How does it work? Do you install it at the door and download the app? Is that all there is? Do you need any other set up?
Ours was hard wired into the house, so I donāt know anything about installation. Set up was a pain at first!! We finally got it to recognize the wifi and it was easy from there. Just used the app for setting it up. If youāve set up an Alexa, this is very similar.
My only complaint is that our front yard is small, so my phone keeps going off every time someone walks by. Iāll have to mess around w/ the settings but thatās low on the list of priorities right now.
Dh and I were out shopping when my phone told me someone was at the door. It was the UPS guy so I turned the mic on and said āthank youā. Weāve been having alot of delivery issues since itās new construction so I was really grateful he got it to the right place. Unfortunately I scared the daylights out of the poor guy!!
We had a digital handyman install ours. Doorbell and front and back yard. And yes, it is pretty sensitive. A spider crawling in front of the camera will set it off. So will rabbits, cats, opossums and raccoons. So far we havenāt caught any prowlers.
But I have to say it is very nice to be able to look at your phone when you are away from home and ease your mind that everything is okay.
My dh and brother installed it at my momās house after my dad died. It is loads of fun to spy on her to make sure she isnāt doing something foolish. Unfortunately, when Iām spying, a light goes on so she knows Iām there. lol But I usually say hi, and we talk that way rather than on the phone. I still donāt feel compelled to get one for myself, but it does give me piece of mind that I can see the comings and goings there. Of course, with the lockdown, thereās not been a lot of action.
What did you need to install it? Power and the doorbell and something to connect to your internet?
Yes, home burglaries are way down in our area due to everyone being at home all day. But robberies are up. Everyone entering a store is now wearing a mask. Hard to ID the bad guys.
We love our Ring. Just got it at Christmas. It is powered through pre-existing power to the doorbell. DH and my father installed it in about 1/2 hour after watching YouTube videos. Fortunately we havenāt had any porch pirates. ?
Ring has its own community where neighbors in the area can post videos and comments. The troubling events seem to happen just off camera from the Rings. By that I mean it seems criminals recognize Ring and other video doorbells and will skip those houses in favor of less protected neighboring ones, out of range of the cameras. Our area isnāt very dangerous, but that told me something about their effectiveness as a deterrent.
How does it connect to the internet? Do you have to hard wire from the doorbell to the modem?
We bought Blink cameras from Amazon. Wireless with lithium batteries. We have lithium batteries in our weather station and they last over a year, so expecting similar results. Download the app, uses your wifi, good to go. Happy so farāhave had them 6 months. While home, app uses wifi. Away from home, uses data. Outdoor cameras have audio capability.
Unfortunately had a break in. Lost nothingāthink dog frightened them but had to deal with damaged door. Police recommended Blink due to ease of set up, no monthly fee, etc.
They connect wirelessly.
We connected the power, but I donāt recall it needing any connection to the modem. I think it is built in. Finally, I downloaded the app to my phone and had to spend about 10-15 minutes setting it up and tweaking it so our flag and the neighbors didnāt set it off.
We have the Ring peephole doorbell. Super easy to install and connect to your smart devices. Havenāt been able fine tune the alerts so that big vehicles in the morning (weāre east facing) donāt give a motion alert. Really no big deal as weāre on a quiet street.
Just one more ālisteningā device with the potential for massive abuse. Everyone with a smart phone, GPS, Siri, Alexa, Nest, etc. adding to the Big Brother/big data infrastructure. Of course, that horse left the barn so long ago, you might as wellā¦
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I think it depends on what tradeoff you are willing to live with. I have a low tech doorbell and hardly use apps, etc to protect my privacy. For my second home tho, a Ring would be a big help although it exposes me.
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We are happy with our Rings (front and back). There is a monthly or yearly fee, I believe. We also had to adjust the front motion sensor because our yard is small and it was picking up people on the sidewalk. Iām ok with the privacy price of having a view of my front and back porch be hackable, I suppose, and they are outdoors so I donāt think it could be hacked and pick up indoor conversations (although it seems from the ads we get, our phones are doing that anyway, sigh).
We are in an area where porch pirating happens and I do think the Ring is a deterrent.
I saw a cute video where the daughter is off at college but still looks at her home ring videos, so now her dad gives her a little greeting and daily update when he comes in from work.
Same here on the privacy concerns. Anyone walking down the street can see my front yard and we have nothing āprivateā in the back yard either. Last fall when we took a long trip, the Ring system gave me a lot of peace of mind. I could look at the camera through my phone and see that nothing was amiss at the house.
We got one as a gift a few years ago. Mr. was about to install it and was going through the setup until it prompted him to connect to a version of Nextdoor. There was no way to bypass that step (and my Mr. is not a spring chicken when it comes to gadgets). That was the end of it. Nextdoor? Hell no. Maybe the software improved since then, but we went a different route.
In the installation instruction, they didnāt mention that. I wouldnāt connect to Next-door, either. Rather controlling.
That was quite a while ago, so maybe the app has changed. But for us the ship has sailed. 
Which Ring do you recommend? Pro? Elite? It kooks like tgere are many choices and yet they all sound tge same to me.