Reolink is a well-known name and among thebest outdoor security cameras. With a series of models for both indoor and outdoor use, each offering distinct options, it’s easy to find a camera to cover your needs. The new Argus 3 Pro strikes a great balance between features for an outdoor security camera, while coming in at a price below many premium cameras with the same features. While it’s a solid camera, Reolink’s cloud hosting service needs some work.
Reolink Argus 3 Pro
The Reolink Argus 3 Pro is packed full of features and has just about everything you might want in an outdoor wireless security camera. However, the app is a little clunky, and the cloud hosting service sets hard limits on the length of videos, which may make them less useful.
Price and availability
Reolink’s website offers the Argus 3 Pro by itself or packaged with an optional solar panel, priced at $120 and $140, respectively. Both go on sale fairly regularly, usually bringing the prices down to $110 for the camera-only option, and $120 for the camera and solar panel bundle. There’s also a small discount for buying a camera two-pack (sans solar panels) — though this is not the best option if you want solar panels because they cost an extra $30 each when purchased separately.
Amazon also sells both models, priced at $130 for the camera and $140 for the solar panel bundle, but these are often discounted. However, it’s important to double-check that the listing includes the solar panel because the title for the camera-only listing is misleading. B&H Photo also sells the camera + solar panel bundle at a higher $150 price tag.
Design, hardware, what’s in the box
The Argus 3 Pro is a sleek visual update to its predecessor, the non-Pro Argus 2. The newer design has a more defined look with a full-coverage faceplate and an elongated body that reminds me ever so slightly ofGLaDOS— in a good way, I think?
All the sensors and lights are on the front, including the camera, PIR motion sensor, two spotlight LEDs, six IR LEDs, and a microphone. A speaker is on the back side next to a charging port and screw mount. On the bottom is a small rubber lid, which covers a power switch, microSD slot, and a pinhole reset button.
Mounting the Argus 3 Pro outside is simple enough using the included wall bracket and kit. However, the range of motion is a bit limited by the ball joint, so it may be important to factor that in when choosing a spot. Reolink also includes a 2-foot nylon strap that loops into the bracket, allowing the camera to be mounted on a pole or tree limb.
For indoor mounting, a simple base with rubber grips allow the camera to be tilted up or down. It’s also handy during setup.
In addition to the camera and mounts, the box includes a 3-foot A-to-micro USB cable for charging the internal battery — no charging brick included. If you choose the package with an optional solar panel, it includes an additional longer mounting arm.
The solar panel has a fixed 4-meter micro USB cable designed to plug into the camera’s charging port with a rubberized weather-resistant seal.
Software, features, video
The Argus 3 Pro offers resolution up to 2K (2560x1440), and the camera optics produce a pretty good image to fill those pixels. Naturally, a 122° diagonal field of view will have distortion around the edges, but that’s normal and still has plenty of detail. The image is sufficiently sharp at close and mid-range, but may not give you much to work with at longer distances.
Daytime visibility is good, but a mix of bright sunlight and shadow areas might result in some blown out highlights. There may also be minor flares if the sun or other bright lights are in the frame, but not enough to be disruptive. Nighttime visibility is also good up close using either IR or the spotlight; however, neither of these has tremendous range, so you can expect to lose quite a bit of detail and visibility at around ten yards or so.
The Argus 3 Pro includes pretty basic object recognition for three categories: People, Cars, and Other. In my testing, it distinguished well between them but occasionally miscategorized people in the distance as ‘Other’ if there wasn’t much detail. It also often missed small things like my cats walking through the frame (I probably should have turned up the sensitivity to capture them).
Each of the three categories can be configured to ignore areas in the frame, which is especially important if the camera can see a busy road or sidewalk. Unfortunately, the Argus 3 Pro doesn’t support facial recognition, so you may’t configure it to ignore faces.
Setup is a bit tedious, and there are a few quirks and pitfalls, but it’s not overly complicated. But first, a warning: Do not begin the setup if people are sleeping nearby or if your environment should remain quiet.
Early in the process, you’re instructed to listen for a voice. Then, after turning on the camera, you will certainly hear an extremely loud recorded message repeating until the next couple of steps are completed in the app.
Next, you’ll be asked to give Wi-Fi credentials, which are then converted to a QR code to be scanned by the Argus 3 Pro. As your hearing recovers (okay, I’m exaggerating a little here), you may question if this process couldn’t be improved. Once the camera is connected to your network, the guided setup is effectively done.
At this point, it’s best to manually step through the app to change settings and set up integrations with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. I found many of the defaults didn’t align with my expectations, and I adjusted quite a few. The app is a little clunky and has too many layers to tap through, but it’s easy to understand and gets the job done. Finally, it comes time to set up cloud hosting, which is a separate process.
Reolink’s cloud storage service is available at a few price tiers, primarily based on the number of cameras that will be linked to an account. Paid subscriptions start at $6.99/month ($69.99/yr.) with support for five cameras and 30GB of storage or 30 days of video (whichever comes first). Paid subscriptions also include rich notifications, a feature that sends an image with notifications rather than text-only messages.
There is also a free tier for people with a single camera, but video clips are only stored for seven days and up to 1GB. The big caveat to the free plan is that it doesn’t auto-renew, meaning users have to manually update it each month to keep it active. It’s an understandable measure to reduce costs associated with cameras that aren’t really being used, but it also feels a bit like Reolink is marketing a free tier to customers just to nag them into a paid subscription.
However, my biggest problem with Reolink’s cloud hosting is that it limits clips to a certain length. This isn’t something that can be fixed with a paid subscription; it’s actually afixed duration for each camera. The Argus 3 Pro’s time limit seems to be eleven seconds, but it often stops in as little as eight seconds.
This is obviously annoying if you’re trying to watch clips of a somewhat long event. But even worse, it may sometimes take many seconds after a clip finishes recording before a new clip begins recording, which can result in missing important moments during these gaps.
Consequently, these short clips also result in making push notifications more annoying. Each clip triggers a new notification to your phone, and any event that goes on for a while can rack up quite a few segments. Of course, the camera placement will determine how much of a problem this will be, but I would have preferred it if this sort of thing triggered a single notification when motion is first detected.
The Argus 3 Pro also has a slot for a microSD card, allowing it to record while offline. In this recording mode, it doesn’t actually have a time limit, so the camera can continue to capture video until there is no more motion. Notably, this also shouldn’t generate as many notifications.
Competition
Reolink certainly isn’t alone in the market, though most cameras with a similar feature set are a bit pricier. The closest match in features is theArlo Pro 4, which offers the same video resolution, a built-in floodlight, and an optional solar panel.
However, Arlo’s companion app and cloud service are nicer, and the cameras offer slightly more advanced AI features, like recognizing package deliveries. But these improvements come at a relatively substantial increase in price to $200 for the camera alone and another $50 for a solar panel.
Google’s Nest cameras have also been popular, but it’s impossible to find one that precisely matches on features. Thebattery-powered version of the Nest Camis a bit more expensive at $180, and you’ll have to sacrifice video resolution (it’s only 1080p) and the spotlight. Still, it offers probably the best app, AI features, and cloud storage experience. Alternatively, at about twice the price of the Argus 3 Pro, you could get theNest Cam with Floodlightif you want to light up your yard. However, this model notably requires a wired power connection, which may not be ideal for everybody.
Should you buy it?
Given the features and price, the Argus 3 Pro is a fine option if you want the features of more premium cameras while paying a lower price. It’s also one of the very few outdoor smart cameras with a memory card slot. Combined with a solar panel for charging, it’s flexible enough to be used almost anywhere — it can even work as a makeshift trail cam in the wilderness.
The camera works well both inside and outside the home, and if you may wrangle the push notifications, it’s useful for notifying you of unexpected activity. Image quality is solid for close and mid-range visibility, but there are better options if the camera will cover large areas. The addition of a built-in spotlight is also handy for walking around at night or scaring away intruders.
The one potential dealbreaker for the Argus 3 Pro is the clip limit for cloud recordings. The duration is enough to catch the beginning of an event, but the gaps between clips are sometimes far too wide and risk making the clips less useful if they were needed for evidence.
