OT: Video Doorbell

[MikeD]

I've had a Ring Pro doorbell for a number of years. It's slow to activate and I don't like paying $50 a year for cloud service. Any better and cheaper alternatives out there?

[p nut]

I had Nest’s grandfathered $50/year plan for years. Then they decided to switch me to the monthly plan for no reason. So I dropped them.

I’ve been using Eufy. Stores footage on the device so no monthly fee. It’s been working fairly well.

[Veloo]

I have the Blink system.
It's better than nothing. Didn't alert me quick enough to inform me of the porch pirate on Christmas Eve. Video quality is meh. Support wouldn't really get back to me when I was addressing a design flaw but at least they seemed to release a fix/patch even if they didn't want to talk to me.

My friend has the Eufy and really likes it. No subscriptions for cloud storage cuz it stores locally. Knows when a package has been dropped off supposedly by comparing to what is the normal unoccupied space should look like and sends notification.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by p nut

I had Nest’s grandfathered $50/year plan for years. Then they decided to switch me to the monthly plan for no reason. So I dropped them.

I’ve been using Eufy. Stores footage on the device so no monthly fee. It’s been working fairly well.

Does Eufy work as well as the Nest one you had?

[donevwil]

I have a battery powered Eufy S330 doorbell cam (old hose, no wires to utilize) with home base. I go 4-5 months between charges, recorded and live video and audio are very good and the app has some nice features. The home base does the heavy lifting (door bell chime, video storage, pairs with other devices, etc.) helping extend the cam's battery life. The only quibble I have is poor audio out (speaker on doorbell cam) quality, voice is pretty much indiscernible especially compared to a friend's Ring.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Does Eufy work as well as the Nest one you had?

Video quality/clarity was great. I’ve had to reset it a couple of times but I had that issue with Nest as well. Definitely works as well as Nest, in my experience.

Mine is the wired version. I’ve heard the battery version lasts a while.

[tellyho]

I have the 100 year old brass doorbell that came with my house. No video but it lets me know when someone's at the door. Only cost was some elbow grease to clean it up a couple years ago.

[C40_guy]

We have a multi camera Blink system (no dedicated doorbell camera.) Since we seldom get anyone at our door (we're at the end of a quiet cul de sac), it works fine...

For the doorbell a few years ago I installed a Spore. Very nice.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by p nut

Video quality/clarity was great. I’ve had to reset it a couple of times but I had that issue with Nest as well. Definitely works as well as Nest, in my experience.

Mine is the wired version. I’ve heard the battery version lasts a while.

Looking at it on Amazon, it doesn't look like it securely mounts so someone could rip it off. It just snaps into the bracket. How many hrs. of video can it hold?

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by tellyho

I have the 100 year old brass doorbell that came with my house. No video but it lets me know when someone's at the door. Only cost was some elbow grease to clean it up a couple years ago.

Hah! No video doorbell here either....a few years ago I picked up a motion sensor alert that chimes when someone comes to our porch....got it cuz we order lots of stuff online and "porch pirates" are rampant in out 'hood, and we want to know when something is delivered (WFH). Cheap. Unobtrusive. Easy to install.

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by tellyho

I have the 100 year old brass doorbell that came with my house. No video but it lets me know when someone's at the door. Only cost was some elbow grease to clean it up a couple years ago.

I like it!

That reminds me: One thing that annoys me is, people I work with have their doorbells tied to their phones. Every time the doorbell alerts them, and while I'm near such an employee, first they have to stop what they are doing to see what their doorbell is alerting them to, then they have to tell you:

"My daughter just came home."
"It's the mailman/neighbor's dog/a squirrel/Amazon."

Really, you need to be that connected? Pity.

[duff_duffy]

I was at my brother in laws house. Doorbell rang and everyone searching for phone to see who was at door. I’m like we could just walk to door and see who it is….
I remember the first time I realized it also recorded audio, watch what you say around those things, they hear a lot.

[openwheelracing]

Eufy.

It's been years and still going strong! No battery no subscription.

No, your 100-year old doorbell is not better lol

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by duff_duffy

I was at my brother in laws house. Doorbell rang and everyone searching for phone to see who was at door. I’m like we could just walk to door and see who it is...

What's sad is that everyone had their phone by their side rather than put away, and focusing on enjoying the company.

[dsimon]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I've had a Ring Pro doorbell for a number of years. It's slow to activate and I don't like paying $50 a year for cloud service. Any better and cheaper alternatives out there?

If you are an apple user they have one "Logitech" it will pop up on your apple Tv, which is a feature that my wife likes