Customer Ratings & Reviews

Disconnects from service, too often power failure. Returned

I read all the reviews for the Ring and the Nest Hello. The Nest Hello had slightly better reviews, so I went with it. I followed the advice online that suggested upgrading your old doorbell transformer to a 16V-30VA transformer, since I have an older home. The new transformer is supposed to provide a little more "oomph" to run the Nest and the doorbell. The old one was a 16V-10VA transformer which probably wouldn't have worked very well. The voltage is the same, but the 30VA has more "oomph", as I said earlier, than the old 10VA one (I'm not an electrician, but I know what I read online by others who know.) Wiring it in was no big deal - two wires in and two wires out. I shut off the power at the breaker box for safety. I then attached the gizmo they provide that goes inside your old doorbell housing. Again, no big deal - the instructions are clear on how to connect it. I then attached the doorbell/camera outside where the old doorbell button used to be. Two wires attach to the outdoor unit. Again, not a problem. Once you follow the online (from your phone) connection instructions, everything booted up just fine. I have had it installed for about a month now with no problems so far. I actually had a package delivered today, and was alerted at work on my phone by the Nest app. I also had video of the whole thing, too, which is pretty clear. The only trouble I had after the install was when the Nest app went down across much of the US for a awhile, but it was back up after 2-3 hours. I think the Ring might have a slightly better video storage plan for the money, but I didn't feel it was so much better that I wanted it more than the Nest. I would definitely, at this point, buy it again.

Sorry not for me hoping it would be better than ring

Overall the Nest doorbell is probably the best on the market at this time. Installation was painless and easy. I love that the old doorbell chime still rings when someone presses the button. The recording features of the doorbell is great as you can go back in time to view any actions that occur at your front door. The only thing I would want improved is the speed at which video loads when you are notified that someone rang your doorbell. It can 30 seconds or more to load the video so you can speak with someone when they ring the bell. Hopefully the speed will improve over time.

Really liking this Nest video doorbell. Unit is small enough where it's not too bulky and looks nice installed on the door. If you don't have an existing doorbell, you'll need to get a chime (like I did). Shouldn't be a problem since most houses/condos will have this. Recordings are nice and clear however I haven't been able to test out the video recording in low light. I think it should be okay. Overall, really nice doorbell and works great.

I have been looking at "smart" doorbells for some time to add to my smart home but the current offerings werent very "smart" - while cool, they didnt do much that a camera or any other vendor was doing. Leave it to Nest to come up with some great add-ons to the offeirng. The Pros: Picture Quality is great. Just know that quality is set to 1/2 due to bandwidth considerations, you can crank it up to the fullest in the app. Night mode is impressive - I have a 12 Camera Samsung system thats wired to a DVR and this camera has a better night mode than that system. People recognition - Its only been a day and I only have myself recognized, but for a new features (overall new, its been out a few months on other Nest Cameras) - it works well. Goog Home integration - If someone presses the doorbell, Home will announce that Someone is at the door. I have 8 Google Homes (replaced 5 Echo/Alexa's) and they worke great with the Hello. Full API support coming - like they have for all other Nest products - This is a killer feature for my Smart Home so I can extend the Hello into many aspects of my home - For one, with recognition I can have it unlock my door if it recognizes me :) (Yeah, it could throw false positive and unlock for someone else) Cons: I knew beforehand, but still - to announce person by name you need to subscribe to Nest aware - You can use the cheapest plan for $50 a year so its not that bad. You will get 30 Days to try the feature out and decide for yourself - Ill be purchasing the $50 package after my trial runs out. Overall: Very happy with my purchase - I think most people would be as well. If you are a Smart Home person or want the Google Home integration, you will love this device. Overall, the product has exceeded my expectations - Is it cheap? thats an opinion - for the features you get and the build quality, its priced where I would expect it to be.

Please note: A wired doorbell and chime is required for this product to work. Pros: -Pre-recorded messages to respond to visitors -Compatible with Apple iOS and Android -Compatible with Google Home and other Nest products -HDR (you can distinguish colors/details rather than it just being really bright or dark) -HD video that is more tall than wide (you can see a person's body rather than from the neck up, etc.) -Night vision -Person, motion, and sound alerts (meaning nobody has to ring the doorbell for it to start working or recording) -Facial recognition feature - the doorbell can recognize faces of frequent people and send alerts (called familiar face alerts, included in subscription) -Live viewing/streaming -Quiet Mode / Do not disturb, which will prevent the doorbell from ringing inside the house. The doorbell itself (outside) does chime, so the person knows they pressed it, but you won't hear it inside - you do get a notification on the app though. Cons: -A cloud subscription service, called Nest Aware, is required to fully utilize the potential of the product. -Might not fit it tight locations due to size. It is bigger than most common/basic doorbells. Measure out where you are going to put it so it fits and the camera has a good vantage point. -Video is only saved for 3 hours on non-subscription plan -When you press the doorbell the first time, you cannot immediately press it again. You have to wait several seconds before the home will ring again.

There has been a lot of hype about video doorbells. I first purchase RING doorbell pro. It was purely disappointed. Video was very delayed. Connection was horrible. A friend recommended NEST Hello. I exchanged the Ring doorbell for Nest Hello and have been impressed by everything. I have yet had any connection issues. Set up was super easy. The app is almost flawless. I get notifications as intended. I haven’t even talked about face recognition etc. I definitely recommend the $5 month subscription. 2 bucks more than ring, but unlike ring doorbell, I get more than blank records

there were some issues in the beginning but, after getting over the initial hurdle it's a good product. I's simple to use once setup and very convenient. My biggest con is with the chime. The fact that it rings on the outside and not the inside defeats the purpose of a normal doorbell. But, since it is not a normal doorbell it of course has it's perks and I can see who is at my door without actually having to get up if its not someone I was expecting, and its helpful when im not home.

I have had a Ring on my door for two years. Started with the basic Ring (the cheap one on Amazon now), then the Ring 2, and finally the Ring Pro. I replaced my Ring Pro with the Nest Hello last week and I am already extremely impressed. If you want one reason to pick the Hello, its CONTINUOUS RECORDING. The Ring only does clips and doesn't do them nearly as well. The intelligent features of the Hello make it even better. It differentiates general motion from a person. I don't get notifications all day long, only when people approach my door. If you are comparing, make sure you compare the Nest Hello to the Ring PRO. The lower Ring models don't even come close to the quality and features of the Hello. If you have a wired doorbell and want a video doorbell, buy the Nest Hello. The Ring has been dethroned.

I love Nest, and the Hello is no different then the rests of my nest products. It was easy to install, works with my existing doorbell chime and streams consistently (not just when someone is there). I was able to forgo one of my other cameras since this can be viewed on Nest Aware as a full camera. I also love how this integrates with the rest of the Nest eco system. Smart Houses should not equal a page of apps, one app, one place to manage all the cool things that are out there. Nest needed this, and they have delivered. The Good: The aspect ratio is something I did not really anticipate being as helpful as it is, because it is more tall then wide, you can see packages and other things left at the door, plus the ability to communicate with the FedEx guy who is bringing you your "signature required" technology is something that is way more helpful then I realized. Even if we are just upstairs, we can communicate to the driver so he/she will not leave by the time I get downstairs. Additionally, it just works, it is exactly what you would hope it would be, and you do not have to buy a chime and deal with all of that, it works with what I already had. The Not So Good: So, I could not find which breaker was powering the doorbell, Still do not know and nothing that made since turned it off, so I had to power the whole house down to install. Better safe than sorry. I also had to play with the mounting, it comes with an angel bracket to turn it, but I did not end up using it, the wide filed of view was enough for what I was doing, but it took a little to figure it out. Overall: I have been waiting for this to be released since they announced it last fall, and unlike some products, this one lived up to my expectations (and they were high). I would suggest that anyone with anything else Nest add this to their eco system, and if you have never considered Nest products, this might make you want to give them a try.

I've been impressed with the doorbell -- it's more polished than the Nest Secure (another first generation product) and has been more effective for me than the battery operated camera it replaced. Areas of improvement include: (1) I have the doorbell mounted on a wall that is at a 90 degree to the door. With the provided 15 degree wedge you get too much coverage of the door and not enough coverage of the walkway and lawn. A 30 degree wedge or the ability to use two 15 degree wedges would help. (2) Most people who come to the door don't know that it is a doorbell and just knock on the door, negating some of its features. While there is an illuminated blue ring around the button, it's not very visible in daylight and should probably be more pronounced. (3) The resolution is good but not as good as recent Nest offerings. It is sufficient for most purposes but I would like it to be better. I expect this to improve in the future.

I'm pretty impressed by the Nest Hello. The clarity of the camera in daylight and at night is remarkable. Setup is a little bit cumbersome if you are not comfortable with electronics; the Nest app provides step-by-step instructions to replacing your current setup with the Nest Hello device. My house is a little on the old side, so I relied on a qualified technician to do the install, which took him about twenty minutes - worth the money for my peace of mind. Once connected to my house and to my WiFi, the device is constantly powered and can stream directly to my phone. Since this is not a battery-powered camera, it does not rely on motion-detection to power up the device. I can check in anytime with minimal delay. The notifications I set up with the camera are a nice touch. I do not have a Nest Aware subscription, but there is value in combining this product with their security offerings. Overall, this is a product I highly recommend if you can get through the installation process. Full disclosure, I was given this product for my honest, unbiased opinion.

The packaging is simple and sturdy with no instructions included. There is a paper to lead you to install the app and a QR code to register the product with said app. Super easy. I was dubious of just how simple the installation would be, but after watching the video provided in the app, I was impressed. It walks you through every step in great detail and is pretty much like having a tech over your shoulder. I never looked inside our doorbell chime box on the wall, but was pleased to find out it was very nearly identical to the one in the video. The video accounts for different configurations as well. If you can install a dimmer switch, this is a piece of cake. The doorbell itself is sleek with a nice large button that gives a satisfying click when pressed---think of a large "home button" on a phone. There are two mounting plates to choose from, one flat and one angled, depending on the position of your entryway. Don't lose the SIM card remover tool (it's to remove the unit to charge the battery, not to remove a SIM, but it looks the same). You will need that to be able to recharge the unit. The unit locks tight to the plate, but I can see where a thief with a SIM tool could easily get himself some doorbell cameras off people's walls. The app is simple and easy. If you have any security cameras, the doorbell works much the same way as far as motion detection, recording, and audio. It's excellent for package delivery!

Took us a while to figure out we needed more power wattages to our current hardwired doorbell to work with the Nest. But after we changed it out with a new electrical wattage power, it worked like a dream. scan the QR code and set up is pretty fast. it has a really wide range of detection and view and sound and vision is perfect. Notifications are really on par and you can always set notifications to your specifications. So far, no regrets, maybe should've bought this sooner. And night vision is clear too.

I bought the Nest Hello last weekend and just had it installed by Geek Squad a few days ago. Geek Squad technician was really nice and did a good job. Pros: 1. Looks good and attractive next to the front door. 2. Live video feed works very good and has a slight delay, but prob less than a second. I use the MED quality setting and have no problems viewing live video on iPhone or Nest WebSite over wi-fi. I have Not tried viewing over wireless 4G yet when not at home. 3. Decent support - I have chatted with Nest help desk 2 times now concerning video playback issues and got support without waiting too long. 4. I like the iPhone Nest App and I have 2 other Nest products and like the way its all integrated and I can check everything in the app. 5. Motion sensor is very good, and it will even turn on and catch cars going down the road at night. 6. Sound sensor is very good, almost too good. I turned it off because it picks up birds chriping and was flooding the timeline with events. Cons: 1. Awesome product, but pretty useless for security unless you subscribe to Aware since it won't record video without that subscription. It would be nicer if you could get at least a couple hours of recorded video without subscription to at least try it out. 2. Playback is buggy and frozen up 2 times now where I can see previously recorded video events and jump through the timeline, but then it hangs on the playback and won't play the video. Seems this starts happening after several hours of recording where its still recording, but playback starts hanging and freezing up. It happens on both the website and iPhone app. I've reported it 2 times to Nest Support. First time I fixed it by removing/re-adding the camera. 2nd time support rep had me toggle camera off for 30 seconds and back on, and that fixed the issue. This is why I'm giving it 4 starts - everything is awesome with the doorbell, but then the video playback issues in the IPhone app and web page take away from everything else being great. Since its happening on both iPhone and webpage Plus doorbell is still recording video fine,I think it must be a software bug/issue on the Nest servers that stream the video.

Received my Nest Hello yesterday, and after watching the video, didn't take long to get it installed. Ran into the issue of not having a powerful enough transformer which was simple enough to replace. The image quality is great, and does send alerts both when the button is pushed or when someone passes by it. Took off a star only because with the 15 degree (left or right) wedge, Nest should also consider another wedge for up and down, but maybe not 15 degrees. I will probably have to change the pitch using wood because even though it is a full 130 degrees of view, can't see the door step but can see plenty of sky. So a slight downward pitch should help with that.

Overall very satisfied with the doorbell camera wired. Only issue it drops off line ok occasion. I have two nest cameras also hard witted and they stay on line 24/7. The issue may be related to power to the camera from the door bell input transformer which is attached to the existing doorbell button. As of three days ago it went of line and had been off even though I tried a restart and reconnect to the internet.

Great quality, sound, image is great. Love the facial recognition.

After trying out the Hello for two weeks, we finally had to bid it goodbye. The camera quality itself is very good and the 24/7 recording was what pushed us to choose this over the Ring Pro, but we encountered multiple issues that significantly impacted the functionality of the doorbell camera. First, the camera would go offline frequently for no apparent reason. We verified our upload speeds were well over the Nest requirements, checked WiFi signals outside the house where the Nest was installed, and spent several hours troubleshooting with Nest tech support (e.g. switching from 2.4 to 5 Ghz, rebooting router, verifying router was compatible, etc.). However, we continued to have unexplained outages for approximately 2 minutes at a time 10+ times a day and sometimes several an hour. There was no pattern that we could discern. Second, Nest has confirmed that they impose a cool down delay on subsequent notifications to your phone once they have notified you of a person or motion. (Doorbell presses always trigger an alert, however.) Supposedly there is a 10 minute cool down between person notifications and a 30 minute delay between motion alerts. Nest says this is to keep you from being overwhelmed by alerts. However, this presents a big problem to me. I can get an alert on my phone that, for example, my mail carrier has delivered a package, but I WON'T get an alert if someone stops by and snatches the package before the 10 minute cool down has expired. Of course when I get home and discover it is missing, I can look at the footage and see what happened after the fact, but I would much rather be notified in the moment so I can potentially call the police while the person is still in the area. And 30 minutes between motion alerts is also problematic, especially since the camera sometimes classifies people as motion. Hopefully they will rethink the notification delay and allow it to be user-defined. Finally, many people experienced a big lag on the delays they actually received, myself included. Despite having a clear view of my driveway and walkway, the camera would typically notify me 20-40+ seconds after someone came into view. Sometimes I would get a notification of my mail carrier leaving a package but the mail carrier would already be gone from view. The Nest community support website has multiple people asking about these issues, so if you want an update on where things stand with the above issues, I recommend checking it out.