Ring Doorbell Camera Review

Your Doorbell Camera Options From Ring

Ring offers more doorbell cameras than most other brands. There are seven models to choose from. Three are battery-powered, three are wired, and there is a Power over Ethernet option as well. Thankfully, Ring has given them logical names so you know which one is the base model and which one is best of the bunch.

• Ring Doorbell: The Battery Doorbell and Wired Doorbell are the base models. Despite being the cheapest options, they both offer 2K head-to-toe video, night vision, and two-way audio.
• Ring Doorbell Plus: The battery and wired Doorbell Plus models are priced identically. The specs are almost identical too, except the Wired Doorbell Plus option offers color night vision.
• Ring Doorbell Pro: Like Doorbell Plus, the Doorbell Pro models also cost the same. Both also offer 4K video resolution. The wired model includes color night vision and a quick replies feature, which lets guests record a message if you’re not at home.
• Ring Doorbell Elite: The Elite model uses Power over Ethernet to stay online. It costs $500 and includes 4K resolution, color night vision, and remote gate access. This lets you use the device as an intercom system to control front gates using the Ring app.

Other features like field of view are mostly identical across all Ring doorbell cameras. There are some subtle differences, like motion detection. Some offer basic motion detection, which sends you a notification when the camera detects movement. Other models include 3D motion detection, which tells you exactly how close a person is to your property.

>> Learn More: How do Motion Detectors Work?

A Look at the Ring Doorbell Camera (Base Model)

The battery and wired doorbell cameras are in their second generation. The most obvious upgrade compared to the previous generation is 2K head-to-toe video. In our testing, we could make out who was standing at the front door far more clearly than we could with older models. That said, we noticed that the Wired Doorbell doesn’t activate your home’s internal doorbell chime. You’ll have to upgrade to Ring Chime or Chime Plus, or rely on the app for notifications when someone is at the door.

Aside from that difference, we found the Ring Battery Doorbell and Ring Wired Doorbell to be almost identical in our hands-on testing. The question comes down to whether you prefer the cheaper hardwired option or the flexible battery model. Based on our testing, we recommend the Ring Wired Doorbell. It’s one of the most affordable doorbell cameras we’ve tested, and you’ll never have to worry about the battery going flat at the worst possible time. But if you live in an apartment or your house doesn’t have doorbell wiring, the Battery Doorbell is the obvious pick.

>> Check Out: How to Secure Your Home

A Look at the Ring Doorbell Plus

Comparing the thickness of the Ring Battery Doorbell to the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus.

There are not a lot of differences between the battery and wired Doorbell Plus cameras. The wired model is slightly better, with color night vision and the quick replies feature. The rest of the specs are similar to the cheaper Ring doorbell cameras, including the field of view and video resolution.

Is it worth an extra $100 compared to the base model? Based on our testing, we think the color night vision is worth the price. While low-light, infrared night vision does the job, it doesn’t compare to color in practice. When we tested both side by side after dark, those extra details made a noticeably bigger difference in identifying porch pirates or intruders hanging around the property compared to seeing them in black and white.

A Look at the Ring Doorbell Pro

The Doorbell Pro devices double the resolution from the Plus range while adding more advanced features. One of the standouts in our testing was 3D motion detection. We simulated intrusions during testing, and the doorbell alerted us to how close someone was to the house. This information is useful if you want to know whether to ignore someone passing by or be concerned about a bad actor.

Quick replies are available with the Ring Wired Doorbell Pro. We used this feature to let visitors know we weren’t home and gave them the option to leave a recorded message. It’s handy if you’re driving, in a meeting, or just don’t feel like answering the door.

A Look at the Ring Doorbell Elite

At $500, the Ring Wired Doorbell Elite might seem a bit much for most people. It does have some features that make it worthwhile for some properties, though. For starters, the power source is Power over Ethernet, meaning it’s immune to internet outages. The remote gate access feature is also useful for gated homes. You can use the Ring Doorbell Elite as an intercom service to let people in.

For the average home or apartment, the Ring Wired Doorbell Elite isn’t worth the extra money compared to the other models. The video resolution is capped at 4K, the field of view is identical to the base model, and 3D motion detection is no different from the Pro range.

The Ring App

The Ring – Always Home app is what you’ll use to manage your Ring doorbells. If you’re a Ring Alarm customer or have Ring security cameras, you’ll be familiar with it. We used it to access live feeds, adjust privacy settings, and set up motion zones. Creating motion zones meant we weren’t getting notifications every time someone walked their dog past the house. All we had to do was adjust how far we wanted the camera to detect motion and hit save.

We found the app intuitive to navigate, even when we were testing the Ring Alarm system. The app makes you feel like a security expert with the number of customization options. We could even use it to talk to people at the front door when we weren’t home.

On that note, the sound quality was great, but during our testing we noticed a lag of roughly one to two seconds between when we spoke and when the person at the door actually heard us. This showed up most on the two-way talk feature rather than on the recorded video playback, and it meant we sometimes talked over the visitor or paused waiting for a reply that was already on its way. It wasn’t a dealbreaker since most of these conversations were short anyway, but it’s worth knowing about if you plan to use the doorbell for longer exchanges, like walking a delivery driver through where to leave a package.

Ring Protect Plans: Is It Worth It?

You don’t need a Ring Protect plan, since Ring doorbell cameras can work without one. But we think it’s worth signing up for. The free tier will only give you access to live view and motion alerts. That means you can’t save, review, or access recorded footage. At a minimum, we recommend Ring Protect Solo, which is $4.99 a month. Keep in mind that this plan only covers one doorbell camera or security camera. If you have multiple Ring devices, you’ll need the Multi plan. Here’s a quick overview of all Ring Protect options.

We like that Ring offers up to 180 days of video event history. That’s more than most competitors. The Nest Doorbell cameras we tested only offer up to 60 days on a Google Home Premium Advanced subscription that costs $20 a month. Even SimpliSafe security systems cap cloud storage at 30 days. If you only need a doorbell camera, you can get 180 days of video storage with Ring for $5 a month.

Ring vs. The Competition

Ring offers the best range of doorbell cameras, but there are better devices on the market. For example, SimpliSafe’s Video Doorbell Pro also offers smart alerts, but it has a wider field of view at 162-degrees. SimpliSafe’s pricing is on par with the Ring Doorbell Plus range. Like Ring, you’ll need a subscription to access the best features, like cloud storage, smart home integration, and intruder deterrence features.

ADT’s Nest Doorbell cameras are also a strong competitor to Ring’s crown. Nest Doorbell cameras offer facial recognition, motion zones, and security features like Trusted Neighbor. It’s similar to the Ring Doorbell Elite’s gate access feature, except it’s for your front door. With an ADT professional monitoring plan and a smart lock, you can let registered guests into your house when you’re not home or available. While the devices are similarly priced to the Ring Doorbell Plus range, ADT subscriptions are significantly more expensive than Ring Protect plans.

>> Learn More: Our Hands-On ADT Doorbell Camera Review