Arlo AND Blink?

Hi,

I currently have 3 Arlo cameras which work perfectly with the Smartthings system so far.

They’re all outside apart from one which is hidden in the living room and switches off automatically when my girlfriend or i get home

I’m looking at getting a couple of blink cameras as they would match the interior of my house better then the Arlos.

Has anyone had any experience with both Arlo and Blink on their system?
I’m a complete noob at any kind of programming. So i don’t want to go into the programming if it isn’t worth it.

Any help is appreciated

Hi @Unknownpanic,

I would recommand Blink over Arlo as it does have a better look for the inside of the house and has multiple options for power. It is descreate and works well at my house. I have it setup up all over and most people don’t pay it any attantion as it looks just like any motion sensor. I also use my regular interior Blink cammera under an overhang on my deck. It works great.

I tried Arlo before and was not happy with their form factor and how they looked in my house.
The price points are in my opinion negligeble.

Discreet for Blink… the blue lights flashing on the Blink are not discreet. I haven’t had any experience with Arlo though.

That blue light had my entire family paranoid as if they were constantly being recorded! I ended up taking apart and putting a little piece of black tape over the led. I use them as motion detectors when the lights are on so they blink every minute if motion is detected.

I do love them! Have 3 hard wired and 2 that the batteries are still at 90% after 6 months of use. Blinks are great! My sister has 2 Arlos and she loves them as well!

As far as integration, you will need a 3rd party DTH. RBoy makes an awesome DTH but you have to pay for it. I think that’s the only one the Blink allows for integration into ST and they almost pulled the plug earlier this year.

There shouldn’t be any issues as they are just seen as any other device/SmartApp.

Has anyone had any experience with Blink AND Arlo working together?

Maybe i wasn’t too clear before, I know the advantages and disadvantages of both systems after researching them both quite a bit and I already own 3 Arlos. However If i were to get Blink cameras and get RBoy DTH would Smartthings integration still work with Arlo just as well or would there be any conflict on the programming?

I had them both, And have returned Arlo as a consiquense. The Blue light is a hardwired indicator that recording is active and can’t be overwritten by the firmware as per Blink support.

FYI a lot of motion detector have an Ember light to them when motion is active. So Blink should not be any different.
The Great thing about Blink is that you can set ther recording time to 5 sec and then it can become a motion sensor for when you are home via SmartThings integration by @RBoy. Here!

Yes I used them both. They both record well, but for the ammount of flaxebility Blink gives me and a lot of others on the above thread, Arlo is of no use.
https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-official-blink-camera-device-handler-with-motion-sensor-live-video-streaming-integration-with-smartthings-shm-temperature-signals-and-push-notifications/40535?u=lmosenko

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How did you take it apart without messing it up? I was looking at it, and if you put take over the top you still get that blue glow. I just wish Blink gave an option to turn that on or off really because it is very annoying. I want to use the light in one place, and I don’t want to have it on in another area.

I haven’t tried Arlo, but i was considering them. Has anyone used the outside Blink cameras yet?

Look at this post on the thread I was talking about:

https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-official-blink-camera-device-handler-with-motion-sensor-live-video-streaming-integration-with-smartthings-shm-temperature-signals-and-push-notifications/40535/1901?u=lmosenko

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To Arlo or to Blink, the future is to Nest…

@rontalley What did you do to take apart the camera and block that light? I looked but i didn’t want to break mine.

Look at this video by one of our community mambers.:
https://youtu.be/6VDwX2d9iSw

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@lmosenko Nice… Thank you.

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Also this one:
https://youtu.be/CN7YG_Nrdbk

I’ve been looking to get wirefree camera and was leaning towards blink. Tried them a while back and returned but they have made some nice improvements since that time. For integration, I realize the only thing I would really need is to arm and disarm.
Recently, I have investigated two other nice options for wirefree cameras. Reolink ArgusCam and Ezviz Trooper. They both have local storage and include functionality that Blink does. Battery life might not be quite as long from what I can tell. Reolink has no automation options (only schedule arm/disarm) but the Ezviz can use IFTTT. The mounting options for these cameras are better than Blink which might be the thing that steers me in direction of one of them.
Any feedback from forum members would be appreciated if you have tried them.

I used a CCTV system for years. Was cool but going through the stored video became a drag. I really do like getting motion alerts and having the ability to quickly disarm or arm my system or individual cameras. With that being said, Reolink would be out of the equation for me.

Since this is a ST Forum and the thread is about Arlo vs Blink, looking at the Ezviz I would lean towards the Blinks.

Direct integration with ST via @RBoy DTH
Crazy battery Life
Free Cloud Storage

Looking at Arlo vs Blink…well…tis is this thread.

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Good morning @zr8000 and @rontalley,

I am a Blink user and Backer since their KickStarter. I am recommanding Blink to both of you as I can tell you this, I tried both Arlo and Blink and my answer is Blink all the way.

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Waiting for Blink2.0 to implement two-way audio.

Unfortunatly 2-way communication is not on their near future road map IMO.
However as I have posted on other thread, a complete Security system should be released by end of summer. They have release info for Pre-Order with a low cost monitoring.
http://get.blinkforhome.com/blink-home-security/

It looks like they are trying to mirror simplesafe. Makes me think they may try & move away from smartthings in the future.