Ring Doorbell Purchase Review

I purchased my Ring 2 Doorbell and Ring Chime back in November 2020 during the Black Friday sale on Amazon for the combined price of £88. Today they are offered for sale at £89 for the Ring Doorbell and £29 for the Chime.

There are now several versions of Ring Doorbells being offered and I have included a Ring Video explaining them all at the foot of the post.

Why did I buy one?

I already have a 4 camera CCTV system at home but I thought I would benefit from being able to answer the door remotely whilst out taking our daily exercise during lockdown.

Due to the pandemic everything we purchase has been on line so had to be delivered. I have a hearing impediment so I added the doorbell chime as a package so I could not miss a visitor if anywhere in the house.

The phone app also alerts me when I am away from home which works when I am in my Man Cave in the garden and cannot hear the chime.

I have included some screens shots below from my mobile phone .

The doorbell in situ at the front door.

The view from the phone app looking out.

A screenshot from the app showing the record of motion detection.

So what it been like in practice since November 2020

Pros

Good quality image
Good battery life
Remote access to talk to caller
Motion detection

Cons

Long delay between pushing door bell button and being able to see and talk to caller
£2 per month storage fee for captured video clips
Delivery drivers tend not to push the doorbell but knock the door instead
Cost to purchase

Firstly there are loads of video clips on YouTube of burglars and thieves being caught on camera by this doorbell should you wish to research them further.

I have found the image quality to be very good from this device as can be seen in the images above. I decided I was not going to pay £2 monthly to store the captured video as I already have CCTV camera covering the front of the house.

I do feel it a bit much to have to pay a monthly fee to store images. Some reviews I have read have complained of poor battery life however I have only charged it once since November which I think is very reasonable. It is easy to unscrew the battery and charge overnight.

The motion detection would be a brilliant feature if not for a 15 second or more time lag. By the time the doorbell alerts the app and then the app vibrates the phone and I dig the phone out of my pocket and click the app, wait for it to load the caller has got bored and left already!

Add to this I have found most delivery drivers / postmen do not use the doorbell but knock on the door instead which completely defeats the purpose of this device. As a result I have not had one occasion to speak to a caller yet!

It is not cheap at £118 for the two today.

However as a doorbell it was easy to fit and set up with the wifi in the house (you do need a good signal near the device). If rung by a caller it works fine with a very loud chime from the indoor plugin chime device.

Would I buy one again? probably not mainly due to its time lag in alerting you but now its here its proving useful enough.

I bought mine through Amazon and you can visit Amazon through my affiliate link below which may give me a small commission should you wish to buy one to try yourself.