Reolink Argus 4 Professional Assessment – An impressive twin lens  surveillance digicam with true color evening imaginative and prescient  

I’ve been a giant fan of the dual-lens cameras Reolink has produced, and I proceed to make use of the Reolink Duo Floodlight in my again backyard and the Reolink Duo 3 in my entrance backyard.

Reolink has now applied this tech in its Argus vary, with the Argus 4 Professional being the brand new flagship mannequin. Moreover, this is likely one of the first Reolink cameras to make use of the brand new ColorX evening imaginative and prescient know-how, which may produce true-colour evening video footage.

I’ve been utilizing this digicam side-by-side with my  Eufy Safety S300 for the previous few weeks to see how effectively it performs. I used to be significantly to see how the battery holds up as all this superior tech should certainly be demanding on a battery.

Reolink Argus 4 Professional vs Argus 4 Specification

The principle variations are with the digicam sensor and battery.

The Argus 4 Professional makes use of the ColorX 1/1.8″ Picture Sensor, which was first launched on the Reolink CX410 and permits the digicam to provide true color evening footage. The development in battery life is probably going a results of the Argus 4 Professional not needing to make use of the LED spotlights to supply gentle.

Unboxing and Design

The digicam comes provided with a screw mount, strap and screws, providing you with the flexibleness to mount it the place you need.

The digicam itself is massive for a battery-powered digicam, as you anticipate because of the dual-lens design.

It’s simpler on the attention than the Reolink Duo 3 and resembles a robotic head with the lenses as eyes. You then have highlight LEDs on the left, proper and within the centre for when there’s not sufficient gentle for the color evening imaginative and prescient to work correctly.

On the bottom of the digicam is a rubber flap defending the microSD slot and reset button.

Then, on the again is one other rubber flap for the USB-C port. It is a recessed port that means that you can use a photo voltaic panel, with the USB-C cable on the panel sealing up the port to supply some ingress safety.

App and Arrange

The setup is identical as for all different Reolink cameras: energy it up, add the digicam via the Reolink app, and observe the directions.

The principle factor to spotlight is that that is suitable with Wi-Fi 6 and each 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The 5GHz band doesn’t have as a lot vary, but it surely ought to make connecting the digicam stream quicker.

Storage Choices and Subscription

Reolink is likely one of the finest firms for the storage choices you’ve gotten accessible, as they don’t power you right into a month-to-month subscription.

The Argus 4 Professional helps microSD playing cards as much as 128GB and the Reolink Residence Hub Collection helps as much as 6TB and provides RTSP help.

Moreover, you may set the digicam up with e mail alerts and uploads by way of FTP.

Reolink additionally gives cloud storage for his or her battery-powered cameras. There’s a fundamental plan without cost with 7-day cloud storage and one gadget restrict, then £3.49 PCM for 30 days storage and 5 cameras, or £6.89 for 10 cameras.

180 Diploma Subject of View and Day Time Efficiency

The Argus 4 Professional makes use of two 4MP lenses angled away from one another, which then stitches the 2 photographs collectively to provide a powerful 180° ultra-wide-angle view with a decision of 5120×1440.

The twin lens design permits the digicam to have superior readability even compared with wider lenses corresponding to f=2.8mm or f=3.2mm, which disperse pixels over a bigger space.

Video is recorded at 15fps with a 45-second video consuming 16MB of storage.

Video high quality is sweet, which is the case for many cameras throughout daylight these days.

Night time Time Video Efficiency

The Argus 4 Professional makes use of the identical digicam sensor because the CX410, which makes use of a big 1/1.8″CMOS sensor with an aperture of F= 1.0, which permits it to seize considerably extra gentle than competing choices and, due to this fact, permits it to provide color footage in low gentle eventualities.

So long as there’s a small quantity of sunshine corresponding to starlight or a little bit of streetlight, the digicam can shoot full-colour evening imaginative and prescient without having for infrared lights or spotlights.

The standard of the footage shouldn’t be fairly pretty much as good because the daytime efficiency, however it’s considerably higher than B&W’s nighttime footage. Moreover, as a result of the LEDs stay off, you don’t have points with glare like different cameras.

Movement Detection

The Argus 4 Professional has a  180° ultra-wide Passive Infrared (PIR) sensor, making certain broad protection.

In my case, I positioned the digicam on a fence panel dealing with the gate into my again backyard. On this place, the digicam can detect movement at my entrance door, which is situated to the far proper of the picture and likewise individuals getting into my property by way of the driveway to the precise. So, I’ve one digicam that fulfils the job of two or three cameras.

The digicam additionally has superior AI object detection, which can be utilized to establish people, autos, and animals whereas ignoring false triggers corresponding to wind or rain.

There is no such thing as a face detection like you’ve gotten with some manufacturers corresponding to Netatmo, Aqara and Eufy.

Total, movement detection is great however not fairly pretty much as good as my Eufy cameras.

Battery and Photo voltaic Charging

I used to be involved in regards to the battery of this digicam once I acquired it. A dual-lens design looks as if it’ll drain the battery very quick.

Reolink claims the Argus 4 Professional is extra environment friendly due to the Argus 4 Professional ColorX know-how, avoiding the everyday problems with IR evening cameras. The Argus 4 Professional saves 2W/h energy consumption when the digicam is in evening imaginative and prescient mode. The embedded Reolink ColorX tech contributes to a 30% extra battery life in contrast with different IR 4K decision cameras at an evening situation in lab assessments.

I’ve used the digicam for round three weeks on battery and it was about 25% once I checked. So, round a month’s price of cost. That’s not nice, however not terrible. Eufy skew my opinion as their cameras can final months, however Arlo and different manufacturers with sometimes final round 6 weeks. I discovered that the  Argus 3 Professional additionally wanted a cost round each 6 weeks.

I used to be additionally despatched Reolink’s Photo voltaic Panel, which has as much as a 6W output. Reolink claims that 10 minutes of charging can energy the digicam for twenty-four hours, providing an eco-friendly and environment friendly power answer.

I’m primarily based within the north of England, which has few sunny days. Once I first arrange the digicam, I used it for round per week on photo voltaic. It was sunny on the time, and once I checked on it over the primary few days, it confirmed the battery persistently at 100%.

For Brits, I’d say it’s unlikely you’d preserve the digicam powered indefinitely on cost, however throughout summer season months, I’d anticipate you’d hardly ever have to cost it.

Worth and Various Choices

The Reolink Argus 4 Professional launches right this moment with an RRP of:

• U.S. $239.9 (consists of photo voltaic panel)
• Europe $249.9 (consists of photo voltaic panel)

I don’t know why they supplied the EU worth in USD, however I’ll guess the UK worth is round £200.

The Reolink Duo 2 battery is £180 RRP and is at present discounted to £140. That’s bodily a lot bigger and uglier, and the digicam sensor is nowhere close to pretty much as good because the Argus 4 Professional.

The Argus 3 Extremely has a single 4K 8MP digicam sensor with a 105° FoV, it will probably do color evening imaginative and prescient however requires spotlights and prices £150 RRP discounted to £100.

Eufy has the SoloCam S340 which is sort of totally different as it’s a PTZ digicam with one regular lens and one zoom lens. It’s battery powered however has a photo voltaic panel in-built. Battery life is reported as 3 months with out photo voltaic. This then works with the HomeBase S380 which may add facial detection. It’s then priced at £180.

regular battery cameras, Eufy has the 2-camera eufy Safety S300 eufyCam 3C that’s accessible for £280.

The Arlo Professional 5 has a 160-degree area of view from a single 2K lens and is out there for £160.

Total

Most of my Reolink opinions are glowing, and I personally use the Reolink POE cameras as my essential type of surveillance. For dwelling customers, I feel they’re by far one of the best model for wired cameras. Efficiency is probably not pretty much as good as Hikvision, however the price-to-performance ratio is considerably higher.

I’ve at all times appreciated the Reolink Argus vary however most popular the costlier choices from Eufy because of the superior battery life and movement detection.

The Reolink Argus 4 Professional is excellent, and I’d severely contemplate swapping out the Eufy cameras I’ve for one or two of those. The 180-degree area of view and color evening imaginative and prescient means this digicam outclasses most different competing choices.

It’s not an affordable digicam, however contemplating the options, I feel it’s fairly priced.

I’m James, a UK-based tech fanatic and the Editor and Proprietor of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Captivated with all issues know-how, my experience spans from computer systems and networking to cell, wearables, and good dwelling units.

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