Reolink Altas PT Ultra review

Reolink Altas PT Ultra: Introduction

• Type: Outdoor, pan & tilt
• Connectivity: 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi 6)
• Ecosystems: Amazon Alexa, Google Home

We’ve been reviewing Reolink’s ever expanding range of smart security cameras for a few years now on The Ambient, dating back to the original Argus Pro, way back in 2019.

We’ve always been impressed by the innovation Reolink adds to its cameras and that’s why the Chinese brand is fast becoming one of the names to keep tabs on in the smart security camera space.

On test for this review is the latest flagship, the Reolink Altas PT Ultra, which was announced in September at IFA 2024.

Boasting a huge 20,000mAh battery – that’s around 4x the size found on the likes of the Reolink Argus Track and the Reolink Argus Pro – Reolink is keen to shout about a week’s worth of continuous recording from a full charge; a pretty unique offering in the battery security camera world.

With 4K recording also on offer, as well as ColorX Night Vision – which impressed us on the Argus 4 Pro – plus clever tracking smarts, the Altas PT Ultra is the new top dog of the Reolink stable.

But, does it live up to its lofty billing? After all, it’s quite a premium offering for a brand that is known for offering plenty of bang for its buck.

Read our comprehensive Reolink Altas PT Ultra review to find out.

Design and installation

• Dome style pan & tilt camera
• Base houses battery and more

Reolink tends to make smart security cameras that look like cute little robots but the Altas PT is anything but cute or little.

It’s an absolute beast of a dome style PT camera, with the camera element mounted below an base that houses an antenna, that massive battery and a speaker, which can be used for two-way talking or as a siren.

Measuring in at 178 x 151 x 102mm and weighing nearly 1kg, it’s definitely at the bigger end of the smart security camera spectrum.

Below the lens is a PIR sensor and above are 6 LED lights, which can be used when motion is triggered at night time, or just as a flashlight that’s started through the app.

As is always the case with Reolink security cams, mounting is easy and you’ll get a template in the box which makes it a cinch to get it mounted to either a wall or a ceiling with just a few screws need drilling in to the bracket.

One you’ve decided where you want the Altas PT Ultra, then it’s then time to get it synced up with the Reolink app.

The Security conscious among you will be pleased to know that you don’t actually have to sign up for an Reolink account or give up any details, although you will need to do so if you want to make use of certain cloud features, or sync your Reolink up with Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

When you first power up the Altas PT Ultra you’ll hear a voice say “Welcome to Reolink, please install the Reolink app” in an array of languages.

As with all Reolink cameras, it just a case of scanning the QR code on the camera from your phone in the app, and then using the Reolink’s lens to scan a QR code on your phone. It’s a very simple process that only takes a few minutes.

A big plus point for the Reolink Altas PT Ultra, common across many of the brand’s cameras, is that it boasts dual band 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi so you can tap into that faster 5GHz band, should you have an access point near enough to reach it. It’s also got Wi-Fi 6 tech on board as well.

Reolink is popular amongst its users for onboard microSD storage options and you’ll find a little waterproof flap under the lens that house the card slot, with another separate flap covering the USB-C power input port on the base.

Unlike the Argus Track there’s no security screw protecting the microSD from being stolen though, which seems like an oversight.

Features

• Continuous recording
• Motion triggered event recording

One you have the Altas PT Ultra synced up within the Reolink app, you’ll be able to configure to your heart’s content.

As I state in all my Reolink reviews though, be warned that the level of customization and the wealth of options on offer inside the app is massive.

With Reolink, you get a level of control that is pretty much unrivalled across other security camera brands but that also means you’re going to have to get your head around an absolute plethora of options to get the camera set up exactly how you want it.

With the Altas PT Ultra, the main settings to get to grips with is how frequent you want the recording set.

Obviously a key selling point of the new flagship is that continuous recording option but that has a huge impact on battery life.

If you’ve got the Altas wired up to a solar panel (sold separately or as a bundle package) you might get away with having it continuously set to record 24/7. But if you’re running solely off of battery power – even with that huge 20,000mAh power pack on board – continuous recording is going to drain the juice pretty quickly.

That “week’s worth of battery life” actually equates to having a schedule set for 12 hours of continuous recording set… the actual quoted time is 96 hours.

I tried it out with it set at constant continuous recording and I got about 85 hours before it conked out.

Of course, you don’t have to have continuous recording set, and the claims of a 365 day battery life if you opt for event-based recording instead certainly rings true in my testing.

On that mode, you’ll be able to make use of Reolink’s smart detection auto tracking feature, which can differentiate between people, animals and vehicles.

You can set the range of panning and create a monitor point that the camera returns to, as well as set points to quickly jump the camera to a specific view, which is easier than using the manual control.

Plus, you can add up to 8 privacy sections, where action won’t be captured; usually this is capped at 4 for Reolink cameras.

If you turn on motion detection, the Reolink will start sending you push notifications when it has spotted movement. These can get a little overwhelming, so you can cut these down by using the object detection feature, with animal, person and vehicle tracking on offer.

You can select if you want to be notified about your combination of people, vehicles, animals or all motion, and you can schedule when you want to get each type of alert.

So you could choose to have people and vehicle notifications during the day, but only people notifications at night.

Local storage

Whatever recording model you opt for, when it comes to looking back at your footage, the good news is that there are no subscription fees, thanks to the microSD storage option, as well as the ability to use FTP, NVR or Reolink’s new Home Hub.

For continuous recording, the Home Hub or an NVR is obviously a wise option but the Altas PT Ultra allows you to pop in a 512GB microSD card, which will start recording over itself every day or so based on 1 hour of 4K video footage at 30 fps, which is approximately 23GB to 30GB.

Guide: Local storage on smart security cameras explained

Reolink also does offer a fairly cheap cloud option too, should you want to go down that route.

If you do, in the US, there are cloud plans with 1GB of free storage (7-days of history), and then paid options: $3.49, $6.99 or $10.49 monthly. It’s £3.49 or £6.49 a month in the UK.

That gets you 30 days of history (60 days for the top tier), plus 10, 50 or 100GB of storage space respectively for 5 to 10 cameras. This is a fraction of the cost of the likes of Ring Protect or Nest Aware.

But remember, none of these extra costs are required. All you are paying for is storage, there are no features cut if you don’t cough up unlike other brands (Arlo, I’m looking at you) that make you pay for full use of their cameras.

However, the usual caveat applies that if the camera or card is stolen, you lose everything, which makes that unprotected SD card slot even more puzzling.

Any clips recorded are shown on the app’s timeline view, with handy thumbnails to make finding a clip easier, marked with a nice little icon if a person or pet has been spotted.

The app makes it easy to filter by event and motion type, so it’s simple to find the clip you are after, and to save it to your phone permanently.

Make sure you change the download quality if you do want full resolution clips though; by default it selects a ‘fluent’ clip that is nowhere near the 4K (‘clear’) that’s available.

On the clips, you can choose where to show the camera name, date and time, or the Reolink logo and you can also turn them all off too.

From the live view, you can jump into the two-way talk, which works well enough. It could be a useful feature if you want to scare off someone that shouldn’t be in your garden but the speaker on the base is a bit tinny.

There’s also a built-in siren so you can, if you what, create a sound and light alarm to scare off baddies too, if motion is detected at set times. You can even record your own personalized warning too.

Reolink offers both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa Skills, which let you stream footage to a compatible smart display. 

Performance

A couple of months ago Reolink unveiled the Argus 4 Pro, with claims that is was the world’s first smart security camera to offer full color vision at night… and that tech is present and correct on the Altas PT Ultra, as well.

There are, of course, plenty of security cameras available that offer night vision in technicolor already, such as the Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 and the Arlo Pro 5, but, thanks to its ColorX technology, the Altas boasts color visuals in the dark even in low light conditions, with no need for infrared lights or spotlights.

In this video sample below, you’ll see that the street outside my front door is plenty colorful, even in the dead of night.

Granted, there are street lights assisting the process but I can assure you it’s nowhere near as bright or colorful as the footage is presenting.

A nifty feature, which Reolink has introduced for battery cameras for the first time with the Altas range, is the Pre-Recording Mode, which grabs footage before a motion trigger kick starts one.

By default this mode is off, but if you turn it on then – when using SD card recording, FTP or cloud storage – you’ll get a few seconds of low frame rate video captured before an actual motion event happens.

It’s 5fps as standard, but you can pop it up to 10fps if you want – although this will have an impact on battery life.

As you can see in the clip below, my walking is choppy at first but soon goes smooth; that’s the 5fps jumping up to the normal frame rate.

As you can also see in the video, the quality of day time visuals is superb. Captured at 3840 x 2160 15fps, the footage superbly crisp and detailed.

The lens itself has a field of view of 110° diagonal, 90° horizontal and 50° vertical. Add to that the fact it can pan 355° and tilt 90° and you shouldn’t miss a thing.

Final thoughts

Reolink continues to push boundaries with the Altas PT Ultra, showcasing why the brand is fast becoming a major player in the smart security space. The combination of continuous 4K recording, excellent night vision, and advanced tracking features makes it a top contender for those who need a versatile and reliable outdoor camera.

The hefty battery, Wi-Fi 6, and local storage options also make it an attractive, subscription-free option.

That said, the design and feature set may feel overkill for smaller spaces or less demanding users.

But if you’re looking for a top-tier security camera with plenty of customization, the Altas PT Ultra is a solid choice.

How we test

When we publish our reviews, you can rest assured that they are the result of “living with” long term tests.

Smart security cameras usually live within an ecosystem, or a range of products that – supposedly – all work in harmony. Therefore, it’s impossible to use a security camera for a week and deliver a verdict.

Because we’re testing smart home kit all day, everyday, we know what matters and how a particular camera compares to alternatives that you might also be considering.

Our reviews are comprehensive, objective and fair and, of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.

Read our guide on our review process for smart security cameras to learn more.

FAQs

Reolink Altas PT Ultra: Specifications