Ring (Video Doorbell)

[AB]

https://ring.com/

Saw an advert for this earlier, like the idea of it.

Anyone got one?

Thoughts?

[Your Dad]

Was looking at their website yesterday as I was curious to see how expensive they are (£159 upwards). I have no intention of buying one, and after reading through the details it'd be fool+money to buy one.

One year warranty, terms of service state they are not liable for interruptions to the service and can withdraw the service at any time (leaving you with one expensive mezuzah).

[madcowman]

I got one in a black Friday sale last year. I've been pretty happy with it. Not only from the security camera side of things but having a chat with delivery drivers if I've just popped out ( sods law ! )

as a side bonus , you can scare the bejezus out of the wife when she is slow to find her key

EDIT - I have one of the Chime modules as well just in case phones are not in the house/switched off etc.

Edited by madcowman on Thursday 9th March 13:06

[ZesPak]

I love ours. It did fail a couple of times but I narrowed it down to being heavy rainfall and the rubber not really closing it perfectly. Support has been tremendous in getting back at me.

Couple of points:

1. It needs a WiFi connection. I had to move my access point to cover my front door properly.
2. We don't have an old school doorbel ringer but I would wire mine if I had it. It would be a nice backup. Right now we have an old smartphone that's always on. Just when you have a babysitter over or your phone happens to be in another room. A wired doorbell would still work if wifi failed though.
3. If wifi's good, there's literally no delay on the press of the doorbell and the ring on the phone. Sometimes it has a delay of up to 10 seconds (which is a lifetime for someone on a clock having to deliver packages apparently).
4. The video service (to watch what you've missed) is great but it has a monthly cost. I used the free month and I'm probably going to pay up but I'm on the fence because of the cost. (30 USD/year)

In the end, it's amazing you can answer your door when you're not at home. It has saved me countless trips to the post office ("we have our hands full, drop it at the door please"), and it's great to tell anyone at the door to "come 'round the back, we're having BBQ at the neighbors". The neighboring boys caught on to it though and they find it amazing they can "call" me at work now using the doorbel .

I'd have another one in a heartbeat.

[onlynik]

I had one but returned it, I did not like the cloud based model.

I wanted to record to my NAS, and Ring does not do that.

I'm now considering a Doorbird.

http://www.doorbird.com/comparison

[maccas99]

ZesPak said:

I love ours. It did fail a couple of times but I narrowed it down to being heavy rainfall and the rubber not really closing it perfectly. Support has been tremendous in getting back at me.

Couple of points:

1. It needs a WiFi connection. I had to move my access point to cover my front door properly.
2. We don't have an old school doorbel ringer but I would wire mine if I had it. It would be a nice backup. Right now we have an old smartphone that's always on. Just when you have a babysitter over or your phone happens to be in another room. A wired doorbell would still work if wifi failed though.
3. If wifi's good, there's literally no delay on the press of the doorbell and the ring on the phone. Sometimes it has a delay of up to 10 seconds (which is a lifetime for someone on a clock having to deliver packages apparently).
4. The video service (to watch what you've missed) is great but it has a monthly cost. I used the free month and I'm probably going to pay up but I'm on the fence because of the cost. (30 USD/year)

In the end, it's amazing you can answer your door when you're not at home. It has saved me countless trips to the post office ("we have our hands full, drop it at the door please"), and it's great to tell anyone at the door to "come 'round the back, we're having BBQ at the neighbors". The neighboring boys caught on to it though and they find it amazing they can "call" me at work now using the doorbel .

I'd have another one in a heartbeat.

We have one as well and love it for all the reasons above.

[shtu]

The Youtube channel "techmoan" has a very detailed review of the Ring doorbell, worth a watch.

[Dermot O'Logical]

I installed one at the ancestral home to keep an eye on people visiting the elderly parents. For that, and the security and peace of mind it brings it's well worthwhile. I get notifications on my phone, and can talk to any visitors.

[selwonk]

Daft question, but what's to stop people pinching these devices?

[maccas99]

selwonk said:

Daft question, but what's to stop people pinching these devices?

They are secured by torque screws so quite hard to unscrew if you aren't carrying the right tools.

[AdamC28]

Next door neighbour has had one for around 4 years now.
He loves it and from what I've seen it is very impressive.

It certainly surprises some delivery drivers when he starts talking to them asking them to leave the parcel in a safe place.
Police have even used the footage when we had someone trying door handles on the estate in the middle of the night.

[AB]

onlynik said:

I had one but returned it, I did not like the cloud based model.

I wanted to record to my NAS, and Ring does not do that.

I'm now considering a Doorbird.

http://www.doorbird.com/comparison

It's a lot more expensive so would expect it to be better.

I do like the idea of it though at £180 odd.

[colin79666]

maccas99 said:

They are secured by torque screws so quite hard to unscrew if you aren't carrying the right tools.

And they will replace it free if it gets nicked (provided you produce a police report).

[Murph7355]

Wifi performance not good IME (I have one sat on my desk waiting for me to figure out how to extend my wifi signal down the garden).

[OldGermanHeaps]

Hikvision one is good.

[MrOrange]

Murph7355 said:

Wifi performance not good IME (I have one sat on my desk waiting for me to figure out how to extend my wifi signal down the garden).

I was sent (FOC) a Ring Chime Pro that acted as an extender and allowed the "ring" network to extend from my house into my garage https://ring.com/chime-pro

[TheRainMaker]

maccas99 said:

ZesPak said:

I love ours. It did fail a couple of times but I narrowed it down to being heavy rainfall and the rubber not really closing it perfectly. Support has been tremendous in getting back at me.

Couple of points:

1. It needs a WiFi connection. I had to move my access point to cover my front door properly.
2. We don't have an old school doorbel ringer but I would wire mine if I had it. It would be a nice backup. Right now we have an old smartphone that's always on. Just when you have a babysitter over or your phone happens to be in another room. A wired doorbell would still work if wifi failed though.
3. If wifi's good, there's literally no delay on the press of the doorbell and the ring on the phone. Sometimes it has a delay of up to 10 seconds (which is a lifetime for someone on a clock having to deliver packages apparently).
4. The video service (to watch what you've missed) is great but it has a monthly cost. I used the free month and I'm probably going to pay up but I'm on the fence because of the cost. (30 USD/year)

In the end, it's amazing you can answer your door when you're not at home. It has saved me countless trips to the post office ("we have our hands full, drop it at the door please"), and it's great to tell anyone at the door to "come 'round the back, we're having BBQ at the neighbors". The neighboring boys caught on to it though and they find it amazing they can "call" me at work now using the doorbel .

I'd have another one in a heartbeat.

We have one as well and love it for all the reasons above.

And us, speaking to the postman at our front door in the UK when walking around Rome is fairly impressive.

[tim0409]

I would like one but I read yesterday that Nest will bringing one out so I might wait for that as I already have one of their outdoor cameras and thermostats, both of which I love. The outdoor camera is great for security. I was lying in bed last weekend and heard a bang outside. Had a look out to find a van (from the organisation I work for) had pulled out in front of a bus. The van was a write off but thankfully nobody was injured. Had a chat with the van driver, and once he saw the footage from the Nest cam he looked a bit sheepish

[onlynik]

tim0409 said:

I would like one but I read yesterday that Nest will bringing one out so I might wait for that as I already have one of their outdoor cameras and thermostats, both of which I love. The outdoor camera is great for security. I was lying in bed last weekend and heard a bang outside. Had a look out to find a van (from the organisation I work for) had pulled out in front of a bus. The van was a write off but thankfully nobody was injured. Had a chat with the van driver, and once he saw the footage from the Nest cam he looked a bit sheepish

Conversly I owned a Nest Cam for internal use and hated it. The app just did not work on my wife's iphone 5s, the support team could not resolve it, coupled with a service went down 3 weekends in a row, and when their service is down, you can't view the camera. It was replaced with an Amcrest one, which records to my NAS.

[RockyBalboa]

onlynik said:

Conversly I owned a Nest Cam for internal use and hated it. The app just did not work on my wife's iphone 5s, the support team could not resolve it, coupled with a service went down 3 weekends in a row, and when their service is down, you can't view the camera. It was replaced with an Amcrest one, which records to my NAS.

Quick search shows the Amcrest to look impressive. Which model did you get and how is it?