Pros & Cons
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- Sharp 2K video
- Smooth mechanical pan-and-tilt action
- Strong third-party device support
- AI-powered intelligent alerts
- Dual-band Wi-Fi
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- Recorded video and AI-powered alerts are paywalled
- No local recording option
Arlo Essential Pan Tilt (2025) Specs
| Alarm | |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi |
| Field of View | 130 |
| Integrations | Amazon Alexa |
| Integrations | Google Assistant |
| Integrations | IFTTT |
| Integrations | Samsung SmartThings |
| Mechanical Pan/Tilt | |
| Night Vision | |
| Resolution | 2K |
| Storage | Cloud |
| Two-Way Audio |
Designed for outdoor use, the Arlo Essential Pan Tilt joins its indoor counterpart as the first two Arlo cameras to offer mechanical pan and tilt. This 2K camera packs a lot of features into a $59.99 package, including dual-band Wi-Fi, color low-light vision, a spotlight, and a siren. It also offers AI-powered alerts that not only tell you what set off the motion sensor but also provide captions describing the event. You’ll need a subscription to unlock some features and to view recorded video, but that doesn’t prevent the Essential Pan Tilt from earning our Editors’ Choice award for affordable outdoor security cameras.
Design and Specs: Sharp Video, Mechanical Maneuverability
The Essential Pan Tilt looks nearly identical to the indoor version, but at 6 by 3 by 3 inches (HWD), it is a bit taller and wider. Likewise, the pill-shaped camera enclosure, which delivers IP65 weatherproof protection, is slightly bigger. It's attached to a stand that allows the camera to mechanically pan 360 degrees and tilt 180 degrees, providing more flexibility than many competing models, including the stationary Aqara Camera Hub G5 Pro ($179.99).
As for placement, you can mount the camera to a wall or deck post, or affix it upside down on a soffit. The camera comes with a mounting bracket and hardware, a 16-foot outdoor AC power cable, and a quick-start guide. Unlike some outdoor cameras—for instance, the Arlo Essential XL ($99.99)—it doesn't support battery power.
The glossy black face holds a 12X digital zoom lens, a passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor, an infrared (IR) LED for black-and-white night vision, an ambient-light sensor, and a spotlight. A status LED glows blue when the camera is connected and flashes blue and amber during a firmware update. The camera delivers exceptionally clear 2K video (2,304 by 1,296 pixels) with a 130-degree field of view. It will capture color video in low-light conditions, and if there isn't enough ambient illumination, it uses the IR LED to deliver your video in black and white.
Inside, it packs a siren, along with dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios for connectivity. The pairing button sits on top of the enclosure. Nestled into the base is a speaker and a USB-C power jack.
Smart Features: Helpful AI Alerts for a Fee
As with the indoor camera, the outdoor version uses Arlo Intelligence for face and vehicle recognition, as well as other smart alerts. If something triggers an alert, the AI will generate a description of the motion event that tells you exactly what's going on. You can also create custom alerts for different situations, like if your garage door is left open or a porch light is left on. With smart alerts enabled, the camera will differentiate between motion caused by people, packages, vehicles, and animals. It will also recognize flames and send an alert if a fire breaks out.
To use those AI features, though, you'll have to subscribe to an Arlo Secure plan. A subscription is also required to view the motion event recordings the camera stores in the cloud.
The base Secure Plus plan costs $7.99 per month (billed annually) for a single camera and unlocks 60 days of video history, Smart Activity Zones (letting you highlight areas of your property you want to receive alerts from), and Arlo Intelligence features, including event captions, person and vehicle recognition, and audio and fire detection. If you have more than one camera, you can cover them all with the unlimited plan for $17.99 per month. Bumping up to the $24.99 monthly Secure Premium plan gives you everything from the Plus tier, including unlimited cameras, plus 24/7 monitoring, one-touch emergency response, and certain home insurance discounts.
For comparison, cameras with built-in local video storage, like the Aqara Camera Hub G5 Pro, typically cost more up-front. The G5 Pro has 8GB of integrated flash memory and offers cloud storage plans starting at $4.99 per month. And some models with subscriptions offer much less expensive plans, along with local storage support: for instance, check out the TP-Link Tapo Indoor/Outdoor C120.
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(Credit: Arlo/PCMag)The Pan Tilt Security works with Alexa, Google, SmartThings, and IFTTT applets, but it doesn't support Apple's HomeKit, a feature of the Matter-enabled Aqara Camera Hub G5 Pro. It uses the same Arlo Secure mobile app (available for Android and iOS) as the Indoor camera. It appears on the app's device screen in a panel that displays the last captured image alongside a gear icon for accessing the device settings menu, a play arrow for viewing a live camera feed, and an Emergency Response button.
Tap the play arrow to open a live stream that can be viewed in full-screen mode by tapping the two arrows in the upper right corner. At the bottom edge of the live video are buttons for manually recording, taking a snapshot, muting the speaker, and initiating two-way talk. There’s also a button that opens a large four-way dial for panning and tilting the camera, and another that turns on the spotlight.
Tapping the Emergency Response icon opens a screen where you can activate a siren, tap a button to call a friend, or contact an emergency-response agent. The device settings menu lets you configure Wi-Fi, enable auto-tracking, set video and audio preferences, create activity and privacy zones, adjust motion sensitivity, and adjust the siren volume and spotlight brightness.
To view recorded video, tap the Feed button at the bottom of the home screen. This opens a list of events with thumbnails of the associated video. Tap any thumbnail to play the video, read the event caption, and share, save, or delete the footage.
Installation and Performance: Simple Setup, Smooth Results
Installing the Arlo Essential Pan Tilt was easy. To get started, you’ll have to download the Arlo Secure app and create an account if you're new to the brand. I already had the app installed, so I tapped the plus icon in the upper-right corner of the home screen and chose Add a Device. From there, I selected the Pan Tilt Security Camera from the list, plugged in the device, and tapped Continue after the camera completed a quick calibration. Then I pressed the pairing button for three seconds until the LED began flashing blue, pressed Continue again, and entered my Wi-Fi credentials when prompted. Finally, I gave the camera a name, at which point it restarted and updated the firmware.
After that came the nuts-and-bolts installation, which involved mounting the device on a deck post with the included hardware.
(Credit: Arlo/PCMag)In testing, the Pan Tilt camera delivered sharp 2K video with rich, well-saturated colors during the day and detailed black-and-white video with strong contrast at night. As with the Indoor camera, low-light color video appeared sharp, but colors lacked the vibrancy they have in daylight.
The camera’s pan-and-tilt mechanism was responsive and smooth, and both motion tracking and preset angles worked as intended. Motion alerts arrived instantly, and event captions were spot-on. Face recognition had no trouble identifying recognized people and flagging unrecognized ones. In addition, the camera had no trouble executing Alexa voice commands to stream video to an Amazon Echo Show smart display. It also seamlessly handled an Alexa routine I set up, turning a Pure Smart TruColor A19 light bulb red when the camera detected motion.