Reolink Altas evaluation: Battery and solar energy for twenty-four/7 recording

Greatest Costs Immediately: Reolink Altas

To make clear from the beginning: The Reolink Altas is a wholly new safety digicam, regardless that there may be already one other Altas-branded product in existence; particularly, the Altas PT Extremely (and it is “Altas,” by the best way. We haven’t misspelled “Atlas.”) Anyway, whereas that different Altas is a chunky pan/tilt/zoom digicam, this Altas is a bullet-style digicam with a set lens.

Because of its 20,000mAh battery and the 6-watt photo voltaic panel bundled with this SKU, Reolink says one hour of direct daylight each day can energy 24/7 steady recording with out the battery ever draining utterly. It’s also possible to purchase the digicam with out the panel for about $50 much less ($149.99 vs. $199.99).

In some ways, the Altas is the svelte, easier youthful sibling of the Altas PT Extremely we reviewed in Septenber 2024, ditching the pan/tilt motor and a few of its different luxe options to make for an easier and extra reasonably priced product. Credit score to Reolink for taking a tough take a look at their industrial design with this digicam, as the corporate isn’t identified for all the time having essentially the most forward-looking {hardware}. This one, measuring about 5 x 3 x 2.5 inches in measurement, is simply barely larger than the palm of my hand, leaving solely the outsized antenna to attract consideration to itself.

Most individuals will use the supplied ball-and-socket mount to connect the digicam to a wall or ceiling, however the pole/tree-strap system included with the PT Extremely can be current right here; and once more, it’s too brief to be helpful for strapping the digicam to something various inches in diameter.

Specs

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Altas is rated IP66 (higher than the IP65 score on the PT Extremely) for weatherproofing, which our information to IP codes tells us means it might face up to publicity to highly effective jets of water. And like its sibling, it’s impervious to the ingress of particulate matter. It has a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 adapter onboard, together with a mic and speaker for two-way audio, an built-in siren, and each black-and-white and coloration night time imaginative and prescient, due to Reolink’s ColorX expertise.

The digicam is a 2K mannequin with decision of 2560 x 1440 pixels and a 110-degree diagonal viewing angle. Photographs regarded surprisingly good in my testing, and I used to be in a position to pick comparatively far-off particulars, regardless that its precise decision is an enormous step down from the PT Extremely’s 4K decision.

As with the PT Extremely, battery life is a serious promoting level. The 20,000 mAh cell might be charged through a typical USB-C cable or the rugged photo voltaic panel. The system is so power-conscious that Reolink says it might report constantly for 336 hours (that’s 14 days) with no recharge, or report 5 minutes per day for 540 days.

Christopher Null/Foundry

These claims didn’t precisely pan out in my testing: I acquired solely about 5 days of uninterrupted recording (with out the photo voltaic panel, that’s) earlier than the battery petered out. Once more, Reolink says that even modest daylight hitting the photo voltaic panel will preserve it operating indefinitely, and that certainly was correct. With the panel linked I hardly ever noticed the battery at something beneath 99 %.

The Reolink Alta can report to an inside microSD card—capacities as much as 512GB are supported—though none is included (Amazon was bundling a 128GB card and a photo voltaic panel with the digicam on the time of this evaluation). Your different different for native storage is to purchase a Reolink House Hub, a $100 mass storage system that you simply hook up with your own home community. It helps as much as eight Reolink cameras, and it comes with a 64GB microSD card, with slots for 2 extra playing cards with capacities as much as 512GB every. You possibly can learn our optimistic evaluation on the previous hyperlink.

The phrases of the elective Reolink Cloud service haven’t modified, apart from assist for extra cameras and elevated storage on the topmost tier. Pricing for the cloud service is $7/month (30 days, 5 cameras, 30GB storage), $11/month (30 days, 10 cameras, 80GB storage), or $16/month (60 days, 30 cameras, 250GB storage). As with the PT Extremely, onboard storage might be completely wonderful for many customers, until you completely want the one important bonus characteristic the service contains: thumbnail images delivered with push notifications when movement is detected.

Set up and setup

Reolink has paid much less consideration to set-up and app-based administration. Preliminary configuration requires scanning a QR code and plenty of ready whereas loud verbal directions in a number of languages erupt from the digicam’s speaker. The method failed twice once I first tried to set it up, which is irritating. Sure options within the Reolink app stay obtuse or, at finest, horribly translated. Once more, “Clear” is the app’s time period high-resolution video. “Fluent” is the choice for low-res recording.

Christopher Null/Foundry

As earlier than, constantly recorded video is saved in 5-minute chunks, one proper after one other, on Reolink’s playback timeline. That is simple to clean by means of, and when you’re solely recording primarily based on movement detection, the job is even simpler due to the chronological thumbnails. The Altas additionally features a new prerecording possibility that allows you to seize 2 to 10 seconds of video earlier than movement triggers a clip, although that is captured at a user-specified framerate of 1, 3 or 5 frames per second.

It’s basically a low-speed steady recording system, although Reolink notes that utilizing it’s going to impression the battery significantly when you don’t have a gentle solar supply (as much as 2 additional hours per day). The prerecording system labored completely in my testing, capturing the time simply earlier than an individual entered the body, precisely as specified. You gained’t discover the decrease body fee for the prerecording as a result of nothing is shifting.

The spotlights ringing the entrance of the digicam are brighter than I anticipated, although their luminosity isn’t specified. I used to be capable of mild up the world for at the very least 30 toes at full brightness with the spotlights on, and to report in full coloration. That’s factor, since you’ll most likely want the lights: Just like the PT Extremely, there is no such thing as a infrared night time imaginative and prescient mode on the Altas, and in circumstances of true darkness, the picture was garbled and unusable, primarily based on my testing with the spotlights turned off.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The one technique to get any workable picture at night time is with the spotlights turned on. Luckily, their brightness is adjustable (and so they can alter robotically), so that you don’t blast out the neighborhood.

In my testing, clips lasted so long as movement occurred, with no cooldown between clips. 5 minutes seems to be the utmost clip size. Clip thumbnails are additionally precisely tagged with a kind of movement detected in them: particular person, animal, car, or “others.” All advised, the digicam works very well, with the shortage of infrared night time imaginative and prescient the one main draw back.

Must you purchase the Reolink Altas?

When you don’t want pan/tilt options, the Reolink Altas is a wonderful different to the Altas PT Extremely, which is cumbersome and awkward. This digicam retains a lot of the different options of the PT Extremely and trims about $80 off its instructed retail value.

You’ll discover cheaper outside cameras in the marketplace—together with ones bundled with photo voltaic panels—however the general efficiency of the Reolink Altas would possibly sway you to shell out just a few additional bucks for it. When you are searching for even cheaper, we’ll let you know which key safety digicam options you shouldn’t surrender within the identify of value.

This evaluation is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the perfect house safety cameras.