I found this 2K security camera to be a sunshine superman

Price When Reviewed

$141.99 (As reviewed with $39.99 6-watt Reolink Solar Panel 2: $181.98)

Best Prices Today: Reolink Altas

To make clear from the beginning: The Reolink Altas is a wholly new safety digicam, though there’s already one other Altas-branded product in existence; specifically, the Altas PT Ultra (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 hard and fast lens.

Thanks to its 20,000mAh battery and the 6-watt photo voltaic panel bundled with this SKU, Reolink says one hour of direct daylight day by day can energy 24/7 steady recording with out the battery ever draining fully. You can even 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 Ultra 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 inexpensive product. Credit to Reolink for taking a tough take a look at their industrial design with this digicam, as the corporate will not be recognized for all the time having probably the most forward-looking {hardware}. This one, measuring about 5 x 3 x 2.5 inches in dimension, is just barely greater than the palm of my hand, leaving solely the outsized antenna to attract consideration to itself.

Most folks 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 Ultra 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.

Specifications

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Altas is rated IP66 (higher than the IP65 score on the PT Ultra) for weatherproofing, which our guide to IP codes tells us means it could 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 evening imaginative and prescient, because of Reolink’s ColorX expertise.

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

As with the PT Ultra, battery life is a serious promoting level. The 20,000 mAh cell could be charged through a normal USB-C cable or the rugged photo voltaic panel. The system is so power-conscious that Reolink says it could file repeatedly for 336 hours (that’s 14 days) with out a recharge, or file 5 minutes per day for 540 days.

Christopher Null/Foundry

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

The Reolink Alta can file 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 evaluate). Your different various for native storage is to purchase a Reolink Home Hub, a $100 mass storage gadget that you just connect with your property 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 can learn our optimistic evaluate on the previous hyperlink.

The phrases of the non-compulsory 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 Ultra, onboard storage can be completely tremendous for many customers, until you completely want the one vital bonus function the service contains: thumbnail pictures delivered with push notifications when movement is detected.

Installation and setup

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

Christopher Null/Foundry

As earlier than, repeatedly recorded video is saved in 5-minute chunks, one proper after one other, on Reolink’s playback timeline. This is straightforward to clean by, and when you’re solely recording based mostly on movement detection, the job is even simpler because of the chronological thumbnails. The Altas additionally features a new prerecording choice that permits 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 can impression the battery significantly when you don’t have a gradual 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 price for the prerecording as a result of nothing is transferring.

The spotlights ringing the entrance of the digicam are brighter than I anticipated, although their luminosity will not be specified. I used to be capable of mild up the realm for at the very least 30 ft at full brightness with the spotlights on, and to file in full coloration. That’s a great factor, since you’ll in all probability want the lights: Like the PT Ultra, there is no such thing as a infrared evening imaginative and prescient mode on the Altas, and in situations of true darkness, the picture was garbled and unusable, based mostly on my testing with the spotlights turned off.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The solely approach to get any workable picture at evening is with the spotlights turned on. Fortunately, their brightness is adjustable (they usually can regulate routinely), so that you don’t blast out the neighborhood.

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

Should you purchase the Reolink Altas?

If you don’t want pan/tilt options, the Reolink Altas is a superb various to the Altas PT Ultra, which is cumbersome and awkward. This digicam retains many of the different options of the PT Ultra and trims about $80 off its steered retail worth.

You’ll discover cheaper out of doors cameras in the marketplace—together with ones bundled with photo voltaic panels—however the total efficiency of the Reolink Altas may sway you to shell out just a few additional bucks for it. If you are purchasing for even cheaper, we’ll let you know which key security camera features you shouldn’t give up in the name of price.

This evaluate is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the most effective residence safety cameras.