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J**N
Better video quality, poor installation and mounting (Updated 6/6/2020)
I had the original Ring Doorbell for about a year and really enjoyed it. It was cheap but lower quality video resolution. It was fine for the time I had it. When the same thing with improved video was being released, I jumped on it. I received it today and got it installed. The video quality is night and day as shown in the photos and much better than the 1st generation. Good work ring. Unfortunately, the installation and mounting sucks compared to the 1st generation. Why they did this, I have no clue but here are the issues.1. The mounting plate on the first generation has connections for the wiring. This made it very easy to remove the device and charge, especially in the winter months where we live and the batteries lose charge. 2nd generation has a mounting plate and the wiring on the back of the unit, which was a pain especially when the existing wire is not very long. This will be a nightmare having to remove this and recharge compared to the 1st generation. I had no issues with the 1st generation. This is a failure for Ring in my opinion. I am debating about keeping my 1st generation instead of this now.2. The mounting of the device to the frame also sucks. The 1st literally had no gaps and was secure in my opinion. It had guides that made the doorbell align to the mount. The 2nd generation does not and there are gaps all the way around and loose. I mounted it no differently than before, in fact the holes for 1st and 2nd generation are identical which is a plus, but again I see this mounting as a failure for Ring.I literally just installed this, and outside of the perfect video, I can’t attest to motion and nightvision yet. I am disappointed in the execution of mounting the device. I have no idea why this changed this from the 1st generation but this was a bad move in my opinion. I still have no idea why these require a battery they never stay charged when connected to wiring, but I assume this unit will have the same issue for me as well come winter. They really need to rethink the whole battery idea and have a hardwired version and battery version or fix the way these thing function when power is applied. At this point I may deal with it and hope Ring fixes these mounting and wiring flaws. If this mounted the same way as the 1st generation, I would not be writing a review because I had no issues with the device other than the battery and that wasn’t enough for me to write a review. Excellent otherwise but seriously why did you change the way these mount?***Update 6/6/2020***So I decided to keep it primarily because I had already offered to sell my 1st generation to a neighbor, but I did end up having to make some changes. Ultimately I bought some spade terminals and soldered them to my doorbell wire with heat shrink tubing (Ring provided in older versions, but not this one for some reason). While it was easy for me, it won’t be for others. Overall I am still upset over this mounting as it is extremely poor execution when the previous version was perfect. I guess this is Rings way to get the price down to $99 by cutting corners. The doorbell it self seems quality but mounting just plain sucks. I have no other words for it. You can see my updated photos of what I did. There are two photos that show the camera quality difference. The low quality image is from a generation 1 ring and the better quality HD is from the generation 2 ring. Night vision appears to be decent and motion the jury is still out because of the People only filter. I am still trying to tweak it. I am still leaving only 3 stars because of the mounting issues and there is still a gap between the mounting plate and the doorbell. Maybe Ring will fix and send everyone a new mount, but that is wishful thinking.
R**.
Easy to install and set up
This hardwired unit is fairly easy to install and set up using my original doorbell, and so far (31 days) it appears to work well. The picture day or night is clear and crisp, although slightly distorted (like a "fish-eye lens") only because I had to use an angle-mount kit bought separately. I also spent the $1.99 to buy the installation kit sold separately, which has better tools than come with the Ring doorbell plus doorbell wire extensions if needed - I highly recommend this kit (but be sure to get the correct one.)The only negatives thus far, which I wasn't aware of when I bought this system, are:1) there is almost a 10-second lag between when just motion is detected and when the notification appears on my smartphone (even when I'm at home sitting by my wifi, but it's almost instantaneous when the doorbell is rung);2) that when the 30-day free trial of video storage ends, so do all videos if you don't subscribe to Ring for $39.99 a year. If you don't subscribe, all you have starting the 31st day are notifications and "live view" with no video recording whatsoever. I was somehow under the impression that selected videos could remain on my smartphone and I had to subscribe only if I wanted to store some or all of them with Ring, but that is not the case: it's purely "no pay, no videos" after the 30th day; and,3) this system has one bit of quirkiness - a phantom doorbell: about once a week or so, initially usually in the middle of the night between 1:30a - 4:00a, my doorbell will ring one time but Ring never activates or captures any movement or shows any activity having transpired, and even if I go to a live display within just a few seconds there's never anyone or anything there. I don't know if this is caused by dropping outside air temperatures or something else, but it is a bit of a nuisance that I now see other users have mentioned as well (and some have said the frequency of occurrence increases over time - I guess I'll find out.)The above notwithstanding, overall I'd likely recommend this system to others.
U**D
As advertised
The Ring Video Doorbell-wired, works just as advertised. Easy set up with great instructions. Connected to WiFi and was up and running in a matter of minutes. Hit a snag the next day with the existing transformer not having a high enough output to power the Ring. $20 upgrade for a new doorbell transformer solved the problem. Not worrying about a battery to charge is a huge plus.Motion detection areas are customizable and alerts can be set up to a person's personal taste. Linked to my Amazon account, I was able to skip the purchase of a chime accessory and use my Echo devices to hear announcements from the Ring.The Ring app takes some exploring, but is functional and serves its purpose well.Ring Video Doorbell was a great investment and the biggest problem you should have is choosing which model to buy, not if you should buy.
N**!
Can be difficult to setup
I had a lot of trouble setting this up, it turned out I needed to tweak a somewhat obscure setting on my router to set the mbps to 54 (default was 300mbps) before the setup worked. Also, be aware that this model only supports 2.4Ghz wifi, it will not work with 5G. Other things to check if setup fails: make sure both the phone you're using to do the setup and the device itself are on the same WiFi network (and make sure it's a 2.4Ghz network.) You also might have to change the setting on your phone to NOT use your data connection for the internet. If those tricks don't work, you might have to try using a guest network, or try removing all the non-alphanumeric characters from your password. Whew!Once setup, it works great though! Not sure yet how long the battery will last before a re-charge though, that could be a bit of an issue as it's not super easy to remove the device to charge it up, then put it back on its bracket.
A**E
Wish I had read the reviews first
Lesson - always read the reviews before purchase.Firstly, the set up procedure is one of the most complicated things i have been through - and I am a web developer who deals with complicated technical issues all day, yet this totally flawed me.Even once set up, simple things like making the video appear on your phone didnt work.I purchased the extra "chime" box - this also didnt work.Hard to believe a doorbell could be harder to set up than a $5000 Macbook Pro but trust me it is - by far.Thank god for Amazon's return policy as this is going straight back!
K**Y
Good doorbell BUT
This Ring doorbell requires an ongoing subscription after 30 days of free trial to view your door activity. Unfortunately this information is not disclosed anywhere on the outside of the packaging. So after I had this item installed and operational, only then did I realise I had to incur ongoing costs for the life of the doorbell. I think this is very misleading for consumers and I’m going to complain to the department of fair trading here in Australia. I’m not happy about it and I’m going to remove it and buy another brand of doorbell. I hear Swan is very good and without additional ongoing expenditure.
N**Y
Good idea; poor execution
The Ring Video Doorbell is a dud. I have tried to make it work without success. Several of my tech savvy friends also have had a go. The Ring is defective and, please don’t buy it. It is difficult to set up but if you happen to succeed it does not connect with Alexa.In short a lot of tine wasted with a poorly implemented device. I shall be returning it as a DOA.
B**R
Ring Doorbell Cam Is The Best Camera On The Market!!
This Doorbell Camera is Fantastic! I have had it set up and Working for over a Month and my battery has only used 25%, So the Battery life is Amazing! My Wifi is ok where I live but the camera hasn't faulted once! The features are Amazing! The picture quality is perfect! Like a 4K HD Camera! The things you can do in the app or on ring.com made me subscribe. It lets you control the camera to what setting suits your House. The motion sensor is very fast, within 2 seconds I am notified if someone has triggered the Motion Sensor and it hasn't missed one person. And being able to check the camera Live anytime is an excellent feature. I don't have street lights where I live and the Camera on Night mode picks up everything clear as day! The 2 way Microphone is great and I have it set on 2 phones and it lets another person talk through it on my side of the Camera to the person outside with no complications, So 3 of us talk through it together perfectly! It even lets you turn the camera left and right and zoom in also. I recommend this Camera to anyone who is after a cheap way to keep an eye on your house anywhere you are and knowing the battery has the potential to last months, I rate it 10/10 even with having to pay a subscription which I'm Happy to Do after trying all the features in the trial period you get with subscribing at the start and honestly it's not bad at $40 a Year or $4 a Month. One of the Best things I own!
A**R
Its OK, but didn't work fully with Alexa - customer service useless on Alexa integration
The bell and video is OK and easy to physically install and connect to RING app. However though the echo dots announce when someone rings the bell (no need for indoor chime), no matter what I try, I can't talk through the Alexa echo dot to the person at the door. We have to fire up the phone to talk through the RING app. Very frustrating. RING customer service admitted they didin't know much about Alexa after I spent 40 minutes on the phone to them (yet they are all owned by Amazon!!)I can live without being able to talk through Alexa but wasted spent hours fruitlessly trying to set it up something that is supposed to work easily.
Trustpilot
2 days ago
2 months ago