Reolink are a great name in the world of security cameras. What differentiates them from the others are their great prices, the fact that you can keep using them without any subscriptions required, and of course the great image/video quality. On top of that, they keep bringing out more and more advanced features, ensuring you get more for your money. Their latest offering, the Argus 4 Pro, is proof of this very concept. Offering 180 degree view, enhanced battery life, coloured night vision, as well as smart home integration, this camera offers everything you need to feel secure at home.
Argus 4 Pro – Features
- 4K UHD 180 degree blindspot-free view
- Dual 4mm lenses offering image stitching
- All day colour vision with Reolink’s ColourX technology, including at night
- PIR detection up to 10m
- 30% more battery life than previous devices, using up only 2W/h
- With the solar panel, just 10 minutes of sunshine can provide enough charge for the day
- Wireless connectivity with WiFi, WiFi 6 ready
- 4K streaming
- Easy to install
- Bluetooth configuration
- Enhanced smart detection, including customised motion zones
- Time-lapse feature
- Smart home integration with Google and Alexa
- Local storage with SD Card, or using NAS or other options
Setup
The setup is really straightforward and seamless. It helps if you charge the device beforehand, even if it is to ‘wake it up’.
Back to the setup, all you need to do is install the Reolink app if you haven’t already, add a device, and then just scan the QR code on the device using your phone camera, and that’s about it.
After that, you can try and change settings, play around, etc. It does help to have this all sorted before you have mounted your camera to wherever it needs to be used.
Charging and battery life
It charges via USB C, which is great and much better than a propriety connector. I did find that it was best to use its own charging cable as the port to charge is somewhat recessed, which I believe is to help its IP rating.
It took an hour or 2 to fully charge on a standard phone charger.
Once running, I found that it drew about 10% of its battery, giving you an average of 7-10 days of battery life if you choose to manually charge it. I ran a test for about a week to confirm.
If you add other features like time-lapse to your daily routine, it will use up more battery life.
Once I connected the solar panel to it, it took a few hours to get to 100%, but since then, I don’t think I have seen the battery level drop below 95%. Basically, the promise is that just 10 minutes of good light is enough to charge it for a day (10%?), but it is hard to verify this. Living in a particularly rainy and cloudy Oxford at the moment, I can confirm that cloudy and grey days are still good for charging, hence my recommendation below that definitely get it with the solar panel.
Basic usage and sensitivity
The basic usage is like any other security camera. I popped it outside the house, and have had it there since I have had it (around 6 weeks now).
The 180-degree image is something that takes getting used to. Also, it helps if you are open to adjusting and changing the sensitivity on what classes as a trigger event. A waving branch in the wind can easily trigger it, giving you lots of false alarms, but also if you drop the sensitivity too low, you may start missing events you are actually interested in.
You can always define areas or objects of interest to make this easier, or tell it what areas to exclude.
My main complaint would be that my very small walkway in front of the house, which has a wall on one side and a big bush on the other, means that most trigger events start recording by the time somebody has already walked up to the door. I think it is a 3-5 second delay, which means I will normally see delivery drivers or cats walking away. Yes, you can hear them as well, but it would be good if it triggered just a bit earlier, or if there was someway to keep running and every trigger event starts 5 or 10 seconds before the trigger event. Obviously, this would come at the cost of the battery life, so a hard decision to make for Reolink. On the other hand, if I had the choice, I would definitely use it.
Image quality
The image quality is pretty good. Of particular interest is how well the image looks at night. The cameras are able to pretty much gather all the colours even at night, without needing the light to come on.
However, I quite like the light, which is not very bright, but bright enough that when you come home at night, it helps you with being able to see how to open your door, etc.
The images are great. My only qualm is that image stitching can sometimes make the bit where the images from the two cameras come together a bit off. It is hard to describe it, but you can see that something is not quite perfect. I captured a shiny shimmery fox which looked ethereal at one point, and at another point, it was my own face that seemed off. You can adjust the distances etc, but since it has to work over a range, I am not sure how well it would come across if somebody was walking towards or away from the camera. Having said that, it is a small thing and you really have to look for it.
Accessing data
You will need some sort of a storage solution to store data from this, but without, you can use this as a streaming device. I used an SD card, and basically the data can be accessed via the app.
You can download videos, which are arranged by date on a timeline, and you can even take pictures from the videos from within the app. Features such as slowing down or zooming into areas of interest are also available.
Since a new feature (still in beta) also highlights any movement, it makes it even easier to see who or what is causing the trigger.
Ease of use
While not really necessary, I have to mention that the best part of the Argus 4 Pro is the ease of use. No subscriptions are needed, this is pretty much a plug-and-forget sort of device. The notifications keep coming, and more importantly, the device can just overwrite older files once the SD card is full, which makes it pretty much maintenance-free. The solar cell keeps it charged, all from the magic of the sun. Moreover, being IP Rated means it is ready for all locations outdoors.
More information
More information on the Argus 4 Pro can be found on the Reolink website.
Launch promo has special deals going, so do click to find if you can make it.
Otherwise, the prices will be:
- UK: £220 with Solar Panel, £169.99 without
- Europe: $249.90 with solar panel
- US: $239.90 with solar panel
I would recommend getting the solar panel with it as a bundle, totally worth it.
While older models of this camera are available on Amazon, I can’t find this one yet.