Hey BBI - any favorite front door cameras? Theres a lot out there, looking for recommendations. prefer something user friendly and discrete looking, and not too tech savvy.
would definitely recommend it. Your first year is free, then it's like $30 a year. It's easy to use, you can set it up so you get notifications on your phone when there is motion at your front door...I got mine at Costco for like $130 when it was on sale.
easy to install, and easy to use, but it is fee based. I want to say $30 per year for one ring device.
I wanted it to record wild life that roams around the neighborhood, all I get on it is very single car that passes my house. I think I could mess with it to not pick up cars, but we had a bobcat last week in the neighborhood and it didn't trigger the ring.
real time, or just get photos and video of who ripped you off? I have a few inexpensive ($40) trail cameras from Amazon that I've hidden in the bushes and they do a great job of recording movement, but it's a memory stick, it's not a live camera.
called "Victure Trail Game Cameras." I've had them almost two years now and no issues at all. They work quite nicely and can run on AC or DC. I also put one near the river behind my house and saw a few critters I suspected lived there, but hadn't seen. Fox, possum, raccoons, muskrats and all sorts of tidal birds like egrets, great herons and night herons.
Easy to install but I hate that they want you to pay $30 a year for it even though I respect the business model. If you have a hard wired doorbell it's better because no batteries to change.
Lots of other ones out there now though, I have a client with a Nest and she loves it.
Much much less expensive than Ring and no subscription. Their new doorbell cam is cheaper than Rings yearly subscription. Cameras work just as good as Ring, I have them both.
Took 30 minutes to install and works great. If you have a Nest thermostat as we did, you just add it into the same app. Video quality, even at night, is excellent.
Easy to install but I hate that they want you to pay $30 a year for it even though I respect the business model. If you have a hard wired doorbell it's better because no batteries to change.
Lots of other ones out there now though, I have a client with a Nest and she loves it.
still batteries to charge with a hard wired ring doorbell, only less often (once a quarter I have to replace it). I have a hard wired ring doorbell and I change the battery maybe quarterly (I have two batteries - one in the doorbell cam one not and it notifies me when it has 10% charge left and then I charge the other battery and replace the one in the doorbell)
It was easy and trust me i'm no installer. But I found it was slow and under powered. I have not tried the Ring 2.
I replaced the Ring with the Nest which needed a professional install (that might be a stretch - it needed some some who knew how to install a transformer for it) - probably easy for most but not me - a handyman did it for me) because it requires more power than the Ring but it also has a higher video resolution and is faster.
Meaning I'm notified in real time instead of a 15 second lag which matters if your door is far away from where you are in the house and you need to speak with the person at door for deliveries or things like that.
I have several other Nest products too so it was nice to link them all together.
So like all tech products it probably depends on how you're going to use it and what you goals are.
3 and the ring floodlight cam and I get notified real time of any motion. The floodlight picture is better at night because it has a strong floodlight attached to it.
but the doorbell at night isn't great depending on what you're using it for, I don't think they'd be able to identify a car license plate out at the street with it at night (50 feet away), but I'd be able to identify someone who comes onto my property
Easy to install but I hate that they want you to pay $30 a year for it even though I respect the business model. If you have a hard wired doorbell it's better because no batteries to change.
Lots of other ones out there now though, I have a client with a Nest and she loves it.
still batteries to charge with a hard wired ring doorbell, only less often (once a quarter I have to replace it). I have a hard wired ring doorbell and I change the battery maybe quarterly (I have two batteries - one in the doorbell cam one not and it notifies me when it has 10% charge left and then I charge the other battery and replace the one in the doorbell)
Are you sure your doorbell is wired correctly? I have my Ring hardwired and I have never changed the battery.
all wiring it (into an old doorbell) does from what I know (for the doorbell cam) is make the doorbell work when the battery is not in.
I checked the website FAQ to make sure.
You may have your hard wired - but not to an old doorbell. Doorbells are only 10 - 20 volts - if you have it wired at 120 it's probably enough to keep it charged.
Quote:
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Ring Video Doorbell Hardwired vs. Battery Powered Operation
If I hardwire my Ring Doorbell to my existing doorbell, do I still have to charge the battery?
Yes. If your Ring Video Doorbell, Ring Video Doorbell 2, Ring Video Doorbell 3, or Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus is hardwired, the device will receive a trickle charge from the doorbell wiring.
Battery Power
The rechargeable battery that comes included with your Ring Video Doorbell is designed to power your device without being connected to an external power source. It will need to be recharged on a regular basis.
Hardwiring
A hardwired Ring Video Doorbell does not actually use the wired power to run its operations. It relies on the battery for that. The trickle charge the Ring Video Doorbell gets from being hardwired is solely used to charge the battery.
If your Ring device is not keeping charged while hardwired, then more than likely this is due to other environmental factors such as the outside temperature or too many motion events triggering the device.
....
No battery to recharge, if that’s an issue for anyone.
Peephole is another excellent option, but needs to be recharged every couple months.
A wired/wireless (battery needs charging unless on solar) camera is a third choice
Great thing about ring. If you go all in on there line, it will on,h cost $100 a year. For professional monitoring of your alarm (fire/police), all cameras and cloud recording, and lifetime warranty on products you bought. From a value standpoint, can’t be beat.
1) Keep in mind your end goal and if you want just the doorbell/front door camera or if you want to build out a smart home. Getting a Ring doorbell, Nest thermostat, Wyze motion detector, etc. creates a pain for using them all seamlessly together and will mean you have to maintain multiple apps/accounts setup.
If its just the camera then no issues, but plot your course so you can build out a system that works well as you expand it.
2) Verify your wiring needs. The Nest doorbell makes use of the low voltage line to power it, so no need for a bulky battery. Ring needs that battery to trickle charge or can go without any wiring (its just a bigger footprint). Others may require hardwiring when adding them to whatever location you want.
3) Look at the apps or how you will access the camera and the associated costs. Nest has the best app out there, integrates better with its other products (cameras, thermostat, co2/smoke detectors, etc.) but you have to pay for their subscription and their devices cost more. Others have no subscription fees, but do not work as well as the Nest (or even Ring).
4) Check how "safe" you are using the cameras, having them on your network and whether they are encrypting your data. Wyze had a significant data leak last year. Cheaper cameras like the Yi are going to be storying/feeding your video through a Chinese server.
Throwing a camera or smart device in your house is an invitation to give up some privacy, but there's creepy Big Brother versions of that (Nest/Ring/Alexa/Siri) and then there's sloppy and unsafe handling of that (Wyze/cheaper alternatives).
but, a friend of mine showed me hers and how it works. I must say I was completely impressed and if I go get something for my front door it will be a "Ring". You can completely monitor it using you (smart) phone. Pretty incredible.
easy to install, and easy to use, but it is fee based. I want to say $30 per year for one ring device.
I wanted it to record wild life that roams around the neighborhood, all I get on it is very single car that passes my house. I think I could mess with it to not pick up cars, but we had a bobcat last week in the neighborhood and it didn't trigger the ring.
I'm thinking of getting a trail cam in addition.
Lots of other ones out there now though, I have a client with a Nest and she loves it.
Lots of other ones out there now though, I have a client with a Nest and she loves it.
still batteries to charge with a hard wired ring doorbell, only less often (once a quarter I have to replace it). I have a hard wired ring doorbell and I change the battery maybe quarterly (I have two batteries - one in the doorbell cam one not and it notifies me when it has 10% charge left and then I charge the other battery and replace the one in the doorbell)
I would assume I can adjust that. Haven't spent time trying yet.
I would assume I can adjust that. Haven't spent time trying yet.
I replaced the Ring with the Nest which needed a professional install (that might be a stretch - it needed some some who knew how to install a transformer for it) - probably easy for most but not me - a handyman did it for me) because it requires more power than the Ring but it also has a higher video resolution and is faster.
Meaning I'm notified in real time instead of a 15 second lag which matters if your door is far away from where you are in the house and you need to speak with the person at door for deliveries or things like that.
I have several other Nest products too so it was nice to link them all together.
So like all tech products it probably depends on how you're going to use it and what you goals are.
but the doorbell at night isn't great depending on what you're using it for, I don't think they'd be able to identify a car license plate out at the street with it at night (50 feet away), but I'd be able to identify someone who comes onto my property
Quote:
Easy to install but I hate that they want you to pay $30 a year for it even though I respect the business model. If you have a hard wired doorbell it's better because no batteries to change.
Lots of other ones out there now though, I have a client with a Nest and she loves it.
still batteries to charge with a hard wired ring doorbell, only less often (once a quarter I have to replace it). I have a hard wired ring doorbell and I change the battery maybe quarterly (I have two batteries - one in the doorbell cam one not and it notifies me when it has 10% charge left and then I charge the other battery and replace the one in the doorbell)
Are you sure your doorbell is wired correctly? I have my Ring hardwired and I have never changed the battery.
I checked the website FAQ to make sure.
You may have your hard wired - but not to an old doorbell. Doorbells are only 10 - 20 volts - if you have it wired at 120 it's probably enough to keep it charged.
Ring Video Doorbell Hardwired vs. Battery Powered Operation
If I hardwire my Ring Doorbell to my existing doorbell, do I still have to charge the battery?
Yes. If your Ring Video Doorbell, Ring Video Doorbell 2, Ring Video Doorbell 3, or Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus is hardwired, the device will receive a trickle charge from the doorbell wiring.
Battery Power
The rechargeable battery that comes included with your Ring Video Doorbell is designed to power your device without being connected to an external power source. It will need to be recharged on a regular basis.
Hardwiring
A hardwired Ring Video Doorbell does not actually use the wired power to run its operations. It relies on the battery for that. The trickle charge the Ring Video Doorbell gets from being hardwired is solely used to charge the battery.
If your Ring device is not keeping charged while hardwired, then more than likely this is due to other environmental factors such as the outside temperature or too many motion events triggering the device.
....
link - ( New Window )
Peephole is another excellent option, but needs to be recharged every couple months.
A wired/wireless (battery needs charging unless on solar) camera is a third choice
Great thing about ring. If you go all in on there line, it will on,h cost $100 a year. For professional monitoring of your alarm (fire/police), all cameras and cloud recording, and lifetime warranty on products you bought. From a value standpoint, can’t be beat.
If its just the camera then no issues, but plot your course so you can build out a system that works well as you expand it.
2) Verify your wiring needs. The Nest doorbell makes use of the low voltage line to power it, so no need for a bulky battery. Ring needs that battery to trickle charge or can go without any wiring (its just a bigger footprint). Others may require hardwiring when adding them to whatever location you want.
3) Look at the apps or how you will access the camera and the associated costs. Nest has the best app out there, integrates better with its other products (cameras, thermostat, co2/smoke detectors, etc.) but you have to pay for their subscription and their devices cost more. Others have no subscription fees, but do not work as well as the Nest (or even Ring).
4) Check how "safe" you are using the cameras, having them on your network and whether they are encrypting your data. Wyze had a significant data leak last year. Cheaper cameras like the Yi are going to be storying/feeding your video through a Chinese server.
Throwing a camera or smart device in your house is an invitation to give up some privacy, but there's creepy Big Brother versions of that (Nest/Ring/Alexa/Siri) and then there's sloppy and unsafe handling of that (Wyze/cheaper alternatives).
but, a friend of mine showed me hers and how it works. I must say I was completely impressed and if I go get something for my front door it will be a "Ring". You can completely monitor it using you (smart) phone. Pretty incredible.