The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is the perfect video doorbell for Ring fans

Key findings from ZDNET

• The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus costs $150.
• The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus offers a clear head-to-toe view of your front door, a removable rechargeable battery, reliable motion detection alarms, and seamless integration with Alexa.
• Ring still retains most of the features Ring Home subscription. Although the video quality is better than HD at 1536p, the video clips have a slight fisheye effect and noticeable vignetting.

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Choosing a video doorbell is not an easy task – the selection process depends on the needs of the user and the features they require, and your choice is even influenced by the location where the device will be installed. Regarding the last point, I have always opted for a battery-powered video doorbell to monitor my front door.

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The existing doorbell wiring in my old home wasn’t working when my family moved in, so we decided to go with a battery doorbell because I didn’t want anything else thrown in with what was already fixed. We still live in the same house and I’ve tested several video doorbells since then.

At some point I came across one of my favorite video doorbells, the Eufy Security E340which means that Ring Battery Doorbell Plus When I started testing, I had big shoes to fill.

Setting up Amazon’s own Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is quick and easy. The installation process is much simpler than other video doorbells, with a built-in flat mount that’s accessible when you remove the front panel cover. This mount makes the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus a single unit, so miscreants can’t easily pull it off the wall next to your front door, which is a big problem with any video doorbell.

In case you need to mount the doorbell at an angle, the delivery also includes a corner set that can be screwed to the wall and onto which the ring doorbell is then mounted.

The battery doorbells I tested come with a wall-mounted base that the actual video doorbell snaps into. Devices use this configuration because battery-powered doorbells require charging and most have a built-in rechargeable battery. The Battery Doorbell Plus – and, when available, the Pro version – has a replaceable battery. This approach makes the device more secure and user-friendly than possible an additional battery on hand to replace the dead battery so you never lose monitoring.

I already have other Ring devices at home, including a Ring alarm kitSo I added the new Ring doorbell to the Ring app and then installed it on my front door, right above my current video doorbell.

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The Ring app is very easy to use. It displays video events and allows you to stream videos, check video and motion event history, set motion zones, use smart reactions, adjust motion sensitivity, and more. You can easily connect the app to a Ring Alarm system to switch between Disarmed, Home, and Away modes and then control how your devices behave in each mode.

My Ring Battery Doorbell Plus never missed an event, at least not one that my other video doorbell was recording at the same time. I used the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus in conjunction with my Eufy Doorbell to compare the devices’ performance.

The video quality of footage captured by the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is excellent for a video doorbell, which is great for a device that doesn’t claim to offer 2K video resolution. The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus delivers a clean image with little to no grain that looks more vibrant than my 2K resolution Eufy Security Doorbell.

Also: The best video doorbells: Ring, Nest, Arlo, Logitech and Eufy in comparison

Since the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus records videos at a resolution of 1536 x 1536 pixels, its video resolution is larger than HD, i.e. 1080p. However, the square image and large 150-degree field of view means the camera captures more complete images than other competitors. It provides a full view of visitors and covers enough space to keep track of a package, all in full color and with color night vision.

The image shows relatively noticeable vignetting along the outer edges and fisheye distortion. The latter is common on other video doorbell models, but the former has been largely eliminated as video doorbell technology has improved. Video doorbells are security cameras that aim for a large field of view to cover as much area as possible. This forced angle creates a fisheye effect that I don’t mind for the most part since it’s not bad enough to distort people’s faces, but the vignetting makes the video look dated in my opinion.

Also: Ring just launched a new battery doorbell with better features for the same price

The biggest problem, however, is that you have to pay a monthly fee for it Ring Home subscription to unlock many of the great features of the Ring Video Doorbell.

The Ring Home subscription unlocks advanced features including package detection, which informs users when a package has been delivered or picked up; Quick Replies, allowing visitors to hear pre-selected messages when they press the doorbell button; and person alerts that are only triggered when a human is detected.

However, more basic features you would expect from a battery doorbell also require a subscription, such as: Such as saving and sharing your video clips, storing footage in the cloud for up to six months, and even showing a photo preview of what triggered a doorbell motion alert in your phone’s notification.

If you forego a subscription, you’ll only have access to real-time notifications for motion alerts, live view, two-way talk, and customizable motion zones through the Ring app. Without the Ring Home plan, you won’t be able to view event history or video clips from previous motion detection alerts. Unfortunately, there’s no way to forego a local storage subscription since Ring doorbells don’t have an SD card expansion slot.

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I didn’t have any issues with the short battery life, as I haven’t had to charge the doorbell since I started using it a few weeks ago. If anyone is having issues with reduced battery life, which is common with battery-powered video doorbells, I would recommend adjusting the device’s motion sensitivity settings in the Ring app.

The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is a great addition to the company’s range of devices. Until the Plus video doorbell was introduced, Ring only offered that Ring the battery doorbell This is an extremely popular $100 video doorbell with 1080p resolution and a built-in battery.

ZDNET’s buying guide

While I’m not interested in purchasing a separate subscription to use devices that have already cost me hundreds of dollars, there are scenarios where this is the case Ring Battery Doorbell Plus makes perfect sense for many smart home enthusiasts.

Some smart home users enjoy the Ring ecosystem and already have a Ring Home plan, so adding a new product to their smart device lineup won’t be a problem. These customers are the perfect buyers of the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus, especially those looking for a battery-powered video doorbell that offers crystal-clear head-to-toe viewing and package detection.

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The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus also connects seamlessly with Alexa, other Ring devices and Amazon products, making it an ideal choice for an Alexa-powered smart home. You can easily view and communicate with your Ring Video Doorbell Plus all from one place Echo Show Smart Display or have the video doorbell live stream appear on your Fire TV when someone rings the doorbell.