Ring doorbell etc

[KeenCook]

There is a spate of scammers etc going round our area knocking on people's doors - today we had "Scottish Power to read the meter" and we think it is time to get one of those doorbells or door cameras that lets you see who is at the door.
We're not keen on one that has a subscription service, any advice on a one-off fixture we can install would be gratefully received!

Thanks

[Pepper Pig]

I have a basic oldish Ring. The camera is fine but the unit has been replaced twice because it's not very robust. I pay once a year so I guess its a subscription. DD2 has a Eufy which she says is fine. https://www.eufy.com/uk/collections/vid ... 9324368053

The battery ones need charging quite often. Both of us have mains models.

[KeenCook]

Thanks, PP, we're tossing up between just a camera - no bell - and a Ring.
We also don't have Alexa, and some of them only work with one of those.
I think we have to have a battery one as we don't have a mains connection by the door and it would be expensive to get an electrician in.

[Stokey Sue]

Which have reviewed video doorbells this month, their Best Buys with battery are Ring, Eufy, and Arlo.
They do say it's probably worth having a subscription, but you shouldn't have to pay more than £60 pa

[KeenCook]

Thank you very much, Sue.

[Suffs]

Some years ago DD and SSiL were warned by the police to get some sort of camera for their door (they’d given evidence against the violent partner of a friend) … they fixed a camera to observe the door and front path and SSIL
was able to watch it on his phone from indoors or when he was at work, and record what happened if needed.

It was inexpensive and didn’t need a subscription or anything like that. He’s going to see if he can find the details.

[scullion]

our upcountry young have something like that. the camera pings the phone app rather than it being triggered by a doorbell.

[herbidacious]

That's how my cat cam works. But you do need to be able to plug it into the mains. It records anything that moves and stores it on the cloud for a small monthly fee. (Or a memory card if you don't want to pay.) It's a Tapo device. They do a range of things including rechargeable battery powered outdoor cameras.

I also have their programmable lightbulbs.

[KeenCook]

Thank you, Suffs.

We're leaning towards a Ring bell and camera at the moment. It seems you have to buy the actual doorbell chime as an add-on

Given what we need it for, we don't want all the bells and whistles that a sub provides. It's really to see who is at the door. We have quite tall shrubs in the front and if we're not in, delivery people are usually relatively sensible about putting any packages out of direct sight of the road.

[Emerald7]

I didn't want a subscription service, so got a Netatmo security camera, which has worked very well since I had it installed over six years ago.

It detects movement in my chosen surveillance zone, so I can see delivery vehicles arriving, before the driver knocks on the door.

It saves the videos on the unit's SD card for a few days, but you can also download and save them if they are important and you need to keep the footage for some reason.

[KeenCook]

Emerald7, is your camera hard wired into the mains or is it battery operated?

[aero280]

Have you seen this?

https://www.idealhome.co.uk/news/video- ... eat-260372

https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/th ... fBa5W1boxK

[Pepper Pig]

But those articles are 4 years old aero. Things have improved.

[aero280]

I got those from here, which is dated 5th February 2025


https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/smart-v ... Bcm4n6bZbE

[Smitch]

The Guardian tested them towards the end of last year https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter/ ... and-tested

We have a Google one but have a subscription for it

[KeenCook]

Thank you aero, my BF has a Which sub and she gave me her login details so I was able to read their report.

Our neighbour has a Ring one with all bells and whistles, even the sort-of burglar alarm option (he said he got it in a Black Friday sale before he and his wife took off for Oz for 3 weeks)

It was very helpful going next door and seeing how it works. He has the sub and so he showed me the video of me going through the gate and ringing the doorbell!

Smitch, I hadn't seen the Guardian review, thanks, will now read it!

[aero280]

It's nothing to do with door bells, but a friend of mine works for a computer service company. They maintain commercial computer installations all over the country. His company use Ubiquiti equipment for wi-fi and entry control. He reckons that since they standardised on Ubiquiti, their call-outs for equipment malfunctions have virtually vanished.

[KeenCook]

That's interesting, aero, Ubiquiti is clearly a reliable brand as they have done well in reviews.

[Emerald7]

Emerald7, is your camera hard wired into the mains or is it battery operated?

Hi

It's hard wired into the mains - I had it installed by an electrician.

[KeenCook]

We've just ordered a Ring (battery operated) direct from Ring, rather than via Amazon. Although they're owned by Amazon they were still offering a deal with Chimes that Amazon wasn't offering any more (since yesterday! Must be the algorithms)