Reolink Go PT Plus Review Rating
Summary
The Reolink Go PT Plus is another excellent camera. The pan and tilt function is something that would be very useful for anyone that has this located in a remote location, giving them easy position adjustments and a way to do a sweep of the area manually.
Image quality is also good and the solar panel extends the battery by quite a bit.
Overall
90%-
Overall - 90%
90%
Pros
- Pan and tilt function allows you to adjust position easily or do manual panning sweeps to monitor your property remotely
- Good quality video footage
- Solar panel makes quite a big difference
Cons
- WiFi would be handy for easier management when in range
I have previously reviewed the Reolink Argus PT Pro and the Reolink Go Plus. The Reolink Go PT Plus is basically those cameras merged into one.
The Reolink Go PT Plus costs about £46 more than the Reolink Go PT Plus, but I think it is worth the investment if the camera is located a significant distance away from you. Being able to remotely pan and tilt the camera to either adjust its position or manually check the area around the camera is going to save you a lot of time.
Specification
- Image Sensor: 1/3″ CMOS Sensor
- Video Resolution: 2560 x 1440 (4.0 megapixel) at 15 frames/sec
- Video Format: H.265
- Field of View: Fixed lens, horizontal: 95°; vertical: 52°; diagonal: 115°
- Infrared Night Vision: up to 10 meters (33ft) (LED: 6pcs/14mil/850nm)
- Digital Zoom: 16x digital zoom
- Smart Alarm: PIR detection/person detection/vehicle detection
- PIR Detecting Angle: 120° horizontal
- Recording: Motion triggered recording
- Battery: 7800mAh rechargeable battery (Battery life varies based on settings, usage & temperature.)
- DC Power: 5V/2A USB power adapter
- Local Storage: Supports up to 128GB micro SD card
- Smart Home: Works with Google Assistant
- Operating temperature: -10°C to 55°C (14°F to 131°F)
- Weather Resistance: IP65 weatherproof
3G/4G Data Rates and Specification
Frequency Bands
- Europe Version:
- LTE FDD: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B20
- WCDMA: B1/B5/B8
- America Version:
- LTE FDD: B2/B4/B12
- WCDMA: B2/B4/B5
- Australia Version:
- LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B28
- LTE TDD: B40
- WCDMA: B1/B2/B5/B8
Transmission Data
- LTE FDD: Max. 10Mbps(DL), Max. 5Mbps(UL)
- LTE TDD: Max. 8.96Mbps(DL), Max. 3.1Mbps(UL)
- HSPA+: Max. 42Mbps(DL), Max. 5.76Mbps(UL)
- UMTS: Max. 384Kbps(DL), Max. 384Kbps(UL)
Set-Up
Set up was similar to all the other Reolink devices I have used and identical to the other 4G connected devices.
I used a Smarty SIM card with this, so just a normal 30 day pre-pay contract based on the Three network. The camera automatically connected to the network without issues.
The hardest part of the set-up was getting the microUSB cable of the solar panel inserted into the camera. The male end on the solar panel has a rubber hood which gives it a watertight seal once inserted, I found it very hard to get it inserted correctly without just jamming it in and hoping for the best.
The camera came with a microSD card preinstalled.
For the review, I left all the settings in the default state.
Motion Performance
This camera features smart object detection like all the recent Reolink cameras. It is not the best overall object detection I have used across brands, but it still makes a massive difference when it comes to finding events.
The sensitivity is set to high in its default state, and the false alarm setting is toggled off. Therefore you should be able to dial in the settings to your requirements.
Even with a lot of events triggered, it is easy to narrow things down by removing the motion alerts and filtering them out by humans only.
Day Time Video
One thing I should note, with the Reolink Go Plus, I had some issues successfully downloading footage from the camera. I haven’t experienced the same problems with this model. Connecting to the high-quality stream can be temperamental, but I haven’t had issues downloading the high-quality recording.
The quality of the daytime footage is excellent, considering this is both a battery-powered and 4G camera.
Night Time Video
My garden is very well lit by street lights, and I also have the Reolink RLC-523WA spotlight come on when movement is detected.
The above photo shows the quality of the night footage with my camera spotlights switched off, but there is not much I can do about the street lighting.
Battery and Solar Performance
In the past, I don’t think I have tested the solar panels properly due to the location I mount the Reolink cameras. However, in this case, with the camera geared towards remote locations, I thought it was important to see what sort of longevity you get with the panel in use.
I am based in the north of England, so the sunny spells are few and far between, plus my back garden doesn’t get much sun at the best of times.
In the first five days of use, the camera went from 100% to 85% based on its graph. At the time of the screenshot, it indicated that the camera was charging, and the actual percentage was 88%
During my testing period, I didn’t do anything specific to minimise events being recorded.
Based on the above, I would expect a minimum of 30 days battery. With some tweaking, you should easily extend this considerably, and sunnier locations will improve things further.
Price and Alternative Options
The Reolink Go PT Plus has an RRP of £299.99 and, at the time of writing, has 21% off, taking it down to £236.99.
The Reolink Go Plus is £230 normally or currently £184.
The older 1080P Reolink Go PT is currently available on Amazon for £215, when you apply the on-page discount.
As far as I am aware, there are no other big brand names offering a camera with this set of features.
There are some random brands, such as Ctronics, but most of these cameras cost the same or more than Reolink, so they don’t seem like they are worth considering.
Overall
I like the Reolink Go PT Plus a lot. As usual for Reolink, it has a specific set of features that competing brands don’t offer and will appeal to buyers wanting that specific set of features.
While I don’t have much use for a 4G camera myself, I can certainly see the appeal for anyone that has property they need monitoring which may not have Internet or even power. This is ideal for rural locations such as cabins or even commercial solutions such as monitoring garages and lockups.
Based on that, I think the pan and tilt function is hugely beneficial for anyone wanting to monitor a remote location. You can adjust where the camera is facing, or you can rotate the camera to do remote inspections around the property.
Last update on 2023-03-30 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API