Ring - Wired Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen)Retinal 2K for crisp, true-to-life video, Motion Detection, Low-Light Sight - Silver

First time having a Ring camera - very happy with the clarity and love the AI descriptions of activities.

We added this additional Ring video doorbell to our back door which complements our front one. We thought this version might still be able ring our mechanical chime inside but Ring’s technology has moved past this feature. We fully expect it to perform as well as our current device and would have given it 5 stars if it still worked our indoor chimes.

Great Fast response Quickly adjusts IR to prevent blowout Simple install Can describe events AI descriptions allow to search for specific events Loud microphone Very clear speech if there is not noise pollution No ghosting even when poorly lit Includes a wedge in the box Simple install Doorbell rings can now be like phone calls Doesn’t have the cooldown time between events like previous models Not so great Birds eye view not working Doorbell screw locations changed from previous generations Audio muffled with certain background noises Chime mini sounds distorted AI event description delays previews Announcements on Echo devices inconsistent Viewing angle reduced from 150 to 140 degrees Limited functionality without a subscription Fully dependent on internet No local storage or AI capability No Alexa Greetings capability Installation mounting position is different than previous generations The design is more rounded than previous generations. Ring has also redesigned the IR ring. Instead of a ring that appears to be a single light, the new version you can see distinct LED strips arrange to be somewhat circular. This latest doorbell no longer works with existing hardwired chimes. Instead, it includes a Chime Mini in the box. Consistent with their product lineup, the Wired Doorbell Plus has no local storage and AI processing is done via the cloud. Functionality is limited without a paid subscription. While it can answer with certain predefined responses, Alexa Greetings capability is limited to the Pro doorbell Installation 7/10 Installation is easy if you are mechanically inclined. It is very similar to previous generations of Ring doorbells. Strangely, like the past 3 Ring doorbells our family has had the mounting screw locations have been moved again. After years of owning ring doorbells our brick now has multiple holes drilled in it. It would be nice if Ring standardized the mounting holes between doorbell design changes. The most significant difference is when you install the Chime Mini you bypass your existing doorbell chime. It has double sided tape so you can stick it inside your existing chime to take its place. It sounds horrible and distorted but does offer one benefit. The doorbell no longer uses just phantom power from your chime which creates limitations in performance. Instead, the doorbell gets full power at all times. Video 8/10 The latest version of the doorbell does have some better specs, but some have been downgraded. The resolution has been increased to 2K but the viewing angle has been reduced from 150 in previous generations to 140 degrees. It is not very noticeable but it is unusual to see a previous version having better specifications. Video quality has been improved where faces are sharper. There are signs of compression but Ring has done a respectable job minimizing the effects. With it fully hardwired it means preroll is full quality and the entire video is clear with no ghosting. No more viewing blurry or pixelated preroll. However, dynamic range seems to have decreased. Faces during the daytime are often dark and not very clear even if there is a modest amount of daylight in the area. Night vision is the opposite. Ring really seems to have improved IR exposure. Faces typically blown out by IR up close are not an issue. Even if their face starts out overexposed the camera quickly adjusts. Audio 7/10 The speaker on the doorbell is certainly loud enough. In fact, on full volume your neighbors across the street could easily hear talking. However, understanding is a whole different story. When listening through the app and there is any noise such as traffic, speech sounds blown out. It is like the microphone sensitivity is turned up too high. However, during normal sounds of nature it does a much better job of picking up speech clearly. In fact, during this scenario the audio quality is possibly the best Ring has ever done and conversations feel more natural. Performance 8/10 With the fully hardwired setup, response time is greatly improved. No more waiting for the camera to wake from low power mode. Events are quickly announced on any Amazon Echos you have around your house. However, every once in a while, it seemed to stop announcing and showing events. After the doorbell had been installed for a few days it seems to have improved. With updates being automatic it could be that this improved after an overnight update. What will slow things down consistently is turning on AI recognition. When the AI recognition is turned on there is a long delay from when an event happens and when it shows up on the timeline for viewing. App Notifications and Answering 5/10 It seems like Ring is trying out some new features that haven’t been fully optimized yet. Notifications are usually pretty fast to Echo devices in the house and only delayed by a second or two, but the app is less consistent. Initially it seemed to be due to a new feature where you can receive a call when someone rings the doorbell. When our family tried to use it the phone and app would ring and when you answered it would just spin. We turned that feature off thinking it would help, but currently the phone only rings half of the time when someone presses the button. This is when using the latest app on an iPhone 17 Pro Max with the app set to allow critical alerts. Two different phones had the same experience. When the app did notify of a doorbell press, answering was much quicker than previous Ring doorbells. Final Thoughts The Wired Doorbell Plus is a solid product from a hardware perspective disregarding the Chime Mini. However, the software feels like Ring needs time to optimize. For those of you who have had Ring products in the past, this should not be a surprise. If their track record continues, this doorbell will likely improve over time and maybe add a new feature or two. For those unsure, you may want to wait a little bit for Ring to iron things out a bit. For those familiar with the way Ring handles new products and are confident the software will continue to improve, this new fully hardwired version eliminates the compromises of the previous generations.