Ring - Video Doorbell Pro - Satin Nickel

I installed the Ring Video Doorbell Pro about three weeks ago (as of the date of this review). I would say that it is a great product to enhance security at your home and to interact with those who come to your house whether or not you are at home. I will talk about two aspects of this video doorbell product in this review. First is the installation process. Before you even purchase the Ring Video Doorbell Pro, you need to do some homework on your existing doorbell hardware. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro is powered by the electric current coming from your existing doorbell's transformer, and that transformer must be supplying between 16 VAC and 24 VAC. If your existing doorbell is battery powered, then you can look into something like the Ring Video Doorbell 2, which is also battery powered. If your existing doorbell transformer does not meet the voltage requirements, then you could look into changing out the transformer for one that does meet these requirements. The other requirement is that your 802.11 b/g/n WiFi signal must be good enough outside of your door to allow the doorbell to communicate with your WiFi access point. If there isn't enough power or enough WiFi signal, then the Ring Video Doorbell will not work until you address those issues. The first step in installing the Ring Video Doorbell is to turn off power to your doorbell at the breaker box. The second step is to connect their Ring Pro Power Kit to your existing doorbell transformer and chime. This is not difficult at all, and there are articles on Ring's website as well as YouTube videos that document this process. The third step is removing your current doorbell and connecting the Ring Video Doorbell Pro to your doorbell wiring. This is also easy enough to do. The problems with installation occur if the surface you have to install on is not typical of what Ring shows in their installation videos. In Ring's documentation, they always show a flat, wide surface, whether that is wood, brick, or stucco. However, in my neighborhood, the doorbells were installed on the door's trim, which has decorative tiers. So, in my case, I had to build up a backing to create a flat surface on which to install the doorbell. I cut to fit a paint stir stick and sanded it for proper depth in order to create this backing (See attached picture). After verifying that the doorbell worked for a few days, I used some almond colored silicone caulking to seal and hide the backing. Once the doorbell hardware is installed, restore power to the doorbell, and proceed to configure the doorbell with the Ring mobile app. However, this is where I experienced my second installation issue. In Ring's documentation, it says that once your restore power to your doorbell, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro will begin speaking to you in a few minutes. Well, once power was restored, I waited and waited. The doorbell did nothing; no speaking; no light circling around the button. I began to worry that either there wasn't enough power getting to the doorbell from my transformer or that I had a defective unit. I went inside to begin researching what my options were. As I started reading on my tablet about some other ways to power the doorbell, I suddenly heard some talking outside my front door. When I went out, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro was speaking, and there was a light circling around the button. This was about 10 minutes after having restored power. So, when Ring says wait a few minutes, they mean wait several minutes. So, I was then able to start the doorbell configuration process. When the doorbell started looking for WiFi networks to join, my SSID was not listed among the others, but I was able to manually enter the SSID name and password. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro immediately connected to my WiFi network with no problems at that point. I have the Netgear Orbi WiFi mesh system, and I do have it set to broadcast the SSID. So, if you have this same WiFi router, or you experience something similar, you can try manually entering in your network information to try connecting. The rest of the configuration process was uneventful. The next part of this review concerns actually using the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. In the end the Ring Video Doorbell Pro was successfully installed with my existing doorbell chimes dinging when the Ring Doorbell was pressed (with about a 1 second delay). I receive a notification on my phone when someone presses the doorbell button, and if I go into the Ring app, I am presented with a video of the visitors outside my door. The speaker and microphone on the doorbell allow me to communicate with my visitors, whether I am at home or away. In the Ring app, you can also setup Motion Zones under your Motion Settings. You can "draw" zones on the video feed that you want your doorbell to care about as far as motion is concerned. So, if there is activity outside of your door, Ring will record that activity, even if the visitor does not press the doorbell button. This is great for security or for visitors who knock on your door, rather than ring the doorbell. You will probably need to play with your Motion Zone definitions and/or the motion sensitivity settings, as I have found that at night headlights will cause a Motion Event alert to be sent to my phone. One aspect of Ring's products, including the Video Doorbell Pro, that I do not like is that Ring requires that you subscribe to a Recording Plan in order for the video captured by the doorbell to be available for viewing at a later time. The Video Doorbell Pro will work without a subscription, allowing you to remotely "answer" a live doorbell ring or motion event and have an audio/video conversation with a visitor. However, if you want your doorbell to be part of your home security, then you will want to subscribe to a Recording Plan in order to capture those motion events in the middle of the night or when you're away on vacation. Overall, I would say that the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is a good product, which does what it says, and I would recommend it. It does require some upfront research and can require some extra effort to install. It also requires a Recording Plan subscription to store videos for later viewing. As long as these caveats are understood, then I think you will be pleased with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro.

Before buying this product you want to do all your research.In my case it worked out really well with no issue. Had it for 4 days and will update soon.You must have a fast internet connection for it to work correctly. I have 300 Down and 50 UP. The upload speed is important. If you have the minimum requirement do not buy.I have a dedicated 5 GHz Wi-Fi for the dooorbell also.I configure my router to support doorbell Pro and made it work efficient with no issue. I didn't take any chance on the 2.4 GHz. I don't think it's a big deal but there is a delay for doorbell because it trying to ring your phone first before it rings the doorbell. The connection to my phone is incredible with no issue or delay outside on the phone network. Based on the angle that I have my Doorbell Pro I don't have any issue with motion sensor because it's only looking at a wall and a cover pretty much the whole hallway. I took a big risk buying this product knowing I may have to return it back if it didn't work out. After reviewing all the review online it seems a lot of people have slow internet connection. This is the reason why a lot of people are giving a negative a review on this item. I also noticed in the new update lets you do live view on your phone.I think the old model works best for people with slow internet speed because it's not as high as resolution as you see on the new Pro. If the company can let you pick your resolution on this new doorbell Pro it would work a lot better for everyone. (Ex 480p, 720p and 1080p) I would only recommend this product to a friend that has high internet speed The only concern that I have it's always hot. I'm not sure if it's going to stand up to the Texas weather. I'll be back in 2 weeks to update!!! 6/22/2016 Do not buy if you have a slow upload speed It's been a month since I updated my review on Ring Video Doorbell Pro. I have ran into some issues where for a split second of the recording it shows a grey pictures then it goes back to the video but not to the point where it's a big problem Out of all the doorbells that you can buy with video on the internet. This product is still the best out of all of them. If you're still uncertain about this model I would recommend buying the old model that has really positive review. It works every time when someone rings the doorbell also when they enter into the door way. On my router I have an option to keep track of how many megabytes it uses every day. so far it's been really consistent between 550 - 750 MB a day. I'm pretty sure this is due to all the upload of the video that it takes. Especially when we do a two way conference. It does take a lot of bandwidth to do. You want to make sure you have the best upload speed as possible in your area. I would definitely recommend 8 or higher on upload speed I was playing with the upload speed for a while it seems anything less than 5 upload I was having issue. Also I give it Priority for the upload within the router. Meaning if anyone ring the doorbell it's going to use a hundred percent of the upload speed and take away from every other device in the house. If someone has to ring the doorbell most likely I wouldn't be home so it's not a big deal for me to give it first priority out of all the device. Based on what you can buy today on the internet this still gets a 5 out of 5

I love this doorbell, however I do have some issues with it. Setup was straight forward. I think most techies will have no problem with the install. There is also a YouTube video that I found after the install that further clarifies the install. I didn't expect the Pro Power Kit part of the install, but it was a breeze. I had a minor hangup with the software setup and WiFi pairing, but after a couple retries it worked. My issue may have since been resolved as I was on a very early firmware. I've excluded a lot of issues from my review that the current firmware resolves. I'm on firmware version 1.0.50. One major con for me is that there is a delay between pressing the button and the physical hardwired mechanical doorbell ringing. In my opinion, there is no excuse or reason that a hardwired doorbell should ever have a delay. I expect some delay in receiving a notification on my phone, but there is a direct physical connection to the chime. I truly hope that Ring is able to resolve this in an update. The second major con is with the activity log. There is NO easy way to delete multiple entries in the app. I struggled at first to even figure out how to delete individual entries. You must press an entry and then slide your finger to the left and a trash can will show up. You can't select multiple entries and delete en masse though, so good luck if you have a ton of motion alerts. This is such a simple concept that it boggles my mind that this issue even exists. You can, however, delete multiple entries by signing into the Web site. Speaking of motion alerts, I drew a pretty conservative motion zone on my front porch, but all night passing cars caused motion alerts. Apparently a little change in light levels from passing cars is enough to trigger the alerts. There needs to be some sensitivity adjustment beyond the motion zones. This issue has gotten better over the last few updates, but I still get a half dozen or so alerts per night. I also don't always get alerts when someone walks directly in front of the doorbell. There is a delay between motion detection and recording. I often get recordings of butts walking away from, not towards the doorbell. It would be nice to have this always recording and when motion is sensed, include the previous 30 seconds or so. Another issue that isn't huge, but could maybe be incorporated into a later hardware revision is camera adjustment. There is none currently. If your camera needs to be aimed downwards or in any direction, you must physically tilt the entire doorbell. The wide angle lens helps some, but the only true fix is to have a way to adjust the internal camera itself. You can only tilt the doorbell a bit before it looks hideous. I really do like the live view feature. It has worked very well so far. The night vision is excellent as well. You can't initiate live view from the Ring Web site though. I also linked my Ring with my Wink hub. I have it automating my front porch light with doorbell presses. I gave up on motion for now as there are too many false alerts at night. Being able to share users is also nice as you don't have to give your account info to everyone that you want to be able to access the doorbell - they can create their own. You can also revoke their privileges if need be. Only the primary account can delete recordings though. I will probably pay for the ring+ service after the trial expires for $30/year. I would feel better having more control over the product though and being able to store videos locally rather than relying on "the cloud". Support is available from 9am to 6pm Pacific, which is good for me being on the east coast. Prior to the product's release, I was able to find the dimensions on the Ring web site and build a wood plate to match the contour of my home's siding that would also recess the doorbell a little bit. I commend the Ring team for having accurate dimensions as my plate fits perfectly. I feel like this really sets the doorbell apart and draws attention away from its size, which is still pretty big compared to a normal doorbell. Ring would be wise to consider offering something similar I think.

I have own this device for about a month and to be honest my conclusion is this device is not fully ready for prime it was rushed. Let me start with the good it is small, sleek look, good quality video, sound, multiple cover plates and lot of potential. Now the Bad, let’s start with the installation. Installing the device is not really that hard as the most time consuming will be the actual Setup. Now, as the company stated is a universal that can replace an existing doorbell, yes but some with complications, in my case my old doorbell was install in an electrical box with a plate. The actual Ring Pro it is narrow and long so it will not cover the hole completely, now Ring came up with a Retrofit Kit not included with the device and you have to call them to order it (no charge), they said for the newer ones they will include it. There is still a flaw as the Ring is longer the screws doesn’t align with the electrical box as the length from top to bottom is approximately 4.5in. and the Ring Pro is about 5in. so guess what you have to drill the wall, they should had made the device standard electrical box size at least for the US resale. Next, setting the actual device that was the most stressful part. I have an Asus RT-AC87R router dual band I could not get it connected to the WIFI and I spent multiple hours on the phone to get nowhere. After multiples trouble shooting they will escalate your problem to level 2 support that will not get you anywhere either and you have to wait for them to call or write you by email. To be honest I spent more time on the phone than playing with the actual device and in multiple days. The workaround that I came up with and it work was creating a guest account on my router somehow it connected that way. After that everything went well until I received the retrofit kit and I had to unplug that thing again, then the connectivity issue started over even on the guest account. After I was able to connected it aging and it was back to normal until I find myself I cannot view live feed away from home stuff that I was able to do before, I can only view the live at home on wifi. I get all the notification and all but no live view. One of the reason I bout this was the advertisement that it works with ADT Pulse, that will save me from installing a camera at the door. I went through all the setting I link both account but I don’t see how they work with each other. You are not able to see the Ring camera on the Pulse app and on the Ring app doesn’t show any feature for the Pulse System just an + icon when you looking at the camera that shows a ADT Pulse icon, when you click on it you get an Error. I called 6/1/16 to get help on the problem for the live view and all they did was send me to call my cellphone network provider. The actual support center is very poor, a lot of them doesn’t have any knowledge of the device as the one answer the phone to help with the live view told me that it was only available on Wifi then put me on hold to verify his statement when I told him I was able to do that before LOL. So for those potential buyers I would hold off on it, is not easy to drop 250 pops on a device that doesn’t delivers as promise, it does have potential but right now is not ready. I read those bad reviews and I still got one to see If I was one of the lucky one like those who posted good reviews with 5 stars but I wasn’t. Now I have to take this thing a part install my old doorbell back, cover the new holes I put on the wall, return it, and wait for something else or this one to get better right now this is thing too much hassle for $250. Good luck!

Ring is aware and is saying the retail stores jumped the gun on putting them on the shelves. I purchased it and of course it has issues. Taking it back and exchanging it WILL NOT help. A firmware update can correct all the issues they are having. Here is the email I received from ring when I entered the setup. Dear Neighbor, Thank you for your recent purchase of Ring Pro. As you begin using your Ring Video Doorbell Pro, there are a few things we’d like you to keep in mind. Our retailers are just as excited about Ring Pro as you, so some retail stores stocked their shelves with Ring Pro earlier than agreed. Ring Pro was not supposed to appear in Best Buy stores until Monday, 4/25/16, and Home Depot until Sunday, 5/1/16. Because of this early set, there's a chance you will encounter a few hiccups when using your Ring Pro. Our systems and infrastructure were preparing to have the final firmware and app versions available in time for the 4/25/16 release date, but currently, our systems are not as prepared to handle Ring Pros effectively at the moment. The good news is that a new firmware update will be available Monday morning (4/25/16), which means your current experience will improve very soon. The current firmware version your Pro is running (1.0.18) will update starting Monday, 4/25/16. Our firmware updates are pushed out “over the air”, so nothing is required of you in order to receive the update. We will also have an iOS and Android app update available in the next few days which will alleviate any app-related issues you may encounter this weekend. Here are some of the more major known issues. Keep in mind this is not the full list of issues, however, these are the largest remaining issues: Ring Pro Issues: Delayed doorbell kit ringing: Ring Pro takes up to 5 seconds to trigger your home doorbell once the button is pressed. The team is working on improving this experience. Video image is too dark: Automatic exposure may leave some objects near Ring Pro darker than desired. This may make it hard to make out faces of people near Ring Pro. The team is working on adjusting this. App Issues: Battery symbol showing - Android: The battery power icon is showing in the Android App on Ring Pro. This bug will be corrected in a future Android App release. Error when changing doorbell kit settings - Android: Some users get an error in the Android App when changing the home doorbell kit from Digital to Mechanical (or vice versa). Please try the operation again and it should go through. This bug will be corrected in a future Android App release. Incorrect install video - Android: The install video in our Android App is incorrect and will be updated. To view the correct video, please follow this link: https://youtu.be/0d9eYRgFvXc If you need some extra help installing your Ring Pro, please watch this Pro Install Video. For help installing the Pro Power Kit, please watch this video. As always, our Community Support team is available to assist you. Reach them by email at help@ring.com. Best, Team Ring Again, returning it will not help solve any issues. Just be patient and they will fix it. Should not even be on shelves yet technically. I'm going to be patient b/c I know it can be fixed.

5//26/2016 Before buying this product you want to do all your research.In my case it worked out really well with no issue. Had it for 4 days and will update soon.You must have a fast internet connection for it to work correctly. I have 300 Down and 50 UP. If you have the minimum requirement do not buy.I have a dedicated 5 GHz Wi-Fi for the dooorbell also.I configure my router to support doorbell Pro and made it work efficient with no issue. I didn't take any chance on the 2.4 GHz. I don't think it's a big deal but there is a delay for doorbell because it trying to ring your phone first before it rings the doorbell. The connection to my phone is incredible with no issue or delay outside on the phone network. Based on the angle that I have my Doorbell Pro I don't have any issue with motion sensor because it's only looking at a wall and a cover pretty much the whole hallway. I took a big risk buying this product knowing I may have to return it back if it didn't work out. After reviewing all the review online it seems a lot of people have slow internet connection. This is the reason why a lot of people are giving a negative a review on this item. I also noticed in the new update lets you do live view on your phone.I think the old model works best for people with slow internet speed because it's not as high as resolution as you see on the new Pro. If the company can let you pick your resolution on this new doorbell Pro it would work a lot better for everyone. (Ex 480p, 720p and 1080p) I would only recommend this product to a friend that has high internet speed The only concern that I have it's always hot. I'm not sure if it's going to stand up to the Texas weather. I'll be back in 2 weeks to update!!!

First, the good: The form factor is great! The 4 color options are fantastic! The thoughtfulness of provided tools (masonry drill bit, dual-sided screwdriver, foam adhesive pads, etc) is top notch! The set up took less than an hour for someone who is slow and takes a lot of time to follow steps/instructions. The bad: Latency (the time from when the button is pressed to when your doorbell rings and you get an alert on your phone has been super inconsistent, sometimes does not work, and other times takes multiple minutes to engage/work... which most people would leave your front door by then) Settings for lighting are non-existent (i.e. - if you have a semi-covered entry way and there is more light behind your entry way, your visitor will not be identifiable because of the lack of contrast function) The App does not work consistently (the Live View mode often will not actually show a live view, but sometimes it records and later you can go back and see the historic footage of your "live view") The specs claim 1080p, from my experience it is sometimes high resolution, and other times it is 480 at best, and other times it gets so pixelated you cannot see anything, or else the feed is gray or green. I called Ring customer service to get clarification on wiring configuration during my install, and the person on the other end had only seen the product, but did not have specific knowledge (seems like a miss by Ring to not have knowledgeable call center people near the launch of new iteration). To Ring's credit, within an hour, I received a call back from someone else (more on that later). I was told by Ring that they recommend 2 Mbps minimum upload and 1Mbps minimum download internet speeds (I am above both numbers). So far, the thing just does not work as you would anticipate. Someone walking up to your door has to VERY deliberately/forcefully push the doorbell, and then figure out that when they press the button, that they should hear chimes on their side to know that they actually pressed the button. Many times when I pressed the button, nothing happened at all. From there, if the doorbell push was acknowledged, it took between 1 to 8 minutes for the alert to get to our cell phones. (Before you think this is a wifi range issue, I have a router about 15 feet away from the doorbell). Now, going back to the person who called me back from Ring (which, by then, I had figured out my small wiring question), she said that they presume/accept latency of between 30-60 seconds. This seems like a totally unreasonable amount of time for me to get an alert that someone is waiting at my door. And to be clear, the Ring Pro also controls the mechanical chime/ring in your house, so it's not like you hear the doorbell and then wait to get a notification, the latency affects both the timing of when the doorbell chimes are engaged as well as when the alert comes to the phone. I was reluctant to get the August video doorbell cam only because of the form factor. I guess my only option now is to invest in a Doorbird... their entry one is $100 more than the Ring Pro, and their nicer ones are $600+. Last, to install this, I drilled into my brick. Not an easy repair, and I'm super disappointed for a product I anticipated as being great. I take responsibility for believing the hype/advertising. I should have known better. PLEASE DO NOT DRILL INTO YOUR BRICK like me... you can still install it, and take off your old doorbell and wire this up. If it works better for your set-up, great, go ahead and drill away, otherwise, I recommend you test it out first, and then make the commitment to drill!

I admit, I 'want' to like this product (Ring Doorbell Pro) but I cannot get it to work as intended and advertised. 24/7 Customer Support has been unable to help, suggesting I 'exchange' my device and indicating there was little else that could be done. I have also tried reaching out via email to one of the Ring Customer Satisfaction Specialists who frequently reply to these reviews prior to submitting my own. I have received no response. I purchased my first Doorbell Pro five days ago. It installed relatively easily and monitoring seemed to work. My major issue initially was that when I attempted to communicate with people outside the door, they heard nothing but static, and maybe an occasional garbled portion of a word, thus knowing I was at least trying to talk to them. I called Support after 2 days of trying various site-suggested fixes and it was recommended that I exchange my device. Sadly it is an hour drive, each way, to my closest store, but we made the trip. Best Buy exchanged it for a second unit, but I cannot be certain it was 'new' as when I got home (again, hour drive) I found the box had been opened and re-taped. I did look it over after this discovery and is appeared unused, so I reinstalled that evening. Much to my disappointment, this resulted in virtually the same issue with the sound. Initially visitors could make out 2-3 garbled words, but that quickly deteriorated to none at all - just static - but hey, they static was quieter! Early the next morning, Motion Detection identified a car driving past my home that was not in my specified motion zones. When I attempted to view, the App showed my Doorbell was offline. I got out of bed and walked out to look at the device and it alarmed again. It was seeing motion and people, alerting, but showing offline within the App so I could not view anything. It even recorded my vehicle leaving later that morning - still showing offline! Three hours later, it miraculously showed online and I could access past history and Live View. My setup is as follows: Ring Doorbell Pro Wifi Strength showed RSSI in the .54 -.57 range on the first unit, the second unit fluctuates between .59 - .61 with Ring Chime Pro (placed inside home 3 feet from the Doorbell). My power connection health report for both shows 4055mV in the morning and dropping to 4009mV by late afternoon My Chime Pro WiFi connection shows RSSI-29 signal strength currently, and shows the Doorbell connection to the Chime Pro at RSSI - .62 I have done multiple hard resets, as advised by Support. Again, I wish I could like this but am very dissatisfied and because of the cost, do not feel I have any other choice but to return for refund. It is too bad as the video portion works well for the most part. Motion sensitivity is quite sensitive even at the lowest setting, occasional moth and car lights will alert. I purchased the Chime Pro 2 as recommended by the site due to the low-ish signal strength, but it only got worse. If things change prior to my return I will amend this review (if Best Buy allows). I am giving 2 stars because what does work, seems pretty good. What doesn't work is the showstopper for me as I want to get what I paid for.