Since entering the market 10 years ago, video doorbells have become quite common: 20% of U.S. households now use video doorbells. The cost of owning and operating a video doorbell has plummeted, so how does Ring, which offers a relatively expensive video doorbell and an almost-required subscription plan, stay at the top of the market? After testing the new Ring Battery Doorbell Pro ($229.99 plus subscription), I think the answer is that Ring continues to solve some of the most common problems with video security.
Ring's software has the least bugs of any doorbell or security camera I've tried. It quickly connects when notifications arrive; lets you interact with people who ring your doorbell; and grabs clips that match the zone you set. Ring has added new features and excellent video quality to the Doorbell Pro, but I believe that Ring's ability to meet the most basic needs of a video doorbell is what makes it so popular.
Traditional details and lots of accessories
Last year, I tested doorbells from Google, Aqara, and Blink; while each approach had pros and cons, they helped me appreciate my new ring. Doorbell design has changed little in the 10 years since Ring entered the market, and Ring's design is the most stately and sturdy of the video doorbells currently available. Ring wraps the doorbell in brushed metal with black plastic and metal accents—they look and feel more substantial. The Doorbell Pro continues that tradition: The upper half of the doorbell is shiny black plastic and metal, and the lower half is wrapped in brushed silver metal (you can swap it out for other metal finishes). Known for its big blue glowing round button, the Ring also comes with a wedge-shaped mount that fits your door, but if you need a different type of mount, there are plenty of them available online. Solar chargers are now also available, as well as indoor chimes.
More labor-intensive installation could make doorbells safer
While the rings are not difficult to install, they are more difficult to install than many of the brands I mentioned above. In all of these cases, doorbell installation is simple, but also unsafe. Ring has always had a mounting system that was supposed to provide security for the doorbell itself, and came with its own dedicated screwdriver. The doorbell itself must snap onto the mounting plate and then be secured to the mounting plate with many small screws. Physical installation takes approximately 10 minutes and setup takes another 15 minutes. Once the Ring app is installed and the doorbell is plugged in via USB, the app makes it easy to find and add the doorbell. You'll probably spend a lot of time configuring the Ring, but I recommend using the doorbell for a few days to see what settings you need.
Ring continues to conquer response lag
Once it's up and running, Ring will start flooding you with notifications. There are two types: notifications of activity in front of the doorbell and notifications of the doorbell actually ringing. In both cases, you might decide to click on the notification and see what the activity is. This is what sets the Ring apart from other doorbells: With every other brand, I've experienced connection errors, lag, and timeouts. Ring, on the other hand, connects quickly and easily, showing you a clip or live view of what's happening so you can monitor or interact with it in real time. While there's always a slight lag depending on your WiFi signal, the Ring's response time is hands down the best I've ever tried.
That means another feature people buy video doorbells for — interacting with people at the door — works better on Ring than on other models. Response time is important - your UPS driver won't wait for a 30 second response delay.
Subscriptions are expensive and essential to using your doorbell
Viewing these clips (rather than the live view) depends on being subscribed to Ring. While the subscription is optional, not being able to watch these clips makes the ring almost worthless in my opinion. The doorbell comes with a 30-day free trial, but once it expires, you'll need to start again. Plans start at $4.99 per month for one device, and the price goes up quickly. Generally speaking, I prefer products that don't require these subscriptions and allow you to store clips locally, such as Eufy.
Video clarity is superb with the help of new features
The clarity of the new Ring is top-notch, and not just the resolution, which is a reasonable HD 1536p. Ring designed the lens to give you a complete head-to-toe view of the person standing at your door, which means you can also see the package waiting on your doorstep. I'm surprised how useful this is. This clarity extends to far-sighted video - you can clearly see the details of the delivery person even after they get out of the car. I'm impressed how far Ring has come in respecting the ignore or attention zones I set in the app. I was able to easily set it up so that I wasn't bombarded with notifications from people walking through the house - something I'd had problems with doorbells before. This is likely due to the Ring's 3D mapping (a new feature) and Bird's Eye View, which uses motion detection to determine whether the action in front of it is relevant to you. I was also impressed with the night vision, which provided clear color images without the graininess you typically see even when I turned off the porch light. Some other doorbells I've tested offer higher resolution, but I barely noticed the difference.
Ring strives to layer on new features. Most usefully, Ring can now use artificial intelligence to help determine if there's a package on your doorstep. This feature is less efficient if you tend to leave things at the door, but if the package is left directly in front of the door, it correctly identifies the package most of the time, and only twice mistook the neighbor's cat for a package . Additionally, the doorbell will work with your other Ring devices to track someone's movements on your property.
Batteries are now more convenient and powerful
The real upgrade, in my opinion, is the battery. Of course, you can buy a wired version of the doorbell, but many people buy the upright battery version, and previous versions required removing the entire doorbell to charge the battery. The process was so arduous that I often didn't ring the doorbell. Now you just need to remove the metal panel and take out the battery, leaving the doorbell behind. There are two benefits to this, it's a lot less work and you can buy spare batteries and replace them so you never have to ring the doorbell. Battery life has gotten better, too. In more than a month, the battery has only lost one cell and the charge remains at 75%. For comparison, I used to charge my ring every eight weeks.
Bottom line: Expensive but quality video doorbell
There's no denying that the cost difference between Ring and its competitors is huge. This Ring model costs $229 before a subscription, while the Blink doorbell costs $41.99 and the Aqara costs $119.99. There are also smaller Ring models, such as the $59.99 Video Doorbell and the $119.99 Doorbell Plus; you get most of the Pro's benefits at a lower cost. While I balked at the cost, there's no denying that Ring delivers the original premise of a video doorbell -- a high-quality video of what's happening at the door in real time -- better than other brands.
