Reolink Atlas 2K Solar Security Camera (with Panel) [Review]

Reolink has proven to be a trustworthy and dependable name in the consumer security camera market. The company has such a large portfolio of solutions covering just about every need, including wired, wireless, and even solar charging, all with various FOV options and more.

The Reolink Atlas 2K Solar Security Camera is one of the company’s latest offerings, offering a simple bullet-style camera for everything from tight spaces to random placement, and we get to dive into what we think about it thus far.

In this review, we cover both the camera and its solar panel. Both products come in their own packaging with minimal design/graphics, likely to help pass on the cost savings to you (why cover a box with a colorful design of images if it’s something you are getting in the mail and have already seen it all online?).

Everything comes well-protected and shows no sign of potential damage points from normal shipping conditions (no UPS, that isn’t a challenge).

As mentioned, this is a bullet-style camera, so it isn’t designed for pan/tilt functionality. It is meant to be placed in a fixed position and offers an adjustable base to obtain your desired angle. Once you have done so, that is it, as there are no motors or anything else to adjust things from the app.

This style of camera is perfect for specific angles or tight areas. It offers a 90-degree horizontal and 50-degree vertical FOV (field of view). As well as a (max) 2560×1440 video resolution. So it should complement your security coverage well.

Like most of these cameras, it offers a microSD card slot for localized storage directly to the camera that can be accessed at any time within the app. No subscriptions to weigh you down, and you are in complete control of how much capacity to provide. Not that you’ll need much, since these cameras usually compress the files pretty well, so 64-128GB should give you months of storage before having to worry about it replacing files in rotation as it fills up.

There is a power button next to the microSD card slot that allows you to manually power up or down the camera as needed, but you likely won’t be touching it much unless you eventually replace this camera with something else and store it until you find a new use for it. All firmware updates are handled by the app, and the camera can be powered in two different ways to make sure it never runs out of juice.

Along with the microSD card slot, there is another area at the bottom of the camera that pops open to reveal the USB-C port, which is used to keep the internal battery charged. You can plug it directly into a wall source if it is in an area that doesn’t get sun, or you can make use of the solar panel. This kit came with the panel and retails for just $149, making it more than reasonable. If you feel you don’t need the panel, you can opt to buy the camera by itself for $129.

The solar panel is an excellent accessory to have and is highly recommended by us since it is one of the few we have come across in (affordable) consumer products that didn’t fall apart or deteriorate within a year. Of course, we have only been using this camera for around a week now, but we have been making use of or testing Reolink panels for a few years now, and they have held up very well and continue to charge the cameras they connect to (several of us have bought into these cameras after we initially started testing them).

It is capable of keeping the attached camera charged with little effort, as it doesn’t take much sun to charge these batteries. It does, of course, require the sun to be hitting it, but you can rest easy knowing that you’ll get what you need to make sure the camera is fully charged and ready to keep going.

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The only time we have ever noticed the battery life challenge the panel is when “continuous recording” is enabled, which records 24/7, which can be a little taxing. Even then, the panel holds up pretty well. However, we recommend plugging the camera directly into a wall source if you’re going to make use of that feature, just in case (you have to be prepared when it comes to solid security). But for normal use (recording based on motion detection), the solar panel is rock solid.

It comes with everything you need to install it, including normal mounting situations where you screw the base into a wall (or other surface) and screw the camera into place, or even a strap for odd situations where you can’t screw it in. We recommend proper mounting via screwing it in, though, since although the strap is handy, those buckle parts are just plastic and can break easily if you apply too much pressure to them. Better to use those as a backup/secondary way of adding safety to mounting situations where the screws might not be secure enough. That would likely be pretty rare, but it’s the only thing I can think of where you’d want to fully trust the strap. For all other situations where you might be mounting it to a pole or something, I’d say look for mounting adapters via Reolink or Amazon, or use steel zip ties. 

The same thing applies to the solar panel, as it comes with everything you need to get it mounted, including the same strap.

We have made use of the straps for this since they are lightweight, thus they don’t apply a lot of pressure to the strap. So, unless you live in a heavily windy area, it should hold pretty well. But even then, nothing beats a solid mount with screws.

Setup and Performance

Getting set up is a breeze, especially if you are already registered in the app and making use of other Reolink cameras. If not, you just need to register for an account like anything else. Then you use the app to scan the QR code on the camera so that you can add it. It will walk you through getting it connected to your Wi-Fi network, and then you will be ready to go (note: we do recommend using a 5GHz connection for the best performance).

From there, you are able to configure the camera for what you need. Like enabling its floodlight to turn on during detection scenarios, or even its built-in siren if it’s in an area that absolutely no one should be near. You’ll find most of the features you’d normally find within a modern security camera, outside of pan and tilt, since it is not a motorized camera.

We set up our motion requirements and set the camera free to see what it captured, focusing on how well it picked things up, like traffic, people, and pets.

It did a perfect job picking up the traffic as it flowed across the street. We played with a few angles during our tests and adjusted the settings as needed so that (eventually) it wouldn’t pick up every single vehicle that drove by. Dialing things in to what’s happening close to the camera (or closer to the property line). But for most of these examples in the video above, this was a free-for-all for traffic to see what’s happening on the street during the day and evening.

This camera doesn’t support IR since it focuses on “color night vision,” which means it tries to capture the scene as normally as possible so that you can properly see colors and other details that might be useful. This can especially be helpful when you need to describe what color car went by or what someone was wearing.

But ultimately, as mentioned, it was the people and animal traffic that we really wanted to capture to see how well it pulled it off. Like most security cameras, it is limited when it comes to frames per second (a max of 15). This can also be adjusted to 1, 3, and 5 for some really choppy coverage, while maximizing your storage. But 15 is usually enough for most scenarios. It would be nice to have 60fps, but those are usually reserved for professional or commercial systems, or specialized wired NVR setups.

As you can see in the video above, it did a fine job at capturing the movement of both people and animals. The smaller animals were a little less impactful since it took a bit to register them, but in most cases, you’d be looking to filter those out anyway, as most people consider animals to be false alerts/positives, unless you were trying to keep them out of your yard.

But in the above samples, the only one that didn’t quite show detail was a child running through the space. You can still get enough out of it to recognize someone if they live in the neighborhood, but for the most part, it was unusable. But one out of the mix isn’t bad. It did a fine job capturing everyone else passing through.

Our Conclusion

So far, the Reolink Atlas 2K Solar Security Camera has proven to be yet another fine addition to the Reolink family of products. It fulfills the task for someone looking to cover a specific angle or narrow space, while still offering enough of an FOV that it can be used for yards. Although we personally prefer the Reolink Argus Track for full yards, as it is much more useful and also makes use of solar. For everything else, there is this camera.

The solar panel does a great job at keeping the camera charged, similar to most of the company’s solar-compatible models. The Solar Panel 2 unit provides just the right amount of power, making for a great improvement from the model before it.

It is an affordable option for someone looking for an easy-to-place and simple outdoor camera location. It offers all of the features you’d expect to find in a modern-day security camera and does a great job at streaming to your phone.

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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.