How To Set Up Blink Xt Cameras

We at HomeAlarmReport have been testing Blink for over two years now and information technology'south been performing solidly. The original Blink camera was given to us for a review, but nosotros've since purchased the Blink XT on our own. With large changes recently appear (Blink was purchased past Amazon), it's time to accept a fresh look at this battery-operated security camera.

Glimmer vs. Blink XT

Glimmer XT is the newest Blink Camera. Information technology's not a replacement for Blink, but rather a supplement. In and then many ways, it appears superior. And in so many ways, it's nevertheless the same.

	Glimmer	Blink XT
Resolution	720p	1080p
Night Vision	Illuminator	IR LEDs
Field of View	110°	110°
Usage	Indoor	Indoor/Outdoor/ IP65 rated
Promised Battery Life	2 Years	2 Years
Actual Battery Life	2 Years	2 Months
Sensors	Movement and Temperature	Motion and Temperature
Smart Detection	Activity Zones	Activity Zones
Encoding	H.264	H.264
Color	White	Black (Trim White, Utility Gray, and Brick Carmine Skins Are Also Available For $24.99 Each)
Where to Buy	Purchase Here	Buy Here

The ii cameras can work lonely or together, but either mode, y'all'll need to connect them to a Sync Module, a separate device that remains plugged into a power source. The Sync Module is ane of the reasons why Glimmer has such a long bombardment life. Instead of connecting directly to your Wi-Fi network, Blink and Blink XT rely on the Sync Module for advice. It'southward responsible for streaming videos, sending clips to the cloud, and sending app commands to your Glimmer cameras. For example, if you enable motion detection from the app, the control volition go straight to the Sync Module over the net and the Sync Module uses its proprietary low-ability frequency to relay the control to your photographic camera.

Glimmer Video Doorbell

Besides Blink and Blink XT, there's another Blink camera coming soon: a video doorbell. Although information technology was removed from Blink's website, a recent FCC filing by Blink and Amazon indicates that they're finalizing the doorbell.¹

Based on the initial features appear, information technology's a fine doorbell, with a tempting price ($99.00 without a Sync Module, $129.99 with a Sync Module). And yes, it does require a Sync Module. However, we're not planning on testing it. For starters, we're satisfied with our Ring Video Doorbell. Past the way, Band is also owned by Amazon and Ring is a much more than established doorbell visitor. 2nd, our experience with Blink XT has shown usa that Blink's amazingly long battery life isn't and then amazing when the photographic camera is exposed to the outdoors, where the motion activity level is higher. This wouldn't be as large of a deal if Glimmer Doorbell was wired or if information technology offered a rechargeable battery, simply it doesn't.

The Glimmer Doorbell will employ the same ii AA one.5V Lithium batteries as the Blink Security cameras. While you can wire the doorbell so that it rings your existing chime, this will not proceed the camera charged, it will only extend the photographic camera'due south battery life.

Finally, Blink hasn't been and then corking about launching promised products in their promised course and they've struggled to launch products on time.

That said, let's talk hardware. The Blink Video Doorbell is an HD camera that offers two-way audio. If someone rings your doorbell, you can use the Blink app to talk to your guest. If you don't have an existing door chime, yous tin buy one from Blink (pricing TBD). The photographic camera will capture ring events and store them in the Blink cloud. The doorbell, similar all Glimmer cameras, includes free cloud storage.

In addition to ring events, the photographic camera can monitor for motion events. According to David Laubner, Head of Digital Marketing & Sales for Glimmer, you lot will be able to plow motion off and keep ring events on. Though you can cull to turn ring and motion on or off, there's no give-and-take however on if you will be turning notifications off or monitoring off. Either way, if y'all have some other outdoor camera fix to monitor, we suggest y'all turn Blink's motion off as its battery life is highly contingent upon usage and motion events would trigger more use.

Motion Alerts and Video Storage

All Glimmer cameras include motion detection backed by Activity Zones that is sensitivity adjustable.

Activity Zones is a new characteristic, launched well after nosotros originally tested Blink. Information technology masks off areas you lot don't want your photographic camera to monitor for move. Unfortunately, Glimmer'south Activity Zone characteristic is slightly different from what other cameras offer. You can't depict the zone or even customize its shape. Instead, the camera's frame is segmented into a 5-past-five filigree. Each of the 25 cells represent an activity zone. Information technology's not perfect, simply it'southward progress.

From the app (iOS and Android), you can too:

Enable/Disable Motion
Prepare the Retrigger Fourth dimension Betwixt 10 and lx Seconds
Adjust the Sensitivity
Customize Activity Zones
Accommodate the Recorded Prune Length (v and lx Seconds)
Set the Clip to End Early if Motility Stops

And what we similar nearly about Blink's motility is that information technology's "always-on." You might not realize how important this is until you test other battery-powered cameras. We tested Canary Flex, equally an case, and was disappointed to find the photographic camera frequently missed important events because it sleeps through them. Blink doesn't have that problem. In fact, nosotros looked through a years' worth of recorded footage (yep, it can potentially keep footage for a year) and constitute that Blink captured the activeness effectively.

So how long tin can Blink proceed footage? It keeps footage until your storage limit is reached. Footage is stored on Glimmer'due south server where you are allowed to store up to vii,200 seconds of video. If you decide to keep the clip length at five seconds, yous tin can save 1,440 clips. In one case you lot run out of space, your older events are automatically overwritten by newer events. If there is a clip yous want to save, simply download the video or email information technology to yourself from the mobile app. If y'all adopt to take charge of your allotted storage, you tin can besides delete saved clips manually. Finally, though the Sync Module supports a Flash Bulldoze, the ability to use it for local storage is still not bachelor.

Of form, Blink isn't perfect. It'south missing a few fundamental features.

You tin can't tape on-demand.
Lacks Geofencing, though you tin can prepare this up indirectly through IFTTT.
It lacks ii-way audio.
As a visitor, they haven't always delivered promised features/products. (USB Storage, Geofencing, Motion Triggered Siren, Etc.)
Push Notifications are not sent until motion is finished recording. They are Not instant.

Creating Schedules

Though Blink has decided to charge for geofencing (the ability to automatically ask the camera to arm and disarm based on your presence), they take left us with three new freemium features.

Starting time, y'all can create a schedule. If you wake up and come up and go around the same time every day, this might work for you. The biggest problem here is that a schedule will arm all of your cameras. You cannot pick and choose different schedules for different cameras.

Second, they offer integration with Amazon Alexa. By enabling the "Blink for Home" Alexa skill, you can arm and disarm your system using your vocalisation. You can too ask information technology to name your terminal recorded motion events. While disarming a camera with your voice might sound like a security take a chance, Glimmer has added protection by requiring a exact, four-digit pin.

Third, they've launched their ain IFTTT aqueduct. Through IFTTT, you lot can connect Blink to hundreds of other devices and services. You lot tin can also create geofencing rules to arm and disarm your cameras based on your presence via Life360. Withal, afterward running an IFTTT geofencing rule on our indoor cameras for months, nosotros've found information technology to exist somewhat unreliable. And just similar schedules, an IFTTT applet volition arm and disarm all of your cameras. There is no fashion to cull private cameras through IFTTT.

About That Battery Life

The original Blink cameras gave a solid 2 years of bombardment life. The XT, on the other hand, hasn't fared so well outdoors. The first set of batteries lasted effectually ii months. After that, nosotros fabricated adjustments to the photographic camera to reduce the number of alerts received. Unfortunately, this made fiddling difference. The second circular of batteries lasted a mere 1.5 months. The 3rd ready didn't terminal much longer.

Disappointed, we reached out to Blink for feedback. Team Blink suggested nosotros use only new, non-rechargeable AA Lithium batteries stating that alkaline based, Lithium Ion/Li-ion, and rechargeable batteries will only drain the photographic camera faster. They besides suggested that we power the camera using a micro USB cable and USB power adapter, which sort of defeats the purpose of buying a battery powered camera.

Notwithstanding, this doesn't explain why there is such a swell discrepancy between promised battery life (2 years) and actually battery life (2 months). According to Glimmer, standard use is defined every bit twoscore,000 seconds of recorded motion clips and live view sessions. We had surpassed this number in two months. That said, Blink XT is going to piece of work best in lower traffic areas or even indoors. We also suggest looking into the new Activity Zone feature which will aid reduce fake alarms and prolong Blink's battery life.

Blink + Amazon

Glimmer was caused by Amazon in Dec of 2017. Equally to what that means for Blink, during our CES visit, Laubner had no comment other than, "It's as well presently to tell." We asked how the merger would touch on their cloud storage offer. No comment. We asked how the merger would touch customer service. No comment. We asked if they planned to go on to apply their own app or if they planned to swap to the app used for Amazon Cloud Cam. No comment. The catastrophe statement to our barrage of comments, "Every bit of right now, everything is concern as usual."

	Arlo Pro	Arlo Pro two	Glimmer XT
Resolution	720p	1080p	1080p
Adjustable Video Quality
Field of View	130-caste	130-degree	110-caste
Live Stream On-Demand
Nighttime Vision
Zoom	Digital	Digital	Digital
Ii-Style Audio
Other	Records Sound, Detects Sound	Records Sound and Detects Audio. When plugged-in, offers Activeness Zones and Look Back	Records Sound, Temperature Alerts, Activity Zones
Rating	IP65 rated	IP65 rated	IP65 rated
Camera Ability	Rechargeable Battery (Indoor or Outdoor), Power Supply (Indoor But), Arlo Solar Console	Rechargeable Battery (Indoor or Outdoor), Power Supply (Indoor But), Arlo Solar Panel	AA Batteries or micro USB cable and USB power adapter
Battery Life	Tested at 2-v Months	Tested at 2-v Months	2 Years (Lasted Ii Months During Testing)
Requirements	Base Station, Ethernet, Power	Base Station, Ethernet, Power	Sync Module, WiFi, Ability
Siren	Congenital into base of operations station.	Built into base station.	Extra
Free Cloud Storage	7 Days	7 Days	seven,200 Seconds
Premium Features	1. Extended Phone Support, Additional Cloud Storage, Additional Photographic camera Support. 2. Person Detection with Activeness Zones and Rich Notifications via Arlo Smart	ane. Extended Phone Support, Additional Cloud Storage, Additional Camera Support. 2. Person Detection with Activity Zones and Rich Notifications via Arlo Smart 3. Continuous Video Recording with a Paid CVR Plan.	Native Geofencing, Professional Monitoring, Sensors, 4G Backup, Advanced Move Detection
Local Storage	USB Backup or External Hard Drive	USB Fill-in or External Hard Drive	USB Coming Soon
iOS and Android App
Spider web Portal
Alerts	Push, Email, IFTTT	Push, Electronic mail, IFTTT	Push, IFTTT
Works With	SmartThings, Wink, Stringify, IFTTT, Amazon Echo Testify, Repeat Spot	SmartThings, Wink, Stringify, IFTTT, Amazon Echo Show, Repeat Spot	Amazon Alexa, IFTTT
	Buy Here	Buy Hither	Buy Here

Motion Detection Performance

When it comes to detecting movement, Arlo Pro and Blink approach the job differently. If your greatest concern is catching the most events with accuracy, Arlo wins. If your greatest concern is making sure the camera wakes up in fourth dimension to record an event in its entirety, Glimmer XT wins with one exception: Arlo Pro ii offers a pre-buffer feature that will record the iii seconds before motion is detected. The biggest catch hither is that Pro'due south pre-buffer feature only works when the camera is plugged-in, and the power cord is not weatherproof.

	Arlo Pro	Glimmer XT
Adjustable Clip Length	10-120s	five-60s
Motion Triggered Clip Length	Record until activity stops (up to 300 sec).	Can end prune early on if motility stops.
Notification Sent	Instantly	Once Recording Stops
Arm Individual Cameras	Manually or Via Rules	Manually
Record On-Demand
Adaptable Sensitivity
Schedules
Geofencing		Via IFTTT (Native Geofencing Will Require a Subscription)
Person Detection	Via Arlo Smart

After running the cameras side-by-side using different sensitivity levels, we plant that Arlo was slightly more accurate at detecting events during the 24-hour interval and at night and delivered fewer false alarms. In role, because it offers a motion sensitivity examination that allows you to set the motion detector's range accurately. As an instance, you can customize the range and so that it simply detects movement on your porch while ignoring the street. Though you can arrange Blink'south motion sensitivity level, you can't suit the motility detector's range. Adjusting Glimmer's sensitivity adjusts what it considers to be movement, not how far the detector reaches to find move.

In addition, Arlo has Arlo Smart, which gives Arlo the power to detect people and adds Activity Zones. This feature, however, requires a monthly subscription of $2.99 per photographic camera. If you lot use Arlo Pro 2 indoors and plugged-in, it as well offers activeness zones. You tin gear up to three zones. The photographic camera will monitor the zones while ignoring move exterior the set zones. Over again bold you lot have the photographic camera plugged-in, yous can pay to add a continuous video recording (CVR) plan. On the other hand, Blink offers Action Zones for gratuitous.

Blink wins with its Instant On characteristic. Unlike Arlo, this features works even when the camera is unplugged. A common problem with all battery-powered cameras is that they sleep betwixt events to conserve battery life. Blink'south Instant On allows the photographic camera to wake up and start recording within seconds. There are times when Arlo fails to wake up in time to really record something useful. For example, the picture below. We asked one of our testers to walk beyond the camera'south field of vision. Arlo did discover our tester, simply it didn't wake up and tape in time to capture her face.

Arlo also has an edge in that they permit you to create modes involving individual cameras or groups of cameras. For case, you lot might have a dominion that arms your outside camera, only not your indoor cameras. With Blink, schedules and automation are i-size-fits-all. You lot can manually disarm individual cameras from inside the app, just y'all can't automate without involving all cameras connected to your sync module.

Finally, Arlo'southward battery is rechargeable and they sell a solar console.With Glimmer, you have to replace the battery every time it runs out of juice.

Everything Else

I Arlo base station can back up fifteen cameras, but your service plan will dictate how many cameras you lot can utilize. The free program supports five cameras. Arlo'south Premier Program for $9.99 per month supports ten cameras, and the Elite plan for $14.99 per month supports 15 cameras.

On the other mitt, y'all can connect upward to ten Blink or Blink XT cameras to one Sync Module.

Can it read a license plate?

If Blink is placed correctly, you might be able to read the license plate number of a parked machine. During the twenty-four hours, we were able to read a license plate that was xx-anxiety away using the digital zoom characteristic.

Support Caution For Both Cameras

Nosotros give Arlo a B+ for support and Blink a C. Arlo has a leg upward here as they do offer phone support for the first three months. After that, y'all have four options:

Pay for a premium plan to proceeds admission to extended phone back up.
Ask the Arlo Community via their website.
Use Live Conversation.
Send them an email.

Arlo'south electronic mail support is tiresome and there are often communication challenges. Information technology took them 4 days to troubleshoot an issue we had with two-fashion sound.

Glimmer, on the other hand, is harder to get in bear on with. They also have a customs, though not every bit agile as Arlo's. And the only way to reach tech support is to fill out an online grade. In our experience, in one case we had an agent, information technology was hard to proceed communication every bit we weren't able to answer via email. Instead, each time, we had to fill out a new support course.

How long is the power cord?

The power cord for the Arlo Base Station is 6 feet long. The included Ethernet cable is 6.v feet long. The USB string that connects to the Glimmer Sync Module is 40.five inches long.

Camera Range

Building materials, walls, and doors volition all impact a camera'southward range. In general, you tin identify a Blink photographic camera up to 100 anxiety abroad from the sync module. Arlo cameras can exist placed up to 300 feet abroad from the base of operations station.