Ring Video Doorbell Wired Review
An absolute bargain, this is the best budget video doorbell
Verdict
Offering quite amazing value for money, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired delivers all of the features of the original Pro model but for a fraction of the price. You miss out on colour night vision, included with the more expensive models, and this doorbell doesn’t support wired internal chimes. Nevertheless, it’s hard to fault at the price.
Pros
- Extremely cheap
- Decent video quality
- Works brilliantly with Alexa
Cons
- No HDR
- Can’t ring a traditional chime
- No Google Assistant support
Availability
- UKRRP: £49
- USARRP: $59.99
- EuropeRRP: €59.99
Key Features
- ConnectionThis doorbell uses a 2.4GHz network connection only, which is a little slower than 5GHz, which makes it a touch more laggy than newer models.
Introduction
It’s usual for the bigger brands to also have the most expensive products, but the Ring Video Doorbell Wired bucks that trend. At £49, this wired model is extremely good value.
It lacks some of the features of its pricier siblings, and it doesn’t support internal wired chimes. Yet, if you’re looking for a quality doorbell that works brilliantly with Amazon Echo speakers, and you don’t have a lot of money to spend, it’s hard to knock the value on offer – you’re basically getting an updated original Ring Video Doorbell Pro for a lot less.
Design and installation
- The Ring Video Doorbell Wired needs to be wired into place
- No transformer in the box
- Will work with the majority of home transformers
- Existing wired chimes have to be bypassed
Forgoing the battery and including a 1080p sensor and standard motion detection, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired is the company’s smallest wired doorbell. It’s slim and attractive, and you shouldn’t have any problem fitting it to most door frames.
You no longer get a choice of faceplates with this model; it ships with a black one. To be fair, this is a cheap product and Ring is attempting to cut down on the amount of plastic it puts out. As such, if your preference is for a different colour, then the company sells alternative faceplates.
While Ring usually ships a transformer with its wired products, this model doesn’t include one. It will work with an 8-24VAC transformer, which means that if you have a wired doorbell already, this model should work with it. If not, Ring sells a compatible DIN rail transformer, which can be installed close to your consumer unit. Or, you can buy the Ring Plug-in adapter and use a regular plug instead.
For those who have wiring in place, you’ll have to bypass your existing wired chime, since the doorbell doesn’t work with one. This is something new to all Ring products, and even the more expensive Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 doesn’t support wired chimes.
Once you’ve chosen your power source and have the cables in place, you just need to hook them up to the terminals on the rear of the doorbell. Once powered on, you use the Ring app to hook up the doorbell to your Wi-Fi. Only 2.4GHz wireless is supported, so make sure you have a strong signal near your front door.
Features
- The Ring Video Doorbell Wired has all the important features you’d expect
- Advanced pre-roll lets you see more
- Activity Zones cut down on alerts
- Cloud storage is well priced
Although it’s cheap, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired doesn’t skimp on features. In fact, it comes with pretty much the same options as the original Ring Video Doorbell Pro.
First, as a wired device, it uses the camera’s sensor to detect motion. This lets you set Activity Zones, where you pick the area of the picture you want to monitor; motion outside of these zones is ignored.
This is generally better than using a PIR motion sensor, as the battery-powered products do, although the more expensive Pro 2 camera also has radar, so you can set the motion detection distance. Still, for £49 I’m not complaining.
You can cut down on alerts, too, using a few of the other settings that Ring has available. First, you can schedule when you want to receive alerts; your camera will still record, just you won’t know anything about it.
People-only alerts – available with a Ring Protect cloud subscription – are well worth it, too. They’re pretty accurate, with you only ever getting an alert if a person is spotted, although all motion will be recorded.
A huge advantage of Ring is the massive eco system available. Now, with the GeoFence option, you can receive a prompt to turn off your Ring Alarm (2nd Generation), and you can snooze alerts on your doorbell, so you don’t get a notification telling you that you’re home.
If you have one of the other many Ring cameras, Linked Devices lets you set other cameras to record – or, if available, turn on their spotlights. It’s a powerful and well-thought-out system.
For free, you can use the Ring Doorbell Wired for doorbell presses and alerts. Since wired chimes aren’t supported, you must have either a Ring Chime or Chime Pro plugged into your house, or you can use Alexa Announcements to have your Echo speakers broadcast that someone is at the door (there’s no Google Assistant support).
With smart displays, such as the Echo Show 10 (3rd Generation), you can see a video preview of who’s at the door, answering with your voice or by tapping the on-screen icon.
It’s slightly frustrating that people in the US get a few more features. First, Quick Replies lets US users fire off an automated message if you don’t answer the door, and then take a message. Alexa Greetings lets Alexa answer the door for you and ask what the purpose is – say, directing people where to leave a delivery. There’s no word on if or when these features will come to the UK.
Currently, this means the Nest Hello is slightly more advanced, as you can use quick replies from its app or from a Nest Hub’s screen.
If you’re out and about, or not near an Echo device, you can answer the door from your phone. Running on 2.4GHz and using slightly older technology, I didn’t find this doorbell quite as quick to respond as the new Pro 2 model.
When you’re out, a sent notification can be easy to miss. Arlo offers a better solution with its Arlo Video Doorbell, which rings your phone, so you can’t miss it.
When you do respond, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired’s loud speaker ensures it’s easy enough for a visitor to hear what you’re saying, and the responses are picked up well by the doorbell’s microphone.
Buy a Ring Protect plan and you get cloud storage. Ring Protect costs a reasonable £2.49 (£24 a year) for one camera with 30-days of video history. If you upgrade to Ring Protect Plus (£8 a month or £80 a year), you get unlimited cameras with 30-day history, plus a load of useful extras for the Ring Alarm. That’s the best value cloud system overall.
With this camera, you get Advanced Pre-roll, too. Six seconds of video is constantly buffered to the camera’s internal storage. When a motion event or a doorbell ring is triggered, those six seconds are added to the clip, so you can see what happened just before an event.
As I always say in my Ring reviews, accessing stored video is a bit clunky. There’s a timeline view that lets you scroll through your history, and you can filter by event or type (motion, ring, live view or people). However, scrolling back through a day’s worth of video can be laborious, particularly since there are no thumbnails available.
The Event History tab doesn’t have thumbnails, either; it’s just a long list of events sorted by time. Ring really does need to provide a way of making it easier to find clips. When you do eventually get the video clip you’re after, you can save it to your phone to keep the footage past the 30-day history.
Privacy Zones let you block out part of the image, allowing you to protect a neighbour. How useful it is will depend on where your doorbell is located, since it can be fairly easy to block out part of the image you’d want to see.
It’s nice to see that the doorbell works with Samsung SmartThings, enabling you to trigger automations in that system when your doorbell is pressed or motion is detected. And, there’s IFTTT support, too.
Performance
- The Ring Video Doorbell Wired captures good enough video
Clean footage in the day - Lacks HDR
- Night-time footage is more basic
The Ring Video Doorbell Wired offers slightly more basic video than more recent cameras. Ring captures video at 1080p, with 150-degree (horizontal) wide view able to capture a fair amount.
Due to the 16:9 aspect ratio (the same as a TV), you get a cropped view of any visitors, particularly when they’re close up: you can see their torso but not their feet.
There’s no HDR on this model, which may make a difference depending on where your camera is located. If, like me, you have a south-facing door, the lack of HDR can mean that you lose some detail when the sun is shining directly at you.
During the day, the image is reliable. It’s a touch softer and there’s a degree of processing. Fast-moving objects, such as people walking towards the door, are slightly blurred, but people standing in front of the door talking to you look sharper. Since this is a video doorbell, it’s as you’d expect. And, even with fast-moving people, you can usually find a frame in the footage that lets you see someone clearly.
At night, you get basic IR night vision, with the camera switching to black and white. The picture gets noticeably softer, although you can still clearly see people standing in front of the camera. People moving around a bit faster are a little harder to see.
If you’ve got good lighting at your front door, such as through a Ring Floodlight Cam, then you can improve the night-time vision.
Conclusion
It might not have all of the features of the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 but this doorbell is a fraction of the price, even if you do have to factor in buying a power adapter or transformer.
Given what you do get, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired offers staggering value. If you’re largely out for a smart doorbell that lets you communicate with people wherever you are, then it’s a brilliant choice. And, it integrates brilliantly with Amazon Alexa, too.
For those after more security features and better quality video, the Pro 2 is the more fitting option. For those homes with Google Assistant smart speakers, the Nest Hello is a better choice.
Best Offers
Should you buy it?
Those whose budget is limited, but who want a quality wired smart doorbell, should consider the Ring Video Doorbell Wired. Decent image quality and a wide range of features, plus excellent Amazon Echo integration, make this a top budget choice.
For those homes with Google smart speakers, this really isn’t the product for you. If you want the best video quality and more control over alerts and notifications, there are other doorbells that will better suit your needs.
Verdict
Offering quite amazing value for money, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired delivers all of the features of the original Pro model but for a fraction of the price. You miss out on colour night vision, included with the more expensive models, and this doorbell doesn’t support wired internal chimes. Nevertheless, it’s hard to fault at the price.
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FAQs
If you have a chime already, this doorbell will not work with it. You can either buy a Ring Chime (or Chime Pro) or use Amazon Echo speakers for internal notifications.
Specifications
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.
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.
