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Customer Ratings & Reviews

Model:
SS3-DOORBELL
SKU:
6298604
Your price for this item is $169.99

Customer reviews

Rating 4.2 out of 5 stars with 906 reviews

Rating Filter

Rating by feature

  • Video Quality

    Rating 4.4 out of 5 stars

  • Mobile App

    Rating 4.4 out of 5 stars

  • Sound Quality

    Rating 4.3 out of 5 stars

Pros mentioned filter

Cons mentioned filter

84%would recommend to a friend

Customers are saying

Customers highly value the Video Doorbell Pro - Wired for its video quality and ease of use. Users also appreciate the straightforward installation process and overall performance. However, some customers have expressed concerns regarding motion detection and WiFi connectivity. Additionally, a few users have noted compatibility issues and the lack of an iPad app.

This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.

The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 44 Showing 861-880 of 906 reviews
  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Didn't work.

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    Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Couldn't get the doorbell to work. Sent it back and got a ring.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    By with caution. Simplisafe is generally good.

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    Posted . Owned for 8 months when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This unit keeps cutting out. Often offline. Unreliable.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Hidden cost

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    To use a Camry have to pay a monthly fee would not recommend.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Ease of use, Night vision, Video quality
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Simply Easy to Use

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I am a Simplisafe customer and have been for 4+ years. This doorbell is a perfect complement to my setup. Setup took me about 15 minutes to install. It took longer for me to figure out which breaker controlled the doorbell than it did to actually replace my old one. Once installed, turn on the power at the breaker, download the app to your phone (if you don't already have it). Super simple to setup and now I have a Live view of my front porch in 1080P HD. Video quality is great and night vision seems to work well, though I haven't really had a need to test that out too heavily. I have it mounted on the wood trim around my doorway. It's a bit larger than my old doorbell, but it still fits in nicely on the trim. Overall, I would highly recommend this!

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Night vision, Video quality
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Love it!

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    The Simplisafe doorbell is an awesome tool in the DIY home security world. Having already had some experience with video doorbells, I was excited to compare it to the competition. I am also already a user of the Simplisafe home security system so it was extremely simple to add the camera to my existing account. Installation was a breeze. I took my old hardwired standard doorbell off the wall and put the existing wires onto the Simplisafe wiring plate. I turned the power back on and instantly the doorbell powered on. The only difficulty I had during the setup was making the camera connect to my wifi network. A QR code comes on the screen of my mobile device and I had to hold it in front of the camera for the camera to read the QR code. This took several attempts but ended up working. The camera has great picture and very efficient motion sensors. I get very few false alerts by vehicles passing by my house on a very active roadway. The nighttime operation of the camera is interesting. Unlike a lot of other video doorbells I have seen/used, Simplisafe's doorbell does not stay on constantly with night vision. The night vision only turns on when motion is detected. When testing this feature, I walked towards the doorbell at night and it suddenly came alive! The audio on the doorbell is good and conversations were fluid between cell phone and doorbell with minimal static or disruption. I do wish the doorbell came with interchangeable faceplates to match the color of my house. The white doorbell stands out a lot. Other than that, I am extremely happy with this product! Another great job by Simplisafe!

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Video quality
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Exactly what I've been waiting for

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    First off, installation took longer than expected, only because the existing doorbell was unexpectedly wireless so this was a full wired doorbell installation. Once installed, the SimpliSafe fired right up and connected to the rest of our SimpliSafe security system. I already have the top tier of SimpliSafe service so there are no additional fees for cloud storage for the doorbell. Also, the doorbell will record video along with the inside cameras anytime there is an alarm event. The Video Doorbell Pro uses motion sensing technology to begin recording unlike other products which are always recording. When motion is detected it records for a minute with a few seconds of pre-event footage. Notification comes within a few seconds of the event, as it does with someone pushes the button. As a doorbell, the unit records and plays audio and records the video. The video is crisp and the 160-degree field of view lets me see not only my porch and yard but the neighbors on each side of me. Audio is clear and the volume is sufficient to carry on a conversation with who ever pressed the button. The conversation is walkie-talkie like, where you have to push the button on your phone to speak then release to hear. There is a noticeable lag when communicating so it takes patience to get through it. Video during the day is crisp and clear however the night vision is not as clear. I find that with a porch light and the night vision turned off, the video is better. I was a little disappointed with the lack if documentation for the doorbell, including even online. I am very happy with my new SimpliSafe Video doorbell and highly recommend it especially if you already have SimpliSafe as your alarm system.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Video quality
    Cons mentioned:
    Wifi connectivity

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Weak signal

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    The picture quality of this doorbell is great and detects motion very well. I like in the simplisafe app you can even block put parts you dont want tit detecting. The biggest con is the wifi signal to this regular disconnects. I have a mesh system thats pretty strong and none of my other devices have this problem. Id recommend it still because maybe i just happen to get a 1 off device

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Motion detection
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Great features hiding behind a paywall

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    We've always wanted a video doorbell that works with a smart home, so when we received the SimpliSafe pro video doorbell for review, we were incredibly excited. Once you get it set up, operating it is a breeze - mainly because the feature set is so limited. You can see a live feed of your doorbell, which has an impressively wide field of view, and can easily talk with whomever is outside - or shoo away the squirrel eating your porch pumpkins. SimpliSafe will alert your devices letting you know that it's detected movement at the door. The threshold of activity required to trip this alert is thankfully adjustable - at its default setting, if you live about 10 feet from a residential street an alert will fire every time a car drives past. (SimpliSafe's site claims it ignores motion from cars...we'd disagree with this one.) Most of my criticisms of the doorbell are small - the installation process is mostly smooth, but the screw/washer combo used to tighten the doorbell wire contacts is extremely frustrating to replace if you fully unscrew it. It's got to nestle beneath a little plastic block that you literally cannot avoid deforming to put the washer back in. The SimpliSafe app itself makes some puzzling setup decisions - why do you have to manually type in the SSID of your WiFi network instead of selecting it from an autopopulated list? This is frustrating if you have a long SSID and/or distinguish your 5 GHz band from your 2.4 GHz one (the doorbell only works with 2.4 GHz, by the way) and all the pieces to improve this have been publicly available since like....iOS 3. The biggest issue I have with the SimpliSafe is the same as many other video doorbells - that it doesn't allow you to record any of your video feed without subscribing to a monthly security package. This is par for home security systems, but what makes SimpliSafe's system worse is that other competitor products will offer a free compromise solution, such as storing periodic photo snapshots of the last 3 hours. So at least if your house IS broken into and you weren't able to get to your phone in time to screenshot the intruder, you might catch a glimpse of them after the fact. SimpliSafe won’t do this, which means if you're in any situation in which you can't access your phone immediately, you're out of luck. You'll get an alert there was activity at your door but won't be able to do anything with that information. Given that the SimpliSafe retails at around the same price as its competitors who do offer this feature, this a BIG miss and should lead you to consider other available video doorbells if you don't have any other SimpliSafe products already. The other thing we noticed, being a smart home household, is that SimpliSafe is a little more aggressive with ecosystem lock-in. It won't allow itself to work with your existing smart home system unless you subscribe to their monthly package - other video doorbells don't require this. If you have a Google Home system, like we do, or if you had a preexisting security system and wanted to integrate this very functional doorbell into that setup, you won't be able to except at steep cost. That's very frustrating, too. In short, I would not recommend this doorbell to a prospective buyer UNLESS they had already purchased multiple SimpliSafe devices and wanted to make that existing system more robust AND are already paying the monthly protection fee. If this is you, then you've already insulated yourself so deeply into the SS product family that you don't have any other choice. But if you are just starting to dip your toes into the water on smart home security, I would recommend evaluating other products, which can offer more features and don't force you into the total buy-in of a product line this doorbell does. It’s a shame because the doorbell itself is very functional and reliable. This is something that could change down the line, and at that time we’d definitely be happy to reevaluate its value.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Video quality
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Some Good ...Some Lacking

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This video doorbell is good and yet lacking. My first observation was the 'weak' outline of what this camera could do. The instructions to install were very good. The basic installation was a snap. The camera quickly joined my wifi network with ease.Yet I had some frustration in getting the notifications to work despite having notifications ON. The app could be so much more. Very basic and thus disappointing. The user can adjust the sensitivity to motion so that false notifications are not endless. I had to move my sensitivity to low. It was necessary to not pick up street traffic. Simplisafe is pushing hard for subscription service at 4.99 a month and seems to almost not tell you how you can use the product for free(if you do not want to hold and capture recordings). Basically without going into their pay service you only have LIVE VIEW. When doorbell rings and you get notification you then can click the notification then see LIVE at the door. Miss the notification and there is no way to know who rang your bell and left the porch. Simplisafe should have at least given snapshots free of charge. Seems not customer friendly to put everything behind a fee. I mean everything. The product is limited without that service fee. Now the good. The camera is exceptional in such a small case. The wide angle gives amazing view and the quality of the picture is extremely good. Simplisafe did an A + job with camera. The quality of the case is also excellent. The adapter that makes the application on siding more functional is well thought out. The build quality is very good. The actual doorbell button is appealing in the visual sense. The doorbell can be lit or can be made less visible by turning off the status light in the app. I do not recommend buying it unless and until the app is made better in conjunction with offering the buyer with at least still photos of the doorbell ringer. Short of that the product at 169.99 and $4.99 month seems a bit much.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Video quality
    Cons mentioned:
    Wifi connectivity

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Great door bell video- a little tricky to install

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I have to say right up front that we almost gave up on this doorbell. We could not get it to work with our digital doorbell. Apparently that is one thing Simpli Safe has not addressed. After saying that I have a very cheap fix for this. Get yourself a inexpensive mechanical doorbell. Install it and hook up your Simpli Safe door bell. If it doesn't ring right away switch the wires. Once you do this WAIT a couple of minutes and you will see the ring light up. Then try your bell . I didn't think it was going to work but all of a sudden the ring lit up and when you pushed the bell it worked, Then you set up your wifi connection. In the instructions it says that you must set it up on the 2.4g part of your router. So, pay attention which one you are using otherwise it will not connect. The next part is tricky too. When you get the QR sign on your phone you take your phone to the doorbell and it will scan it. Hold it there until the doorbell tells you that it is looking for a connection. It took a couple of minutes for it to find it. Once it finds it you can close the connection and you will see what the camera sees, out your front door. Beautiful video and you can talk to the people outside by holding down the little microphone icon on the screen. If anyone needs more help I would be willing to answer any questions that you have. This is a great addition to my security system.....

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Installation, Video quality
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Easy to set up, and works great!

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    There is a lot of competition in the video doorbell market these days. I went with the SimpliSafe - Pro Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell because of the SimpliSafe reputation, and I am glad I did. It only took about 10 minutes to install, and uses the existing wiring from your home's doorbell. Installation was extremely easy, and worked perfectly with my existing doorbell chime. The app, and setup were equally easy to get up, and running. The picture quality is amazing day or night. If you are looking for a video doorbell the are a lot of choices out there. Give the SimpliSafe - Pro Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell a chance, and I think you will be glad you did. Thanks SimpliSafe!

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Over all not bad. Better to have it complete

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    As I said in the summary, it is not a bad product at all. It needs some improvements: - Make it possible to disable the chime sound when button clicked - Make it possible to access directly via LAN For common users, those are not necessity. SimpliSafe offers a complete home security system. This door bell is part of it. While it can function well alone, it would be better to have it all together. SimpliSafe offers cloud storage monthly subscription for about $5/month which is not bad at all... Some people would like to have that storage locally since you can't really trust who has access to your recordings. Video communication through the door bell isn't bad at all. Camera is indeed wide angle. Enough to get the complete image. Microphone is working well. The integrated speaker is not bad at all. Good thing about the motion detection, it is adjustable. If your door bell camera is hitting a busy street, your phone might drive you crazy! I'd recommend to use a micro USB cable to charge the door bell before installing it. When connected to my bell lines, it didn't react at all. The current through is very low. I removed it and used the micro USB to charge it and set it up correctly and then installed it. So far it has been ok. There was a time I start getting low battery messages (using it very often) but I assume nobody is having that busy door bell traffic. Well, if I am installing door bell button from scratch (wiring and stuff), I'd really add power lines to it. Just to have it working properly. I know the manufacturer made it this way to make it easier to install and to use. Unfortunately, now days, with the lack of security and safety, such smart device is really a good addition to your home. I guess, it would be nice to have the option to cancel the home bell speaker and keep the alarms going only through cellphones and smart devices. Nice to have it as option...

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    App performance, Wifi connectivity

    Rated 2 out of 5 stars

    Not so Simple. No HomeKit support

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Not as simple as it claims AND NO APPLE HOMEKIT SUPPORT. After a lot of research, we made the wrong decision and went with SimpliSafe. The videos and online manuals made setup appear simple. We purchased one keypad , 8 entry sensors, motion sensor, doorbell, door lock, and camera. Much of it was very simple to set up and some of it even very impressive. However, it is not even close to being as easy as they make it look. If your able to use a phone app, it is much simpler to setup than naming your devices with the archaic input on the keypad. Before I continue, let me reiterate that SimpliSafe does not work with HomeKit (Siri) although when we ordered our system this was supposed to be coming. Now everything I read says that basically Apple and SimpliSafe were not able to come to an agreement and there is no integration planned in the future (confirmed by tech support). This would have been a deal breaker as I would have never went with a system that doesn’t work with Apple. Back to installation, don’t expect a couple of hours to install it. Plan on a full day. The lock is not nearly as intuitive as it seems to install and none of the adapters were exactly what the instructions said we needed for our brand new construction townhouse. We picked the one that looked most like the suggested one and luckily it worked. You are actually replacing a physical deadbolt and this can take some time. The doorbell was very problematic. It repeatedly failed to connect to WiFi even though it is less than 8 feet from a repeater. The trouble shooter only offered the option of adding a repeater which we already had and was well within range. After less than two weeks the doorbell lost connectivity for no apparent reason. SimpliSafe support was very helpful even though they talk to you like you have no technology smarts at all, which is not my case. After walking me through a reset (tiny pin hole inside doorbell) that is not mentioned in any documentation I could find, we were able to get the doorbell back online and it has functioned correctly now for several weeks. Latest is that the camera has now lost WiFi connection even though the camera hasn’t moved and nothing has changed with our WiFi. After three tries to add the camera, it refuses to join the network. Again it has a very strong WiFi signal. Another call to customer support is going to be required to get the camera back online. Finally, the apps. We have the apps installed on an iPhone X, two iPad Pro’s, and Apple Watch 4. The phone app is just OK, but slow compared to other apps. There is no iPad app. You’re stuck with downloading the iPhone app meaning no horizontal use. Very disappointing. When the doorbell rings, I would expect the camera to automatically pop up on my phone. Nope. You get a notification and by the time the app opens and you can look at the camera, they are already gone. The Apple Watch app is totally worthless. It simply doesn’t work. Most of the time when you tap it is starts refreshing indefinitely. The couple of times that it did finish refreshing, the status of the alarm was totally wrong even though the phone had the accurate state of the alarm. Do your research and don’t believe all the recommendations that SimpliSafe supposedly has. There are several other security systems that I have send discovered, or are newer, that promise a better experience and Apple HomeKit integration. We use a different system in our vacation home that is far superior to SimpliSafe.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Ease of use, Video quality
    Cons mentioned:
    Wifi connectivity

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Two big dealbreaking flaws for the unsubscribed.

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I’ve had this doorbell for a couple of years, and thought it was best to review this from the perspective of someone who was initially excited by it and has over time dramatically soured. This is an easy doorbell to set up that looks attractive. The video feed is quite good, but the biggest issue here is in usability. The connection to Wifi is VERY shaky. We have gone weeks where the doorbell just refused to display its video feed on the app despite still being able to detect motion and relay notifications to our phones. This behavior seems to be much worse in the winter, and does not improve even if you plug your WiFi router right into the wall behind it like we did. The biggest issue by far, probably for the sake of muscling you into their subscription service, is the fact that when you receive a notification that the doorbell detects motion, tapping the notification on iOS does NOT take you to the video feed. It takes you to the app’s main page, where you are forced to now click through two menus before being able to access the video feed which you have to also manually click play on. It is absolutely infuriating. By the time you’ve actually got the video feed going, the FedEx deliveryperson has given up on delivering your package and you can’t communicate with them, or worse, the person trying to break into your house has already gotten in. And because you don’t have a subscription with them, there is NO recording of the feed whatsoever, so you can’t go back at all to give the police a shot of the perpetrator. This basically completely negates the value of the doorbell. We have since purchased an Arlo system with much better results on the same WiFi network - simultaneously - and have heard really good things about the Ring system. Look at those.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Installation
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Nice to have

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    The Simplisafe camera was easy to install, connect to my home WiFi, and then add to my existing Simplisafe service. The total installation time was about 15 minutes, including physical install, configuration of device, and connection to my Simplisafe mobile app. The basic premise of someone approaching the door and the unit recording is convenient. I will need to adjust the sensitivity on the motion trigger since we have a flag hanging that has triggered a recording a couple times. There is a slight lag from when the doorbell rings until the alert hits the mobile app. The lag is acceptable though - no issue there. The ability to press a button on the mobile app to talk is convenient. When I talk, the sound that the doorbell projects is surprisingly loud for such a small device. The ability to view activity via the Simplisafe web site is also convenient. Like many people who got an early version of this unit, Simplisafe had to send a 'chime connector' to ensure compatibility with my existing home doorbell chime. This is the only thing that keeps me from giving a '5' rating. Simplisafe was very helpful in getting the chime connector delivered - and they indicate that the work-around is being built into all standard video doorbells going forward (meaning the additional chime connector component would no longer be needed)...

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Installation
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Great doorbell camera!

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    We are very happy with this doorbell camera. Installation is a breeze. The manual that came with it was great at explaining how to install. This doorbell camera aligned perfectly with my existing doorbell screws so it only took about 5-10 minutes to install. Connecting it to wifi is easy enough, it may take a minute or two to scan the QR code. The video feed is crisp and clear and the audio works just as advertised. There are only 2 things that prevent me from giving this 5 stars. First is that there is no angled baseplate to aim the camera right or left. There is one for up and down however. My doorbell is on a side wall and not facing straight out from the door. An angled base plate would greatly increase the view of the camera. Secondly, you have to subscribe to be able to record video. This is disappointing as I have a cloud storage device on my wifi and it would be great if I could record to it, but alas no. If you can’t get to the phone fast enougj when it alerts, you are going to miss seeing who is at your door and if you do get to see, you have to take a screen cap. Not ideal if you ask me. Other than that, this is a handy little tool that we are happy to have.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Installation, Night vision
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 2 out of 5 stars

    Just a doorbell without additional subscriptions

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I never get tired of checking out new smart home products when I have the chance. Hue lights, Arlo cameras, Nest’s security system…these things are fantastic as toys to play with, but also great peace of mind considering all the things that stress us out as parents, friends and community members. So admittedly, I was eager to dive right in to SimpliSafe’s Video Doorbell called the SimpliCam, which promised easy installation in under 30 minutes, and a great product to replace your existing doorbell. And I should stress, it does need to replace your EXISTING doorbell…oh, and by the way, it has to be a wired doorbell. Sure, some of you may say, “Of course I have a wired doorbell, who doesn’t?” All I’m saying is, make sure you know that before you buy, or be ready to cash in on your return policy. In a setting where there is an existing wired doorbell, yes, installation can be done in 10 minutes or less provided your wiring is in decent shape and you have a Phillips head screwdriver lying around. Simply remove your existing doorbell, mount the wiring bracket to your house, secure the wires with the included screws, slide the doorbell unit over the wiring bracket, and secure the small torx security screw on the bottom to prevent people from ripping it off your house. The app setup is equally simple; download, install, set up an account, and the app does the rest; you scan a QR code using the doorbell once its powered up and it joins your WiFi and is ready to go. The function of the doorbell as a standalone product from SimpliSafe is exactly that—a doorbell. The unit connects to your existing wiring, so a press of the button will ring your existing chime. The unit will also push notifications to your phone when it senses movement, and you can also use the unit for two-way communication, preventing you from even needing to open your door. The camera has automatic night vision capabilities as well, so even in the dark you can see and communicate with someone at your front door. With a full system from SimpliSafe—and they, like other smart home product manufacturers, offer a wide variety of them—you can use the doorbell along with the rest of your products as a well-rounded solution, including cloud storage and more. SimpliSafe seems to be late to the party, though, with manufacturers like Nest and Honeywell with an already substantial offering. At $169 the SimpliCam is competitively priced, but when put against its competitors, the extra monthly fees for even basic offerings decreases its value unless you already have SimpliSafe equipment in your home.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Video quality
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Wonderful Addition to my Smart Home

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Installed this SimpliSafe Pro Smart Video Doorbell this morning in about 15 minutes. Installation instructions were very easy to understand and level of difficulty of the install is a 1 out of 10 (meaning anyone should be able to install it). Two wires off the old doorbell connect to the two wire attachments on this new one. Mounting bracket and hardware included. There is also a separate bracket to angle the doorbell up or down a bit if needed but not one for side to side adjustments (which I could have used to angle the camera more centrally as my doorbell sits off to the side of my door about 2 feet). Then a simple connection to my wifi via the SimpliSafe app and within 20 minutes total I was fully up and running and could view the door via the camera (from my smartphone). PROS - 1. Very easy install and connection to wifi through the app. 2. Camera is clear on my phone and easy to see who is at the door. 3. Can talk to the person at the door through the app on your phone and lag time is nominal - about 1.5 seconds for me. 4. Can get notifications on your phone if someone is either ringing the doorbell or if the camera senses motion. These can be turned off if you don't care to receive the notifications. CONS - 1. No side to side bracket to angle or aim the camera laterally if need to do so (Has a bracket to angle/aim up/ down). Not sure why they would include one but not the other. 2. Paid monthly service needed if you want record and store camera footage. I wish there was a way to record and store to a cloud account or similar. All in all I would recommend this to anyone looking for a quality Video Smart Doorbell. A good addition to my smart home set up.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Compatibility
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 2 out of 5 stars

    Decent but feels half baked sometimes

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This is my first video doorbell. I recently purchased a home and wanted a decent way to watch the front of my house and figured a video doorbell would be great. Installation was fairly easy. I somehow guessed the few circuit breakers to cut that killed my doorbell on the first try. Removed my old school doorbell and lined up the bracket. The only real hiccup came with the screws that were included with the doorbell. I'm sure a different screwdriver might have helped but the head of the screw started to strip very quickly before I got the screw all the way in. Maybe pre-drilling some holes would have been good too. I just swapped them out for a couple of drywall screws instead and the rest of the physical install was quick and painless. The molding on my home is also painted white where the doorbell is so this version blends right in. I like the looks of it a lot. After the physical install, the next part was setting things up in the app. The app is where things start to feel half baked. In the short time I was using the app to create an account and add my doorbell, I experienced more than a couple of straight up crashes. It would crash after a specific step and then it would be fine the next time I tried it and then it would crash again at a later step. It eventually worked itself out. Didn't take too long. The app guides you pretty well (when it's not crashing). It'll show you a QR Code and you let your doorbell see it and you're all linked up. Even with the crashes, setup was pretty quick and easy, but the crashes just gave me a sour taste in my mouth of an app that isn't properly tested or maintained. Moving on from the app setup to using the app, things still feel very half baked and generic. The loading screen feels very cheap and I don't know if it actually takes a long time to load but it feels longer because of the loading screen. It's very bare bones as far as functions is concerned. I know SimpliSafe also sells cameras for your home but I don't have any. The app works on a SnapChat style 3 page setup where you swipe between them. The from "welcome/dashboard" screen is completely useless. There's a link to setting up your camera or activating monitoring or shopping. That's all. It can easily be in a menu somewhere else. Next screen is a list of your cameras with the ability to add a new one. This screen is fine but it would be nice if it was a nice large preview image of the camera instead of a tiny thumbnail with "Front Door" occupying the rest of the giant white space. Then there's the timetime screen. This screen is also OK... but that OK comes with a HUGE qualifier that I'll talk about next. The large caveat above is because, this is only a live camera if you don't pay $5/mo. The timeline screen above is almost useless if you don't pay the $5/mo for recording. If you have the standard free plan, you literally can see the timestamp of when something happened and that's all. You'll see "Someone rang the bell at 10:00pm" or "Movement was detected at 9:30am" with no action that can be taken on those things. I understand that people need to make money but even saving things for a few hours would have been really nice. Whenever you get a notification for "movement detected", you'd have to load up the app immediately and check the live camera to see what it was. The notification never loaded the live camera either, it just loads up the timeline so you have an extra step to do in order to see anything. This all probably sounds nitpicky and it probably is but these are all reasons I feel like the doorbell itself is fine but the experience just feels really amateurish and half baked. I would have liked to see more baked in to the free experience because aside from wanting to test out the features that came with the $5/mo plan just for this review, there wasn't a whole lot going on to make me WANT those features. Maybe a still image snapshot when movement is detected so that timeline screen isn't completely useless. I think a lot can be done to improve the user experience, especially for free users. Now for the $5/mo users, things start to feel a little more complete. Obviously the app crashed again when I entered my credit card information. Once I loaded the app back up, it still said my camera needed to be upgraded and I couldn't find any other options so I decided to hit the "upgrade" button again and this time it didn't take me to the credit card screen, it just activated my account so I guess the credit card info saved before the app crashed. But now that I have the upgraded camera, there's a new button on the live screen that let's you record. The upgraded account let's you save 30 days worth of clips. I'm a little disappointed that the limit for these clips is 1 minute and it's not customizable. This isn't a super big deal because it is just a doorbell but if you were intending on recording something going on in your front yard that's longer than a minute, you better be ready to babysit and keep tapping the record button. I wish the manual recording length was longer and I wish the auto record length was customizable (it will record a full minute every time it detects motion, it would be really nice if it was able to just record for as long as motion is detected). Overall, the $5/mo doesn't seem too outrageous and it does make the doorbell feel a little more feature complete but there's a lot of room for improvement still. Bottom line, I know a lot of the negative of what I described sounds kind of nitpicky but that's mainly because this isn't a bargain basket doorbell. This doorbell costs about as much as a Nest Hello and much more than Ring doorbell. The actual doorbell itself looks nice and works well, but the frequent app crashes, the barebones functionality and the overall user experience of the app you need to use to interact with it make it hard to justify at this price. I'd probably say I can only recommend this doorbell to people who already have other Simplisafe home security items and are happy with them and looking to add a video doorbell.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Wifi connectivity
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Easy to Install

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I always wanted to purchase one of these doorbell cameras but it was difficult to pick one with all the options in the market now. This doorbell camera stood out because of its low price and easy installation. I had an old doorbell that originally came with the house(built in 50s). The installation was so easy it took 10 minutes to install. You don’t need an electrician background to install just make sure you turn off the power via circuit box. The doorbell sticks out from the wall it doesn’t blend in with the wall. It comes with an angle attachment if you would like to install in corners. There is a monthly plan option. I picked the $4.99 30 days cloud storage option with unlimited live stream that I purchase through the SimpliSafe app. There are other plan options but I decided this was a good option to start. I’m order to install the doorbell cam you’ll need to install the app as well. You’ll need it for a QR code that the doorbell needs to scan in order to activate the door bell. The app itself is very simple nothing fancy about it. You can stream live through it as well. You also have access to a timeline with video storage. I set my app for doorbell notifications and motion detections. You can customize however you like. So far I have notice I get “lost connection” when reviewing the recorded video but normally happens at the end. I did not have trouble with the doorbell constantly ringing as I’ve read in previous reviews. Overall it’s a very nice doorbell. Looks nice and simple to install. I would recommend!

    I would recommend this to a friend