Ring Doorbell
I recently upgraded my [amazon text=Echo Dot&asin=B0792K2BK6] to an [amazon text=Echo Spot&asin=B073SQYXTW] and the main reason for that is that I wanted a ring doorbell. Obviously there are other great reasons to upgrade but that was mine.
I wanted a [amazon text=camera&asin=B00TZAO9D0] in the front of our house partly for security but mostly because my dogs are very protective and they bark at everything and I never know if what they are barking at is something that I need to deal with or not. If I’m not busy on my computer it isn’t a big deal but if I’m typing or not feeling well or cuddling with the kids I might not want to get up and check the door for every single bark. I also don’t want to stop my dogs from barking completely because there is a safe feeling in knowing my big girl has my back.
So we purchased the [amazon text=doorbell&asin=B00TZAO9D0] and so far it has been a good purchase. Granted, we have just recently received it so this is a fairly new product for us and I can not speak for its longevity but I can talk about ease of install and usability.
I was impressed by the hardware supplied for install, it wasn’t your typical, “here’s an alan wrench, good luck”. This came with a drill bit, wall anchors, a screwdriver and a level! My husband watched a couple of install videos (by the way if you have done an install video please leave the link in the comments here for people who need it) and we decided we could handle installing at night. Here are a couple of tips however,
1) Two hands is better than 1 but 1 person could certainly tackle this install
2) You do not need the diode unless you have a musical doorbell
3) The only additional tool you might need is a screw gun just to help move along the install
4) You may have to charge the doorbell a little in order to set up wifi
5) I did have to do a hard reset to get my wifi to connect and I talk about that in the video
Once you are ready and your wifi is connected you simply disconnect the power to the existing door bell (safety first), remove the existing doorbell, install the mounting plate, connect the wires, hook the j-shaped hooks of the camera part to the mounting bracket (this is where two hands comes in handy), screw the screws in on the bottom of the unit. That’s it.
Once that it set up go to your Alexa app and set up the doorbell- it is listed under cameras.
This does come with 1 month of free cloud storage- we will likely purchase the ongoing service because if you don’t it will not store your recorded videos for long.
As far as response time, it seems pretty good. I get alerted when the mailman arrives, I can see him in the camera and he isn’t always there for very long. It does take quite a bit of time for the camera to show up live feed on my phone- it does seem quicker with my Alexa app. The notification that someone is at the door is not instant- it does take a few seconds to let you know on your phone and then even longer to load the camera so if you are expecting someone just tell Alexa to show you the (in our case) front door and she will leave the live feed up for quite a while.
This does still use your existing doorbell chime which is something I wanted because we have a nice old doorbell that I wanted to continue to use. If the doorbell is hardwired you do not need to worry about batteries if you do use batteries they are suppose to last a long time (I think it said a couple of years).
So far we’re impressed, the video quality is quite good and I no longer have to wonder what my dogs are barking at or if I want to even go to the door if I don’t recognize the person standing outside of it (or sometimes if I do recognize the person standing there :-D)
So far so good. Please note that there is a [amazon text=newer version&asin=B072QLXK2T] available that is suppose to have a better camera on it but it is also almost $100 more so we are good with this one. 🙂
[amazon text=Click Here For Detailed Product Information From Amazon&asin=B00TZAO9D0]