Arecont Needs a Reset Button and a Clue

Given Arecont's horrendous reputation for quality and reliability, you would think they would make it easy to troubleshoot their cameras. Well, you would be wrong.

There's a number of fundamental problems, but it does not get any more basic than lacking a reset button, something most every other manufacturer has.

Why a Reset Button?

Sometimes IP cameras become unreachable. They cannot be found on the network, or they cannot be accessed by their web interface. This can happen to any IP camera from any manufacturer.

The hardware reset button frequently solves this, by erasing any problematic configurations and restoring the default IP address, making it easier to access the camera over the network.

This video shows the reset button in action and how Arecont differs from their competitors:

But It Gets Worse...

Without a reset button, a camera that cannot be reached becomes a paper weight.

In fairness, though, even if Arecont added a reset button, they still have 2 other huge problems:

Arecont cameras have no default IP address so if the camera is not discovered by their tool or the VMS, it can be challenging to find it.

Plus, Arecont is adamant that users turn off their Windows firewall and anti-virus to discover their cameras. It is literally the first question tech support asks callers and their stock excuse when problems finding their cameras occur. Like the absent reset button, this too is a limitation that we have not found in any other major manufacturer.

Lessons Learned

Making initial setup and basic troubleshooting simple and reliable is critical. Reset buttons, a default IP address and a discovery tool that does not force one to change core PC settings is critical to achieving this.

We would hope Arecont actually improves this but with their track record, let's be realistic.