Arlo Pro 3 review

Price When Reviewed

From $499

Best Prices Today: Arlo Pro 3

The Arlo Ultra might be the ultimate camera in the range, but the Pro 3 offers something more affordable with still excellent quality and many of the same features. Find out more in our full review.

Price

Following on from the Arlo Pro 2 system, the Pro 3 is somewhat more expensive starting at £549/ $499 compared to around £300.

It does come with two cameras rather than one, but that takes away the option for those just wanting a single camera.

There are other kits available with three or four cameras depending on how many locations you want to keep an eye on. You can splash out up to £899.

So the Pro 3 makes for a halfway house between the Pro 2 and Ultra, the latter starts at £699 for a two camera kit.

Check out our chart of the best security cameras to see other options.

Design & Build

While the Pro 3 looks quite different to its predecessor, the design is almost identical to the Arlo Ultra.

It looks more modern and sleek, plus comes in a black colour which perhaps not only looks nicer but might blend in better with some surroundings better. The magnetic wall-mount is also vastly improved from the Pro 2 giving you much more flexibility with positioning.

The uni-body design is solid and the camera clips into the housing with a satisfying click. If you’re not using the magnetic mount, there’s also a threaded option for outdoors. They’re well-made and feel strong apart from a soft section under the lens.

As you would expect, the camera is weather-resistant and also UV, too.

There’s a newer SmartHub so if you already have any Pro 2 cameras then you’ll need to switch to this one, but the older cameras can still be used with the new hub without any issues.

Specs & Features

As we mentioned before, the Pro 3 sit between the Pro 2 and Ultra in the Arlo range. To this end, it has many of the same features as the Ultra but offers a 2.5K resolution (2560×1440) instead of 4K. This is a step up from the 1080p of the Pro 2.

So if 4K is too expensive, or unnecessary, but you want higher quality than Full HD then the Pro 3 is the perfect solution.

You’ll need to be streaming locally (connected to your home network) for 2.5K quality and if you turn on the auto zoom and tracking – which does as you’d expect – then streams and recordings won’t be in 2.5K.

This is a shame but when you can get the full resolution the quality is a big step up from the Pro 2, with a lot more detail in the image. You can see things much more clearly, even in the distance which is great if your camera manages to spot an intruder.

With HDR, colours are better too and the extra detail really helps when zooming in on something (up to 12x). The step up to 2.5K is one of the main reasons to get the third-gen over its predecessor but there are more features to talk about.

Night vision is still an option thanks to infrared, but the Pro 3 also has a spotlight so you can get a colour (optionally) picture when it’s dark. This works really well if the subject is within a reasonable distance of the camera and you can also use it as an outside light to take the bins out in the dark, for example.

Previous features that remain include 2-way audio, siren and activity zones. Just bear in mind that you need to pay for an Arlo Smart subscription to enable activity zones along with things like advanced detection (for packages etc) and 30-days of recordings.

You get a three-month free trial with the system to see how much you’ll use it. Plans start at £1.99/$1.99 per month.

The new hub replaces the microSD card slot with a USB port and can support 2TB so you might be better off doing it this way if the extra features aren’t going to be utilised.

In terms of battery life, it depends how much use the camera gets but it will last between three and six months. You can get a dual charging station to make charging the batteries easy or get a solar panel to keep the camera topped up when the sun is out.

Verdict

The Arlo Pro 3 is a worthy successor to the Pro 2 and makes for a nice in-between option if the 4K Ultra camera is over the top or too expensive.

Like its predecessor, the Pro 3 is one of the best security cameras you can get thanks to its slick user-friendly interface and range of handy features. There are perhaps a surprising amount of features from the Ultra including a spotlight and auto tracking.

Whether you’re using the cameras indoors or out, they do a great job with a lot more detail thanks to the 2.5K resolution.

The main downsides are that this is still an expensive kit and there’s no single camera option. You’ll also need to subscribe to Arlo Smart to make the most out of it.

Related articles for further reading

• All security news
• Best home security cameras
• Best video doorbells
• Best dash cams

Best Prices Today: Arlo Pro 3