Which home security camera offer 4K quality video recording? Compare Arlo ultra vs Pro 3 features – battery life and camera. What distance can the cameras be from the base unit? If you’re not happy with the Arlo’s range, you should also look at how close your Arlo base is to your router and or TV, as anything that produces wifi will create an electromagnetic field of about 3 feet, (which is why most ethernet cables are made about 3 feet long) while TVs produce an electromagnetic field of about 12 feet. This will greatly diminish your base’s range by at least 20-30 feet. If you don’t believe me, try it in your home just with your own router, move it away from your TV and you’ll see how much more range you’ll have.
What is good among them – Arlo ultra vs Pro 3?
Arlo ultra
Pros
- Better image sensors and resolution
- Dual-microphone array
- Wider field of view
- Double-motion detectors
- Year-long Arlo Smart subscription included
Cons
- Most expensive Arlo security camera
- Can only use with included Arlo hub
Arlo Pro 3
Pros
- Less expensive than Ultra
- Compatible with more Arlo hubs
- Three-month Arlo Smart subscription included
Cons
- Lower quality sensors and resolution
- Less free cloud storage than the Ultra
Who is this for?
Purchase the Arlo Ultra if you want…
- Widest field of view: The Arlo Ultra has the widest possible field of view, 180 degrees.
Buy the Arlo Pro 3 if you want…
- 2K HDR: When it comes to video, the Arlo Pro 3 takes the cake.
- Apple Watch integration: Get notified about the Arlo Pro 3 on your Apple Watch!
- Affordable price: At $199.99 for an add-on camera, the Arlo Pro 3 is also the cheapest option of the three.
What are the similarities – Arlo ultra vs Pro 3?
| Arlo Ultra | Arlo Pro 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $299.99 | $199.99 |
| Field of Zoom | N/A | 12x Digital |
| Video Field of View | 180° | 130° |
| Video Quality | Advertised: 4K Actual: 1080p HD | 2K HDR – 2560pHD |
| Color Night Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Infared Night Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Two-Way Audio | Yes | Yes |
| Local Storage | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud Storage | 0 Days Free | 0 Days Free |
| Subscription needed? | Yes | Yes |
| Smart Platform Integration | Amazon Alexa Google Assistant | Amazon Alexa Google Assistant Apple Watch Assistant Apple Watch |
| AI Detection | Person, packages, vehicles, animals, activity zones w/ Arlo Smart Home | Person, packages, vehicles, animals, activity zones w/ Arlo Smart Home |
Arlo ultra vs Pro 3 comparison chart
| Model | Arlo Pro 3 | Arlo Ultra |
| Price for 2-pack of cameras | $469.99 | $590.99 |
| Indoor/outdoor | Indoor or outdoor | Indoor or outdoor |
| Weatherproof rating | IP65 | IP65 |
| Operating temperature | -4º F to 113º F (-20 to 45º C) | -4º–140º F (-20º–60º C) |
| Resolution | 2K Ultra HD | 4K Ultra HD |
| Field of view | 160º | 180º |
| Digital zoom | 12x | 12x |
| Power type | Battery or AC powered | Battery or AC powered |
| Recording type | EBR* or CVR** | EBR* or CVR** |
| Storage type | Local or cloud storage | Local or cloud storage |
| Motion detection | Yes | Yes |
| Night vision | Color or black and white | Color or black and white |
| Two-way audio | Yes | Yes |
| Smart speaker integrations | Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit | Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit |
| Learn more | View on Amazon | View on Amazon |
Arlo ultra vs Pro 3 pricing comparison
The Arlo Ultra costs over $100 more than the Arlo Pro 3 for a two-pack of cameras.
The Arlo Ultra costs a pretty penny more than the Arlo Pro 3. At the time of this writing, you’ll pay about $120 more for a two-camera Arlo Ultra starter kit than you would for a two-camera Arlo Pro 3 starter kit.
What are the differences – Arlo ultra vs Pro 3?
Camera quality
The Ultra is capable of recording 4K video at 2160p and has an 8MP camera compared to 4MP on the Pro 3. Plus, the sensor is slightly bigger. Both cameras are capable of two-way audio and both feature noise cancellation, but the Ultra uses two microphones for improved noise cancellation instead of one for the Pro 3. The Ultra has a wider field of view (180 vs. 160 degrees), and its motion-detection capabilities are better with two separate detectors scanning a 150-degree horizontal range compared to a single detector at a 130-degree horizontal range.
Home automation
Both of these cameras have the same home automation features. This one’s easy—the Arlo Pro 3 and the Arlo Ultra have exactly the same home automation features. Both of them work with all the most popular smart speakers, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and even Apple HomeKit.
Arlo cameras also work with IFTTT, so you can create recipes for your cameras to work with your other smart stuff. You can set your outdoor security lights to turn on when your Arlo cameras detect motion, or you can set your smart deadbolts to lock when your camera spots a person.
| Arlo Ultra | Arlo Pro 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Alexa | Yes | Yes |
| Google Assistant | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Homekit | No | No |
| Apple Watch | No | Yes |
| IFTTT | No | No |
| Stringify | No | No |
Installation
You’ll follow the same installation steps for either the Arlo Pro 3 or the Arlo Ultra. This is another area where these two cameras are the same. You’ll follow the same installation steps for either the Arlo Pro 3 or the Arlo Ultra.
Both of these cameras require an Arlo hub, known as the “base station.” It’s included when you buy a starter kit for these cams.
You’ll kick off the installation process by installing the base station. Then you just sync your cameras with the base station, add them to the Arlo app, and you’re ready to set them up in your yard (or house, or wherever you feel like it).
Cloud storage
Both camera systems are capable of storing up to 2TB of video locally via the hub/base station, and both come with a set amount of free Arlo Smart cloud storage. The difference is, the Ultra comes with a full year of free cloud storage, whereas the Pro 3 only gets three months. The one downside to Arlo’s subscription plans is that with the 4K recordings on the Ultra, you’ll need to pay for your subscription after the year is up to access your higher resolution recordings from the cloud.
| Arlo Basic | Arlo Smart | Arlo Smart Premier | Arlo Smart Elite | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount of Cloud Storage | 0 Days | 30 Days | 30 Days | 60 Days |
| Advanced A.I. Detection | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Max Amount of Cameras | 5 | 1 per add-on subscription | 10 | 20 |
| Monthly Price | $0.00 | $2.99 | $9.99 | $14.99 |
Only the Arlo Pro 2 comes with a week of free cloud storage. With the Arlo Pro 3 and the Ultra, you’ll get no free cloud storage after your Arlo Smart trials are over. However, you can buy 30 or 60 days of cloud storage for really reasonable prices for any of the cameras. Still, the 2 clearly wins when it comes to cloud storage.
Customer reviews – Arlo ultra vs Pro 3
Poor quality images
Size: 2 Camera Configuration: Kit Only
Recieved my arlo ultra yesterday and installation was easy, didn’t have a hard time setting up cameras but what I did notice is that the range on the arlo Ultra is less than the pro 2. If you look at some of the comparison pictures you can see the signal strength is weaker on the ultra, yet I have the base station in the same place as the pro 2, I am hoping that its a software issue and might be fixed in the future. Another thing is that I don’t believe that the clarity is much much greater than the pro 2 but what has changed is the visible angles. The big plus is the led spot light that comes on when motion is triggered. Another issue i came across is getting extra notifications when you have the cameras record when another camera detects motion. Ex. I have it set up that when the driveway camera detects motion the front door camera starts recording as well and vise versa, so in total I get four notifications instead of one. A nice feature that is still in beta is the package detection. The new arlo ultra station also take a bit longer to pull up the cameras than the pro 2, also the notifications tend to take longer opposed to the arlo pro which was almost instantly. I understand it’s a fairly new product so I will give it some time and update my review if necessary.
Poor picture quality
Size: 2 Pack Color: White
They claim that they use 2MB/sec for 2K video and 4MB/sec for a 4K video. Netflix and Amazon state they need 15 to 25 MB/sec for their 4K content. The result of this cameras low bandwidth results in very poor quality if their is any motion or fine detail in the scene. I also see a delay of >10 seconds so it is not live. I suspect the the cameras send to the hub using 2.4GHZ wifi which then sends to their server and when I watch it I am probably getting it from their server. I asked this a few times on tech support but was unable to get a clear answer. I have a very high quality mesh network and asked if I could connect the WiFi cameras directly to it and avoid having to go through their hub which is another WiFi network to cause crosstalk. They said no. The WiFi cameras must connect to their WiFi network set up by their hub. Since their hub needs to be connected by an ethernet cable and they want it connected to your base router it makes it placement very difficult if it is far from the cameras. Why not just let it connect to my existing WiFi network?
The physical construction and packaging is excellent though.