Ring Video Doorbell Pro

One thing I've never liked about the layout of our house is the inability to see out the front window from the living room. Like most people nowadays too we've also been getting a substantial number of packages delivered and I worry about potential theft. I started looking at the Ring video doorbells last year and was impressed by what I saw. It looked easy enough to install and when I saw the Pro model on sale for $50 off a few months ago I went ahead and jumped on it.

The Pro model is hardwired (versus batteries for the original and 2 models) and also has a component that connects to the existing chime. Installation is simple and the included instructions (along with available video guides) are very detailed. Ring also includes a screwdriver and even a drill bit in the kit as well. Because it involves live wires flipping the breaker to shut off the electricity is a must. In our case the same breaker controls the front hallway where the chime is along with the front door area where the doorbell is mounted. This shut the lights off in the area too and because I'm inpatient and didn't want to wait until the next day my son held a flashlight while I did the install.

Doorbell chime with Ring's Pro Power Kit installed.

Installing the door bell unit itself is even easier. Unscrew the existing doorbell and disconnect the two wires connected to it. Connect them to the back of the Ring Pro. It doesn't matter which wire goes to which screw. Then attach the doorbell to the door frame. Don't attach the cover until device set up has been completed. (Flip the breaker on before doing so obviously to power everything up.)

One thing I really liked about the Pro versus the previous models was the ability to set customized motion zones. I'm able to extend out the zone slightly to cover my mailbox to get a notification when the mail is delivered but it limits false alerts due to traffic passing by. (You can also set the sensitivity level too.) It's not perfect but I'd rather it go off than not. 

As the screenshots above show image quality is very good, even in the dark. Voice quality is also quite good although if there's any sort of wind, etc. it can be a bit difficult to understand the person outside. Several times since installing it I've been able to tell door-to-door solicitors to leave without getting off the couch, which is an added bonus. I've noticed that some them seem to recognize that the Ring is installed and knock on the door instead to avoid setting it off. The joke is on them when I come through the speaker anyway. 

After using it for a few months I've been really pleased with it overall. It does occasionally not register motion and miss a package being delivered for example but that's rare. There are also occasional glitches with Ring's network servers but again, fairly rare. I liked it so much that the week after installing it I added a Ring Spotlight cam as well (post on that to come) to cover the entire front of my house. It's hard to beat for the purchase price and the monitoring cost. ($3/month or $30/year per camera.)