Ring Floodlight Cam

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Discussion

ukwill

Original Poster:

8,871 posts

206 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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https://ring.com/floodlightcam

This was introduced at CES last month. Taking pre-orders for April shipment. I've just ordered.

If it does what the blurb suggests it can, then I will be very happy.

Bristol spark

4,381 posts

182 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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They do a very interesting looking door bell/intercom as well, and all very reasonably priced.

Murph7355

37,651 posts

255 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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Bristol spark said:
They do a very interesting looking door bell/intercom as well, and all very reasonably priced.
Good in theory. WiFi range isn't good though (won't work 15m-20m away from the nearest access point in my place).

Mine's sat in a box unused at present...am just mulling over ways to push my signal a bit further out for it as when it works, it's very handy (tested it indoors).

ukwill

Original Poster:

8,871 posts

206 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Murph7355 said:
Good in theory. WiFi range isn't good though (won't work 15m-20m away from the nearest access point in my place).

Mine's sat in a box unused at present...am just mulling over ways to push my signal a bit further out for it as when it works, it's very handy (tested it indoors).
Buy an extender!

onlynik

3,978 posts

192 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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Murph7355 said:
Good in theory. WiFi range isn't good though (won't work 15m-20m away from the nearest access point in my place).

Mine's sat in a box unused at present...am just mulling over ways to push my signal a bit further out for it as when it works, it's very handy (tested it indoors).
Have a look at http://www.doorbird.com/

I'd be happy never to use a cloud based service. I don't want to pay to view my images. I used to have a Nest Cam, but it was returned as the service would go down quite regularly.

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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motion activated camera for £250 odd?

Am I missing something, its surely £50-75 tops?

dmsims

6,450 posts

266 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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How is this different to a normal PIR activated light and CCTV camera?

Pheo

3,324 posts

201 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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Friend of mine just caught a burgular on his ring doorbell:

https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/ding-dong-burgla...

I used to have one but just moved house. Still have one at my grandmothers place meaning we can interrupt anyone nefarious more easily / keep and eye on things.

Re the cost - I have some cheaper cams and they simply don't work as well and arnt as connected. Ring gives me a fair chance of catching someone on the act and scaring them off. The cheaper ones I've used will record, but arnt a lot of good for reliably letting me know about it! Their cloud video storage cost is a lot cheaper than Nest too.

Floodlight looks interesting. It is a bit spendy but hopefully it's decent 1080p camera, alarm and floodlight rolled into one, plus the connected services.


maccas99

1,697 posts

187 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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ukwill said:
Murph7355 said:
Good in theory. WiFi range isn't good though (won't work 15m-20m away from the nearest access point in my place).

Mine's sat in a box unused at present...am just mulling over ways to push my signal a bit further out for it as when it works, it's very handy (tested it indoors).
Buy an extender!
I had the same issue due to my front door (Hormann) so I put an additional Unifi box the other side of the door and it works perfectly now. We used to get lag when it was within range and we would catch people walking away from the door but it is instant now.

LaurasOtherHalf

21,429 posts

195 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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I'm paying for a Ring doorbell cloud storage plan, does this mean I need to add another plan for each camera?

PorkInsider

5,877 posts

140 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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Pheo said:
Friend of mine just caught a burgular on his ring doorbell:

https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/ding-dong-burgla...

I used to have one but just moved house. Still have one at my grandmothers place meaning we can interrupt anyone nefarious more easily / keep and eye on things.
And the thieving scrote got a caution and had to return the apple device he stole.

That'll teach him.

Henry-F

4,791 posts

244 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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The problem I have with all this technology is the ultra wide angle lens used. In this case it's a staggering 140º angle of view.

At first glance you'd think über wide angle view is great news as it covers a large area, the problem is you only have a limited number of pixels and they soon spread apart with wide angle cameras.

1 meter from the camera your pixels are spread about 2.4m wide
5 meters from the camera your pixels are spread just over 12m wide

As a general guide with HD 1080P you can film up to about 6 or 8 meters wide and identify someone. It isn't an absolute science but that's a pretty good guide. With this camera that would give an effective range of between 2.5 and 3.3 meters which isn't very much. I personally would be aiming for 6 meters width / 2.5m distance.

The material used in promoting cameras like these is very careful to ensure people are really close to the camera. Our experience in advising people on CCTV is that cameras generally need to have a range much greater than 3 meters to be effective. The image below is of a random bungalow, see how little effect a 3m range camera would have within the front curtilage.




We would recommend a camera with a maximum effective range of about 15m. The camera can be adjusted from 90º to just under 25º during installation so the owner can balance area covered with detail captured. In fact you would probably use 2 cameras in this instance.

There is nothing more frustrating than seeing someone tampering with your car or walking in front of your camera but not being able to identify them because they are just a grainy blob in the middle of the screen. You can't retrospectively zoom in afterwards and get detail with wide angle cameras. All you are doing is zooming in on the pixels and getting a pixelated image, like when you zoom in of a newspaper image and see individual dots.

Henry smile

Pheo

3,324 posts

201 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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PorkInsider said:
And the thieving scrote got a caution and had to return the apple device he stole.

That'll teach him.
Yes - I know, not sure the doorbell can fix the criminal justice system though.

Re the pixel density that is a valid point - but horses for courses, I think it depends a little on what you are trying to do - is it a deterrent or for prosecution...

Re cloud plans at the moment it's £2.50/month/camera but they are coming out with a 10 camera plan for £80/yr

onlynik

3,978 posts

192 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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LaurasOtherHalf said:
I'm paying for a Ring doorbell cloud storage plan, does this mean I need to add another plan for each camera?
Yep, though they do do a £80 a year, multi cam subscription.

I had a Ring doorbell, but returned it, I'm not a fan of paying for cloud storage, when I can run it locally for free.

Murph7355

37,651 posts

255 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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ukwill said:
Buy an extender!
Not that easy as the bell is over a garden and on a gate wall.

I've tried re-positioning my Unifi access points but to no avail. An outdoor one might do the trick, but to be honest I've other stuff to sort before further fiddling smile Maybe a job for the summer.

onlynik said:
Have a look at http://www.doorbird.com/

I'd be happy never to use a cloud based service. I don't want to pay to view my images. I used to have a Nest Cam, but it was returned as the service would go down quite regularly.
Generally I agree with you, though the Ring doesn't have to have a subscription AIUI. You only need that to record, not general use of the bell.

Of course it won't be long before people are hacking into them smile

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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Bump.
Looking at one of these Ring doorbell (not floodlight), you can record locally according to the web site. Anyone using one of these this way?

Chime is separate though, relying on ithings being charged.

Bikesalot

1,833 posts

157 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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Been looking into the doorbell....anyone got one and happy with it?

JackReacher

2,118 posts

214 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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I was interested in the doorbell but some of the reviews are dreadful. Plus, a friend who is a postman says they rarely seem to work properly when he rings them with parcels.

Byff

4,427 posts

260 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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Bikesalot said:
Been looking into the doorbell....anyone got one and happy with it?
I fitted a ringPro this weekend.

At the moment, I'm struggling to get decent wifi so it works properly. Going to get a few booster boxes to see if that helps. Despite getting the 1080p model, the camera isn't that great beyond 2m (as Henry points out above) but it's decent enough for someone standing at the door.

Setting the motion alerts is simple enough and works well.

Early days yet but I think it'll be good once the wifi is sorted.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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How far is it from the router if I may ask?