When Reolink released its Argus Pro battery powered security camera, it represented a significant step forward for the company in its battery camera lineup. It is therefore no surprise to see Reolink followed up on its success with the release of the Argus 3 Pro.
The Argus 3 Pro looks very similar to its predecessor. In fact, with the exception of a small coloured ring around the lens, the two cameras look identical. Despite the similarities in physical appearance, what attracted our attention to the Argus 3 Pro was the upgraded detection ability that can differentiate between people and vehicles, and so when we were given the opportunity to evaluate the Argus 3 Pro we were eager to test the new upgraded features and decide whether or not this battery powered Wi-Fi camera could perform well enough to help secure one’s home, and for the most part we have been impressed.
OVERVIEW
Description
The Argus 3 Pro is a bullet style battery Wi-Fi camera that can be placed anywhere as long as it is within your Wi-Fi’s reach. The camera has a fixed lens with a 1/3″ CMOS sensor and a built in battery that can be recharged using the USB charging cable provided by Reolink.
The company also provides all the necessary components to help you mount the camera including mounting templates as well as a base plate, and even a mounting strap if required. Although this IP65 rated camera’s value is best maximized when used outdoors and works in temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius, the Reolink also provides a camera stand in case you want to set up the Argus 3 Pro indoors.
We recently reviewed the EZVIZ CB8, and one of the characteristics of that camera that we didn’t like was the fact that the camera’s reset and on/off switches were not concealed. Reolink has made sure that both the reset and on/off switches are not easily visible and require you to open the bottom panel to reach these switches. In addition, like many competitors, Reolink allows for the user to place a MicroSD card in the camera for local recording, thus avoiding any subscription fees associated with cloud storage, although the company offers it.
Video & Audio
The Argus 3 Pro is a 4MP camera that produces an image resolution of 2560×1440 at 15 frames per second (FPS). The bullet style camera offers both full colour night vision thanks to its spotlights as well as traditional IR LEDs.
The field of view (FOV) of the Argus 3 Pro is 120 degrees which provides a wide area of coverage regardless of where the camera is mounted. Night vision for the Argus 3 Pro extends up to 33 feet using the infrared option.
One feature that always gets our approval is the ability to zoom in on objects of interest. With the Argus 3 Pro, you have the ability to zoom in by 16X although we would point out that the image zoom is digital rather than the more refined optical option.
Additionally, the Argus 3 Pro comes with two-way audio so you can both hear what’s happening in around the camera’s location as well as providing you the capability to speak to that delivery guy dropping off a package.
Detection & Alerts
Object detection for the camera is powered by a PIR sensor coupled with the ability to distinguish between person and vehicle. We found the camera did an excellent job minimizing false alarms and only informed us of relevant alarms. We will have more to say about this below.
The PIR detection distance works for objects of interest as far away as 33 feet and the angle for detection is up to 100 degrees which is very good for a bullet style camera.
Reolink has also equipped the Argus 3 Pro with an audible alarm and a siren that we measured to be more than 100 decibels, which is loud enough to get the attention of those unwanted intruders.
Once the camera has detected an object of interest the camera can send both a notification to your phone as well as an email to your inbox, although for a time sensitive matter, the alert to the phone is preferred.
Finally, the Argus 3 Pro utilizes dual band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz/5GHz) which is an upgrade we were glad to see Reolink make to this camera. Full specs for the Argus 3 Pro can be found here.
THE APP
The Reolink app is available for download in the applicable app stores based on your operating system. Once downloaded and installed, setup of the camera is not difficult. Although you first need to setup an account with Reolink, the process afterwards is as easy as choosing the option to add a camera, and then following onscreen instructions which are simple enough to have your camera up and running within a few minutes.
The Reolink app is both reliable and responsive. The main screen of the app shows the Reolink cameras that you have installed giving you to immediate access to any of your Reolink cameras with a single touch.
The app allows for a variety of settings to be customized based on your use case for the Argus 3 Pro. For example, under the ‘Detection Alarm’ tab, it’s possible to choose specific zones in which you want the camera to alert you of a person, vehicle or other objects of interest. Additionally, you can adjust the camera’s detection sensitivity for people and vehicles. Finally, to further reduce the possibility of false alarms, it’s possible to set a minimum size for objects so that you don’t get notified of cats or dogs or other small objects.
Highlighting some of the other more popular options in the app, you will find settings related to schedule-making, or whether or not to have a watermark visible on images and videos taken by the camera and more. It is possible to mount the camera upside down and use the ‘Flip Vertical’ option to have images and videos appear right side up if needed.
HUMAN DETECTION
The human detection feature with the Reolink Argus 3 Pro is very accurate. After you have set up the camera with the appropriate options for human detection and sensitivity you will find that the camera reports very few false alarms. Again, its important to make sure appropriate options are selected within the app, so it does take a little work out of the box, however once customized appropriately we believe the end result is worth the effort.
We tested the camera in a front door setting and have been pleased by the camera’s ability to pickup humans within the field of view with virtually no errors.
Like any security camera, mounting location can play a pivotal role in the efficacy of that camera. The more homogeneous the objects of interest are in an area of low traffic, the more effective the camera will be. However, we wanted to test the camera in more challenging settings and placed the camera in a location where it would be forced to detect cars, animals and people within its FOV.
Here too, we saw that the Reolink Argus 3 Pro did reasonably well, although it required another series of adjustments within the settings to fine tune the detection feature.
NOTIFICATIONS
Notifications are something that we deem to be extremely important when evaluating a security camera. The ability for a detection to take place and to be notified as quickly as possible is what can separate a viable security camera from what is otherwise nothing more than a hobby camera.
Historically speaking, Reolink cameras have tended to perform very well both in terms of detection and notification. In our tests we could clearly see a difference between the Reolink Argus 3 Pro and the EZVIZ CB8, with the Argus 3 Pro outperforming the EZVIZ camera.
On average we found the time from detection to notification to be approximately 2.79 seconds for the Argus 3 Pro. Battery cameras always have a slight disadvantage versus their wired counterparts because wired cameras can operate all the time, while battery cameras often ‘wake up’ when they detect an object of interest. Still, with a quick turnaround time, the Argus 3 Pro performs very well.
We also like the fact that the Argus 3 Pro specifies the nature of the detection in the alert sent to your phone. While the camera does distinguish between people and vehicles, where we feel that Reolink still falls short is the fact that the notification to one’s phone does not have a preview image forcing you to tap on the notification alert before being able to see exactly who or what the camera has detected.
Lastly, when it comes to the cooldown period for the Argus 3 Pro, it is on par with other battery powered cameras with a cooldown time of just under a minute. The cooldown period refers to how long the camera takes before alerting you again after the initial detection of an object of interest provided that object of interest remains in the camera’s FOV.
IMAGE QUALITY
Image quality for the Reolink Argus 3 Pro is generally excellent. The camera outputs images and video at 2560x1440p. There is however a distinction to be made between daytime images vs night time image quality.
First, we found that images of immobile objects to be crisp and clear regardless of the time of day, however, there are some finer nuances to be aware of during the night. Night video and images can be taken in either full colour by using the spotlights or using infrared night vision. What we noticed is that for objects of interest that are moving and at a distance of greater than 25 feet, there is some ghosting that occurs with the camera.
Ghosting as the name implies, is where some part of the object of interest becomes transparent. In several tests during the night, both with the spotlight option as well as with the infrared (black and white) option this occured. We would not classify this ghosting as material or significant in any way, however, it does exist. We contacted Reolink about the matter and they offered up some possible reasons why this may take place, however, we were never able to see the issue resolved. How prevalent was the ghosting? Well, in circumstances when an individual crossed the camera’s FOV, we would see a portion of the individual’s legs under the knees become transparent. This would not stop you from identifying an individual detected by the camera but it would take away from some of the details associated with the detection of an individual.
A second aspect related to image quality that is important to evaluate is the camera’s frames per second (FPS). We often see manufacturer’s cameras lose some FPS during night videos and we see this with the Argus 3 Pro as well. While the camera outputs 15 FPS during the day, we see FPS values drop to around 10 – 12 FPS during night videos. Initially when we received the unit the number was between 5 – 10 FPS however following a firmware update that number was improved to the current 10 – 12 FPS. We hope that Reolink will continue to update the camera’s firmware to improve the night video quality.
The FPS issue irks us given the position of Reolink in the market. We have used and tested battery powered cameras which can render far more FPS at 2K than some Reolink models, and so we hope that the next iteration of this camera can see emphasis placed on improving FPS at night.
BATTERY
When it comes to discussing the battery for Argus 3 Pro, the camera like others, utilizes a non-removeable rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. The battery generally lasts anywhere from three to five weeks based on our testing which included an average of four detections per day.
Anytime we test a battery powered security camera we do not use any spotlight feature that maybe available with that camera since not all cameras are equipped with such a feature, and so using infrared night vision allows for a fairer apples to apples comparison, but we do note that utilizing the spotlight feature would degrade battery life more quickly than infrared night vision.
Based on our results we would put the Argus 3 Pro at somewhere in the middle of battery powered Wi-Fi cameras. We would point out that Reolink does sell a version of the Argus 3 Pro with a solar panel which can greatly reduce the number of times you will need to recharge the camera, if at all. Again, for our testing, this is something we exclude in order to allow for a more equal based testing methodology.
WHAT WE LIKE
Fast Detection: For a battery powered camera, the Argus 3 Pro has the ability to detect objects of interest quicker than other cameras we have tested. Furthermore, the immediate notification alerts to your phone help to make this battery camera capable of handling security needs.
Easy-To-Navigate App: Reolink’s app is polished, reliable and intuitive. We have tested some cameras which work well but are coupled with an unreliable and unusable app. Furthermore, the Reolink app seamlessly brings together the family of Reolink cameras into one central location.
Reolink Client: Reolink has developed an app based NVR which allows you to skip the extra expenses related to a physical NVR. Instead, you can download the app on the appropriate operating system and have an NVR on your desktop to monitor your cameras, as well as customizing settings.
Smart Home Integration: The Argus 3 Pro can be voice controlled with your Google Assistant as well as Amazon Alexa.
High Quality Still Images: The Argus 3 Pro’s still image quality both during the day and night are excellent. Video quality is also rated highly but for the small ghosting issue.
Full Colour Night Vision: While we dont typically use the spotlights for testing, Reolink’s Argus 3 Pro does offer the ability to use a spotlight which allows for full colour night vision which can help improve distinct features of an object of interest.
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE
Ghosting: Although we really like the still image quality of the Argus 3 Pro, the video quality is excellent at a range of up to 25 feet. As the camera focuses in on moving objects of interest beyond 25 feet there is some minor ghosting that takes place. We do not believe that this amount of ghosting is a deal breaker in anyway, however it is something that needs to be noted and improved by Reolink. When we compare the Argus 3 Pro to the EVVIZ CB8 that we reviewed, the EZVIZ camera exhibited no ghosting issues related to moving objects of interest during our testing.
FPS: We noted earlier that the Reolink Argus 3 Pro sees a drop in its frames per second during the night to about 10 – 12 FPS. This is below the EZVIZ CB8 and quite honestly disappointing. Many competitors have the ability to reach 15 FPS during night videos. Reolink needs to improve this aspect for their cameras going forward.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Reolink Argus 3 Pro represents a battery powered Wi-Fi camera that has the responsiveness needed to offer a true security camera option for a homeowner. The ability to detect objects of interest quickly and send an alert to your phone just as quickly is something that all owners of security cameras value. The versatility that comes with a battery powered Wi-Fi camera that can be mounted in difficult to reach places further adds to the attractiveness of the Argus 3 Pro.
Reolink has consistently offered good support for its products through firmware updates. A reliable app as well as Reolink Client just add further value to the camera that does have a few limitations. We hope to see Reolink continue to improve upon a solid foundation that the Argus 3 Pro provides going forward.
Overall, we like the camera and would have no problems recommending it.
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