Reolink Argus Security Camera Review
A couple of months ago we reviewed 4k Reolink 411WS security camera which is bulky but has good video quality and connection to LAN network. And today we got a chance to review Reolink Argus smart security camera from Reolink!
Features & Specs
- Full HD Camera – It has 1080p Full HD camera; you can record videos and images or just stream live view
- 130 Degrees Wide View Angle – camera provides wider field of vision to reduce blind spots and cover more areas
- Night Vision – infra-red night vision will help to see clearly at night
- PIR Motion Sensor – camera comes with a built-in huge motion sensor.
- Weatherproof – you can use it indoor and outdoor
- Wire-Free – no power or Ethernet cables needed
- Long Lasting Battery – 180 days on standby mode and 800 minutes of recording
- 2 Way Audio – with built-in mic and speaker you can listen whats going on and talk back
- Intelligent Alerts – you can get instant app push notification, email or just danger sound alert
Reolink Argus Review
The camera has a very sleek small modern design. It has huge motion detection sensor and camera on the front. The battery compartment located on the back and mini sd card slot on the side under waterproof rubber seal.
What in The Box
- When you open the box, you will find:
- Quick setup guide (which honestly I didn’t even need to use).
- Argus camera itself.
- Magnetic base – the all on the base reminds me of an old mouse for the PC.
- Outdoor security mount.
- 4x CR123A batteries
- Surveillance sign.
- Mount hole template to make sure you have painless installation.
- And the pack of screws to mount the base or outdoor mount.
Installation
Reolink thought how to make the installation process as painless as possible.
Here are the steps:
- Open back compartment and insert batteries.
- Now a voice from the camera will say ready to connect, please install the app and add the camera.
- Install the app from the mobile marketplace.
- Open the app and click “Add Device”.
- You can either add camera by scanning QR code on the back (like on the picture below) or enter barcode manually.
- Continue installation in the app by clicking “I Have heard the voice prompt.”
- Enter your WiFi password to connect the camera to the home WiFi network.
- Then the app will show new QR code that you need to scan it with Argus camera to finish the sync. Pretty cool feature!
- After connection successful, the camera will say: “WiFi connection succeeds”. Click the button and you are done!
- Now you put your camera on the base or can connect to outdoor mount bracket to the bottom of the camera (image below).
Honestly, the outdoor bracket isn’t secure because anyone can just unscrew in less than 30 seconds the camera and steal it.
Below you can see pictures of Reolink Argus camera on the outdoor mounting bracket (left) and stand base (right).
I preferred regular stand base. Cool design and easy to install.
Video Quality
Argus smart camera delivers 1080p full HD video with 15 frames per second. Not bad, but not perfect. The video isn’t smooth sometimes, but it comparable to other smart security cameras that we reviewed before.
You can easily change video quality, frames per seconds and bit rate through the app to don’t waste your bandwidth.
Below you can see the image from that I took with Argus camera.
In the night time video performed well. The camera has multiple infrared led around the lens which helps to record clear black and white videos.
Sound Quality
I didn’t like the sound quality of the Argus camera because it doesn’t have noise-cancelation and I can’t clearly hear everything. I will rank 3 out 5 for audio quality.
Motion Detection
The company went further and added huge motion detection sensor to the camera, and it can be super sensitive. The good thing that you can control it through the app, and it performs really well.
App
The Reolink app is what I like with this camera. It has absolutely everything and super easy to use. You can add up to 16 different cameras and transform the app into whole surveillance base.
You also can setup motion detection notification to come either by mail, push notification or enable danger sound alarm on your camera.
Storage
My unit comes with 16gb mini sd storage card which is located right behind the rubber seal.
Not every camera comes with the built-in storage space which is very convenient for people to not spend a monthly fee for cloud storage. But I still prefer to use cloud storage so I can access videos in case camera got stolen.
Reolink Argus Battery Life
Reolink claimed 180 days standby time and 500 minutes in full working power. It’s hard to say yet because I didn’t have the camera for a long time yet. But if testing in real life will show close results then it will be excellent!
Reolink Argus vs Reolink 411WS
As you can see by the pictures above and below the Argus camera way smaller and compact comparing to Reolink 411WS.
The main difference between Reolink 411WS and Reolink Argus:
- Video Quality: 4k vs HD video quality – 411WS is the winner
- Video Zoom: 411WS is the winner
- Wire-free: Argus is the winner
- Compact: Argus is the winner
- Easy to Install: Argus is the winner
- Ethernet Connectivity: 411WS is the winner
- Secured: 411WS is the winner
You can decide which one you will pick, but I prefer the wire-less and compact design and can sacrifice video quality.
Pros & Cons
Honestly, I can’t really find any cons with Argus camera, but I need to list something. I wish small smart device have 4k camera like the big brother 411WS and I love to use cloud storage. In meantime company working and testing their cloud storage solution and I just hope it won’t be expensive and will have couple days free storage space like Arlo Pro camera.
Also, some people hate to deal with changing batteries and prefer to connect wires once and forget about it.
- Full HD camera
- Indoor/Outdoor use
- 2-way audio
- Great infra-red night vision
- 130° wide viewing angle
- Local storage
- Weatherproof design
- Great price comparing to similar cameras
- Wire-free – don’t need to cut and connect any wires
- Improved motion sensor
- Magnetic mount
- Easy to install
- Great App
- Local sd storage
- Only powered with batteries
- No 4k camera
- No cloud storage yet
- Sound quality
- Doesn’t work with IFTTT or other smart devices
- Not secure from stealing it
Conclusion
Overall Reolink Argus security camera is the great choice for the first smart camera for your home or office. The price makes it very attractive to buy it and install in the house for security reasons or just to monitor your pet or kid.
Thank you for reading my Reolink Argus review, and I hope it helped you to decide to buy it or get another wireless security camera instead. At the moment of writing this article the camera is on pre-order stage and soon will be available on the market to buy. In the meantime, you can pre-order it here. Let me know in comments what do you think about Argus and if you get one!
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