Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation review

Finder score: 3.5

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Amazon subsidiary Ring has sold a wide variety of home security products in Australia over the years, but it's easily best known for its video doorbell product. The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation (not to be confused with the older Ring Doorbell 2) doesn't radically reinvent the way you might use such a product, but it does add very crisp 1080p video and some exceptional low-light pick-up of moving objects.

The trade-off is that Ring has dropped the use of easily swappable batteries in favour of a fully sealed battery. Just how problematic a change that is will depend on whether you've purchased prior Ring products or not.

Design

Design

• Satin Nickel or Venetian Bronze colours
• Easy installation
• Fixed battery
• Ring Protect costs extra

• Read more about the Ring Video Doorbell's design

  Ring's products are designed to stand out, because a large part of the appeal of this kind of doorbell and security camera product is that you want people to notice it's there. If they're legit visitors, they'll press the ring button, and if not, they'll see that they're on camera and cease attempting to steal your lawnmower… at least in theory.

  The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation looks much like Ring's other doorbell products except that it's built with the entire doorbell as a single sealed unit. That means you can't swap out faceplates, and as such, you'll need to decide whether the Satin Nickel or Venetian Bronze colour is the one that will best match your property. Ring sent me the Satin Nickel one, although I once again feel that it's a slightly overstated name. It's a silver plastic doorbell, and it doesn't look like anything but a silver plastic doorbell.

  The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation can be installed via the free Ring app, although it's worth knowing up-front that some of Ring's monitoring features, such as video history and saving, are only available if you spend extra on a Ring Protect plan. Ring sells two Ring Protect variants. The $4 a month or $40 a year basic plan offers 60 days of video history, saving and snapshot features, while the Ring Protect Plus plan adds extended warranties and 10% off further Ring products for $15 a month or $150 a year. Given the way Australian consumer law works in relation to warranties, it's arguable as to whether that Plus plan is particularly good value, unless you really want to buy a lot of other Ring products in the meantime.

  Actual physical installation of the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation involves screwing a small wall bracket in where you want it to live. One feature that's been consistent with every Ring product that I've ever tested is the inclusion of every tool, part and screw that you'll need to set up your new Ring product. For the most part, the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation is no different. What you don't get that prior Ring models did include – and that's still included with the Ring Video Doorbell 3 – is an angular wedge mount for if you're placing the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation onto a sloped surface.

  The mount you do get is quite flat, with a top hook that the Ring doorbell body effectively "hangs" on before being screwed in place with Ring's custom screws. You're warned quite explicitly to use the correct shorter screws for this job, and that's vital because the longer screws for mounting the wall bracket to the wall would punch right into the camera and battery if you get this wrong. One slightly irritating aspect here if you've got other Ring devices is that Ring has changed the size of its security screws. This means that if you grab the older Ring screwdriver to unlock the new Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation, you'll find that it won't fit. I guess the upside is that Ring had used that old screw type for quite some time, so maybe there's a level of burglar protection in not having a screw type that could be easily mimicked.

  Where prior Ring models used a specific removable battery with a locking tab, the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation instead uses a fully sealed battery. This means that you do need to fully charge it prior to installation. It also means that, unless you plan to pay a sparky to permanently wire it into place, you'll have to remove the entire doorbell to charge it any time it goes flat. This shouldn't be something you have to do a lot, depending on how busy your given thoroughfare is, but it means that the handy ability to swap batteries between Ring devices – as you can do with the Ring Stick Up Cam or Ring Spotlight Cam – just isn't a feature. You'll just have to make do with no doorbell at all when charging the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation.

  Once you've got the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation set up, the app walks you through configuration steps including setting motion zones and any alert rules that you'd like in play. The app also allows you to pair up Ring devices, so you could, for example, have your Ring spotlights fire up if your Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation detects movement at night.

Performance

Performance

• Needs decent quality NBN upload speeds
• 2.4GHz Wi-Fi only
• Works with Alexa Smart Displays
• Moderate battery life

• Read more about the Ring Video Doorbell's performance

  In my case, I was able to very directly compare the output of the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation to its predecessor, because I did a direct swap of the older Ring Video Doorbell 2 for the newer model. Battery swap annoyances aside, the other swap consideration, if you were thinking of upgrading, is that the mounting points for the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation are very different to those of the older model. This meant I had to abandon the angular wedge mount I'd used for the older doorbell in favour of the more angled presentation of the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation. You're not likely to shoot the next Hollywood epic with your Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation, so that angle might not be too much of an issue. If you want a wedge and a newer Ring doorbell, you'll have to pony up for the more expensive Ring Video Doorbell 3 instead.

  The other big difference between the 2nd Generation and the more expensive 3 is in-network compatibility. The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation only works on 2.4Ghz networks, and that does bring with it the prospect of some network congestion, because 2.4Ghz is used by a wide swathe of consumer gear, not just Wi-Fi. I didn't have many issues getting the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation detected on my Wi-Fi network, but again, if you want 5Ghz, you'll have to pay more for the Video Doorbell 3 instead.

  While the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation is a perfectly serviceable front doorbell, you really don't have to spend a lot of cash for something like that. The reason you would invest in Ring's product the first place is for remote alerts and the ability to "answer" your front door even if you're not actually at home. During a pandemic, that might seem like a less compelling prospect than it used to be, although it can be handy if you do have to make a supermarket run and a delivery happens to arrive, for example.

  What you need is to ensure that your broadband speeds are up to snuff, and specifically, that you've got decent upload speeds. If you're on a basic 12/1 NBN plan, you'll really struggle to get any kind of connection at all. Even on a faster connection – I tested it with a 250/20 HFC NBN Aussie Broadband connection – there can sometimes be a delay in connecting to your doorbell if it rings, although it's hard to say if it's the upload speed or a mobile network data issue at play.

  

  The basics of Ring's offering haven't really changed all that much with the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation. You can still set it to detect motion within zones, or set schedules or an away/disarmed/home status depending on your needs. What has changed is the video quality. The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation supports up to 1080p as its predecessors did, but the video quality seems much sharper than its predecessor could manage, especially in low light. There's a highly evident fish eye effect in place, so again, you're not going to get film-quality shooting. But for dealing with couriers or recording suspicious movement, it's clear enough.

  The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation also supports two-way chat, which makes perfect sense for answering your door remotely. The quality of this can vary quite a lot. Testing it while I was home and on the same network generally gave good, clear results, but remote testing did sometimes involve a bit of broken audio. That's not ideal if you want to give the impression that you are home, but again, it could be down to mobile network issues rather than an inherent Ring problem.

  You can still get the odd false positive with passing birds and the like, but it's generally very good at both monitoring and supplying you with alerts when it detects movement. In line with its Amazon ownership, if you do own an Alexa-compatible smart display like the Echo Show or Echo Show 5, you can pair it to your Ring camera to work with Alexa as an effective front doorbell video camera solution.

  The non-removable battery's endurance will depend on how much motion it's detecting and of course how heavily you load it up with other features. Over a week's testing, I saw the battery drop by around 20%, which suggests that you'd need to charge it about every month. Recharging is not fast, and my least favourite part of the new Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation is its sealed battery, because getting it back up to speed is a slow process. It's particularly unappealing if you do have other Ring products. In the past, I'd just grab the battery out of another Ring product to keep the doorbell going while its battery got more power, but you can't do that with the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation at all.

Should you buy the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation?

The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation is the entry point into Ring's doorbells, and that's very much reflected in its asking price, which is considerably lower than prior Ring doorbells have been. You do have to weigh up that asking price against the inconvenience of its sealed battery and the fact that it only supports 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi.

Amazon's track record with privacy in relation to Ring hasn't always been a sterling one, and while the company says that it's doing less intrusive work there now, you've also got to weigh that up.

However, if you're just dipping your toes into the smart doorbell space, there's a fair amount to like about the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Generation.

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