs.

Another important thing to consider with the Arlo is that it needs a constant wi-fi connection to work since that’s what it uses to stream the camera feed.

When your wi-fi connection is working well then that’s no problem. However, if it’s playing up for some reason or, heaven forfend, down completely, then you’re going to have problems.

If the wi-fi is totally down then the monitor simply won’t work, full stop. If it’s working but weak, you’ll be able to stream but you’re likely to experience serious lag, which of course undermines the whole purpose of the product.

Another thing is that the monitor and your phone/tablet need to be connected to the same wi-fi network if you want to actually watch the stream of the camera feed.

When you’re at home this shouldn’t be a problem, as you can connect both to your home wi-fi network.

However, if you were thinking that you could use your phone’s tethering feature to connect the monitor to the internet, you’ll need another phone handy to stream the feed to.

This is quite inconvenient when travelling, for example, and at other times when you can’t rely on your usual wi-fi connection.

• Advanced Monitoring

A camera is the least you’d expect from a baby monitor, but the Arlo goes quite a bit further than that by offering an impressive range of advanced monitoring options to suit the needs of any parent.

This includes motion detection, sound detection, automatically recorded video clips dating back a week, notifications sent to either your phone or email address, monitoring of temperature and air quality, support for multiple cameras, a night light, audio playback, and push to talk.

All in all, we don’t think there’s a baby monitor out there that has a better range of features to keep your child safe than this one.

We did say the range was impressive! If you’re thinking that it might be slightly too impressive, don’t worry. You can use the ones that suit your needs and leave the others alone.

If you’re wondering why you might need to monitor the air quality, for example, that function checks the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the room.

If the monitor shows a reading of ‘abnormal’ or ‘very abnormal’, you’ll usually be able to fix matters by opening a window for a while.

All of these features can be controlled and customised down to a huge amount of detail using the Arlo app.

For instance, you can choose whether or not you receive notifications, where you want them sent to, and how many you’ll receive, and for what things.

You can alter the colour and brightness of the built-in night light (useful when optimising the night vision feature), and a whole host of other things besides.

• Appearance And Set Up

The Arlo monitor is designed to look like a friendly character with colourful rabbit ears. Unlike some other baby monitors that can look a bit impersonal and alienating, this one won’t scare your child.

As for the way it’s set up, it comes with a plate that you can use to mount it on a wall. Or, if you prefer, you can simply stand it on any flat surface.

This gives you good flexibility, particularly if you’re renting and aren’t able to permanently attach things to the walls of your home.

However, some other baby monitors come with clips that can attach them securely to the side of a baby’s cot. 

The Arlo monitor lacks this feature, though there are third-party solutions available.

Setting it up can be a bit of a chore in general if you’re not all that good with technology.

Between connecting it to the wi-fi network, downloading the app and getting it synced up with your phone, not to mention going through all the settings to customise them to your needs, there’s a lot to do.

If you’d prefer something a bit more straightforward and with less fuss, the Arlo might not be the best model for you.

One option available to you with the Arlo monitor is using it either plugged in or on battery. Y

ou’ll probably want to leave it plugged in if you’re using it at home, but the built-in rechargeable battery will last for about 2 hours if needed. Of course, 2 hours isn’t all that long for a baby monitor, but it’s nice to have the feature if needed for a while. 

For instance, your baby might be having a daytime nap outside of their room and you can just bring the monitor to them without worrying about needing to plug it in.