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This video doorbell allows you to see who is standing on your doorstep without needing to answer the door, all while being able to record footage in 2K HDR quality.
"Hello everyone and welcome to another Gamereactor Quick Look.
I've been on the record quite a few times to basically admit that I really do enjoy Arlo's products in general."
"There's a couple of reasons for that.
Like other brands, like Ecovacs for instance, I do think that Arlo has taken the mantle of home security and surveillance and sort of built an ecosystem around that which is just really user-friendly and really nice for people that want to get into this kind of market, protect their home with whatever gear that Arlo sells them."
"It's just a really nice welcoming way.
That means set up through the app, handling users and features within that app ecosystem.
It's just, it's a really good time in general and I do prefer it to a lot of the other home security stuff that are out there on the market."
"They've also taken a cue from a lot of criticism they've gotten from like many years ago that their gear was generally too expensive.
So they started making more budget-friendly offerings and lately those have been coming in strong."
"This is the 2K Video Doorbell 2nd Generation and you'll get this for around $120, $100-ish.
It is really cheap, I would say, particularly compared to some of the other video doorbells that you can get on the market right now.
And there isn't really skimped on a lot of features here, I would say."
"You get this and it's both battery-powered if you want or it can be completely wired if that's what you want.
It has a 100-degree field of view on the actual lens and records in 2K resolution, meaning that you get basically a wider field of view, meaning that there are less blind spots from where it is mounted and also it's just more resolution is more power because it means that you can see granular detail."
"And that is both in the night vision mode that Arlo has perfected over the years and it is also just general daylight with color 2K that's pretty crisp and pretty wide in terms of its capture rate.
Really cool."
"There is also real-time talk, meaning that if you use the app, you can talk directly to the person that has activated the doorbell.
That basically means for, let's say, delivery drivers that you can very quickly have a conversation and two-way talk where you can hear what he or she is saying and they can hear what you are saying."
"Really good.
Something that might be considered standard, but when you're making something that is cheaper, basically anything is on the table.
You could sacrifice in order to get to that cheaper price point, but yet Arlo chose not to."
"There is all the relevant mounting hardware in the actual box that is good.
It works with Google and SmartThings, Alexa, and IFTTT.
Not yet Apple HomeKit, weirdly enough, Arlo has yet to embrace that and given that we just got the WWDC-based revamp of the Home app that is coming with iOS 18, it seems like now might be the time to pick up HomeKit as sort of a main supporting source."
"I still think that while I like the basic sort of design, I do think that there is some Apple-ness over it, I do think Arlo could start ditching the pale white and maybe go for something like metal or some alloy that could make it look a little bit more pro.
That might not be for these cheaper ones, but I am getting a bit tired of this particular design scheme, but still go into the app and you'll see immediately why Arlo has the superior firepower here."
"The one thing about its actual functionality that I will continue to bring up is that Arlo continues to gatekeep features behind their secure subscription, meaning that you just don't pay the $100-ish, $120-ish for this, you're going to have to continue to pay Arlo afterward to get some pretty necessary features."
"Now these are all listed, but I don't think it's the principle that matters.
We buy these things, they're expensive, we shouldn't continue to purchase it in order to restore mainline functionality.
But beyond that, cool stuff, can't wait to test it and we'll supply you with a full written review very soon."
