Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 Installation and Review
Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 Installation and Review
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Buy it at Amazon: Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 [Affiliate Link]
Takeaway: Quick and simple installation, easy-to-use app, clear and crisp video and audio.
You’ll receive the ring video doorbell, a chime power kit, alternate chime kit wires, doorbell wire extender and wire nuts, a corner wedge plate, mounting hardware, video surveillance sticker, two security screws, security screw tool, and user guides and quick start card. The main video doorbell unit measures about 4.5” tall, 2” wide, and 1” thick. On the front, a 1536p camera lens with 150° FOV is at the top, then you have the doorbell button and the IR lights. On the back are two screw terminals for power, and you’ll need to supply 16-24VAC power either through a wall-adapter or doorbell transformer, sold separately. If you have an existing wired doorbell, you likely already have a transformer; just make sure that it meets the minimum specification of 16 VAC.
The unit comes pre-installed with the silver trim kit, but if you want a different color, you can get your first one free of charge from Ring. To change it, simply push on the center to pop the main camera unit out. On its right side is an orange button for setup and resetting the unit and a QR code for identifying the device during setup. The faceplate simply slips onto the front of the unit and clips into place. At the bottom of the unit the external speaker is on the left-hand side and at the right is a hole for the security screw. Just be sure to only use the provided short security screws and not one of the wall anchors. The corner wedge plate allows you to change the angle of the camera by 25° when mounting, if it will be close to a wall on one side, so that less of the camera’s field of view will be of the adjacent wall. For my installation, I won’t be using it.
The Pro Power kit v3 is only needed if you are using the doorbell with an indoor wired chime. It comes pre-assembled with two spade connectors that’ll work with most mechanical doorbell chimes with internal screw terminals. If your chime uses push terminals or wires inside instead, you can swap the spades with the alternate connector. I don’t have an inline indoor chime to use with this doorbell; instead, my Alexa speakers (placed throughout the home) will serve as the doorbell chimes when the doorbell button is pressed. This means, my Ring doorbell will be connected directly to the doorbell transformer.
In the Ring app, after registering an account and singing in, you'll need to add and setup the Ring doorbell. You can either scan the QR code on the quick start card or on the side of the doorbell unit. Installation of the unit was fairly simple and the app guides you through each step with short videos and detailed instructions. Just make sure to turn off the power at the breaker before working on any wiring. Once powered on, connect the doorbell to your home WiFi network and you can start using it right away. A new Ring Pro 2 comes with a 30-day free trial of Ring Protect, a monthly subscription service whose basic tier gives you access to continuous image capture, 180-day video history and cloud storage, thumbnail push notifications, and discounts on Ring products purchased online, while higher rate tiers offer additional services like emergency responders, cellular backup, and extended warranty. Note that without a subscription you will not have access to any past video recordings, only the event history and live view and there’s no way to save the recordings locally. However, when the doorbell is pressed, I'll still get a push notification on my phone and an announcement on selected Alexa speakers throughout my home. Announcements can also be enabled for person or package detection.
You can share your device with other Ring users, so multiple people can monitor and interact with the doorbell, enable smart alerts for recording and push notifications about specific motion events like detected persons versus general motion, set motion sensitivity and motion zones, and there’s even a cool bird’s eye feature which utilizes satellite map images to construct a top-down view of your property and show you how a person moved about in the camera’s field of view. The app shows you a snapshot of the latest recorded event and tapping on a camera enables you to view the recording or see a live view. Both daytime and nighttime video footage are clear and crisp, with the daytime images detailed and accurately colored, while nighttime footage is black and white but comprarbly clear and detailed. The camera captures both video and audio and in the live view you have the option to enable two-way communication, so you can talk to the person standing in front of the doorbell. If you aren’t home or don’t have time to get to the door right away, you can also setup automated quick responses and have the Ring take messages for you, but note that only Ring Protect subscribers can view those messages in their history, otherwise you can only view the responses in real-time during live view.
Overall, the Ring Video Doorbell 2 was fairly simply to install, given that I was already replacing a wired doorbell and don’t have an internal chime unit. As a doorbell, I can now use any or all of my Alexa speakers throughout my home as doorbell chimes, and I’ll also get push alerts on my phone as well as motion detection notifcations. As a smart video camera though, without a subscription, having only live view access requires you to pull up the app and watch the event as it happens and even then, there’s no simple way to record the footage without also launching a screen capture app. Ring obviously wants you to subscribe to one of their Ring Protect plans in order to unlock all the benefits of having a camera in your doorbell, and at $4 a month or $40 a year for the basic plan for one camera, this may or may not be something you want to consider. In our home, we already have other security cameras in place, so having a Ring subscription to record video is redundant, but if you have 3 or more Ring video recording devices, their Plus plan covers an unlimited number of devices for only $10 per month or $100 per year, which might still be less expensive than other traditional home monitoring and surveillance services.
Buy it at Amazon: Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 [Affiliate Link]
Takeaway: Quick and simple installation, easy-to-use app, clear and crisp video and audio.
You’ll receive the ring video doorbell, a chime power kit, alternate chime kit wires, doorbell wire extender and wire nuts, a corner wedge plate, mounting hardware, video surveillance sticker, two security screws, security screw tool, and user guides and quick start card. The main video doorbell unit measures about 4.5” tall, 2” wide, and 1” thick. On the front, a 1536p camera lens with 150° FOV is at the top, then you have the doorbell button and the IR lights. On the back are two screw terminals for power, and you’ll need to supply 16-24VAC power either through a wall-adapter or doorbell transformer, sold separately. If you have an existing wired doorbell, you likely already have a transformer; just make sure that it meets the minimum specification of 16 VAC.
The unit comes pre-installed with the silver trim kit, but if you want a different color, you can get your first one free of charge from Ring. To change it, simply push on the center to pop the main camera unit out. On its right side is an orange button for setup and resetting the unit and a QR code for identifying the device during setup. The faceplate simply slips onto the front of the unit and clips into place. At the bottom of the unit the external speaker is on the left-hand side and at the right is a hole for the security screw. Just be sure to only use the provided short security screws and not one of the wall anchors. The corner wedge plate allows you to change the angle of the camera by 25° when mounting, if it will be close to a wall on one side, so that less of the camera’s field of view will be of the adjacent wall. For my installation, I won’t be using it.
The Pro Power kit v3 is only needed if you are using the doorbell with an indoor wired chime. It comes pre-assembled with two spade connectors that’ll work with most mechanical doorbell chimes with internal screw terminals. If your chime uses push terminals or wires inside instead, you can swap the spades with the alternate connector. I don’t have an inline indoor chime to use with this doorbell; instead, my Alexa speakers (placed throughout the home) will serve as the doorbell chimes when the doorbell button is pressed. This means, my Ring doorbell will be connected directly to the doorbell transformer.
In the Ring app, after registering an account and singing in, you'll need to add and setup the Ring doorbell. You can either scan the QR code on the quick start card or on the side of the doorbell unit. Installation of the unit was fairly simple and the app guides you through each step with short videos and detailed instructions. Just make sure to turn off the power at the breaker before working on any wiring. Once powered on, connect the doorbell to your home WiFi network and you can start using it right away. A new Ring Pro 2 comes with a 30-day free trial of Ring Protect, a monthly subscription service whose basic tier gives you access to continuous image capture, 180-day video history and cloud storage, thumbnail push notifications, and discounts on Ring products purchased online, while higher rate tiers offer additional services like emergency responders, cellular backup, and extended warranty. Note that without a subscription you will not have access to any past video recordings, only the event history and live view and there’s no way to save the recordings locally. However, when the doorbell is pressed, I'll still get a push notification on my phone and an announcement on selected Alexa speakers throughout my home. Announcements can also be enabled for person or package detection.
You can share your device with other Ring users, so multiple people can monitor and interact with the doorbell, enable smart alerts for recording and push notifications about specific motion events like detected persons versus general motion, set motion sensitivity and motion zones, and there’s even a cool bird’s eye feature which utilizes satellite map images to construct a top-down view of your property and show you how a person moved about in the camera’s field of view. The app shows you a snapshot of the latest recorded event and tapping on a camera enables you to view the recording or see a live view. Both daytime and nighttime video footage are clear and crisp, with the daytime images detailed and accurately colored, while nighttime footage is black and white but comprarbly clear and detailed. The camera captures both video and audio and in the live view you have the option to enable two-way communication, so you can talk to the person standing in front of the doorbell. If you aren’t home or don’t have time to get to the door right away, you can also setup automated quick responses and have the Ring take messages for you, but note that only Ring Protect subscribers can view those messages in their history, otherwise you can only view the responses in real-time during live view.
Overall, the Ring Video Doorbell 2 was fairly simply to install, given that I was already replacing a wired doorbell and don’t have an internal chime unit. As a doorbell, I can now use any or all of my Alexa speakers throughout my home as doorbell chimes, and I’ll also get push alerts on my phone as well as motion detection notifcations. As a smart video camera though, without a subscription, having only live view access requires you to pull up the app and watch the event as it happens and even then, there’s no simple way to record the footage without also launching a screen capture app. Ring obviously wants you to subscribe to one of their Ring Protect plans in order to unlock all the benefits of having a camera in your doorbell, and at $4 a month or $40 a year for the basic plan for one camera, this may or may not be something you want to consider. In our home, we already have other security cameras in place, so having a Ring subscription to record video is redundant, but if you have 3 or more Ring video recording devices, their Plus plan covers an unlimited number of devices for only $10 per month or $100 per year, which might still be less expensive than other traditional home monitoring and surveillance services.
Buy it at Amazon: Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 [Affiliate Link]
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