Reolink Argus Track 4K PTZ Camera (Review)

Now that internet packages are reaching multigigabit levels, it’s finally a good time to begin upgrading those security cameras to 4K without worrying about bogging things down. There are some good options out there, and this happens to be one of them. It is the new Reolink Argus Track 4K Camera and it comes with a list of fresh features worth writing home about.

Not only does this camera offer the full PTZ experience (including a pan of up to 355°, and 50 tilt), but it can automatically track whatever activates its motion triggers (people, animals, traffic, etc). Not only that, but it can outline the object/person it is tracking in each video recorded, features built-in security lights, and a siren too in case you want to scare someone off. And these are just a few things it brings to the table.

The Argus Track 4K Camera features a built-in battery, can take constant power from its USB input, and supports the Reolink Solar Panel 2 (so you don’t ever have to worry about its battery life as long as the panel gets enough sun each day).

To make things better, the solar panel is reasonably priced (as it should be since it’s a mostly simple device). Priced at just $39.99, adding it into the mix is a no-brainer as long as you can do it without it sticking out like a sore thumb in any way). It is a 6W model capable of charging the camera for up to 24 hours worth of use in just 10 minutes of good sun. Of course, if it will be triggered a lot or the lights and/or siren are enabled, you’ll need a little more sun than that.

The camera features a dual-lens design, allowing it to record two separate streams of video at the same time. One is your typical wide view of everything while the other zooms in on whatever triggers it, using a 6x “hybrid zoom” (which appears to be mostly digital if not all digital), but still gets the job done.

Of course, it also features all of the same features you’d expect to find in any smart security camera. Including color night vision, two-way audio (allowing you to communicate through the app), controllable zones that should or should not trigger motion activity, scheduling, up to 32 configurable preset points, and a host of other features.

This includes support for both 2.4 and 5 GHz networks, allowing you to take advantage of the higher throughput of 5 GHz and various features most routers have to offer on this band. Including enhancements for video streaming that can come in handy for security cameras like this one.

What also makes this a hot option is the fact that subscriptions are not required. You can take advantage of their cloud services if you like, or you can record everything locally using a micro SD card (up to 128GB). This is the route we chose when putting it through its tests and it has done absolutely fine.

By itself, the camera comes with a small handful of accessories, including a mount, a strap, some screws and anchors, a small reset tool, and a USB-C cable for charging it or keeping it powered. Unless you plan to go solar, there isn’t anything else you’d need unless you had an unusual mounting scenario.

It has a speaker on the backside for communication with anyone near it and its PTZ (and everything else) is designed to be protected from the elements. Allowing you to use it both indoors and out (and with a camera like this, you will likely be using it outdoors more than anything else).

With that, in our testing of it thus far, it has rained several times. In two specific scenarios, it came down hard with winds and even with thick dust kicking around. The camera held up through all of it just fine without showing any signs of wear or trouble.

The app is easy to set up as it walks you through adding the camera quickly. There are a few steps to get through, but it makes things easy. It creates a QR code with your network’s information that you scan by placing your phone in front of the camera. It then connects to your network, you give it a device password, name it, and off you go. It will even format your micro SD card if it needs to be in a different format than it was when you inserted it.

Its settings are mostly straightforward. Allowing you to quickly set sensitivity levels based on what the camera sees (a person, an animal. traffic, or other). Each category has its own settings and can even be disabled in case you don’t want it to be triggered by animals running in front of it.

You get a clear timeline of events for the day (and pass days depending on how far back your storage goes) and each clip can easily be reviewed or downloaded for both lenses (near and far).

It offers the ability to switch between high and low resolution when previewing and downloading. Of course, if you are going to pay for a 4K camera, you’ll likely want to keep it in high. It defaults to low res (“fluent”) and you have to manually choose high (“clear”). Sometimes, you have to switch it back as we’ve seen it automatically switch back to fluent a number of times, which was odd. There needs to be a setting to force high (clear) all the time for everything so this doesn’t happen. Or vice versa. This was one of just a few complaints we had (nothing is perfect).

Another thing that caught our attention was that clicking on notifications (the notifications on your phone when motion is triggered that bring you directly into the app and to the video) can typically result in a “failed to load video” error and you have to refresh the page to get things to work. I’m sure this is something that will improve as updates are released for the app.

Watching it track users is fun and quite useful so you don’t completely lose them the moment they initially walk out of frame. The tracking is a little jerky but is fine for the most part. The only time this affects the video in a bad way is at night as you get a lot more motion trail since it is recording at 15fps (this is common with security cameras to be easy on data).

Of course, nothing conveys results better than the actual footage itself. So I’ll begin with a few images and then you’ll get to see what save videos look like in high-res (“clear”) mode enabled when downloading them to your phone.

The above two images are clickable so that you can enlarge them a bit. The one on the left is during the day and the one on the right is during the night. When it comes to images, it captures everything in great detail. The files are about 3 to 5 MB in size on average. If you want to see the original files themselves for more accuracy, you can download them together here. Now, on to the video!

This is a sample reel of recordings during the day with both tracking enabled and disabled. You can see that everything continues to result in great detail despite the videos being noticeably compressed. Again, this is also something that doesn’t usually cause any trouble outside of night videos. The level of detail is exactly what you’d want to see with a 4K model that is stream-friendly.

Now for what it looks like at night. This includes the security light enabled so that you can see how bright it gets. Enough to effectively light up a driveway and nearby pathways as it looks/tracks around. Even at night, it does a great job of tracking subjects.

This also shows the downside of nighttime videos, something that affects most security cameras. Due to low light, the video gets grainy and the compression is noticeable. That and the motion trail has a much heavier effect on the video quality. Thankfully, you still get usable content thanks to its bright LEDs that light the space.

Our Conclusion

This is a powerful camera with a lot of automated features to make it easier to keep track of anything moving around or near your property. The fact that the bright light moves with the camera also helps deter potential wrong-doers since it is immediately obvious that it can see you and is actively following you. The siren helps as well for areas where there shouldn’t be any (normal) movement. Not so much in active areas unless you plan to annoy the neighbors.

Having two individual streams is nice. Although the zoomed-in view is a bit too compressed for my preferences. The larger view/lens is fantastic though. In the end, the more information the better. So having two streams can be useful so it’s fewer tools you need to zoom in with later on when looking back on or saving the footage.

Motion sensitivity is nice and there is plenty of control in dialing this in. The only thing we had trouble with was vehicles. No matter what we did to ignore cars driving by, they would still trigger it from time to time. Nothing terrible though. Just something we noticed.

Finally, not having to worry about a subscription is a strong selling point for this model. You can still opt for one if you don’t want to save the files locally and go for the cloud services instead. This can be helpful since the SD card is right there on the back of the camera and not safely inside the home somewhere. I just hope that Reolink supports their models for years to come, unlike some of these other companies that have a sudden product EOL (end of life) one to two years in.

As a bit of a bonus, the camera seems to be on sale right now (at the time of writing this). It is just $159, and that’s with the solar panel included. This makes for an excellent deal! This sale is both via Reolink direct or Amazon.

Additional Images:

Specifications:

• Video & Audio
  • Image Sensor: 1/2.7″ CMOS sensor
  • Resolution: 3840×2160(8 megapixels)@15fps, 1920×1080(2 megapixels)@15fps
  • Video Compression: H.264/H.
  • Field of View:
    • Lens 1: Horizontal: 105°; Vertical: 55°; Diagonal: 123°
    • Lens 2: Horizontal: 43°; Vertical: 25°; Diagonal: 49.5°
  • Infrared Night Vision: Up to 30 meters (100ft); LED: 2pcs/2.15W/850nm (Auto-switching with IR-cut filter)
  • Color Night Vision: With spotlights: 2pcs/6000K/295 Lumen (15Meters, Adjustable)
  • Frame Rate: Main stream: 10fps – 15fps (default: 15fps), Sub stream: 10fps – 15fps (default: 15fps)
  • Code Rate:
    • Main stream: 1024Kbps – 4096Kbps (default: 2048Kbps)
    • Sub stream: 64Kbps – 672Kbps (default: 672Kbps)
  • Audio: Two-way audio
• Power
  • Battery: 4800mAh rechargeable battery  (Battery life varies based on settings, usage & temperature.)
  • Solar: Reolink Solar Panel 2 (6W)
• Interface
  • Power Port: USB-C port
  • SD Card Slot: Supports Max. 128GB microSD card
  • Reset Button: Yes
  • Audio In/Out: Built-in microphone and speaker
• Pan & Tilt
  • PT Angle(Max.): Pan: 355°, Tilt: 50° (PT speed is configurable)
  • Preset Points: Suppots 1 guard position & up to 32 preset positions
  • Patrol: Not Supported
  • Power-off Memory Function: Yes
  • Auto Tracking: Yes
• Wi-Fi
  • Wireless Standard: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Operating Frequency: 2.4 GHz/5GHz
  • Wireless Security: WPA/WPA2
• Software
  • OS Supported: PC: Windows, Mac OS; Smartphone: iOS, Android
  • Protocols & Standards: SSL, TCP/IP, UDP, UPNP, SMTP, NTP, P2P
  • User Access: Max. 12 simultaneous streams (2 main & 10 sub streams)
• Other Feature(s)
  • Smart Alarm: PIR detection; motion detection; person detection; vehicle detection; animal detection
  • PIR Detecting Distance: Adjustable, up to 11m (36ft)
  • PIR Detecting Angle: 120° horizontal
  • Recording Modes: Motion recording
  • Time Lapse: Yes
  • Smart Home Compatibility: Google Assistant
  • Cloud Storage: Supports Reolink Cloud (available in selected countries)
• Working Environment
  • Operating Temperature: -10°C~55°C (14°F~131°F)
  • Operating Humidity: 10% ~ 90%
  • Weatherproof: Yes
• Mechanical
  • Dimensions: Ø85*84*118mm
  • Weight (Battery Included): 476g

Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.