Ring Alarm Review: 2nd Generation

Piecing the Ring Alarm Together

DIY installation is the name of the game among security companies these days, so when we finally got our hands on the Ring Alarm five-piece security kit with all the components in one box, we went straight to work. Much like its predecessor, the Ring Alarm was quick and easy to set up, and installing it took less than half an hour. While we already had the Ring — Always Home mobile app installed, we recommend that this be the first step before installing anything else.

When we took out the base station, it looked more or less the same as the first-gen. In fact, as far as we can tell, the only difference is the finish. The first-gen base station has a glossy finish, while the newer one has a matte finish. Everything else stayed the same; well, more or less.

The setup process for the second-gen base station took a bit longer because it wouldn’t connect to Wi-Fi the first few tries. We got it to work eventually, but we still don’t know what went wrong the first time. We came to the conclusion that it was probably just a bug – perhaps because the app can see that we had a Ring Alarm system (first-gen) installed before. In any case, the setup process was a breeze. It took us less than 30 minutes to complete the setup and installation.

Part of what makes the Ring Alarm sensors easy to install was their peel-and-stick adhesive backing. After we pulled the tabs from the battery slots, we peeled the double-sided sticker, and then stuck them to where we wanted to place them. While we were at it, we decided to rename some of them; for example, we named one of the contact sensors “Front Window.”

One thing to keep note of is that the Ring Alarm base station (both the first-gen and second-gen) has a 250-foot open-air wireless range, but walls can affect how far the signal reaches. Fortunately, the five-piece kit includes an Alarm Range Extender – kind of like a Wi-Fi repeater but for the base station’s specific wireless frequency.

The Range Extender will come in handy if you live in a multi-storey house, but for those like us who live in an apartment that’s less than 1,000 square feet, it has little use. The base station’s 250-foot range was more than sufficient; we just made sure to place it in a central location.

What’s in the Ring Alarm Box?

Like we mentioned before, we ordered and tested out the five-piece kit, but Ring also offers 5-piece, 10-piece, and 14-piece kits with extra components like a panic button. What we liked about the Ring Alarm as a whole is that you can mix and match sensors from the first and second generations while adding cameras and video doorbells for a more well-rounded home security system. Particularly if you’re an existing first-gen Ring Alarm user, you’ll find the compatibility of the second-gen system money-saving.

Similar to our testing of the first-gen, we paired our Ring Alarm with the Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In and Ring Video Doorbell 2 to see if our Ring ecosystem was as cohesive as the first time. Let’s get right into what our five-piece security kit included and the components’ features.

Base Station

As the brains of our entire security system, the Ring Alarm’s base station didn’t undergo significant changes but still connected all components on the mobile app as well as the professional monitoring team.

In the event of power outages, our base station would still be up and running thanks to the 24-hour backup battery. Coupled with cellular backup, there was minimal room for lost connection with our Ring Alarm, so that was very reassuring. It was also nice to see that the built-in, 104-decibel siren remained in the base station and was still loud enough for us to hear from all our rooms — though our neighbors, who heard the siren go off one too many times, may not be just as happy as we are about the siren’s volume.

Keypad

One of the first noticeable changes in the Ring Alarm that we came across was the size of the keypad. Smaller than the previous generation, the keypad also incorporated three separate buttons that put us into direct contact with the authorities: police, fire, and medical. All we had to do was hold the button down for three seconds, and the base station would notify the appropriate authorities immediately.

If we didn’t feel like using the mobile app, we could arm and disarm the Ring Alarm on the keypad. We also shared access to our apartment with our visiting relatives by creating temporary guest codes. No more sliding the apartment key under the doormat!

Motion Detector

Like the keypad, the Ring Alarm’s new motion detector has a slimmer profile than the first-gen, but with a button and indicator light this time. We saw the motion detector as our second line of defense and stuck it up in one corner of our living room.

If you’re wondering what that button is for, the answer is “troubleshooting.” We were confused at first as well, but turns out, pressing the button starts a diagnosis process that detects connectivity issues. The LED status light provides feedback. One green flash means everything is ok, one red flash means it’s not communicating with the base station but it’s still on your network, and three green flashes means it’s not connected at all.

If you’re like us and despise useless notifications about pet activity, then great news: the motion detector can ignore pets 50 pounds or less under low detection or pets 30 pounds or less under medium detection. This is all thanks to patented motion detection technology, which allows the component to focus solely on human intruders and ignore animals. While we don’t have pets personally, when we were cat-sitting for a friend, this feature definitely came in handy.

Contact Sensor

The Ring Alarm’s contact sensor has an indicator light and gets its power from two coin cell batteries that last up to three years. We placed our contact sensor above our front window, as windows are the most common spots for forcible entry.2

We remembered from our testing of the first generation that the contact sensor needed to be within 250 feet of the base station or else it wouldn’t connect. Even though we avoided that rookie mistake this time around, we still tested the contact sensor and received notifications on the app whenever one of us opened or closed the window.

Range Extender

Following suit with the slim profile, button, and light indicator is the range extender, which amplifies the distance between the sensors and the base station by another 250 feet.

While we didn’t use the range extender, we definitely recommend it for larger homes that need a stronger connection among Ring devices.

Here’s another thing we liked about the range extender: You can daisy chain up to three extenders. That means, rather than placing each extender within 250 feet from the base station, you can have them throw signals to one another. The second range extender doesn’t have to be within the base station’s range, as long as it’s within the range of the first extender. That means the second-gen Ring Alarm is scalable – whether you live in a small apartment like us or in a big mansion, you can make Ring Alarm work.

Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In

Another one of Ring’s greatest strengths is that it’s a security camera and doorbell camera brand as well. In fact, Ring is best known for its variety of camera options that range from a simple indoor camera called the Ring Indoor Cam to a smart light-equipped outdoor model called the Floodlight Cam.

As such, Ring is an excellent option if you want to integrate video monitoring into your security system. Better yet, Ring’s monitoring rates include cloud recording, and you’ll use the same app to monitor both the Ring Alarm and your Ring cameras, but more on those below. For now, let’s talk about the Ring Stick Up, which we tested alongside the first-gen and second-gen Ring Alarm.

We used the Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In with our Ring Alarm security system, a plug-in indoor/outdoor camera. Let’s see how it performed during our testing.

• Video: The Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In has 1080p HD video, the current industry standard, plus a wide, 150-degree field of view. While we couldn’t zoom in at all, we were still happy with the clear video image it produced, which, as you can see, is very easy to see. But if you’re looking for a higher-quality security camera in terms of video, we prefer the Nest Cam (battery, indoor/outdoor). We tested the battery-powered Nest Cam and loved its 1080p HD resolution with HDR. We also appreciated its smart features, namely, person detection and facial recognition when used with subscription. While it cost $80 more than the $99 Stick Up Cam, the Nest Cam (battery) was worth every penny.

• Audio: The camera has a speaker and microphone enabling two-way audio so that we could speak to whoever’s in front of the camera and they could answer. This isn’t just a great way to stop intruders in their tracks; it’s also useful for telling family members that dinner is ready, which we preferred to do as opposed to yelling across the house like normal.
• Night vision: The Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In has infrared night vision producing a black and white image in the dark. As you can see, it’s pretty clear, even in the dark, windowless room we tested it in.

• Storage: One disadvantage of the Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In is it’s lack of local storage. The only option is cloud storage. This may be a problem for you if you want continuous recording or if you want to use your camera without Wi-Fi for whatever reasons. However, for our purposes, we were able to get 60 days of cloud storage for a very affordable price, as it’s built into the Ring Protect Plus plan and the less-expensive Protect Basic plan. Once we had recorded some footage, we simply downloaded it from our cloud storage onto a hard drive so we could have a backup. While this process isn’t exactly arduous, we do wish that it occurred automatically.
• Artificial intelligence: Now, with a Ring Protect Basic or Plus plan, we were notified only when the camera detected a person, resulting in much fewer false notifications. However, without a plan, you’ll only get motion-activated notifications.

Ring Video Doorbell 2

Finally, there’s the Ring Video Doorbell 2, a doorbell camera that you can either hardwire into your home or power using a battery. We chose to hardwire it into our existing doorbell set up so it wouldn’t be dependent on a battery.

Here at Security.org, we love doorbell cameras because they let us greet our guests whether we’re just upstairs or across the globe, even speaking to them through the Ring app.

• Video: Like the Stick Up Cam Wired, the Ring Video Doorbell 2 has that 1080p HD video we look for in a camera, plus an even wider 160-degree field of view. While we weren’t able to zoom in, it definitely wasn’t super necessary as our guests stood right in front of it. As you can see from the picture, we were able to see our visitors and front stoop clearly.

• Audio: Every video doorbell we’ve tested out has a speaker and microphone, allowing us to have conversations through our camera and its respective app, and the Ring Video Doorbell 2 was no exception. Now, when we tested it out from our apartment in Brooklyn, we found it super helpful in regards to home deliveries. We get a lot delivered, so it was really nice to be able to communicate with the delivery people and tell them any special instructions.
• Night vision: As you can see, the Ring Video Doorbell 2’s night vision lights up even the darkest of nights via infrared LED sensors, which really helped us greet friends!

• Storage: The same storage options apply to the Ring Video Doorbell 2; no local storage and cloud storage available only through Ring Protect plans. Again, we wish that the Ring Video Doorbell 2 had a slot for a micro-SD card, but it wasn’t hard to download the cloud storage from the Ring app onto a local hard drive.
• Artificial intelligence: Since the Ring Video Doorbell 2 lacks person detection, we received a lot of false notifications, as we mentioned earlier. Most of the video doorbells we review have person detection, which is even more important outside because of cars and animals like squirrels. Living in Brooklyn, there’s a lot that passes our camera every day, so this was a pretty big drawback for us. However, if you live in a more rural area, it may not be as much of a problem.

Ring doesn’t just stop at alarms, cameras, and video doorbells — you can add their Alarm Flood & Freeze Sensors or Alarm Smoke & CO Listeners to reinforce your home’s protection. In our case, we didn’t incorporate any of these accessories into our security system but we tip our hats at Ring’s dedication to expanding its ever-growing product line.

Video Review of the Ring Alarm

More of a visual learner? Check out our video review below, which goes over the same details as our written review.

Ring Alarm’s Monitoring Options

Ring offers some of the most affordable monitoring subscriptions in the home security market. That is despite the price hike we saw in 2021 when Ring launched the Ring Alarm Pro system.

The newer pricing separates cloud storage plans from professional monitoring, but if you get a professional monitoring plan, you’ll receive cloud storage as well. We know it sounds a bit confusing, but here’s the lowdown:

• Ring Protect Free: This is a cost-free plan that allows you to receive alerts and monitor your cameras’ live feeds, but has no professional monitoring or video storage.
• Ring Protect Basic: This plan costs $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year, and allows one camera to store videos in the cloud for 60 days. This plan is charged on a per-camera basis.
• Ring Protect Plus: This subscription provides cloud storage as well, but for all Ring cameras installed in one location. It costs $10 per month or $100 per year.
• Ring Protect Pro: This combines the features of the Plus subscription with professional monitoring, for a low price of $20 per month.

You can hop on over to our Ring monitoring and pricing page for more details or glance at the chart below which sums everything up:

Ring Alarm Monitoring Overview

The Ring Protect Pro plan comes with other benefits, but these are reserved for the newer and more expensive Ring Alarm Pro system. The Pro version of the Ring Alarm uses a base station that doubles as a Wi-Fi router (using eero technology), and most of the extra features capitalize on that.

All in all, we like the affordability of the Ring Protect Pro plan. It’s as affordable as SimpliSafe’s basic subscription. And because Ring includes cloud storage in the $20 monthly subscription, we see it as a more affordable solution than SimpliSafe. SimpliSafe only includes cloud storage in the $29.99 Fast Protect plan.

Virtual Guard: Should You Splurge On It?

Recently, Ring introduced a new subscription plan called Virtual Security Guard, and it costs a whopping $99 per month. It’s marketed towards homes and business, although we’re guessing that it’s really just geared for upscale homes and businesses that can afford that monthly fee. And here’s what the subscription entails: 24/7 professional monitoring of security cameras and doorbells.

When your compatible Ring cameras detect a person, an alert will be escalated to Ring’s partner monitoring service. Then, a monitoring agent will gain live access to your cameras and their two-way talk feature, essentially allowing them to deter criminals even if you’re too tied up to respond yourself. And if that doesn’t work, they can dispatch an emergency response just like a regular professional monitoring service.

For $99 per month, Ring’s Virtual Security Guard service is expensive. In fact, SimpliSafe offers the same functionality for only $29.99 per month with its Fast Protect plan. The only difference is that only one specific SimpliSafe camera works with the virtual guard feature, whereas with Ring, you have more camera options.

Another brand with a similar service is Deep Sentinel. This one offers just one type of outdoor camera, but the virtual guard feature works the same way. And the price? One camera costs $399 and monitoring costs $60 to $160 per month, depending on how many cameras you have.

For now, the virtual security guard feature is experimental. Only a handful of systems offer such a functionality, and if you want to test it out, SimpliSafe is clearly the most affordable option.

Our Smart Home, Now With Ring Alarm

Something else that we’ve been repeating is that Amazon owns Ring, which meant that we could have a field day with its voice assistant, Alexa. Ring also happens to be the best security system that works with Alexa. Don’t worry, Ring didn’t forget about Google Assistant either, although the Alexa integration allowed us to issue a lot more commands. Here’s what we commanded Alexa to do:

• Arm or disarm the security system and ask for status updates
• Show live footage on our Echo Show devices or Fire TV
• Disable motion alerts from cameras and entry sensors on doors and windows
• Adjust our cameras’ motion sensitivity
• Lock or unlock our doors (if we had compatible smart locks installed) and ask for status updates
• Review recent video clips from our cameras.

Google Assistant couldn’t match up to Alexa in terms of commands, but these were tasks that it could do:

• Start a new recording on our cameras
• Receive health updates on our devices
• Review previous notifications.

Other than voice assistants, here are some third-party devices that are compatible with Ring:

• Dome Siren
• Leviton Decora In-Wall Switch
• GE Plug-In Dimmer
• Schlage Connect Smart Deadbolt
• Kwikset Z-Wave Deadbolt
• Yale Touchscreen Deadbolt

We have a Dome Siren in our apartment because our grandparents, who are hard of hearing, often visit. When we integrated it with our Ring Alarm, we had to test how loud we wanted the siren to be. All we needed to do was adjust the Dome Siren’s volume on the app and see if our grandparents could hear it from the guest room. Any time the Ring Alarm went off, the Siren would go off as well and alert our grandparents, which gave us peace of mind whenever we weren’t home.