My Ring Video Doorbell story starts a new chapter with Ring Video Doorbell Pro

This article will be updated, with additions below this original article.

The premise

I like the idea of the Ring Video Doorbell, having read many articles, and poured over dozens of the thousands of Amazon reviews. I also had heard months of podcast mentions, and the excellent recent interview of founder/inventor Jamie Siminoff by Jim Collison @jimcollison of the Home Gadget Geeks podcast.

I knew full well that I might run into some early adopter rough-edges. This is a new product category, after all. But I was curious enough to give it a try anyway, as was my wife, who saw the Costco in-store display pictured in the tweet below. We agreed there are times where it could be very useful to know who is stopping by. I was also getting a bit fed up with having to replace my front doorbell button every 3-4 years due to a burnt out bulb, with an LED illuminated model proving to be a shabby-looking substitute.

No doubt about it, these are expensive doorbells, which a Costco clerk mentioned at checkout. Of course, I explained it's more than just a doorbell...

The reality

Unfortunately, I experienced some disappointments...

Wow @jcollison interviews @Ring inventor @JamieSiminoff https://t.co/r0Rs3liDx0 $179 @Costco https://t.co/3EkOiomwMX pic.twitter.com/x9YdK6O6kb

— Paul Braren (@paulbraren) February 23, 2016

In the end, after about 3 weeks of ownership and daily use, I decided to return my Ring, Wi-Fi Enabled Video Doorbell with Chime – Satin Nickle Finish, despite the great price at Costco back in mid February 2016 of only $179, bundled with a WiFi connected chime. To repair the 4 small holes, just putty and paint. Done. For now.

Reasons for returning my Ring Video Doorbell

1. Lag - More than two thirds of the time, my delivery person had rung the bell, but the recorded video began only once they were walking away, already at least 20 feet away.
   I realize my WiFi signal strength, and the time to connect from a sleep state, could be partly to blame. Sure wish there was a video recording buffer to help counteract the lag, or better still, take advantage of my wired doorbell's constant voltage supply to stay connected to WiFi, ready to record.
2. Motion Detection - Unfortunately, no matter what sensitivity or directionality settings I tweaked, I couldn't leave this feature enabled. Simply too many false alarms.
3. WiFi - 2.4 GHz only. Seems almost like a bit of planned obsolescence, as I'd like to eliminate all 2.4 GHz devices from my WiFi as soon as possible. Same complaint I made about my ecobee3, but I realize that for some folks, using the 5 GHz channel might not have the same reach. Not likely an issue for my home.
4. Confidence - my first unit was DOA. Got it home and couldn't get it to power up, even after a charge. I realize every product has a certain level of DOA. I did start to think that I might be better off waiting for ring's next-generation.
5. Cosmetics - a bit on the bulky side, with the nickel finish making it a bit too prominent.
   There is that possible deterrence value to having such a prominent camera-equipped device out front, and it could also be a good thing that there may someday be a bit of brand recognition among would-be thieves*

Timing worked out in my favor, to my delight and surprise the next generation product, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro was announced on March 13 2016. The new Pro version seemed to address each of my concerns. This came just in time for me to visit the always friendly staff at the Costco returns desk, well within my return window. Again.

Reasons for ordering my Ring Video Doorbell Pro

1. Lag - I'm going to see how we do with this battery free design, which hopefully will start recording faster, even with the bump up from 720p to 1080p
2. Motion Detection - Ah, truly tunable zones based in the image, now we're talking, hope it works out for my home's front yard layout, see also the demo video loops at Ring here.
3. WiFi - 5GHz support!
4. Confidence - Next generation product, incorporating all previous generation's early adopter feedback.

5. Cosmetics - Slimmer, and includes 4 colors of faceplates to choose from after the sale, that makes sense! I'll probably go with the (slightly-off) white thank you, to make it blend in better with my white-trimmed front door.

After a discussion with my wife to explain the Pro's new features, and higher cost, I then placed our new pre-order directly from ring.com/pro, that same evening, March 16th.

At 2:49pm eastern time today, I received email from Ring announcing "Your Ring order has shipped!" Once I clicked on the tracking button, turns out it was already in my mailbox, delivered via USPS this morning. Just as Ring had promised during the pre-order, an April delivery.

Important to mention that retaining the video as cloud-based (downloadable) recordings are not free. You do get a free 30 day trial, after which you can sign up for $3 per month, or $30 per year.

Fun side-note, literally. On the edge of the box (pictured below), see:

ring - THE STORY
If not for my wife, the Ring™ Video Doorbell would not exist.

Inventors come up with a lot of bad ideas and she has heard them all. One night I shared my idea for reinventing the doorbell.

She loved it! Not just for the obvious convenience, but for the security of now being able to safely answer the door from anywhere. She said, "This is like caller ID for the front door."

I hope that you enjoy the Ring Video Doorbell as much as we do, and look forward to hearing your stories about the product.

Jamie Siminoff,
Inventor
j@ring.com

Stay tuned

You know me: unboxing video first, then testing it out for a bit, recording video, writing a little something about those first impressions, revisiting the article to give updates. That's just what I do. So come on back soon to check for updates, right below this article.

Order - Places to place your Ring Video Doorbell Pro order

I didn't actually buy a chime yet, as I already have old school remote door chimes throughout my home for the at least a decade or so. Not sure I really need another one, since doorbell button pushes already generate an indoor chime near the front door, remote chimes in the basement and 2nd floor, and now, cell phone alerts. Adding a 4th tone might be a bit strange, although the nice feature you get with these optional Ring chimes are the ability to make a custom sound whenever motion is detected.

Available at Amazon now as the Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Chime. Interesting to note that Ring Video Doorbell is on Amazon, but the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is not. Not yet anyway.

Apr 29 2016 Update

The unboxing video is now available.

One thing you'll quickly notice in the unboxing video is that there are far more parts in this kit than there were in the battery-based Ring Video Doorbell. See also details at:

• Pro Power Kit Install Guide (for Ring Pro only) at ring.com/pro-power

which clearly indicates we have a bit of additional indoor wiring to do to install this device. Here's an excerpt:

The Pro Power Kit makes sure that enough power is sent to your Ring Doorbell, and IS REQUIRED for your Ring Doorbell to function. Install the Pro Power Kit before installing Ring Pro outside.

It's now rather dark outside. I hope to have a chance to record the indoor and outdoor installation segments, along with the initial configuration and tests, sometime this weekend.

Apr 30 2016 Update 1

Important to note that for folks with homes that have narrow door sills, the Pro is now quite a bit smaller, widths bolded below:

From Ring Community Support Center > Product Features > Ring

4.98 x 2.43 x 0.87 inches, 12.65 x 6.17 x 2.21 cm.

From the Ring Video Doorbell Pro FAQ:

4.50 x 1.85 x 0.80 inches, 11.43 x 4.70 x 2.03 cm.

This was recently discussed by David McCabe @mccabio and Mike Faucher @PcDocsWorld, as they compared the Ring with the much wider August Doorbell:

this doorbell is going to rip someone's arm

referring to this cnet article.

The other changes with the Pro include:

• no bubble level
• no bracket/backplate, with a weather tight seal around the perimeter
• smaller, simpler, only requires 2 screws to mount it, more like a traditional door bell
• more plasticky, with a bit of a cheaper feel when pressing the button

This last bit is mentioned in my unboxing video above, and tweeted by Richard Gunther @richardgunther of the Home: On podcast.

From the same ring.com/pro-power site, I'm now watching Ring's How to Install Ring Pro Power Kit video now, so I'll know what I'm doing later:

Potentially slightly worrisome is the first signs that my particular unit is an early model. Here's what is said at this spot in the video:

The Pro Power kit ensures that enough power is sent to your Ring doorbell. If you've been lucky enough to get one of the first Pro Power kits, it'll look like this. It's exactly the same part, and it's completely harmless, it just doesn't have a pretty plastic enclosure.

Sreenshots from the video demonstrate.

As long as the circuitry in both my doorbell and my Power Kit is identical with later manufactured units, this cosmetic difference isn't meaningful.

Another interesting sentence from ring.com/pro-power:

Click here to download a PDF of the instruction manual for the Pro Power Kit installation. This is the same manual you got in the package (unless again you got one of the very first shipments when we were still ironing out some of the kinks in the install manual), but formatted to be viewed onscreen.

My unit did include a nicely printed copy of the Ring Pro Power Kit manual.

Apr 30 2016 Update 2

It works! Install and test took well under an hour.

Here's some more quick observations:

The good

• pressing the button results in a very fast alert on mobile, well under 2 seconds, at least when mobile device is on home WiFi, further testing over LTE planned
• it rings on mobile even earlier than the house's original door chime that has somehow been slowed a bit and can optionally be disabled
• the new Live View feature works well with sound, this is the on-demand video feature many have wanted, see also Ring's support page that announces Live View for the original, and a related tweet

The not as good

• after the initial setup configuration completed successfully, doorbell didn't ring, simply removing power by flipping circuit breaker off and on again caused all to be well and good again, working fine ever since
• video quality seems as bit grainy, can't really tell that the resolution has moved up from 720p to 1080p, this could be due to WiFi router distance, but iPhone 6 Plus picks up full strength signal at front door, so I'll force router to 5GHz only and see if quality improves or degrades, just as a test
• fish eye field of view seems slight narrower, yet has more of corners cut off
• still no ability to look down at packages, even when manually panning on mobile app
• mic picks up some wind noise
• the stability of the iOS app isn't great, I've had to force quit here and there

See also at TinkerTry

• My ecobee3 HomeKit WiFi thermostat with remote motion/temperature sensors makes sense/cents
  Jul 19 2015 by Paul Braren
  A deep dive into the installation and long-term use of this friendly Canadian thermostat, with optional multi-room temperature detection.

See also

• Ring’s new Video Doorbell Pro ditches the battery for more smarts in a smaller package
  Mar 16 2016 by Greg Kumparak at Tech Crunch

• Pro version of the Ring Video Doorbell swaps flexibility for refinement
  Mar 16 2016 by Andrew Gebhart at CNET

• Ring Pro Video Doorbell Gets Better Motion Detection, Video
  Mar 16 2016 by Eric Zeman at InformationWeek

  The new video doorbell features a revised design. The unit is 1.8 inches wide, which is significantly narrower than its 2.45-inch predecessor.

• The Home Tech Podcast: Hands on Review with Anonabox Team, Amazon Echo GBR [Go Big Red] Skill – HGG257
  Apr 23 2016 by Jim Collison at Home Gadget Geeks
  Jim kindly gave TinkerTry a shoutout at this spot in this recent podcast:
  pca.st/NFe1#t=3794
  Tune in live to this upcoming HGG on Thursday May 5, at 9:30pm eastern time, to hear Jim and I discuss all sorts of tech, including my experience with the Ring Video Doorbell / Ring Video Doorbell Pro.