Stuff UK — June 2017

TEST

WINNER

BEST

FOR

SMART

SKILLS

BEST

FOR

FLAWLESS

FOOTAGE

GROUP TEST SECURITY CAMERAS

NETATMO WELCOME

£159 / stuff.tv/NetatmoWelcome

NETGEAR ARLO Q

£140 / stuff.tv/ArloQ

What’s the story?
The Netatmo Welcome does
the basics really well: it’s a sleek
and compact unit, it has both
wired and wireless network
connections, and it records
video at up to 1080p.
Thankfully, Netatmo doesn’t
ask you to subscribe for a
storage plan: the Welcome
comes with an 8GB microSD
card and you can store as much
footage as you like to a Dropbox
account or ftp server. But it’s
the bonus features, like face
recognition, alarm detection
and Apple Watch support, that
really make the Welcome feel
more advanced than its rivals.

Is it any good?
Setting up the Welcome is
an absolute breeze thanks

to Netatmo’s excellent app

and web interface. The camera

automatically starts recording

clips to the included microSD

card, which you can then

backup to your computer or

phone. Dropbox and ftp setup

is also simple, though we’d have

liked support for other cloud

storage services.

Facial recognition is good, but

you have to manually identify

family members at first as the

camera learns. We also liked

the intelligent alarm monitoring,

which will send you an alert

if it hears a smoke or security

alarm. And despite all those

features, it’s simple to use.

STUFF SAYS +++++

A reassurin

 packa

e with an

abundance of features

What’s the story?

The Q is the most basic

member of the Netgear Arlo

family, but that doesn’t mean

it’s lacking in big features. It

records 1080p Full HD footage

via a camera with a wide 130°

view, has a two-way speaker,

and offers a night vision mode

that makes it easy to find out

who keeps raiding the chocolate

stash at midnight.

It’s also relatively well priced

and comes with free storage

of the last seven days of video

clips; this can be upgraded to

continuous 24hr coverage for

£12.99/month.

Is it any good?

Video footage is excellent, with

the night mode particularly

impressive: even in a really dark

room it’s easy to make out

exactly what’s going on. Sadly,

Wi-Fi coverage isn’t so hot –

the Arlo Pro we tested at the

same time (see p79) was far

further away from the router

but never lost signal, whereas

the Q kept cutting out.

Nor is this the smartest

security camera out there.

You can set up geofencing so

it arms/disarms when you

leave/enter the area, and link

it with other smart devices via

If This Then That (IFTTT), but

that’s about it. There’s no face

recognition or anything truly

impressive. Overall, the Q is

a bit of a mixed bag.

STUFF SAYS ++++,

A decent home watchdo

 but

there are better options

Q THE APP

 e app works as the hub for multiple Arlo

cams (up to fi ve on the free plan). You can

set rules that link them – for instance, if

the garden cam senses movement it can

tell the front door cam to start recording.

Q THE APP

Probably the Welcome’s best feature is its

face recognition. You can get an alert when

a family member comes home, or – if you

run a slightly less Orwellian household – only

when it sees someone it doesn’t recognise.