Ring - Spotlight Cam Wire-free 2-Pack - White

So I see a TON of negative reviews about the Ring products. I felt compelled to post a POSITIVE review based on my own experience. I own a Spotlight Cam Battery w/solar panel and (2) batteries and I also have a video Doorbell 2. I absolutely LOVE both these products. Are they perfect? No, not in any way. Are they worth the cost, ABSOLUTELY 100% every day of the week! Most of the problems I see and hear about are setup related issues. The products work well in my opinion. Some of these things I see are basic, like charging the battery fully before first use. Motion Issues: If you have this pointing at a tree, the motion sensors might go nuts on a windy day. (As an example) Just FYI, you are not going to get a motion sensing device that can tell the difference from a dog to a person for $200. Just sayin’. This is not the cure for cancer here; this is a $200 wireless security camera. Try to mount the Camera in a place where it points towards the house maybe? Case by case situation. Consider turning down the sensitivity and distance to get the results you seek. It may take a bit to dial this in and remember to work slowly. When you change the alerts from “Frequent” to “Standard” give the CAM a few moments to download the new policy from the cloud and reset. The walk in front and test it. Wireless Issues: I have to address the myriad of wireless and Wi-Fi issues I read about. As a Network/Electrical Engineer for over 20 years I almost never see a home with what I call “Good Wi-Fi”. :-) An Access point can only service a small area (with 2.4GHz) and only so many connections and only so much bandwidth. I am so tired of everyone thinking 2.4 Wi-Fi stuff just works well. Maybe, if you’re lucky. But uploading 1080 streams of video is no small feat WIRELESS Networking wise. If you are having issues with 2.4 wireless have you downloaded SSIDER and looked at what channels your neighbors are on? Probably not, and most devices default to Ch. 1 or 11, leaving the middle of the band for guys like me who know what to look for. Move your crummy cable modem device to channel 5 or 6 and watch what happens, literally. Also consider using a wireless survey tool to move around and confirm good signal in the area you propose to mount the camera. People have to realize that many run video wires for a reason. Moving this high resolution video around wirelessly is amazing we can even do it. My system works very well due to the (3) wireless access points my Wi-Fi system uses. If you are serious about wireless and security get a Ruckus, AeroHive, or WatchGuard type system (Like I have) and your results will vastly improve I assure you. Video Quality Issues: The video quality of my 2 ring devices is nothing short of outstanding for the money. The night vision is good and if you give it good lighting, the video at night is excellent as well. I do not understand the many issue with video quality except to say that may actually be a wi-fi issue. If you see an ATM video with a perfectly clear face of the robber that was NOT by accident. Some tech spent time making sure the lighting and camera positioning was just right. This is no different. In closing I think Ring gets “Beat Up” unfairly in many cases with these reviews, and I hope this post helps someone decide to purchase a Ring product. I have had nothing but positive support experience when I had a question or needed to add my 2nd camera to the cloud. All calls to ring have been answered by a human and they are helpful and sincerely care about the customer in my opinion. The company, it's culture, and story are nothing short of awesome if you ask me. Don;t forget the fact the product is always under warranty as long as you pay for the cloud. I believe that ever covers theft, if someone steals your video doorbell. That is awesome coverage, what more can you want? Ring products are AWESOME and work very well for the intended purpose. I think the video doorbell 2 is the best electronics product I have seen in years! My 2 cents - no refunds! -Tom

The $3,000 mistake. After my car was broken into, I decided to install security cameras.  A friend had Best Buy install a Swan system at his house and he was very happy with it so I went over to look at it.  I liked it so I contacted Best Buy and scheduled a consultation.  The guy who came out told me that because I had a two story house (my friend's house is single story) I couldn't use the Swan system and would need to go wireless.  He recommended the Ring system.   I bought 8 of these cameras along with the solar panel chargers and an Aero WiFi (this was an up-sale because the installer said the Google WiFi I original bought was not powerful enough.  Coincidentally he had an Aero WiFi with him at the time of the installation!).  BIG mistake.  From day one I've gotten between 400 and 500 alerts a day.  Adjusting the motion zones to minimum for all the cameras reduces this number down to about 100 alerts.  I get so many alerts that I need to recharge my phone twice a day. 95% of the alerts show no activity other than the breeze rustling leaves or my wind chimes moving.  I fail to understand why these crappy cameras don't have a sensitivity adjustment.  I mean who wants to be woken up in the middle of the night because a cat wanders into the back yard! A human yes, a cat no, I went to Ring's website to see if i could salvage this costly mistake and found that the Geek Squad didn't understand Ring's guidelines for installation. First off two cameras are pointed into the setting sun.  According to Ring, this is a no-no.  I admit I told them where to mount the cameras but I should have been advised that this might become a problem.  Also motion over sensitivity should have been considered when places cameras around shrubbery. Here are some of the other things I've encountered: One camera doesn't start recording for about 10 seconds and you barely get a glance at what caused the alert. One camera will send an alert for a car passing 120 away but I can jump up and down, wave my hands 10 feet way from it and it doesn't send an alert.  I can see myself on live view but no alert.  This is the camera that covers where my car is parked.  I can walk all the way around my car and get no alert.  How effective is this going to be if my car is ever broken into again! Another camera will also send a alert for motion 50' away but I can walk out the door and cover 20' to the garage and I get no alert.  Again I can see myself in live mode so I am within the camera's field of vision.  This same camera sends an alert when the breeze is rustling the leaves in the trees but it ignores me! I don't even bother to look at the alerts anymore; when you get one every five minutes or so, you realize it isn't practical to look at all of them.  I can only hope that the presence of the cameras are a deterrent because the system is so flawed with false alerts it isn't any help catching someone in the act. I now wish I had read all the terrible reviews before I spent all that money but I guess what is done is done.  I will now explore what steps I need to take in order to return the system to Best Buy. This experience has really put me off on Best Buy and the Geek Squad.  Don't buy Ring!

Where do I start? I bought an original stick up ring camera with the solar panel. It worked ok. Some bugs but I loved the idea. I saw the pre order online for the spotlight battery / solar camera and fell in love! You download the app , connect it to WiFi ,install and that’s it! ( supposedly) I bought two cameras and two solar panels I loved the idea of not having to recharge the battery because the solar panel charged it. I downloaded the app , installed plug the solar panel. Then the problems began. 1.) Batteries are NOT fully charged mine came at 15% (both) 2.) video delay is horrible 3.) live view works 5 out of 10 times (maybe 4 of out 10) 4.) speaker makes weird noises outside when triggered by motion detection 5.) motion detection doesn’t always work 6.)LED lights sometimes turn on I ran the test and my WiFi connection is good I checked the sensitivity levels I positioned the camera at different angles and closer to the router. Nothing worked. I can rarely log in live view now. These cameras are expensive. I payed close to $500( and $10 a month to store videos on the cloud) for two cameras with solar panels I felt like the price would be justified if they saved me from the hassled of running cables all around the house but Ring failed miserably poor software and poor hardware. Awesome idea and concept but poor execution. Almost feels like a BETA. I contacted Ring and they already gave me an RMA # interestingly they did NOT ask why I wanted to return for a refund. They may have a no question asked if within 30 days or are aware of their bad and defective cameras. Now I have to pay to ship these cameras back to California from Illinois and wait for my money : / Please stay way from Ring.

I bought 2 of these 2-pack spotlights, which were not cheap at all, just to find out they were cheap trash that doesn't even work. After 12 hours of charging the batteries that come dead out of box, I then had to spend over an hour trying to set them up to/with my phone. At this point, I realized the battery doors are cheap and could easily break, same with unit itself. After the were all set up, I noticed one of the cameras was making this awful squealing noise but I thought it was just interfering with my phone. I put 3 out of 4 of them up yesterday morning, and started receiving an obsurd amount of motion notifications but nothing was there. Unfortunately, with the wire free cameras, custom motion zones are NOT an option, so you can only limit the range in one or all directions. One camera wouldn't let me connect to the live view for hours after installing, and when it did finally work, a different camera stopped letting me connect. Halfway through the day, I was getting motion alerts, but couldn't watch live, and when I watched recorded videos, it was just a black image, no picture at all. The actual motion it picked up was so late, that people were already almost out of camera view before filming started. As the day goes on, all cameras are squealing when motion is detected, blowing ANY chance of DISCRETE monitoring, you could hear this noise houses away. At this point, I decided I was returning them and I went last night and traded for the Arlo Pro. I have not installed them yet, but already LOVE this system SO MUCH more, and it was $116 cheaper for same amount of cameras, but i get everything and more from Arlo i did with Ring except for the spotlight which is absolutelt useless if the cameras dont work and draw attention to themselves. Look for my review on the Arlo Pro 4-Camera Wire-Free Kit, will be posting it in a few days. NO MATTER WHAT YOU CHOOSE, DO NOT BUY THESE SPOTLIGHTS!!! I PROMISE YOU WON'T HAVE THEM MORE THAN A DAY.

I have been using them for about 5 days and they have failed horribly. Motion sensors do not work consistently. I have walked in front of the Spotlight Cams multiple times only to get it to activate, record video and send alert maybe 5 times out of 20. Made no difference adjusting the Motion Zone or Distance. When it does record video, I've noticed the first 5 to 10 seconds are pixelated until it clears up to produce a very sharp image. The Spotlight Cams lose Wi-Fi connection randomly. The app, under Device Health always show my connection as Good or Excellent. The Live View feature fails most of the time leaving you with a black screen with a constant rolling icon or it tells you your phone can't connect to the Ring. The Andriod app is Horrible and full of bugs. I'm Using a new Samsung Note 8 and the app has crashed, froze becoming unresponsive, failed to save selected Motion Zones and Distance. Just read the recent bad reviews for yourself on the google play store. It says it all. The batteries also don't last 6 months. Mine went from 100% when installed to 23% in 5 days. I could understand the batteries draining faster if Cams were working overtime being triggered and recording video often, but they are not. I would not recommend the battery operated Spotlight Cams in their current state. They fail miserably. These will be going back to BestBuy for a refund.

I was extremely excited to get these cameras. We are dealing with some poorly educated high schoolers with a penchant for vandalism, and I was ready to catch them in the act. The Terrible: The battery lasted less than 6 days. This was even when I was controlling the lights and the sensitivity. I mounted them at the recommended height and had to climb up and pull them down (the batteries) to charge them. Very frustrating. The motion detection does not work at a distance of more than 10 feet or so. Also, if the WIFI signal drops or gets weak, the motion detection does not record. The WIFI is not 5Ghz. It is only 2.4 and conflicts with everyone else's WIFI channels. There is no admin screen to modify the channel settings. The Bad: The lights were actually quite illuminating, but they overshadow the IR recording at night and create a glare on the camera. The battery housing door does not latch properly and continues to refuse to record if it is not fastened just right. It is flimsy and will break. The Good: I caught our vandals on camera the night after I put up these cameras. Unfortunately, they only recorded the motion after the boys had thrown more than 15 eggs at my house and were running away. So much for early alert!! Don't buy this camera. I was optimistic, but I took them back after a week and a half. I also tried the wired version, but you have to run the wire outside or drill a hole into your house below the camera (not behind it) because of the way the camera screws into the wire housing. Terrible design and far below the quality being offered by other companies with dedicated wired systems (e.g. Samsung).

I purchased this cam a week ago and I have spent all my week figuring out how to make this cam work flawlessly. Not to mention after long days work and just to come home with this kind of headache. The sensing, the recording, and connecting to the cam is unbearably horrid! And within 1 wk the battery is already down 50%; thus, no choice, had to spend another $26.60 for second battery. The Ring cam technician was very helpful, but there's only so much they can help when this cam failing not only the customers but as well as them. As advised, spending additional $50 for a chime pro wifi extender (shipping not included). Cost so far $216.49 + $20 + $50 = "$286.49", WOW! Ring company should realize that climbing a ladder is not a fun exercise... the countless ladder lifting to and from, and climbing up and down so to reset the Ring cam. I do hope Ring company will be able to solve their spotlight cam's issues. And when they do, pls. include my ladder exercise Ring cam in your thoughts. I was going to give it 1 star for poor execution; however, since I like the concept I gave it 2 stars. Truly would like for this battery spotlight cam to work flawlessly. I will give it another week. I would change my star rating to 5 and my recommendation to a friend from a NO to YES if these issues are resolved.

Not happy with it. I have the Ring doorbell and besides the lag time it takes to get a notification it works fine. Wanted to like this especially since it has the solar panel it makes it much more convenient. After reading reviews here and elsewhere it seems like common issues....light turns on for no reason, rarely picks up motion, battery drains very quickly (definitely get the solar!), live view works about a third of the time. I have had some grainy videos but it’s not bad. Have rarely had the speaker issue that seems to come up either but all in all I’ll be returning this. Maybe gen 2 will perform better. Ring needs to step it up to stay in the game. Too many cameras out there to choose from, but right now they have the chance to take the lead with the solar and spotlight added if they can get it working properly. Oh and customer support was of no help. Pull the battery out and put back in. Then while waiting on them to do whatever they were doing they disconnected me after being on hold for 30 minutes in the first place. Guess I’ll just run a line and get a Nest or something equivalent. Update: Contacted customer support AGAIN to return this and after 30 minutes got told the department that has to sign off on the return was closed and it would get taken care of first thing in the morning. A day and a half later I had to contact them again so they could send me a generic email to return it but I have to pay to ship it back. I can go to the local Home Depot or Best Buy and buy it and return it and it doesn’t cost me anything. Why am I having to pay for something that doesn’t work? It’s not like I’m returning just because I changed my mind. Ring needs to look at their online reviews and fix this problem! I won’t ever buy another product from them. Too many other and better competitors.