Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Review
The peak of motion detection
Verdict
A neat improvement over the original, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro shoots high quality 1080p video in the day and at night. It’s the addition of 3D Motion Detection that really sets this camera apart from the competition. Using radar, this system means that the camera only records and warns you about important alerts, cutting down on general chatter and annoyance.
Pros
- Excellent image quality
- Radar-based motion detection
- Cheap subscription plans
Cons
- Expensive
- Low-resolution satellite images in some locations
Key Features
- TypeThis is primarily an outdoor camera, although it can be used inside thanks to its regular stand.
- ConnectionConnects via Wi-Fi to your home network.
Introduction
Ring’s radar-based 3D Motion Detection has proved itself to be a game-changer in reducing the number of alerts that a camera generates, particularly for outdoor models.
Now, the technology comes to the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro (also called the Ring Outdoor Camera Pro Battery), which is available in both a Battery and Plug-In version.
Excellent image quality, fine control over alerts and flexible installation make this one of the best security cameras currently available.
Design and installation
- It can be stand or wall-mounted
- USB-C input for power
I’ve got the battery version of the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro on review, although there’s also a permanently wired plug-in version. Both cost the same, and the battery version has a USB-C input on the rear, which can be used with the optional adaptor to make it a permanently wired product. Otherwise, both versions of the product are the same.
Out of the box, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro comes with a stand installed, so it can be stood up. However, this stand can be removed and attached to the rear of the camera, acting as a wall mount, which is how I installed my review sample.
As I have the battery version of the camera, I had to pre-charge and then install the Quick Release Battery Pack, which is the same as used in other battery products, such as the Ring Video Doorbell Plus. That’s handy, as you can swap batteries between products and buy a spare, so you’ve always got a charged battery to swap in.
To prevent the battery from being removed by a thief, it’s hidden underneath a secure flap, which is held in place by a screw.
Once powered on, the camera needs to be connected to Wi-Fi and the Ring app, a process that took me a matter of minutes.
Features
- 3D Motion Detection
- Excellent value cloud plans
- Works with other cameras and alarm
As a Ring product, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro works much like any other camera or doorbell in the line-up. When you fire up the Ring app, the camera gets a thumbnail image, which you can tap on to jump into the camera’s page.
From here, I could start a live view and use the two-way talk feature to chat with anyone that I’d spotted on the feed. The camera’s siren (85dB) can be triggered. It’s loud enough to draw attention to the fact that a recording is happening.
Underneath this is the timeline, which can be used to scroll back through events, provided you have a Ring Protect subscription for cloud storage.
Ring’s plans are some of the best value, starting at £3.49 a month for one camera (£34.99 a year), for 30-days of history, or you can cover all of your devices and get cellular backup for the Ring Alarm for £8 a month (£80 a year.)
I used to find the timeline a rather time-consuming way to find clips, but app updates have improved the timeline immeasurably. It’s now easy to jump to a specific date and filter the event by type (motion, person, live view, or linked device).
Alternatively, there’s an improved timeline, which has the same filtering options but presents events in a single list. Ring has finally added a thumbnail to each event, making it much quicker to find the one that you want. Clips can be played locally or downloaded to your phone so that you can save anything important.
To reduce the number of unimportant alerts you get, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro has several advanced features, and there’s a useful wizard at the start that takes you through configuration. There are the standard detection options that most cameras have: motion sensitivity and activity zones, which let me select the areas of the camera’s feed that I was interested in.
It’s the 3D Motion Detection that really makes the difference. Using Radar, this feature lets the camera ignore motion based on distance. Put the camera on the front of your home, for example, and you can tell it to ignore motion from outside of your property.
Setting up 3D Motion Detection requires setting up a Bird’s Eye Zone. How easy this is depends on where you live, as the app uses a satellite map that you draw the zone on. Where I live, the satellite map is very low resolution, and it took a lot of squinting to line it up.
It’s worth doing and adjusting if necessary, as 3D Motion Detection really does reduce the number of pointless alerts. In fact, I find that the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro barely generates any alerts, while capturing what’s important.
3D Motion Detection also gives you Bird’s Eye View. With each captured event, an overlay shows how motion was triggered, and the path that the triggerer took.
With a Ring Protect subscription, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro can also be set only to warn you when a person is spotted, with the option to still record motion for all other events. People detection is very useful, but it would be nice to see separate vehicle and animal detection, which the rival Arlo Pro 5 has.
I love how this camera (and others) can be tied in with the Ring Alarm, turning on and off automatically based on the alarm’s mode. That makes it really easy to have this camera record only when it’s convenient for you.
Finally, the camera can trigger (or be triggered by) other devices when motion is detected, providing a fuller view of what happens when motion is detected.
Video quality
- HDR
- Full HD video
- Colour night vision
With a 155-degree field of view, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro can capture a good amount of outdoor space, no matter where you place it.
There’s only a Full HD resolution sensor, rather than a 2K or higher one, although Ring has maximised image quality, with both HDR and colour night vision.
During the day, I found that the camera exposed the image very well, coping well with sunlight pointed directly at it. The image is relatively sharp, for 1080p, able to show what’s happening with enough detail.
I did find that HDR images (below, right) contained more information than the standard image (below, left).
At night, the standard option is to shoot in black and white using IR. The quality of the IR footage is excellent, clearly highlighting me from a distance of a few metres, maintaining detail that many cameras lose.
Switch on the colour night mode, and the camera can continue to take colour footage provided there’s enough light. When it’s very dark, the image looks a little unreal, with a green sky.
Get some light into the scene, and the camera can shoot images that are almost as good at night as they are during the day.
Battery life
- Long battery life
- Easy to recharge
Battery life will depend on how many alerts the camera generates. I had my camera running for around six weeks, and battery power was at 39%. Based on that, I should get just under three months from a charge.
If your camera picks up a lot more alerts, then battery life will be shorter, but still good: if you find that battery life isn’t very long, then try adjusting the motion settings to reduce the number of alerts that you get.
With a Quick Release Battery inside, the camera is easy to charge and, as I mentioned earlier in the review, you can even have a spare battery ready to go.
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Should you buy it?
You want to reduce the number of alerts you get
With 3D Motion Detection, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro only warns you about important alerts and cuts down on the noise.
You don’t want to pay for a subscription
If you want to monitor your home without a monthly subscription, you’ll need a camera with integrated storage.
Final Thoughts
While image sharpness isn’t the highest, as the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro uses a 1080p sensor, the camera still shoots very good video that lets you see what’s going on around your property, handling night-time shooting particularly well. It’s the entire package that’s so impressive, with 3D Motion Detection really limiting how many alerts you get while still recording anything important.
With the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro’s integration with other Ring products, including the Alarm, and the excellent (and relatively cheap) subscription packages, this is a great single camera or upgrade to an existing system. If you don’t want to pay subscriptions, then check out my guide to the best outdoor security camera for alternatives.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every security camera we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main security camera for the review period
We test compatibility with the main smart systems (HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartThings, IFTTT and more) to see how easy each camera is to automate.
We take samples during the day and night to see how clear each camera’s video is.
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FAQs
Both are the same size and have the same features. The Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery comes with a Quick Release battery, but can be powered by the optional plug-in adaptor; the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Plug-In ships with the plug-in adaptor, but you can add a battery.
No, although without a subscription you can’t enable people detection and no video is recorded.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
