Reolink Argus 3 Pro Review – Best Wireless Security Camera?

Reolink have created a great quality wireless outdoor security camera. With crystal clear 1440p recording and a stellar battery life, the Argus 3 Pro is a strong contender for the best wireless security camera on the market right now.

Wireless security cameras have gained major traction in the UK as being the go-to inexpensive, easy to install option when it comes to improving home security without breaking the bank. With the introduction of a number of wallet-friendly companies such as ieGeek and Eufy, the competition is stiffer than ever, and manufacturers are needing to come up with top quality tech to get consumers like us to part with our hard earned money.

Without further ado, let us take an in-depth look into the Reolink Argus 3 Pro, and figure out whether it’s worth buying, as well as some viable alternatives.

Who Are Reolink and What Do They Do?

Reolink fits into the market amongst the likes of Eufy and Reolink, offering premium features but at a very reasonable price, especially compared to the more high end globally recognisable companies like Ring.

For a number of years now Reolink has offered an all in one solution, by developing a variety of home security products which can all be powered from a single smartphone app. Sounds good, right?

Argus 3 Pro – Key Features

The Argus 3 Pro has a number of features which set it out above many of its rivals. Firstly, it has the very nifty inclusion of an option called person and vehicle detection, which works extraordinarily well. Using this, you can receive alerts when either of the two are detected. It’s not just a gimmicky extra either – it’s alarmingly accurate and doesn’t appear to drain the battery too quickly when you have this enabled.

Additionally, the recording quality is definitely worth mentioning. Crystal clear 1440p video is more than enough for almost anyone’s needs, and the smoothness of the video is enough that you probably won’t feel the need to turn it down to a lower resolution to improve it.

Readers of our article covering the best wireless security cameras with no subscription will already know this, but the Argus 3 pro doesn’t require a monthly subscription to work! Thanks to its built-in micro SD card slot, you are able to save recordings automatically, without needing to stump up the often costly fee of some kind of cloud storage service (we’re looking at you, Ring…)

This article is marketed as being an outdoor security camera, and that really is the Argus’ natural environment. It’s a lot more rugged than just about any indoor security camera, with an IP65 rating meaning you don’t need to stress about the great British outdoor causing problems.

With the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi with either 2.4GHz or 5GHz, you won’t need to worry about a sketchy connection, unless your house is absolutely huge, in which case you can probably afford a good Wi-Fi extender anyway.

One important factor to consider when looking to buy this camera is whether or not 24/7 monitoring is a deal-breaker to you. Wireless security cameras simply wouldn’t be practical to run constantly as the battery would drain pretty rapidly. The Argus 3 Pro doesn’t work for 24/7 recording, so just bear that in mind.

Reolink Argus 3 Pro – Cloud Storage

The Argus 3 Pro is compatible with the manufacturer’s cloud storage subscription service, known as “Reolink Cloud”. If you would prefer to go down that route instead of recording to the microSD storage, bear in mind that it will cost you £4.99 per month at standard price, or less if you’re lucky enough to catch it on sale. If you opt to pay yearly for the service there is a slight discount, at £49.19 (£4.10 ish / mo).

It isn’t free, but there are a couple of benefits in opting to subscribe to Reolink Cloud. If, heaven forbid, a criminal decides to mess with your camera they could take out the memory card and cause you to lose footage. Having your footage backed up to the cloud is a good way to protect against this, and saves you from retrieving the memory card from the camera occasionally, which is actually quite nice if your camera is isn’t in an easy to access spot.

The good news for those of you who don’t want to rack up a bill is that this service is optional and the Argus 3 Pro works perfectly fine without Reolink Cloud.

Argus 3 Pro Setup

Setting up your Argus 3 Pro is a breeze, even if you aren’t super tech savvy. You’re going to need the camera, a Wi-Fi connection and a smartphone ideally. Take a look at this video for a full setup guide, or read on:

• 1. Install the Reolink app on your smartphone
• 2. Scan the QR code on the back of your camera using your smartphone
• 3. Alternatively, you can enter the ID on the back if your QR isn’t scanning.
• 4. Turn the camera on and configure the Wi-Fi connection using the app
• 5. Scan the QR code on your smartphone with the camera
• 6. Create a login for the security camera.

And there you have it – setting the device up takes around 5 minutes and really isn’t too much of a hassle. Props to Reolink for making the setup easy enough.

The app experience is pretty stellar for a relatively unknown company. It’s clear that’s they have spent a good bit of time and money on making sure their customers are going to be happy.

Argus 3 Pro Installation

Installing the Argus 3 Pro is easy enough that it probably isn’t worth calling in the professionals. The camera comes with a wall mount which is robust enough to deal with being mounted to raw brick, so you shouldn’t be disappointed. On the other hand if you want to mount it to something like a tree or pole, you can opt to use the handily included mounting strap instead.

The wall mount lets you adjust the angle of the camera you would like, and then lock the position so stop it sagging over time. Very handy indeed.

When drilling holes for fitting the wall mount, make sure you use the included stencil so that you can pre-drill holes in the right place. This saves a ton of time, and this cheap little piece of plastic is a godsend if you’ve ever needed to drill 4 holes really accurately before.

How Good is The Detection?

Long story short, the motion detection is very good with the Argus 3 Pro. Very occasionally you will probably get a false alert now and then, but it’s better for a camera to be a little over-sensitive than under in my opinion.

The time between motion being detected and your phone receiving an alert is downright rapid, which helps me to put my trust in the camera to do a good job when it comes to securing a property.

There are a couple of minor drawbacks which you may want to consider depending on what your needs are:

Firstly, it doesn’t have the ability to detect a specific individual. Unlike some more expensive cameras which are pretty good at identifying who it’s recording, the Argus 3 Pro is unable to do this.

Additionally, it doesn’t support package detection, which can be especially useful if your home is empty for long periods of time and you live in a busy area where people occasionally help themselves to each other’s parcels – that’s the sad reality of modern Britain in a lot of areas 😢.

Argus 3 Pro – Detection Zones

Another feature which would be nice to have is the ability to configure the detection zone of the security camera. Many other wireless security cameras in the same segment do actually have the ability to only trigger an alert when someone walks onto your land and not simply past your house on the pavement, so it’s worth considering this if your house is quite close to a main road and you want to record the front of your property.

Camera Recording Quality

Moving onto the recording quality of the Argus 3 Pro, it’s considerably better than the budget non-pro version. It comes with a 4 MegaPixel sensor and records in up to 1440p. It’s 1440p video recording saves at 15fps, so if having a smoother video of someone tripping over on your driveway for YouTube is important, turn the resolution down for a smoother recording.

The Reolink is also pretty impressive when it comes to recording in poorly lit conditions such as in the dead of night. It comes with two options – either an LED spotlight, for illuminating the shot, or Infrared LEDs which can record in the dark. It’s worth noting that if you opt to use the true “night vision” mode, the range is reasonable but not quite as good as during the day. Unless you have a mansion, it should be more than sufficient but don’t expect to be able to see an HD video of something more than around 10 metres away in my opinion.

The camera is able to record with a field of view of 100 degrees, which is wide enough to make sure you aren’t missing anything important. For larger properties, I would definitely recommend ordering more than one to ensure you have full coverage of your property and make sure there aren’t any blind spots. This is a standard recommendation though, and there aren’t really any single security cameras that are able to record your entire home of course.

Does The Argus 3 Pro Work With Alexa?

Yes, the Argus 3 Pro does work with both Google Assistant and Alexa, although in an albeit limited capacity. It’s only use is to bring up the camera’s feed. If you want to do anything else, you’re going to need to open the app up on your phone, or alternatively use the website.

Is The Argus 3 Pro Compatible With Solar Panels?

Yes – Reolink do sell a solar panel kit intented for this camera, which does a great job at keeping the battery topped up, even with just a few hours of sunlight. During our couple of weeks of testing, the battery never went below the mid-80s percentage wise, and other people have reported it never going below even 90%. This is all going to vary depending on how much sun the solar panel gets, and which features you have enabled on the camera. I would say based on our usage, in a worst-case scenario when using the solar panel you might have to manually charge it once per year, and that’s if you’re very unlucky.

Pro Tip, by the way – Try to make sure the panel faces south for optimum performance. Thank me later.

Verdict

In summary, the Argus 3 Pro is an awesome little wireless outdoor security camera, with a good quality sensor and an even better battery life. If you don’t care too much about the Alexa integration being somewhat limited, then this is definitely one of the best options on the market, without a doubt. There’s a reason it’s been a bestseller in its category for a while now, and with its great app functionality and handy accessories in the box, I’m really not surprised that so many other journalists in the home security space simply can’t stop singing its praises.

In my opinion, it is worth spending a few extra quid for this version over the budget-conscious non-pro version, mainly because the recording quality is considerably better.

Are There Any Good Alternatives?

Yes! The main alternative I would recommend is the ieGeek 2k, which I’ve done another in-depth review on. Alternatively, the Tapo C310 is pretty amazing for the money, if you would prefer to spend a little less (at the time of writing).

Awin, SmartSafeHome