Ring Video Doorbell Review

Over the past couple of years, connected devices, or the internet of things has really taken off. These days we have connected light bulbs, smart watches, and other various home automation devices. They come with the promise of making life easier, and connect us to our home wherever we may be, even if we’re not at home.

One such device is called the Ring video doorbell that sells for $199. With the Ring video doorbell you can see who is at your door and talk to them right from your smartphone,giving you the appearance of always being home. Ring also features cloud recording, motion detection with the ability to set zones and sensitivity, and shared users so you can share the doorbell with your family. This sounds like the perfect device for me since I essentially work from the basement of my home and can never hear when someone is at my door.

The Ring video doorbell comes packaged with everything you need to install it including a drill bit and wall anchors. Set up is very easy. I was able to install the Ring app on my iPhone and was ready to go in just a couple of minutes.

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Before actually mounting the Ring to my door, I wanted to test it out to see where I might actually want to have it. If I mounted it right next to the door, I would easily be able to see who is at my door. But if I might it on the side, I would also be able to see part of my driveway.

I was surprised at just how much the camera on the Ring was able to see. Albeit in more of a fisheye view than what I was led to believe based on the images on Ring’s website. The video quality was acceptable. Sure there was a little degradation of video, it is using wifi after all, and my router wasn’t really close. I also tested the night vision mode which worked quite well for there being very little light. I was able to clearly see who was at the door. Overall the audio and video quality was acceptable.

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The next day I decided to go ahead and mount it, but unfortunately this is where I started to really have an issue with the device. The mounting plate is designed very poorly, after I screwed the mounting plate to my door frame, I tried to slip the Ring device onto the plate. Unfortunately I was never able to get it seated properly.

This issue appears to be due to the mounting plate not being designed to account for the gasket that creates a weatherproof seal between the Ring device and mounting plate. Ring’s solution according to their website is to remove the weatherproof gasket. And if the Ring ever fails due to water damage they’ll replace it for free. Now this doesn’t seem like a good solution. The mounting plate should really be designed better. Users shouldn’t have to remove a weatherproof gasket simply to get the device to mount onto the plate.

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In the process of trying to get the device mounted to the back plate, something broke. The Ring would no longer function correctly. Pressing the button no longer triggered the doorbell. Instead it would just have a solid white LED ring. My thought was okay well I’ll delete the device from my Ring account and set it up again.

When you set up the Ring you are asked to connect directly from your phone to the Ring’s wifi network, which is usually Ring-XXXXX. Upon pressing the orange set up button on the back and checking the list of available wireless networks on my phone, it would never display the Ring’s wireless network.

At this point since there are no instructions on Ring’s website on what to do if this happens I sent an email them. It took over 48 hours to get a reply back with instructions on resetting the device. Why Ring doesn’t have the reset instructions anywhere on their site is mind boggling to me, and despite resetting the Ring multiple times, Ring’s wireless network still never showed up under my list of available networks.

I would have loved for the Ring video doorbell to have worked. The idea of being anywhere and having the doorbell ring my phone along with being able to see and speak to whomever is at the door is genius.

Unfortunately Ring doesn’t function well enough, if at all for me to keep the device. The mounting plate absolutely needs to be redesigned so that it is actually able to mount to the Ring. It also seems relatively easy to brick a Ring. Whatever caused the Ring to stop functioning correctly needs to be looked into.

Customer service for Ring also leaves a lot to be desired. After returning the device to Ring, it took several weeks and an email to receive my refund. The Ring video doorbell has a lot of potential, so I am holding onto hope that one day in the near future, it will be a device worth purchasing.