Can I Ude Ring Doorbell 2 As Security Camera And No A Doorbell

Ring has made a name for itself in the smart dwelling house world with its lineup of connected doorbells that tin can record video. Ring doorbells make it piece of cake to add a security photographic camera to the outside of your dwelling house, and its latest model makes it even easier to keep an eye on your visitors.

The company's latest product, the $199 Band Video Doorbell 2, was released earlier this summer, and it improves upon the original product in a number of ways. It provides higher-resolution video output — 1080p verses the 720p of the original — and makes it easier to recharge the unit's internal battery if you don't accept information technology hardwired into your dwelling's electrical organization.

Band has a number of other video doorbells in its lineup, but while the Video Doorbell Pro and Video Doorbell Elite offer slimmer designs and more high-finish features, the Video Doorbell two (and its predecessor) are the just models that don't demand to exist hardwired and can run off of bombardment power.

That's user-friendly for a number of reasons: it's easier to install a Video Doorbell ii, and it has more options for its placement than i that has to be installed where the wiring is. But don't exist fooled: the Video Doorbell two is not the kind of product that tin can be installed then hands removed and swapped to a dissimilar door or area. This is very much a permanent installation, which ways it likely won't work for renters.

My dwelling lacks whatever sort of doorbell wiring, and so the Video Doorbell 2's battery-powered features appealed to me. To install it, I drilled two holes into the brick around my door, used the angled bracket provided in the box with the Video Doorbell 2 to angle it toward the doorway, and then mounted the actual doorbell to that. (A apartment subclass is also provided.) The whole install process took about 10 minutes, since I didn't have to actually wire anything upward. If you have a more complicated setup, Band provides video tutorials to walk you through it.

The biggest physical departure between the Doorbell 2 and the original is the new, slide-out battery. With the start model, recharging the battery required removing the entire doorbell from the frame and plugging it in for v to six hours. The new, removable battery (which looks similar something you might find in a DSLR or camcorder) is much easier to charge: you simply remove the front panel of the doorbell (a security screw underneath needs to exist removed with the included screwdriver first), slide the battery out, and plug that into a Micro USB cable. Charging still takes five or six hours — information technology'south a hefty, 6,100mAh battery and this doesn't have whatsoever quick charging features you might observe on a smartphone — but the modularity of this pattern means y'all can buy a 2d battery and put that in to continue your doorbell functional while the other charges. Band provides one battery in the box, only y'all tin buy spares from Ring'southward website for a reasonable $20.

Band says the battery should last anywhere from six to 12 months between charges, depending on how much action your doorbell receives. Those claims might be a bit inflated, though. In my experience, the battery drained to under 40 percent in about half-dozen weeks of use, which means I'll exist recharging it every three months. For my testing, I had all the features enabled, such every bit move detection and quick alive view admission. Ring says disabling these features will extend the battery life.

You tin can use the Video Doorbell 2 on its own and it will chime when someone presses the push button or it detects motion. It will also send a push notification to your telephone: tap it, and you can view the live feed from the camera immediately. Simply it probably makes sense to utilise Band's $49 Chinkle Pro accessory with it. The Chime Pro provides a speaker for the doorbell within your house, which is much easier for everyone to hear, and it works every bit a network extender to brand sure the Video Doorbell two is always connected to Wi-Fi. Information technology's particularly useful if your Wi-Fi router isn't anywhere virtually your front end door.

As far equally actually using the Video Doorbell 2, my experience was largely positive. The video that'due south streamed live from the doorbell is vivid and has decent resolution, and the IR sensors around the camera brand it possible to see visitors at night, besides. Connecting to the camera through the smartphone app was quick, even if I wasn't home and had to employ LTE, and the two-mode microphone and speaker made it possible to talk to visitors directly. I was even able to view the camera'due south feed on Amazon'due south Echo Evidence — though it doesn't support 2-way audio, and I had some trouble connecting to the camera at times.

The motion detection provided a better experience than I saw with Nest'due south Cam IQ, and it would only alert me if someone was actually in front of my doorway, not downwards the driveway. The Ring app lets you control the motion detection'southward range and set up schedules to disable the alerts. The motion alerts were useful when a delivery person would come and not bother to band the fancy new doorbell I installed, but I ended up turning them off during the day and then that I wouldn't get a ping each time my family went in and out of the firm. The scheduling organisation reenabled the motion alerts for night so I would be alerted to an unwanted company at odd hours.

Night video from the Ring Video Doorbell ii

Despite my positive experience, the Video Doorbell 2 is an expensive gadget, specially when you add in the cost of a second bombardment and the Chinkle Pro. On top of that, Ring'south deject service, which lets y'all access video clips of motion detection or rings after the fact, costs $iii per month or $xxx per year.

But if the price isn't a concern for you, the Video Doorbell 2 is a painless way to turn your doorbell into an internet-connected security camera for your front door. Now if only I could get visitors to actually press the doorbell.

Correction, x:25AM August ninth, 2017: Clarified the pricing for Ring's deject service, which is $iii per calendar month or $30 per year.

Photography by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/9/16112752/ring-video-doorbell-2-security-camera-review

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