Quick review
The good
The not-so-good
A new home security brand not only intends to help you cut the cord at home, but lets you skip paying for yet another cloud service. Is the Reolink Altas 2K a great place to start?
Altas. Atlas. Altas. Atlas. After spending a few months with a new security camera, we’re convinced that the model name isn’t just confusing, but it should be changed.
Arriving from a brand you’ve never heard of that’s relatively new to Australia, Reolink’s Altas puts your world on its shoulders, delivering one of the most sturdy and capable security cameras, and even doesn’t need you to sign up for its cloud service.
It really should be called Atlas, and will clearly confuse us throughout this review.
What is the Reolink Altas?
The first in a line of security gadgets from newcomer Reolink, the Atlas Altas is a fairly beefy security camera sporting some interesting features aimed at impressing.
For one, there’s a 2K (2560×1440) capture resolution, giving you that little bit more than Full HD to work with, plus the ability to work at night with colour night vision.
Aspects of this are pretty much the norm for a meaty security camera, though the large and positionable antenna tells you this camera is designed to handle some slightly more remote locations on your property while still holding a connection.
It is quite clearly a camera in its design, making no attempt to be inconspicuous in the slightest, which is both a good and a bad things. It’ll be good at telling the folks eyeing your property that you have a camera, but it could also be bad because they’ll clearly know what to look for and where to avoid.
However one of its biggest features is in the camera itself, boasting a massive 20,000mAh battery capable of lasting up to 18 months when used with 5 minutes of recording per day. Increase the time and it’ll last less time, but the idea is this: the Reolink Altas is a security camera that will just keep working so you don’t have to worry about it.
There’s also a cloud service to send photos and alerts to, but should you want to stay away from the cloud, a built-in microSD slot means you can store directly to the Altas camera, which sees the card slot protected by a rubber flat while the camera is IP66 resistant, able to survive the outside (and its rainy day elements).
What does it do?
Like most security cameras, the Altas provides a way to keep eyes on for your home, your premises, and really anything else you need security to monitor.
A tripod screw mount at the back and a mounting system means you can fairly easily place the camera in your house or outside on a fence, grabbing a screwdriver and some spare time to make it happen.
Alternatively, you can just rest it on its slightly curved bottom on a shelf. That’s what we did for this review, which was perfectly fine. You can leave the camera just to do its thing, referring to the app instead.
Reolink’s app is pretty straight forward: add your devices and connect, browsing through settings, snapping pictures and a live feed through your camera. Aspects of the app are a bit of a selling exercise, though, complete with a way to browse the Reolink catalogue of products straight from the app.
Attempts to get you to buy more gear not withstanding, where the Altas differs is that unlike most of the competition, you don’t actually need to pay for an extra service. Reolink does offer a cloud service, but we opted to try the hardware in the most economical cost-saving fashion possible, using the camera remotely and with a microSD card in the camera.
Instead of paying for storage, we in turn didn’t need to pay for the ability to have our camera record. Our Reolink Altas could run as a security monitor sans-payment and write to the card without needing the cloud.
Reolink does make a Home Hub extra that can store the images and videos of other cameras, supporting up to eight cameras and two 512GB microSD cards if you have them, but if you want to go for a single camera, the Altas can handle it directly to its microSD card, as well.
Does it do the job?
The camera is fairly sensitive and provides decent low light, offering a way to peer into the dark and help keep your property a little safer.
The battery life is exceptional, though, and is reminiscent of the massive battery Arlo used in its Floodlight camera. The fact that you can keep it recording without needing to reach for a charger is stellar.
Its use of local storage also means you don’t need to pay a monthly cost to do this job, something that’s become a bit of a norm in a world where everything seemingly costs extra.
You even get support for pre-recording to keep the camera capturing all the time and basically provide what happens before and after the main event, scheduled recordings, a time lapse mode, and a siren to throw people off.
Dive into enough of the settings, and you’ll even find controls for object size and detection settings, allowing you to set alarms and notifications for different parts of the image.
What does it need?
That’s great, but the app could be better, and makes the Altas feel like a complex bit of machinery in need of a better interface and possibly a manual. It’s handy having so much customisation and control, but less so feeling like little effort was put into the app in the first place.
A little bit of UI and UX can go a long way, and we hope Reolink works to improve on this over time.
Another thing that troubled while reviewing the Altas was its dependency on its own cables.
When the battery life began to run down, I simply did what I knew would work: I plugged in a USB-C cable. That didn’t work. So I plugged in another, and then another, and I watched as the recharge light didn’t switch on and the power wasn’t restored.
But when I plugged in a Reolink cable, voila, all of a sudden it worked. And that brings up a problem: USB cable dependency, suggesting a sort of proprietary nonsense that the very concept of USB-C is meant to overcome.
Type C cables are a standard. They’re supposed to be universal to the point where it doesn’t matter which one you plug in, provided it has the right power, it will work. But not here.
It suggests the Altas might be looking for a specific USB-C cable, or at least a specific chip in the plug of the cable. That’s less than useful for most, and means if you reach for any cable to keep your Reolink camera topped up, you’re probably going to be out of luck.
Is it worth your money?
However priced at $230 in Australia, Reolink goes a long way to making the customer feel like they’re getting good value in this security camera.
A 2K resolution, long-lasting battery, and a built-in microSD card slot are not things we’re used to seeing at this price point, which normally has you pick two, but not all three. It’s not a bad effort all around, provided you can get over some of those aforementioned hiccups.
That price even gets you a solar panel in the box, so you can keep it perpetually charged as the Aussie sun beats down on that panel.
Yay or nay?
We’re going to be perpetually confused by its clearly awkward name, but we’re not confused by some of the value the Reolink Altas provides.
A solid challenger from a brand we hope to see more from, the offline approach to home security is definitely interesting and gives folks tired of the cloud another option to consider.
