Video Doorbell recommendations

[Chuckanut]

I am thinking of breaking down and buying a video doorbell as a Christmas gift to myself.

The only one I have heard of is the Ring doorbell. But, I know that other companies have jumped with great vigor into the home security market.

Right now I feel that all I really need is a good camera, the ability to see online who is at my door at any time of the day, and the ability to store enough video so that if I want to see who stole my shipment of catnip toys earlier in the dy, I can.

Is there anything else I should look for in the video doorbell? What have been your experiences with it?

 

[Hermit]

I too am looking for a couple of these. Are you looking for a wireless? I am just finishing up the wiring in the upstairs of my house and I want wired ones that will pop up on the large screen as well as my phone. I will probably look at some of the home security retail sites and Amazon for some options.

 

[Mykle57]

Got the Nest/Google doorbell (to go with my existing Nest thermostats). Found a deal where they gave a free nest mini hub with the $300 doorbell. Video quality is pretty good. Installation was pretty simple. So far I'm liking it.

 

[bigcmagor]

We installed two ring doorbells on our home in Indiana, which provide driveway and front door views. It was really fun to interact with a deputy trying to serve a subpoena to the wrong house - while we were 1,200 miles away. The exchange with the evangelizing crew was interesting too, especially the conversation between them on whether to ring the bell given the clearly posted "no solicitation" sign.

We've gotten many motion notifications for deer, turkeys, even a fox recently. The best part is sitting out on the lanai in shorts and flip flops and watching the driveway being cleared of snow. Highly recommend the product!

 

[SumDay]

We love our Ring doorbell, and bought ours at Costco. We had trouble with the first one, and customer service was excellent. They finally told me to return it to Costco and tell them the original was defective. The replacement installed like a dream.

I like the Ring neighborhood watch feature. You can register your doorbell with your local police department (if they participate) which can help them in the event there's an incident in your neighborhood and they need to look at the videos (with your permission) for a specific time period. Some have expressed concern over privacy issues, but I feel like it's too late to worry about privacy for us. And if they want to spy on us, they'll die of boredom. Our local police department posted a video on Facebook yesterday about a success story of catching a criminal due to the Ring doorbell.

 

[MichaelB]

We first tried Ring but couldn’t make it work due to some compatibility issues. Now we have a Nest doorbell which works well and, like bigcmagor, is especially helpful when we’re away from home.

 

[walkinwood]

We have a ring pro doorbell + the $30/yr subscription for them to store video.

For the most part, it works well though it sometimes the app takes a long time to connect to the bell and show you the video.

The first one had an issue where it would disconnect from wi-fi. Customer service was good & sent us a replacement.

 

[braumeister]

I've been considering this too.
Haven't been able to make up my mind between the Ring Pro and the Nest Hello.
Prices are similar, features are similar.

Kind of a Ford or Chevy decision I guess.

 

[MichaelB]

The Nest doorbell records continuously, while the Ring doorbell begins recording when motion is detected. The Nest seems to have less delay in getting the alert or ring to the phone.

Ring has both WiFi and Ethernet option.

 

[harley]

There have been a number of instances where people are stealing the Ring/Nest doorbells right off the wall. I know it's true because I read it on the internet.

 

[Sunset]

There seems to be a good deal on Amazon right now, the top banner, part of black friday early deals:

Ring Video Doorbell 2 with Echo Show 5 (Charcoal)

 

[Dimsumkid]

We have a Simplisafe video doorbell, it was a contest prize. Works pretty well. Like the notifications, seems to ignore the animals, but once in a while gets triggered by the garbage trucks driving by. There's a lot of off brands available on Amazon between $50 - $100.

 

[RobbieB]

I like my Ring, no problems and it's charged constantly by the wired supply.

 

[bizlady]

We have a SKYBELL which I like better than ring because there is no fee to store images and the gadget is not so large.

Arlo is coming out with one also I think this month. We are happy with the Arlo cameras at our lake home, so would be comfortable trying that one also.

 

[Chuckanut]

FWIW I have 12 volt power to my doorbell. I do not have a convenient USB port near my doorbell.

 

[braumeister]

FWIW I have 12 volt power to my doorbell. I do not have a convenient USB port near my doorbell.

I'm pretty sure they require at least 16 volts, so you might have to replace your transformer (just a few bucks, most likely).

USB shouldn't be necessary; these things are wifi.

 

[Hermit]

There seems to be a good deal on Amazon right now, the top banner, part of black friday early deals:

Ring Video Doorbell 2 with Echo Show 5 (Charcoal)

I looked at this on Amazon. It appears you have to pay $30/year to see any recorded video. They store and keep your video. I think I will pass on this. I will find a video cam with motion detection and local recording capability if I can't find that in a door bell.

 

[RobbieB]

I use 12 VAC on mine and it works great.

 

[mystang52]

True story: Last week police knocked on our door, asking if perchance we had video from a week earlier. They were looking for a burglar who had entered a house around the corner from us. Voila, we found one. 2 key points: 1) we had a crystal clear shot of the guy's face. 2) More importantly to us, he approached our house, looked directly at our Ring doorbell, and left. I'm 100% convinced that the doorbell prevented our house from burglary.

 

[razztazz]

Those of you who have these seeing-eye doorbells, do you have one on your back door also?

 

[Ronstar]

We have a Ring doorbell on the front door. Works great. But disappointed that I had to take it off the wall and reprogram it when I put in a new computer network. No back door doorbell.

 

[travelover]

True story: Last week police knocked on our door, asking if perchance we had video from a week earlier. They were looking for a burglar who had entered a house around the corner from us. Voila, we found one. 2 key points: 1) we had a crystal clear shot of the guy's face. 2) More importantly to us, he approached our house, looked directly at our Ring doorbell, and left. I'm 100% convinced that the doorbell prevented our house from burglary.

Smart burglar. It never occurred to him that he'd been IDed, so he committed a crime in the immediate area.

 

[EA-Sports]

I have blink (amazon owned company) and so far it has worked okay. Free cloud storage and battery powered swayed me to give it a try during the last Prime day. And you can connect multiple blink cameras to the same hub. My only gripe is there’s a small delay before the camera starts recording but you can change the camera sensitivity, recording length etc.

 

[Katsmeow]

We have a Vivint doorbell as it is part of our security system through Vivint. It does record for I think 30 seconds when anyone comes to the door and we can see who is there in real time on the phone app. It was useful the time that a delivery service swore they delivered something and there was no video of them doing so (they took the item to the wrong house which we figured out very quickly). Also, it can help in knowing whether to answer the door. It is a nice feature.

 

[misshathaway]

I have Blink. Got them because they are battery powered and portable. I had one that was on all the time in the old house and triggered plenty of motion. Battery lasted a year. The only downside is having to take down the camera to change the battery. The motion clips, as already mentioned, can take a couple of minutes to register.

Amazon drivers have taken note of the one I have on the porch, both at the old house and new apartment. They try to just stick an arm in the field of view to deliver the package. I use mine for

- Knowing if the landlord has entered my apartment without permission, and what they did

- Knowing if I got a package

- Quelling the "did I leave the garage door open?" feeling by checking that camera remotely

So far haven't caught any evil-doers.