Just a decade ago, the idea that your doorbell would be a video recording device that you could control from your mobile phone seemed futuristic. But thanks to companies like Amazon-owned Ring, the concept is now well and truly old news.
Ring has been making products for many years now, but it continues to refine and improve upon its tried-and-tested products, making them better with each generation. The current crop of devices from the company doesn’t need to be hard-wired, dramatically cutting installation costs and complexity. You just put the doorbell where you want and connect it to your WiFi, and it’s ready to go.
Is The New Ring Video Doorbell 2 Any Good?
A couple of years ago, Ring had a problem on its hands. Its product was doing the job from a technical perspective, piping doorstep images through to the owner’s smartphone. But the physical appearance of the bell left a lot to be desired. It was big, bulky and somehow plastic-looking. In general, people didn’t like it.
The company went back to the drawing board with the Ring Video 2, redesigning the device from the ground up to be more attractive and neutral. The company certainly achieved its objectives. The new doorbell is beautiful and comes with a discreet camera and a well-designed button for the bell. The design is overtly high-tech, but it doesn’t look out of place. You can imagine it in both contemporary and traditional homes.
How you wire the device depends on your preferences. You can either hook it up to your existing doorbell system or route it internally using a separate cable. Once in place, the ring system will connect to your existing doorbell infrastructure, reducing overall costs.
What It Is Like To Use Every Day?
Installing the Ring 2 is the most challenging part. Once you’ve done that, using the device day to day is easy.
A lot of what the device does is automated. The camera is smart, meaning that it can tell when a person approaches your front door, switching itself on, according to www.techradar.com. And the motion detection system rarely gets confused, so you shouldn’t get an alert every time your neighbour’s cat walks up your path.
If, however, you find that it is too sensitive, you can change it in settings. All you need to do is go to the motion setting options in the app menu and tweak it, and you’re done.
The app contains all the usual things you’d expect. You can check the battery status, camera settings, and look through a record of recent activity with video reports (if you pay for them).
What About The Costs?
The reason the Ring 2 is such a good business idea is that it tries to get you to sign up for a monthly subscription service. Wait a second? Why do you need a monthly subscription for your doorbell? It all comes down to the video storage costs. If you want to keep videos of people coming to and going from your house, you’ll have to pay Amazon for the privilege. It’s not a huge cost, but it is still something, and not perhaps what you’d expect when buying a doorbell.
You can get money off the base cost of the unit too with coupons from sites like NetVoucherCodes.co.uk. As with many electronics items, prices continue to fall even as products become more feature-packed.
Should You Buy The Ring 2?
On the plus side, the Ring Video Doorbell 2 is exceptionally straightforward to set up. If you have any technical savvy whatsoever, you should manage just fine. The layout of the app is intuitive too. It allows you to see all the functionality of the bell from a single screen. The WiFi connection pipes video directly to your smartphone, enabling you to see everything that happens outside your property.
For some, however, the battery and the size will be a problem. The Ring Video Doorbell 2 had to come in a more substantial form factor because of the need to carry an onboard energy supply. The battery is good and will last for several weeks under regular use, but it’s a hassle you don’t have to put up with on a regular smart doorbell. It’s a tradeoff between easier setup and long-term usage.
The motion tracking on the doorbell is good, but it might not be suitable for dwellings with doors directly adjacent to public walkways. If, for instance, you live in a block of flats, then you’ll need to adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection options.
