We're moving to a new house, so I need a new doorbell.

We currently have the original Ring, which has been fine, mostly, except for being slow. I don't pay for the cloud storage, so it is live view only.

Since there are other choices now, I'm trying to make an educated decision. We have the Arlo cameras, and those have free cloud recording, so I am not sure that's a big deal. But would like to know if there's something really better out there.

The one's I'm looking at are Ring 2, Ring Pro, Nest Doorbell, and Skybell. Are any really better than the others?

Nest has the acknowledged best video.

Or is that their thermostat?

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:
We're moving to a new house, so I need a new doorbell.

We currently have the original Ring, which has been fine, mostly, except for being slow. I don't pay for the cloud storage, so it is live view only.

Since there are other choices now, I'm trying to make an educated decision. We have the Arlo cameras, and those have free cloud recording, so I am not sure that's a big deal. But would like to know if there's something really better out there.

The one's I'm looking at are Ring 2, Ring Pro, Nest Doorbell, and Skybell. Are any really better than the others?

I have a Ring Video Doorbell 2 Pro you can have.
It wouldn’t fit into my current doorbell location and I never got around to returning it to Amazon. It’s just sitting in the back seat of my truck. It works as far as I know. I never hooked it up.

Are you in the Dallas area?

Damn SF rocks.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimineer:

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:
We're moving to a new house, so I need a new doorbell.

We currently have the original Ring, which has been fine, mostly, except for being slow. I don't pay for the cloud storage, so it is live view only.

Since there are other choices now, I'm trying to make an educated decision. We have the Arlo cameras, and those have free cloud recording, so I am not sure that's a big deal. But would like to know if there's something really better out there.

The one's I'm looking at are Ring 2, Ring Pro, Nest Doorbell, and Skybell. Are any really better than the others?

I have a Ring Video Doorbell 2 Pro you can have.
It wouldn’t fit into my current doorbell location and I never got around to returning it to Amazon. It’s just sitting in the back seat of my truck. It works as far as I know. I never hooked it up.

Are you in the Dallas area?

East Dallas, but could meet you somewhere central. I'd be happy to buy that off you.

I currently have the Nest one, along with a bunch of their products. They all work great, but if I we're to start over, I'd get the Ring one.

I'm just having some personal issues with Google lately.

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:

quote:

Originally posted by Jimineer:

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:
We're moving to a new house, so I need a new doorbell.

We currently have the original Ring, which has been fine, mostly, except for being slow. I don't pay for the cloud storage, so it is live view only.

Since there are other choices now, I'm trying to make an educated decision. We have the Arlo cameras, and those have free cloud recording, so I am not sure that's a big deal. But would like to know if there's something really better out there.

The one's I'm looking at are Ring 2, Ring Pro, Nest Doorbell, and Skybell. Are any really better than the others?

I have a Ring Video Doorbell 2 Pro you can have.
It wouldn’t fit into my current doorbell location and I never got around to returning it to Amazon. It’s just sitting in the back seat of my truck. It works as far as I know. I never hooked it up.

Are you in the Dallas area?

East Dallas, but could meet you somewhere central. I'd be happy to buy that off you.

My e-mail address is in my profile. I’d be happy to meet you somewhere. I live near Richardson so we probably aren’t too far apart. I just checked the box and it’s the Pro model not the Pro 2 if that matters to you. You’d be doing me a favor putting it to good use so no need to buy it. I can probably find some time to meet you this weekly if you’re interested in just the Pro model.

quote:

Originally posted by aileron:
Nest has the acknowledged best video.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by aileron:
Nest has the acknowledged best video.

I'm involved as a subcontractor in the manufacture of both Ring and Nest, and know which I'd put on my door if so inclined. Don't want one; even free ones.

I'd be happy with any one that did more than give me excellent video of someone's butt walking away. It surprises me it takes a few seconds to get up and running upon detecting motion. Sort of defeats the purpose from a surveillance standpoint, but is still invaluable in being able to answer the door when states away from home, say I'm busy and create the illusion of being there.

Doorbell cameras are post event voyeur tools, they are there to record what happens after the event, occasionally they just happen to be working in the area when something happens, but for the most part everything is post event viewing...

Going Live view has a 50-50 shot of coming up with any video feed at all. Answering rings or motion events is about the same percentage, most often you get a black screen and no connectivity.

The problem lies in your wifi speed, the providers speed or throttling, the jam at Ring/Nest Servers and back through the internet to your phone along with the app coming up if you don't leave it running all the time.

In two years I can count on one hand the number of times someone ringing it had a video connection come up in time to actually interact with them through the system. 99 out of 100 times my dog tells me someones approaching the house before the doorbell...

Like was said I have seen the mailmans butt more than his face... In most cases by the time the video is up I see the back of the truck leaving...

Understand the newer Pro's are recording all the time, so you have a better chance at seeing things as they occur, For security purposes it's more like an alarm sign, a deterrent...

Also you need a wired connection for the Nest, so if your current setup is doorbell via intercom or wireless doorbell you can't use some of the versions.

Ring has a recharging battery version that we use...

Shout out to Jimineer for the instant karma and great lunch conversation.

My new Ring Pro doorbell is installed, and I don't know if it's just because my old one was first generation or what, but I am impressed with the quality and how fast the video comes up on this one. It's about 5 seconds for live view to come up, and when someone's at the door it's almost instant on the notifications.

Now I'm thinking about getting the Ring Alarm system, which packages the monitoring and cloud video storage. Wondering if anyone has experience with that.

I don't have the alarm, but I did have installed the Ring floodlight cam. I am really happy with it. Even though I have the Ring Pro doorbell, there are occasions where it seems to take a day off.

I place the floodlight cam where I can see both driveway entrances and the sidewalk that approaches the front door.

Last week the floodlight cam recorded the mailman making an unexpected package delivery to the front door, Then him coming back and picking it up (mail was supposed to be on hold).

The damned doorbell slept through the whole thing.

Ring Pro is a huge improvement over the original.
i am part of their beta test explorers program (free storage for life) the new stuff they have coming is nothing short of amazing!

I have the complete Ring alarm system. Cameras, entry sensors on all windows and doors, motion sensors, smoke detectors, yada yada. This is the third brand I’ve tried, the others which included Nest all had connectivity issues. The Ring setup is solid, I’ve been very happy. I also have the Pro doorbell. Customer service is always busy, takes a few min to reach them if needed... but they’re very helpful and based in the US.

Nest family here.

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:
Shout out to Jimineer for the instant karma and great lunch conversation.

My new Ring Pro doorbell is installed, and I don't know if it's just because my old one was first generation or what, but I am impressed with the quality and how fast the video comes up on this one. It's about 5 seconds for live view to come up, and when someone's at the door it's almost instant on the notifications.

Now I'm thinking about getting the Ring Alarm system, which packages the monitoring and cloud video storage. Wondering if anyone has experience with that.

Glad to hear it worked out for you. I too enjoyed meeting you. Great food and conversation. I was pretty worthless the rest of the afternoon- I ate like a pig.

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
I have the complete Ring alarm system. Cameras, entry sensors on all windows and doors, motion sensors, smoke detectors, yada yada. This is the third brand I’ve tried, the others which included Nest all had connectivity issues. The Ring setup is solid, I’ve been very happy. I also have the Pro doorbell. Customer service is always busy, takes a few min to reach them if needed... but they’re very helpful and based in the US.

I've had the Ring video doorbell for some time now. Works perfectly and sends quick video responses when motion is activated upon sensing motion coming to the front door. Audio talking two way as well. I've been appropriately notified when miles from home and able to speak two way to the person at the door. Even the cat can set the night vision camera off. So far so good. No wifi connectivity problems to report. The only times I've lost connectivity is when Ring was doing remote software upgrades, which has occurred a few times but I called them to double check about the connection being disrupted and they confirmed.

If you live in a cold climate you are pretty much out of luck. Wife wanted one but in this part of the woods -25 during winter is almost typical now. All I looking into were not rated for this low of temp.