REOLINK Altas PT Ultra - 4K Solar Security Cameras Wireless Outdoor, First 10s Pre-Record in Battery Cameras for Home Security, 500 Days Battery Life, Auto Tracking, ColorX Night Vision, Wi-Fi 6

I’ve been using Reolink solar cameras since their early Argus PT ball cameras, and currently have 15 Reolink cameras in operation.This Atlas PT Ultra is by far the best.The Trakmix cameras are good with the full PTZ(oom) capability, but it lacks the capability to initiate recording instantaneously when detecting motion. As a result, you miss objects like vehicles passing by, or things including people just out of the detection range. In order to solve this, you need continuous recording capability - solar powered.The Atlas PT Ultra does this, as long as you know the limitation of the solar recharging.As it comes from Reolink, it cannot adequately recharge daily without full sunlight EVERY day for at least 8-9 hours. Bright overcast, cloudy, or rain will inhibit the recharging. These solar panels require full sunlight to be effective. Nighttime battery usage is 15-25% of battery, and full sunlight during the day is good for 20-25% of battery over 8-10 hours. If you miss several hours or a day or two of full sunlight, the battery will decline all the way down.This camera does have the capability of saving a few seconds prior to motion detection, if you choose to not enable continuous recording, but you will miss capturing what occurs out of range of the sensor. This is not full time recording.When full time recording, the camera saves in 5 minute increments, but they are continuous on replay, if you need it for proof of activity. Looking for incidents, on continuous recording can be difficult, however Reolink incorporated a neat indicator on the 5 minute previews, that indicate motion was captured in that segment, as well as indicators within the segment replay, that indicate where the motion was detected in the segment, as well as what was identified (vehicle, person, animal, or unidentified). See the attached photos.One thing lacking on this camera vs the Trakmix cameras is zoom capability, however the camera is much improved with very clear recording in comparison.Now a ‘fix’ for the limited recharge provided by the current solar panels -The solar panels are 5v 6 watt. Installing a volt/mAmp meter between the solar panel and the camera, indicated the charging amperage was not adequate in less than full sun, nor could it recover charge, once the battery fell to 75-85% charge, as there was not enough sun during a daytime period (and we are in Florida) to recover, hence the battery would continue to deplete as it used more during the night, than can be replenished during an 8-10 hr day.Over the last 5 months, I wired and tested using 2 solar panels in parallel using proper power adapters, per camera. And it worked.Only once during the 4 months of operating this way, did the camera battery drop below the threshold of stop full recording. It was a 3 day period of overcast, including one day of light rain. As soon as sun returned, this setup fully recovered battery charge in 2 days.If you attempt to do this - you are on your own, as I’m sure Reolink would not approve, but I’ve not had any ill affects, but it accomplished full time recording.Photos Attached.As you can see in the photos, the blue bar at the bottom, shows white lines when motion was detected, that helps to identify which 5 minute recorded segment have captured something. On each 5 minute preview pane, it shows what was detected.The white dot following a vehicle usually indicates the camera returning to its standby position after tracking it. Looking at the slider line, it will show when during the 5 minute segment, the motion actually occurred.If you notice the wider dot - it’s the vehicle, the single dot is the camera repositioning back to standby. If a person is detected, there will be a person symbol. If there is an animal, it will show an animal symbol, if it is a large animal (dog, horse) or a single dot, for a cat.The cat that is circled was actual outside the detection range for that size animal, but it was recorded, since the camera is in continuous record mode, and would have been missed entirely by a prior model camera.You will need to fine tune the Object size and tracking range to your preferences.This camera and 2 other Trakmix cameras are approximately 450’ from my closest wifi router, and communication with them is good about 95% of the time. Loss of signal is usually during hot dry daytime, so I assume it is environmentally caused. I’m still looking for a solar powered wifi relay to rectify this, and to reach the far corner of our property at about 650’. (Current units are limited and have some weird wifi requirements. )I will add more to this review in the future.However this Argus PT Ultra camera is definitely the best Reolink at the moment.Hope this helpsUPDATE : I have also found that the night vision is far better than the Trakmix cameras, and the lens does not fog up during high humidity, and temperature changes. The recordings are very clear, and visibility in the dark is exceptional.I also have one ca,era running the 12a solar panel (Depiuta-US) which has provided quicker recovery than 2 of the 6a panels connected in parallel.

Update:Reolink reached out to me to address the issue. Fantastic support they've provided. 5 stars for their support. As it is right now 4 stars for the camera, as it was probably a bit unfair to compare its performance to a wall powered and Ethernet connected camera, while failing to point out the benefits it brings. Perhaps a future update will further improve its performance and I will update accordingly.As much as possible I avoid having to drill holes or have any visible wires on the house. If you feel the same then this is your solution. I contemplated replacing it with another Trackmix, but I really don't want to drill on the house to run a wire. It does come out of the box with straps for no drill mounting, for the camera itself as well as the solar panel. I bought a pole mount with metal strap for a more secure mount, mounted to the gutter downspout.We had a 12hr power outage last weekend, which reminded me that a big advantage of a solar powered camera is having continued protection during a power outage, but of course your network equipment has to have battery backup for it to provide you instant alerts, though you can of course review what it may have recording during the outage when power is restored if your network equipment does not have a battery backup.The Altas turned on its spotlight as soon as the power went out as it was pitch dark in my backyard. The spotlight looked to be on its dimmest setting, and yet it can see my entire patio. In person it is a lot dimmer than the photo shows. The amount of light the F1.0 lens can capture is awesome. When I woke up at 6am, the Altas still showed 98% battery remaining, and I have pre-recording enabled (though not continuous recording). Power went out at 10PM, so the spotlight was on for 8hrs by the time I checked on it. So it seems you don't have to have ambient light for it to see, and the battery has enough capacity to run the spotlight all night.The Altas did capture the neighborhood cat feeding. Photo attached. It didn't occur to me until looking at this photo - for some reason the font for the clock and camera name are big on the Altas. They are smaller and less intrusive on my other Reolink cameras.Original review:My first Reolink product was the TrackMix which is monitoring the front of my house. That camera is perfect for my needs and performs extremely well. It detected and tracked a cat running fast up my driveway, as well as squirrels and chipmunks which are tiny and speedy creatures so I was genuinely impressed by its detection capabilities.Being impressed by the TrackMix, I decided to try one of these Reolink solar powered cameras for the back of my house which has no accessible power outlet or Ethernet connection. I first went with the Argus. Motion detection on that camera worked fine, though not as well as the TrackMix. It does reliably detect motion on the edge of the frame which is where my two rear entrances are. It even detected that same cat in the middle of the night and recorded it action. However, due to the design of the Argus, it has very limited vertical tilt and it cannot monitor both my rear entrances at once. I exchanged it for this Altas PT.Motion detection on the edge of the frame with the Altas is basically non-functional. Sometimes it would detect when I exit from the rear entrance, but more often than not it doesn't, day or night. In my mind, if detection does not work 100% of the time, it is basically non-functional. With the Argus, the moment I open the rear door it would detect it and turn on the spot light when it's dark. The spot light coming on is an added deterrent. I have two lanterns at the rear, one each by the rear entrances. The Altas with its F1.0 aperture can clearly see my entire backyard with just the ambient lighting from the two lanterns. Image quality is quite impressive. The only time the Altas turns on the spotlight is when I pan it to my sidewalk which is complete darkness at night. The Altas does not have infrared night vision, so without the use of the spotlight it cannot see anything without some ambient light. Nevertheless, I prefer the spotlight coming on with the Argus as an added deterrent.The Altas cannot detect when the neighborhood cat visits my backyard. I know he's visited since I put out food at night and it's licked clean by the morning. The Argus detects and records the cat 100% of the time. The attached photo is from the Argus detecting and recording the cat, and it correctly gives an animal detection alert on the app.One other issue with the Altas is with the home and preset pan locations. I find that it loses calibration on the vertical axis. It keeps creeping up by a few pixels every day, and as a result every few days it would lose coverage of entrance that's in the bottom of the frame. If I go into the app and manually perform a calibration, it would being it back into the frame. This is not an issue with either the TrackMix or Argus.

Perfect camera. No subscription, CVR given you have an SD card, and with the solar panel no power issues at all. My device is setup to get direct sunlight from about 3pm till sundown. There were a few days in a row in my area where direct sunlight was obscured so the battery levels got down to 20% or so. However with 2 days of normal sunlight, the device charged back up to a stead 80%. Note that the device will normally not charge over 90% (should be 85% I think) regardless of the amount of sunlight hitting the solar panel and that is due to a safety feature to ensure longevity of the device. I started with Arlo and was soo disappointed with the product and service I wasn't sure I was going to try another brand. I am EXTREMELY happy I decided to try out Reolink. VERY HAPPY!!!!