Echo & Alexa Forums

General Category => Smart Devices and Gadgets => Topic started by: jwlv on August 04, 2015, 03:08:22 am

Title: Ring Doorbell
Post by: jwlv on August 04, 2015, 03:08:22 am
I just ordered a Ring Doorbell just a few minutes ago. It's too cool not to have! :)
If you don't know what it is, here's the company's promotion video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl8sZI5AH4g

Ring Doorbell is actually Doorbot 2.0. The original Doorbot is a lot bigger and bulkier. When they resigned it, they also changed the name from Doorbot to Ring Doorbell.
The founder of Doorbot was on Shark Tank which aired in 2014.  Here's the Shark Tank episode: https://youtu.be/eUJoBtvt9VE?t=2m2s

I may post my own review video after I try it out. I'm excited!
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: ScarlettPhoenix on August 04, 2015, 08:12:39 am
Are you going to try the free 30 day cloud recording too?
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: jwlv on August 04, 2015, 08:58:29 am
Nah, I don't need cloud recording. I have 12 cameras inside/outside of the house that records just about everything already.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: Talisman on August 04, 2015, 09:27:47 am
I seen the show and forgot about it.. I might as well order one also! :)
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: George Jetson on August 04, 2015, 09:38:50 am
I've had one for about 3 months.  Works well.  You may want to dial down the motion setting (Zones and Range) I set mine to about 15'  Pay attention to the activity you have in front of your house.  Mail Man, Newspaper person, Garbage Truck.  It went off too many times when I set the motion setting to 30'.  I love the cloud recording option.  (JWLV since you're already covered with your cameras you won't need this option)  It's a nice looking device.  It's great that it comes in different finishes.  I would like the option to "view on demand" however it is not yet available. 
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: ScarlettPhoenix on August 04, 2015, 11:04:18 am
We've got a vicious UPS guy who loves to throw packages when he thinks no one is home. We've caught him in person twice. Lazy SOB...  I'd like to get him on camera and send those images to corporate so they can fire his azz. I've filed 3 complaints already. He must be related to someone there.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: Y on August 06, 2015, 01:40:49 pm
jwlv, are you paying for video storage for your cameras? If not, what system(s) are you using.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: jwlv on August 06, 2015, 07:40:35 pm
I have an Asus RT-AC87U router that has two USB ports on it. I have a 128GB flash drive on one port and a 2TB external hard drive on the other port. The router has an FTP server can be accessed throughout my internal network. I've disabled external access because I don't want to risk outsiders getting in.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: bukzin on December 09, 2015, 09:21:11 pm
Whats the going price for the Ring Doorbell?   Any coupons out there?

Thx
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: RhondaSea on December 10, 2015, 07:11:17 am
The Ring Video Doorbell goes for $199, whether you buy it on Amazon or direct on ring.com. I've had mine for a little over a month and love it. I have the cloud storage so I can view the videos from work or anywhere else.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: jwlv on December 10, 2015, 09:52:02 am
I ended up returning my Ring Doorbell because it had way too many false alerts and too many missed alerts. I think I know the reason why.

My front door faces south-west. The stucco walls and the concrete walkway are all in the Ring Doorbell's field of view. During the day, all of it is being baked by the sun. If someone came up to the door during the day, Ring's IR sensor would completely miss it because the person's IR is masked by the background IR. And at night, all of the remaining IR heat given off by the walls and walkway made Ring think someone's at the door when no one is actually there. I couldn't deal with the phone alerting me 10 times a day when no one is actually at the door.

The fact remains that Ring uses a passive IR sensor. While passive IR sensors are great for low power devices because they don't require any power to activate, they all have one huge flaw. They can't tell the difference between background IR heat and foreground IR. If Ring had an active IR sensor, where it monitors what is actually moving (like a camera that analyses movement in the frame), it would be suitable for my particular situation. Ring could have done this because you do have the option to connect low voltage power to the doorbell. But they wanted to make it wireless and run on batteries too. You can't have it run on batteries and have an active IR sensor at the same time, or you'll be charging the batteries every single day. It's too bad though, because it would be have a great device.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: ScarlettPhoenix on January 10, 2016, 04:36:54 pm
Good review.  I have to see which way our house faces.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: nycomet on January 14, 2016, 09:47:20 pm
Jwlv,

I ordered the Ring doorbell - it should arrive in a few days. I read your message about IR heat affecting the Ring doorbell sensor. My front door faces west. During the summer months, the front area of my townhouse is extremely hot as it's bathed in full sunshine from around 3 pm until late afternoon.

I am concerned that my Ring doorbell will not function well under such conditions, which seem to be similar to yours. I will find out after I install the Ring doorbell and use it for a while. Time will tell.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: jwlv on January 15, 2016, 12:51:24 am
Good luck to you. I really liked the Ring Doorbell. I just can't deal with the high number of false alerts and missed alerts.

Jwlv,

I ordered the Ring doorbell - it should arrive in a few days. I read your message about IR heat affecting the Ring doorbell sensor. My front door faces west. During the summer months, the front area of my townhouse is extremely hot as it's bathed in full sunshine from around 3 pm until late afternoon.

I am concerned that my Ring doorbell will not function well under such conditions, which seem to be similar to yours. I will find out after I install the Ring doorbell and use it for a while. Time will tell.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: nycomet on January 16, 2016, 12:37:17 pm
Just installed the Ring doorbell. I went for the $30 annual cloud recoding feature. I'm thinking the sun might not be a factor in the summer as the entryway is covered, providing shade.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: mde8965 on April 19, 2016, 03:11:16 pm
I know  I am resurrecting an older thread.

But I cannot being myself to buy this doorbell because it is so conspicuous.  If a bad person comes to my door they are going to know what this thing is from 50 feet away.  If it looked like a regular door bell and did not have a "ring" logo on it maybe.  Bad guy, if he's really bad is going to sneak up to this sideways and smash it off the wall?

Or am I just missing the point of this product altogether?  Why do I need a camera door bell for my relatives or close friends to ring?  I thought this was more about seeing a bad guy outside when you are not home and answering pretending you are there and busy or something.

Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: DParker on April 19, 2016, 03:29:49 pm
I know  I am resurrecting an older thread.

But I cannot being myself to buy this doorbell because it is so conspicuous.  If a bad person comes to my door they are going to know what this thing is from 50 feet away.  If it looked like a regular door bell and did not have a "ring" logo on it maybe.  Bad guy, if he's really bad is going to sneak up to this sideways and smash it off the wall?

Or am I just missing the point of this product altogether?  Why do I need a camera door bell for my relatives or close friends to ring?  I thought this was more about seeing a bad guy outside when you are not home and answering pretending you are there and busy or something.

Salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses?

But seriously...

I see your point.  On the other hand, you might be overestimating the intelligence and technical savvy of the average petty criminal just a little bit.  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fKM6UyFecE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fKM6UyFecE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzA3v74y0cc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzA3v74y0cc)
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: ScottinPollock on April 19, 2016, 05:13:24 pm
because it is so conspicuous.

I completely agree. The Ring looks exactly like what it is, and I would be surprised if it fools anybody. What I did years ago was to cannibalize an old call diverter, those that you see outside some apartment complexes, and just have a simple, intercom looking doorbell that rings my cell phone. I do have a camera located above my driveway so I can verify the dismissed party has actually left. The combination of the two has been effective without advertising the fact that I am answering the doorbell from my phone.

But I have been thinking about some way to tie my doorbell setup to my new digital barking dogs. Since this will require something like a ring voltage sensor to an Arduino or RPi for sending a command to my server, I'll probably replace the whole lot with something similar to this...

https://youtu.be/U09WDGR2jQo
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: renegade600 on April 20, 2016, 04:24:43 am
I know  I am resurrecting an older thread.

But I cannot being myself to buy this doorbell because it is so conspicuous.  If a bad person comes to my door they are going to know what this thing is from 50 feet away.  If it looked like a regular door bell and did not have a "ring" logo on it maybe.  Bad guy, if he's really bad is going to sneak up to this sideways and smash it off the wall?

Or am I just missing the point of this product altogether?  Why do I need a camera door bell for my relatives or close friends to ring?  I thought this was more about seeing a bad guy outside when you are not home and answering pretending you are there and busy or something.

It is usually easy to overlook the benefits of a product when you cannot see a personal use for it.  I did the same with the echo when it was first released.  It took me until a week before they started selling to the general public before I realized it could actually benefit me.  I was one of the last to order via invite. 

As far as someone coming from the side and doing something to it.  Yes it can happen but at the same time, the same can happen with most security cameras- depending on the location.    Most who get it, imo, would already have other security cameras.  I thought about getting the ring, but as expensive as it is, you would have to pay another 30 bucks if you want it to actually ring without using a device or computer.     

Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: mde8965 on April 20, 2016, 09:36:13 am
LOL, yeah when I saw the Echo for the first 6 months to a year it was out I thought it was a sad gimmick that people were crazy to buy into.  Fast forward to today I have 2 Echos and a Dot on order.

I would like to see them design the smart door bell to install wirelessly, use a regular door bell (small rectangular box with a button in the middle) that has absolutely no size differences or colors or logos to give it away, put the microphone on the bottom of the box out of sight and put the camera where the peep hole is on the door (you replace the peep hole as part of the installation process).  Have it work on z-wave or Zigbee and capable of operating like a normal door bell as well as how the "Ring" doorbell works with the camera and microphone with text alerts or notification and the app that opens to view the camera (and opens the microphone connection) if you click on the text/notification alert.  Video/audio files captured in the cloud or saved on a local drive configured by the user.  For that I would pay the $200 as long as there were no recurring monthly charges unless you wanted lots of cloud storage capability.

But as much as I like my gadgets, I will pass on the "Ring"
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: DParker on April 20, 2016, 10:59:18 am
I would like to see them design the smart door bell to install wirelessly

The Ring Doorbell has an internal rechargeable 5,200 mAh internal battery, so you can install it for completely wireless operation if you want to.

, use a regular door bell (small rectangular box with a button in the middle) that has absolutely no size differences or colors or logos to give it away, put the microphone on the bottom of the box out of sight and put the camera where the peep hole is on the door (you replace the peep hole as part of the installation process).  Have it work on z-wave or Zigbee and capable of operating like a normal door bell as well as how the "Ring" doorbell works with the camera and microphone with text alerts or notification and the app that opens to view the camera (and opens the microphone connection) if you click on the text/notification alert.

Manufacturers can certainly cram a lot of electronics functionality into some very small packaging these days, but putting all of that stuff into things as small as ordinary doorbell buttons and peepholes...plus the batteries required to power them...is asking a bit much.  As for normal doorbell functionality, there's an optional wireless "chime" for $30 that you can plug into the wall inside, and that the Ring will activate when someone presses the button.

Video/audio files captured in the cloud or saved on a local drive configured by the user.  For that I would pay the $200 as long as there were no recurring monthly charges unless you wanted lots of cloud storage capability.

I don't know about the other manufacturers, but you can get optional cloud storage for the Ring for $3/month or $30/year after a 30-day free trial.  Not quite free, but at ~8 cents/day it's close enough.
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: celticfan1888 on April 23, 2016, 02:45:31 am
Ring pro is now on pre order check the website no battery power only may have fixed some issues
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: Erik Salomonsen on June 22, 2016, 04:49:24 am
It would more like the doorbell+camera+app
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: rollind24 on January 06, 2017, 12:18:29 pm
I know  I am resurrecting an older thread.

But I cannot being myself to buy this doorbell because it is so conspicuous.  If a bad person comes to my door they are going to know what this thing is from 50 feet away.  If it looked like a regular door bell and did not have a "ring" logo on it maybe.  Bad guy, if he's really bad is going to sneak up to this sideways and smash it off the wall?

Or am I just missing the point of this product altogether?  Why do I need a camera door bell for my relatives or close friends to ring?  I thought this was more about seeing a bad guy outside when you are not home and answering pretending you are there and busy or something.

I bought the Ring Doorbell not as a security feature but because I can use it in conjunction with the Kevo Smartlock. I have family coming and going quite often and the ability to see who is at the door and then open the door for them from my phone comes in quite handy. If you plan on relying on one camera for coverage of your entire house then that would be a poor system in the first place.

I also had a nice couple of conversations with the roof repairman last week where he was able to show me a few cracked tiles and the lichen in real time
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: celticfan1888 on February 11, 2017, 02:25:15 am
Installed ring pro it works well no fals alerts
Title: Re: Ring Doorbell
Post by: Oclety on June 07, 2018, 08:57:55 am
Remember two things about Doorbell cameras. One is that there is a delay between the time the camera records and you get a notification and video. The “visitor” will probably be gone by the time you “see” him. Second, Large moving objects like trash trucks may trigger the camera. It’s not just the movement but light reflections that trigger the camera. If you can, mount the camera facing the front door but not the street.I use Unide Doorbell https://secretstorages.com/best-peephole-camera/ But like Nest and others, is probably 35% more than they should be. But they work and their tech seems well built as long as the unit is close to an access point. Often a repeater or Chime module is needed between the doorbell and the WiFi router location. The networked Ring security camera system is easy to navigate for multiple location and camera choices.

I suggest you look at Alibaba or EBay for Chinese clones for lower prices. It would depend having a network interface app as well.There are a lot of useful and interesting videos on this topic on Youtube, I will leave one here, I hope someone will help in choosing the future. Good luck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK8rZOa_Q6U