Ring Video Doorbell Pro Review

I just reviewed the Arlo security cameras, which I really like, but I just got a Ring Video Doorbell Pro to test, as well.

It is funny, I was looking at Ring cameras for a while, but we have vinyl siding and I didn’t want to worry about putting new holes in it to fit the camera.  You never know when you might want to move and I would want to take the Ring with me.  If that happened, putting back the old doorbell  would leave the new holes visible.  This would definitely not be an ideal situation.

Note:  I get paid commissions for purchases made through any links to Amazon products in this post.

Installation

When I was given the opportunity to review the Ringer, I went to their website to see if I had any other installation options. Luckily, I found an article that said, for some installations, you can use double sided 2 pound foam compression tape to attach the Ring to surfaces that can’t be drilled:

https://ring.com/faq#installation

With that in mind, I decided to jump in. I found some Scotch 414/DC Extreme Mounting Tape, that is weather resistant and works for objects up to ten pounds, and I was ready to install the Ring. Let me say that I am not a handy-man in any way. However, this thing was super-easy to install. It took about twenty minutes from beginning to end. The entire process starts by downloading the app onto your smartphone. I have an iPhone and once I created an account, I started the very helpful installation video. In fact, they have written instructions in the box, but I did not touch them (other than at the very end when I was looking for a tool to attach the Ringer cover. However, the Phillips head screwdriver they provided actually has two ends, so you just pull it out and flip it around to attach the last screw).

The entire installation was so quick that it actually took longer for me to get the mechanical chime to work properly because Ring’s attachments are a bit bulky and difficult to fit under the chime’s cover (you can see by the pic below that we don't have a lot of room inside the chime box).  It took a few minutes of trial and error with someone pushing the ringer button outside while I moved the pieces around to make sure we got the “ding dong” sound from our chime.  For a while, it only made the “ding” sound because the new attachments were getting in the way.  However, I got everything working perfectly after a few minutes.

The process of actually attaching the Ringer to the siding by the door was simple.  It required me to unscrew my old ringer, take the two cables that were hooked to the old doorbell and attach them to the new Ringer .  It is kind of cool because after less than a minute of hooking up the Ringer, a woman’s voice starts talking to let you know you are ready for the next step.  After that, you hit a button on the side of the Ringer and use the app to attach the Ringer to your wifi network.  I was able to connect it to my 5 Ghz wifi without any problems at all.

Note:  The double sided tape seems very sticky, but I will monitor it over the next few, extremely hot months, to see how it holds up.  I also want to mention that the instructions explicitly state that you should cut power to the doorbell and chime before starting, but I didn’t go that route.  However, for safety, you may want to.  

Once I had it setup, I just put on one of the covers, that come in four different colors, with one screw and I was up and running.

Video Quality

One thing to be aware of is that unlike Arlo wireless cameras, you can’t do much to change the location of the lens.  For our home, this means that the Ringer is around waste level when someone is near the door.   That isn’t ideal but the wide angle still gives you a pretty good look at people’s faces (assuming they aren’t so tall and standing so close to the lens that their heads are out of the shot).   It can lead to some unflattering video, though.  With wide angle lenses (the Ring Pro has a field of view of 160 degrees horizontal and 100 degrees vertical), you can get distortion, so the center of the frame can look wider than the edges.  This can make waists look larger and heads looks smaller when people are close to the lens.  I am a little worried that if something happens outside, the authorities will be looking for a large 300 pound person rather than someone that is tall and weighs 205 pounds.  I may look for software that can help with video distortion.  I know Lightroom and Photoshop have lens distortion correcting tools that might help.


The non-Pro Ringer can run off of batteries, so you might be able to put it in a more ideal (higher) spot if you can cover up the old doorbell (push button) holes.  However, the trade off is that the non-Pro is a lot bulkier (one thing I didn’t like about it) and you would still need to worry about changing out batteries.  The Pro can only hook to the old ringer’s cables, so it only runs off of electricity.

Note:  I get paid commissions for purchases made through any links to Amazon products in this post.

Performance

Once we had it setup, I had someone go outside and ring the doorbell. I immediately got a notification on my Apple Watch and I pulled up the notification on my iPhone, which launched “Live View”.  I was able to have a conversation through the intercom on the Ringer with the iPhone.  My co-tester said the audio sounded good and clear.  On my end, I could hear them fine and everything was fairly clear.  Below is a pic of the Live View app interface:

When you setup the Ringer, you can set up 3 different zones in the frame.  This may help with picking up motion from cars going by if you are getting a lot of useless notifications.   You simply create boxes around areas you want to monitor and name them.  This could also help if you had kids that played in your front yard, by keeping that area out of your zones.

The app has 4 major areas for video including “ALL”, “RINGS”, “MOTION”, and “LIVE VIEW”.  The “ALL” section has all types of video that recorded, with a description of the activity.  Of course, you can always go to the “RINGS” tab, for example, if you just want to see video of people that actually rang your doorbell.

Right now “LIVE VIDEO” is seen at 1080p resolution.  However, if you download a recording, it is in 720p.  I contacted their customer service to find out if I had something setup wrong because my videos were not in 1920x1080 resolution.  They said that downloaded videos were transcoded to 720p at this point, but they said that this will change.  They are working on some changes that will change how the recorded video processes.  

While I am on the subject, it was a holiday weekend, but I was able to use “chat” on their website to talk to a representative on a Saturday afternoon.  I also sent them an email and they responded in less than an hour and a half.  Very impressed with their quick response!  

In any event, the video looks fine in 720p.  However, the typical issues of dynamic range can rear their ugly head in the video output.  In other words, on a bright summer day, the lens sets up exposure based on subjects under the bright sky that it sees.   However, like many people, we have a covered porch, so the most important part of the frame is in shadows.  This can make exposure tricky and can make the person you are recording appear too dark.  You can probably restore some of the shadows with software, but it is a common issue with any photography, so it is hard to blame Ring for this issue.  

That being said, when we recorded video, the Ring chose to blow out the sky and expose for trees in the shot.  This makes the person in the video slightly dark, but you still get enough detail to make out faces.  

I should mention that the Ring records to the Cloud rather than an internal server.  They give you a free 30 day trial, but after that it is $3 a month or $30 a year.  Not bad considering what some of the other companies are charging, but I wish that these video surveillance systems allowed you to choose where you want the video stored. I am sure there are technical reasons in addition to financial reasons for this limitation.  However, I still worry that if these companies ever go out of business, their cameras would become useless.

Whole Home Integration

The app has a Ring+ tab that allows you to add partners.  I was able to add my Wemo switch to the app. The feature adds a link to the Wemo app from the Live Video screen (see bottom right corner of pic below).

Of course, it works with other services in addition to Wemo:

While having the partner's apps available right from the Ring app is cool, it is limiting.  However, IFTT has the ability to connect the Ring camera to many other devices.  So I have it setup to blink a Phillip's Hue light in my living room when someone rings the doorbell.  I also have it set to record video from an Arlo camera in my yard when the Ring's motion sensor is set off.  This will catch people that come to the door and leave quickly...just in case the Ring's video capture starts too late.  In other words, using IFTT automation adds a lot more automation choices to the Ring camera.

To Wrap Up

I love the Ring Doorbell Pro.  I like its ability to use my current doorbell mechanisms for easy installation and I like the intercom, the motion sensors, the live view, the notifications, the app, and the ability to adjust the motion sensor zones.  My only complaint is that the camera is being sold as “1080p,” yet we currently have to download the video in 720p format.  They have said they are fixing that issue, but that should have been addressed prior to selling this camera as 1080p.  According to Ring, you do get a 1080p live view, but that isn’t good enough to make up for them marketing this as 1080p when I can't download video in that format.  

Upsides:
Easy setup
Very useful location for a surveillance camera
Ability to talk to anyone at the door via the app
Motion sensors/zones
Decent video quality with a wide angle view
Good looking
IFTT integration
Notifications/App quality

Downsides:
Required Cloud subscription after first 30 days
720p video downloads despite being sold as 1080p (they are working on this)

Note:  I get paid commissions for purchases made through any links to Amazon products in this post.
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