Ring Video Doorbell ...I'm out

[@SimonChristensen]

As a parcel delivery guy, I've come across a couple of these. Yesterday a woman actually used it to talk to me through her phone. She told me she was on her way, and when she opened the door she was in a wheelchair with a leg in a cast. Perfect doorbell for a scenario like that.

[@MegaBeaker]

Thats an excellent example of the product working for someone. After this honest and comprehensive review, I feel like it won't suit my family all that well (although personally I think I'd love it)

[@Fireglo]

@Simon Christensen however I don't think many delivery guys will be as understanding as you. Some want to be over and done as quickly as possible.

[@wheneverihavehamproduction6359]

Here in Canada, if your parcel is under a certain value, and it does not require a signature, they just leave it at your door for you to be pleasantly surprised once you get home.

[@technopoptart]

dude, my postman at my old flat once sat at the end of the drive writing the 'not home' slip for me while i was actually walking towards him. prick then got indignant that i said i was there and wanted my package(he would have to get out and walk about twenty steps to my letterbox)

[@MajorMoron]

"elitist doorbells" Someone has a high horse.

[@NicholasCoulter]

Techmoan: Films the video in his garage in case the neighbours give him weird looks for talking to his front door Also Techmoan: Plays with a puppet outside his house😂😂

[@micheals1992]

It's a good way to keep thieves away from the house ;)

[@sadikmeah4057]

He obviously doesn't want us to know where he lives

[@rickjames6647]

The last thing I need is a reacurring doorbell subscription. Next up, coffee cup rentals.

[@TropicalChris]

+Rick James The subscription is only for the cloud storage. If anything, my home insurance went down $5 a month for getting it, and it costs $3 for the subscription. So it kinda pays for itself.

[@MrCorrectify]

Is there any reason why we can't just set the videos to save to a dropbox/drive/sky folder?

[@trackready8026]

Chris Gd No insurance company out there will give a discount without a Certificate from a professionally monitored security system. Quit spreading false information

[@OAleathaO]

+MrCorrectify --> Because then they wouldn't be able to force you into a subscription if you wanted to store your videos silly. LOL

[@trackready8026]

Would you except them to store it for free? It is costing the hardware and power costs. Sure they could offer it 'free' for a few years after purchase, but it would just get build into the cost

[@Smorfty]

The first unbiased review I've seen so far. All the others were sponsored and they gave no criticism whatsoever.

[@linushyper300]

Welcome to KZbin!

[@oz_jones]

@@linushyper300 Welcome to life in general. You don't usually bite the hand that feeds you.

[@SirNarax]

Sponsorships are not reviews you can't blame the youtubers for wanting to do sponsors after all the job is a grind and very unstable. If they do it right the sponsorship will be more of a "These guys gave me money they look alright and here is their product if you want it."

[@SomenathGarai]

MAT IS MR UNBIASED!

[@RobatRobot]

Couldn't agree more. A device designed to tell people you are not at home is perhaps the most backward thinking way to make your house more secure. I have also seen house phones for sale whose main selling point is that they are designed not to ring. What's the point? You might as well just not buy the phone. I know someone who lost his Internet connection for a few days, and it just highlighted the whole "Emperor's new clothes" issue with flashy devices designed to solve problems no one has. Firstly his door bell stopped working. It seems to need more than just a local area network connection, but WAN access to the company's servers. On top of that, all the Phillips Hue light bulbs he had fitted also stopped working. Turns out they too need access to more than just a LAN connection. They didn't even have a failsafe option to revert back to working off the wall switch. I really liked the point you made about having it ring in the street. There's really no need. You already know you've pushed the button. All you need is for the person inside to hear it. I think if I ever need to call on someone with one, I'll ignore it and knock.

[@gtoger]

I've just spent 16+ minutes watching a video about a doorbell. And I'm not upset. I may need to evaluate my life choices, or get out more.

[@TheAngryFinnishPerson]

and now you'll be wasting about 5 more seconds to check out the notification from receiving a comment to your comment 4 years ago. It's an interesting idea, these video doorbells and techmoan is master at making well produced videos from topics that not that many people may even think about.

[@stephaneveron408]

"...get out more" well under times of confinement or curfew this is something to read !

[@morlamweb]

I could say the same about a certain channel that features cars getting towed from a private lot...

[@PANTA-Music]

'by your commands , future boy. Hailing frequencies closed' You got me..

[@reddcube]

No custom ringtones? WHAT? For the price I expect custom ringtones.

[@lucarchive]

It may just be a file in the app, even. In that case, on Android at least, it may be possible to just change the file in the APK. I do wonder though, assuming that works, if the Chime would make the same noise or if the sounds are baked into it?

[@NBWDOUGHBOY]

You definitely can make custom ringtones on Andriods.

[@deniro800]

As a postman I find these doorbells great.I have become accustomed to the delay,which isn't really very long,and when the owner is instructing me where to leave the packet,there is also a delay when you respond so you have to be aware of not talking over one another.But a few seconds delay is worth it when you don't have to bring their packet back to the office and make out a non delivery docket to leave in their letterbox.

[@MrAtheHun]

Great video, thanks. "Hello, I can't come to the door at the moment, I'm back in 1986 buying some audio equipment from Tandy".

[@kareno8634]

lol Don't you know it! Perfect scenario - You too can experience once that step is taken over the threshold. {{Ding Dong}} 'Avon Lady calling'. =O

[@glassyxanderplaysminecraft8340]

Tandy? Tandy made computers to my knowledge.

[@gimble8638]

Glassyxander plays Minecraft, Tandy was the store name that radioshack used in the uk and mainland europe,its that they are referring to as opposed to the computer firm in this context, just so you know bud ;)

[@VintageTechFan]

​@@gimble8638 Weren't the "Tandy" computers just a store brand of Radio Shack, too? And they just called their whole stores like that in Europe instead of just one of their product lines? Maybe they did that since you can't trademark "common words" in Europe?

[@stratobuddy]

​@@glassyxanderplaysminecraft8340 My vinyl player is from Tandy under their brand name REALISTIC, a linear drive player

[@GadgetAddict]

Interesting. There's a LOT of controversy surrounding the Ring doorbells and their "questionable" marketing, especially here on KZbin. I loved the courier scenario, very funny.

[@UXXV]

+Gadget Addict like what? Im interested to know as they sponsor a few podcasts I listen to

[@GadgetAddict]

UXXV A lot of reviewers have said they were told they can only say GOOD things about the doorbell. So you've got a bunch of half assed reviews on KZbin and Amazon which mislead people into thinking its better than it is. And my understanding is that they give the doorbell plus money and the bigger your audience the more money you get. There's been a couple of big KZbinrs speak out about this. Most of the genuine reviews, like this one from Techmoan, point out major problems with the Ring doorbell.

[@LordDrachenblut]

I wish companies that made devices which did "cloud recordings" would allow me to have targets of my choosing, say a ftp server I run, to save the recordings to instead of blackmailing me into paying them to have that functionality

[@TheChipmunk2008]

+LordDrachenblut I sometimes wonder, depending on how these are set up, if you couldn't spoof the DNS to point it to your own server. But agreed, you shouldn't HAVE to

[@medworthy]

Not only would you need to spoof the DNS but would have to determine which protocol it is using (the device could be using a closed-source / proprietary infrastructure / protocol)

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

dgpx84 Indeed, some may be selling the hardware at a loss hoping to earn it back through subscriptions.

[@yfs9035]

@@TheChipmunk2008 Nope. SSL will not work and the device will not function.

[@klausstock8020]

It's all for convenience. Most people will won't understand anything about FTP, NAT, port forwarding, whatever. And don't even worry that a device on the outside of your home knows your Wifi password. Oh, yes, it's secured with two "security screws". There are lots of funny stories on the internet where the doorbell was used as the attack vector to gain full control of a "smart home".

[@airplanejack]

'why dont you have a door bell?' 'I do, its just *charging* at the moment'

[@rogerhudson9732]

Never ever tell an unknown visitor you are out, say you're in the bath or something. Think 'security'.

[@ricky302v8]

"I'm on the toilet having a dump"

[@oz_jones]

@@ricky302v8 "I'm having a wank, be right out..... aaand done. Coming. The second time."

[@lepidotos]

@@oz_jones me on the weekends also, i remember that movie, you have some good taste.

[@micheals1992]

8 years later and still whenever I hear a ring door bell I think of this video 🤣

[@fireinbloom1978]

Ring is a disaster. I returned it after 2 days. And based on your review, your experience was a lot better than mine. Still cannot believe this thing is on the market in places such as Best Buy. The entire security and surveillance industry is overpriced, yet under performs. I finally settled on the Nest Cam, which is not intended for outdoor use, yet I put it under an awning.

[@TRS-Tech]

Robert Michael Sadly pretty well every product sold on the DIY market is something that the security industry would never even look at. I have seen some of these DIY wifi cctv cameras and the realy sad thing is not that they are pants in general its that you can get professional standard equipment from a security supplier and 90% of the time its cheaper. I spent many years in the security industry and without a doubt the junk they sell in DIY stores is the kit we would not touch with a ten foot pole. It winds me up when I see things like this that exploit the public and rip them of.. :(

[@KevinHarper3DArtist]

I like your theory as for it going to sleep. That would also explain why we cant use the camera to just to take a look outside when no one rang the bell. I had a situation where a delivery guy came by the house for food my wife ordered while I was at work. So I picked up my phone and told him "ok hold on one second" so that I could call my wife and ask her to get the food from the door, she was not near her phone. Turns out, I could not reach her by phone either b/c she was in the back yard. But now I had already told the guy outside to wait and that is what he was going. I could see him on the security cams just standing outside the door playing with his phone for 15mins before my wife by coincidence goes to the front door to hank up christmas decorations. Watching him stand there really made me feel like such a dick because I told him to wait and I no longer had any way of communicating to him that he did not actually get through to anyone at the house. I could not trigger the intercom on the Ring doorbell because it only works when activated via the doorbell button and I could not reach my wife and I did not know where she ordered from. It was very frustrating. So I like the idea of the product but I can not recommend it at the moment.

[@SimeonTuitt]

Live viewing of the doorbell is now possible if your device is hard wired to the mains, It got introduced a few days ago.

[@KevinHarper3DArtist]

+Simeon Tuitt Ah thanks, Guess I missed the firmware update.

[@SimeonTuitt]

+KevinHarper3DArtist No worries. Is yours battery or mains powered?

[@JohnNNJ]

15 minutes? I hope you gave him a decent tip. Where I live some ring you when they are about to pull up in front of the house, then you go out to the vehicle.

[@badlarry172]

mine has a live view button

[@angrycatowner]

I would never accept a package from a muppet.

[@mikeypops73]

Angry Cat Owner I only accept packages from Muppets...hmmm

[@dusterdude238]

Jim Henson would be so Disappointed . .. HA HA

[@glassyxanderplaysminecraft8340]

Damn feltennials.

[@OAleathaO]

Pretty ironic considering Jim Henson's Creature Shop has been located in England since 1991.

[@ZGryphon]

I would _always_ accept a package from a Muppet.

[@MarkGarth]

'Hailing frequencies closed' had me in fits of laughter. It seems like a good product, but like you, the delay would drive me mad.

[@rigilchrist]

I'm glad that you have reviewed this product. I am a professional installer of, among other things, door intercoms. So like you I thought I'd give it a try. I did not want to use Wi-Fi and as this is a business, I opted for the "Ring Doorbell Elite" model (c£500) which has wired Ethernet link using PoE. I found the product design seriously lacking. The Elite is a much larger product requiring to be set into the wall using a back-box. A back-box is supplied, but this has many problems. It has been designed for use with a wall which has a thin skin, like the cladding widely used in the US. In the UK, most of our dwellings have brick walls - and removing enough brickwork to create a hole large enough to receive the back-box is a serious job. The backbox mounting holes are extremely close to the edge of this hole, rendering them useless - we had to fabricate our own fixing to the rear. The device is a close fit to the box, making it impossible to fit a regular, booted RJ45 cable. I have to make a cable up so that it could handle the tight radius when installed. And all that was only the start of the problems. PoE is a standard - and the unit does not work with that standard - it evidently requires its own. None of our Cisco PoE switches would work with it, but Ring do supply a "PoE" power injector, so we were forced to use that. Next, I discovered that it simply does not work on a wired network. I am a network administrator, so I know all about the various protocols (BOOTP, DHCP etc) which devices use to acquire an IP address - indeed, we configure such devices all the time. This Ring device would not acquire an IP address. I could trace its MAC address but it made no attempt to acquire an IP using any of the standard protocols. I contacted support. And waited. And waited. After WEEKS someone got back to me. But not from Ring, but from the "community". They were clueless, telling me to restart my router, etc. I explained I was using a Cisco network switch, which they'd never heard of (whatever one might think of Cisco, the internet basically runs on Cisco switches). Eventually, after over a month, someone from Ring did "reach out" to me, but by then I had enough. So the support for a professional product is non-existent. We were forced to use Wi-Fi - which I don't like to do for fixed devices - and is why I bought the Elite model. The final problem is one you have discovered - latency. You may be right about a "waking-up" delay, but that wasn't evident in this powered device. However, there is an unacceptable delay - and the reason for this is that the Ring servers are in Washington, USA. This is a preposterously bad product which I would have returned if it were not for a need to fill a hole in my brickwork. I do use it, but I would NEVER recommend one!

[@mbirth]

That external ringer being upside down (in UK wall sockets) would drive me crazy. "6u!J"

[@mattrogers1902]

These have come so far. I’ve had one for a few months and got me it’s great but if I had seen this before purchasing it would have made me think twice.

[@wtfiswiththosehandles]

This "special security screw" looks like a normal TORX screw... so... not very secure to be honest.

[@rubbereentjuh]

Well at least the motion sensor camera will stream the guy removing the camera. That's also why the company can promise to send a new unit: They can check if the thing is actually stolen. Also, it is a cloud device: You can steal it, but once stolen, it is likely to be remotely locked or marked stolen. The device can broadcast where it is anytime it is connected to a WIFI signal. It is pretty much useless once stolen. It can even tell the whereabouts of thiefs. It is like stealing a GPS tracker

[@miguelaraiza8070]

They will send u a new free unit if it gets stolen

[@jeffsims7386]

I don't know that most criminals carry around a full bit set with their lockpicks.

[@pizzaboxer]

they don't need to carry a full bit set around with them, they just need the one correct Torx size as the size is same on all of the Ring doorbells.

[@Novaximus]

Criminals have a special desecurity tool. It's called a crowbar. As if a pro theif couldn't just buy this product just for the screw driver. Or go to a hardware store and buy the head bit.

[@helloimash]

This was an enlightening video for me to watch because my neighbour has one of these. One time I rang it and stood on his doorstep for a really bloody long time feeling like a total pillock. I thought he was being rude or lazy, but this video has explained that it's just the massive lag of this thing!

[@SatanicJamnic]

:D This mupet scene was so funny. As always, thanks for making such a great video.

[@salty6pence672]

+SatanicJamnic Thank for the vid Future Boy.

[@FaisalAlmalki223]

We had one similar door bell with video at home back in 2003-2004, the output is shown in a small 5 inch monochrome CRT. The CRT was ancient "made locally back in 1995, stamp on the back of the bulb" but the camera-doorbell assembly was made in 2002, all analog beauty.

[@Pieh0]

"But can I use it as a dashcam?" :P

[@johncas1]

if you want a dashcam buy one

[@Pieh0]

John C Thanks for totally missing the humour ...

[@PianoVideosJustForU]

"Does it have a shock detector as well??"

[@technologyproductions-ye3px]

Yes if you modify it but by then you should have bought a dashcam

[@bx19tgd]

Pieh0 Do you live in the land of bad drivers also known as **cough** Russia?

[@AJComputerServicesUK]

Love the comment at: 14:48 "By your command future-boy, Hailing frequencies closed, Well that was a colossal waste of time, It's put me behind on my deliveries now!" 😂

[@vhm14u2c]

Not much delay for me, maybe 5 seconds. Also the app does have a option do view live vid when no one is at the door. Can also turn on intercom if some is there (played with a kitty nearby, did the confuse a cat bit from MP)

[@bzakie2]

I bought it recently and now you CAN activate the camera with 'Live View'. No need for the button to be pressed. Also with an extension ringer it rings immediately, no delay.

[@rth314]

I've had Ring for many years starting with their original model. The "Live View" feature has always been there. I'm surprised he made such a glaring mistake.

[@steve1978ger]

When I was a kid, our doorbell was an actual bell. Never failed, always connected, only one sound, ★★★★☆

[@rogerbarton497]

At one house we had a mechanical door bell, you had to twist a knob to make it ring. And then the Victorians had bell-pulls which rang a bell through a system of wires and pulleys.

[@benyamino]

You make some of the highest quality tech videos that I've ever stumbles across on the internet. Your physical appearance as well as voice overs are top notch, keep it up!

[@SamuliTuomola_stt]

hah "hailing frequencies closed!" that muppet's awesome, cheerio future-boy!

[@fuelvolts]

Great video! One thing to mention, that I've hooked mine up to my hardwired doorbell, so it still rings my 20 year old chime inside the house, as well as powers off the low voltage wiring (believe it is 18v), so no need to buy that chime unless you don't have an already installed chime. Sorry to flood your inbox if you've already received comments like that. Love your channel. EDIT: I should have waited to finish the video, you mention that it will ring your old bell. Sorry!

[@peter_smyth]

The device should have the ability to record the video to your own server, if you don't want to pay a subscription fee.

[@attilaplays]

I highly appreciate the production value going into these videos. You are doing a great job at script, scenes, and overall composition or story line. Always come back for more, and always looking forward to the next one. Love the muppets. Keep up the good work Good Sir!

[@oldvideopro]

Mine is wired in and notifications are pretty much immediate. The new app now does let you choose "Liveview" and see what's happening outside at any time. The movement notifications work well, too. Mine does also ring the normal door bell, too.

[@PepsiManX360]

I just got this doorbell today. As of today they’ve updated the app, and features. Now it has full live view and a lot of other features. I really needed this since my hearing problems and I can’t always hear the door bell. God, I’m 24 and I’ve missed so many because of not being able to hear.

[@raptorekpl]

I did something like this using a raspberry pi wired with ethernet and gpio. Fun little project. It has a camera, motion sensors and pressure sensors under doormat. It drops events to syslog, videos to owncloud and can be accessed from anywhere via VPN. RTC and NTP with a few lines in python tells it when not to ring a bell. Face recognition turned out to be quite tricky on r-pi but instead it catches 802.11 beacon frames from nearby devices and creates profiles based on that. It can more or less tell who is approaching by what his or her phone is looking for. :)

[@robocog]

Have you documented this anywhere online? - looking to do similar and have 2 PI 2's sat here..

[@Splitface2811]

I was thinking the whole video that a pi would be way better. Got any guide on how you did this?

[@integralcam]

I would probably put a small sign up next to it "If you are dropping off a package with no signature needed, just ring and drop it off" etc etc etc. but then your doorbell needs instructions. id rather have something that just records everyone that walks up to the door, without the remote communication. great review though, you make great points about why this is inconvenient in ways.

[@NonsensicalSpudz]

you have the buy the actual door bell ring function separately. that's interesting

[@flyonawall6521]

+NonsensicalSpudz Mine came together in the same box.

[@rubbereentjuh]

That's because you can hook the device up to your "current" ringer. If you already have a ringer, you only need the button unit. That way, the classic ringer is activated AND you get a phone notification

[@Crroow]

Watching this for the second time made me thinking. You say when battery is used it goes to sleep to save battery life, which make sense. But when the sensor for the camera is activated, shouldn't then go out of sleep, when someone approaches the unit. However, it may be that there are two separate systems. who knows.

[@dezmobluefire8217]

Can we just appreciate that his WIFI is named WOPR?

[@ianz9916]

The TECKNET Self-Powered Doorbell is quite a good wireless bell because the push doesn't use batteries. Pressing the bell push generates the power to send the wireless signal to the ringer and, as an added bonus, it comes with two plug in ringers.

[@LazyScoutJace]

I actually work at a hardware store that started displaying these for sale. I explain everything that was mentioned in your vid and even send them links to your vid. I have yet to make a single sale after they take a watch! Hahaha

[@PVflying]

Simply superb review video. You manage to continue to raise your game even after all these years. Hats off to you

[@LeonSteelpaw]

Interesting how sometihng that started as a good idea, is now being used for more nefarious purposes

[@Oceansteve]

i have been using mine for just over a year and found it very useful.. most of the Q/A issues you raise are not an issue now, so maybe they were in the process of fixing them from when your trial worked. but I appreciate there are occasions when it does delay starting and also that you do not see the benefit.

[@Neffers_UK]

Ding dong ding dong.... "Hi I'm not home at the moment..." - Thief with Mr Burns finger action, "Excellent"

[@ChadForquer]

I work security for a homeowners association in the US and my residents love this and it is a great security device.

[@dennisolof9994]

Ahhh, that green puppet is so cute and funny. Use him more in your videos. You should get him some friends and do some fun stuff with them :)

[@jamesgillre]

Haha my favourite techmoan video yet! loved the live comedy segment - "future boy, hailing frequencies closed!"

[@spudrubble]

Seems like one of those products with great potential but just needs a bit more tweaking

[@vistron888]

Hi, Glad you reviewed this as I'm looking for one of these. A few questions: - When you're away from the house - how is it contacting your mobile? Do you have to be in a wifi zone or have 3g/4g via your mobile phone provider? - Can you not wire the doorbell to a mains transformer inside your house to see if there is still a delay? - Didn't understand the lack of wifi signal bit since the video was taken in the garage and not outside the house?? How weak is it? The fact that you can be contacted away from your home is the most important feature, imo, for having one. Yet the manufacturers don't seem to place this on their marketing material/packaging. Who really gives a toss when you're at home to be able to view the person on your mobile?

[@salsolo2403]

£160 seems a bit steep jeez :O

[@vincentdeguard4726]

+dominic Saleh ...for that price could just leave a cheap Smartphone by the door!

[@salsolo2403]

Vincent de Guard hahaha

[@vincentdeguard4726]

***** Indeed...have something similar on my SatNav; put there in a slightly vain atempt to stop common folk being able to change the battery.

[@dvduadotcom]

+dominic Saleh Syd Barrett Opal avatar? Quite nice ;)

[@salsolo2403]

cheers man :)

[@kcgunesq]

Only because this is now three years old, I'll mention that the current (2018/2019) version seems to have fixed many of the issues mentioned. There isn't much delay at all, for example. Also, I'll mention that I never saw the primary benefit as being able to talk to people while away. Rather, creating a record of who approached the door and handled parcels is why most people I know want something like this.

[@HarryBunnGRVOTV]

i don't have a doorbell, i just get a load bang on the door, works for me and it's completely free!!!!!!!!

[@murrfeeling]

You are sort of bragging that you have a small house with flimsy walls.

[@chaos.corner]

Actually sleeps in a van down by the river

[@joshuarosen6242]

Either that or his visitors have a proper manly knock, unlike whoever it is who knocks on your door. I have a reasonable sized house with thick stone walls and perfectly decent hearing. The knock seems to work perfectly well here as well.

[@Zwiesel66]

13:25 Wonderful, you show very nicely how little sense those technical gimmicks often make, even if they seem to be practical in advertising at first sight - I love these funny dolls - thank you for your great reviews.

[@locouk]

Even the wireless doorbells are pants, the last one I tried was £30 and that often won't work. I've gone back to a wired bell, extended the cable and put a higher voltage battery pack on it to compensate for the voltage drop in the long wire. (I'm in an upstairs flat btw)

[@Wlhlm]

here in germany, ive never seen in a house or flat without a doorbell. ive also never seen a doorbell that isnt a 2 way intercom. its common here to first awnser on the doorbell to find out whats going on, and then we have this open door button next to it which opens the door. im surprised to hear not all the houses over there in the uk have this...

[@Saaj2]

They have those in apartment buildings and houses with external gates

[@Flofutz]

Hailing Frequency has closed....😅 The Mupped is a must

[@gverran]

Hi Techmoan. First of all, I'm a complete fan of your videos. Discovered you a few months ago, subscribed and watched most of your vids. I also value the traditional Hifi and all the components that go with it. My dream has alwasys been to have a proper stacked Hifi with all the components, but although I am not there, I have absoluate joy in watching yoru videos as I share the love for Hifi in the 70s and 80s and early 90s as you do - not to mention the facination of the different technologies of the day. Hope you keep on testing more unusual Hifi components as you continue to build your Hifi. :) Now to my comment of your review of the Ring doorbell. I am super glad you reviewed the Ring doorbell and you for one, do a thorough review and highlight the items that would bug me in a big way. Thank for saving me from considering the Ring doorbell as the annoyances that you had, would totally annoy me too.I do hope that you'll do reviews of more "smart" doorbells in future as I despirately need one of these for myself. We have an intercom doorbell at my gate, but if you're sitting outside at the pool or in the bedrooms, you cannot hear the intercom ring as the intercom unit is at my front door, so having a hybrid of an intercom / doorbell that rings my phone and an external chime unit is a must.I looked at the Skybell (www.skybell.com/) when it was launched, but as I live in South Africa, the price of these things with shipping is very high. Could you consider reviewing the Skybell?Well, keep the good work and keep those videos coming. Cheers~Glen

[@nictaylor00]

We got one for the office and returned it too. The delay as you mention is way too long. Sometimes you would never even get a notification. Additionally, all of us here in the office downloaded the App, so that all our phones would notify us since we all work odd hours. Unfortunately, if you forget to turn off the app, your phone may ring even when you were not working. Kinda annoying on your days off.

[@Wakeywhodat]

Was your unit hard wired for power or just the internal battery?

[@nictaylor00]

+Wakeywhodat we were using the internal battery. There was no hardwire option for the location we chose.

[@Wakeywhodat]

Ok, thank you.

[@NateBluehooves]

so far as i can tell the delay is your phone, not the bell. i have an android phone with optimization turned off for ring and i have a one second delay roughly.

[@twelvebears1971]

I think you are correct about the delay being down to it going into sleep mode to save the battery. We have just installed the permanently wired Pro version and don’t experience any noticeable delay. Also it picks up and movement and doesn’t seem to miss anything, so being ‘always on’ makes all the difference.

[@henrikaleksandernilsen6388]

What I think will improve this would be a Wifi circuit that's in low-powered mode but keeps its connection to the network to avoid the delay, and a small solar panel on the doorbell just to top off the battery. Another thing is.. This works well if you're the only person who lives in the house. But what if there lives more people there? Every time someone is at the door you'll need to answer, then go (or call) and tell your wife or whoever it is that there's someone at the door. That, or every family member has to have their own doorbell, like if just one isn't expensive enough.

[@TropicalChris]

+Henrik Nilsen It will notify anyone connected to the doorbell. So I have my phone, iPad, and my wife's phone connected. Everyone gets the notification, but anyone presently in the house will also hear the doorbell ringing. I just know not to answer it if I think my wife is home. Just the fact that they rang the doorbell means I have an image of the person just in case something were to happen.

[@jimanna1]

Henrik Nilsen

[@GlobeTrotterBen]

You may be intrigued to know that the newer Ring 2 also has the same problem relating to the Wi-Fi issue on battery. I work for a major UK Retailer and had a customer return one earlier for the same reason, they paid £179 for something which in my view is incomplete, still having teething issues.

[@kvfive]

Always 1st class quality videos Mr Techmoan, thank you :)

[@johnkolk]

Techno man*

[@DownassMusic]

I’ve had a ring doorbell pro now for a few months and it works great! Plus they have a new ring neighborhood service where people post videos of suspicious activity! Quite helpful!

[@IMRROcom]

"shall we play a game" - Global Thermonuclear War?

[@oz_jones]

"What an odd game. The only winning move is not to play."

[@Shermanbay]

Your experience reminds me a lot of mine with a Dropcam, which I tried to use for a front door watch, too. But the delay after motion sensing until record start made the device unusable for security purposes. And if I want to see what that noise was outside and I switch to the Dropcam view on my computer, it takes 30 seconds for it to connect, so that doesn't work for security, either. And the delay in the talkback function makes that one only a toy. Then there is the poor Wifi range of the cam, much less than other Wifi devices. In short, we have a lot of good ideas here, but the implementation falls short of practicality.

[@Mooncalf2012]

Is that a ghost, or a laser pointer, on the left @ 8:37

[@Techmoan]

+Mooncalf2012 it's LED light reflecting off a tiny insect....the same thing all those fraudulent ghost programmes rely on for their bull crap 'ghost' video 'orb' nonsense lies.

[@Mooncalf2012]

+Techmoan I've seen at least one 'orb' ghost with my own eyes, but never seen anything on camera, other than some Kodachrome slides I took that had blue lights I couldn't explain away to light leakage or developing errors. Glad I watched your video, it seems that everyone that makes these video doorbells caters to the iPhone/Smartphone crowd. I just want a simple doorbell switch that works with the existing doorbell and power, wi-fi video, as well as having motion detection. It sounds like they want to sell you extra wireless doorbell ringers for your home, when it's not even necessary. I'll probably end up buying an outdoor wi-fi camera, and just a run-of-the-mill doorbell switch with a nice blue light. Better yet, maybe a mini camera that can't be detected to catch someone in the act. Someone ought to just make a regular doorbell switch with an attractive LED light and a fake camera lens to deter would be thieves, cheaper, and probably just as effective.

[@Mooncalf2012]

+Mooncalf2012 It appears from your review that the major limitation is the software, because just about any wi-fi video camera, or even a router, can be set up to send you notifications via the web. There is always some sort of delay with this process, so barring an actual dedicated monitor to work with the video camera, there will probably never be a way to shorten the delay to your phones. If they were smart, they would program their software to also react to the motion control or button push via the LAN, (when you are within reach) instead of using a string to communicate through the internet to their servers. The internet string method adds the delay, but it is impossible for most people to connect directly to an IP and local port through their ISP because of the firewalls. Without firewalls, (or using the LAN connection when at home) there would be a delay of less than 30-40 milliseconds after the button is pressed. But of course, part of their strategy is not to sell you a functional device, but to get you to subscribe to their cloud service.

[@typhoontim125]

Hi Mat, brilliant video as always. I installed the Ring Doorbell today for a neighbour and was very impressed. The delay that you mention was very short, less than 2 seconds. Two possible reasons for the improvement versus your experience: It was wired to an existing bell power supply and I suspect the software has been much updated since you bought yours.

[@archlinuxrussian]

Simple idea: make this silent outside, make it wired and use Power over Ethernet, and allow LOCAL storage...there, basically a doorbell with a security camera...though why not just use a security camera with a normal doorbell? In all honesty, I'm mostly for "smart devices" presuming they respect my privacy and allow local storage and data :)

[@junkendriven]

Interesting review, thanks! I've had a few people ask me about these (I'm their go-to techie!) I was sceptical for several of the reasons you mention and glad my assumptions were correct. On the time delay, as you mention it looks like it's not the battery vs wired power, but my suspicion is it's the sleep mode and wireless function. The radio is the highest power consumption component along with the camera, so putting the wifi to sleep saves a lot of power. The problem with that is your wifi AP will then see it as a dis-association from the AP, releasing the IP back into the DHCP pool. So when somebody presses it, it has to: Power on the wifi antenna/chip, associate with the wifi, request an IP, ACK the IP, then connect using the internet out your broadband to their central servers, then send the signal from there out to your phone. That's quite a round-trip time for a doorbell sound/notification! Thanks again for the great video, and keep the muppets!

[@gtamasterplayer383]

I loved the thumbnail.

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

I'm so glad I subscribed to your channel. I love your content and your humor always put a smile on my face...even on the not so great days. Keep up the great work Mat! You have one of a kind youtube channel.

+Attila theHun Agree. :)

[@Techmoan]

+Attila theHun Hope today has been a good one for you - I know all too well how things can go.

[@chroniclesofbap6170]

To help alleviate the delay, maybe give it a static IP address?

[@chrisbaker8533]

IMHO that wouldn't work. It's not about the WiFi connection its about the power save mode. This is why TM was saying some people weren't experiencing the delay as they were probably hardwired as opposed to battery powered.

[@CantCampThereMate]

Static IP won't make a difference

[@chroniclesofbap6170]

@@CantCampThereMate Because you have a network diagram in front of you and schematics of the device

[@CantCampThereMate]

@@chroniclesofbap6170 WTF. It won't make a difference, simple as that

[@chroniclesofbap6170]

@@CantCampThereMate So you know that he doesn't have a switch that has a corrupt routing table? Impressive.

[@dwwolfe1]

I'm so glad you reviewed this device. I've enjoyed your videos for several months, especially the dash-cam reviews. I was considering getting one of these Ring doorbells, because I live in an apartment with poor acoustics. I've missed deliveries because I'll be in one of the bedrooms and not hear them knock. My solution: have them delivered where I work. But, it would be nice to know when maintenance comes in or if there is an undesirable person at the door. I agree with you. The delay is too long. I suspect you're probably correct in that the device has to "wake up" on battery power and that causes the delay. Ring should work on this issue and release a firmware update or offer a hardware upgrade. IMHO, even 15-20 seconds would be too long. Some delay might be due to various cell phone networks, too. Try calling your cell from a land-line and see if the delay is similar. Like you, I'll probably go buy a wireless doorbell. They're less than US$30 at the big box stores or on amazon. Oh, and keep the puppets in your videos. I think the most successful tech reviews have a bit of humor and fun in the videos.

[@bazahaza]

Thanks for the video Technoman ;-) Please KEEP the Muppet's!

[@breebw]

+Bazahaza Is it a plane? No, its Technoman!

[@shippy555]

It's Muppets, not Muppet's!

[@DIY-valvular]

Here in Buenos Aires, my house has a high tech interactive door bell. We call it "portero eléctrico", It is able to remotely open the front door from a simple push button, it has a single germanium transistor that amplifies the sound for the outside speaker and carbon microphones. It reliably works from 1970.

[@bigbadjohn10]

I think a camera would seem a better investment if you are worried about burglars.

[@Martin-wz2ie]

Im glad these doorbells are the norm now, not many people are surprised when someone answers one.

[@uriituw]

One reason for the delay could be that your iPhone is asleep and isn't connected to Wi-fi 100% of the time.

[@medworthy]

More then likely the delay is releated to re-establishing a IP address via DHCP (and then connecting to the cloud / service provider).

[@compzac]

In all likelihood its both, when I had mine I was having the same issue, up too and at one point past a minute (mostly cause I think at the time I was connected to a Starbucks wifi and was leaving so the signal was quite weak) but the fix I had was put the ring app into the doze exclusion list on my galaxy and it helped a bit but I still would notice that the ups guy would say damn took a long time for you to respond, I ended up giving the ring back, got a different unit with some features that ring omitted like the ability to turn the camera on whenever but I also wired the new unit up and the delay all but disappeared.

[@darrenbrannigan586]

This looks like the original ring doorbell, do you know if the lag us still there with the ring video doorbell 2?

[@slicedpage]

as the years go on your studio setup is getting bigger and better,good for you.

[@Cyber_Cowboy]

Anyone else randomly get this video suggested in 2022 Give it time, I'm sure this will make more sense

[@WaybackTECH]

Doorbell going to sleep was my first thought as well. Makes sense to me. Probably is having to reconnect to the Wifi and then get a new IP, and also having to find the phone again. Seems like a neat device though. I think the short fall though, besides the delay, is not connecting to your existing ringer in the house, and having to buy the plug in accessory, which still i think can have it's short comings as well.

[@JayDillon-mm6yv]

You could just let people knock on the door and if civilization has not yet broken down, they go away if you're not answering the door.

[@trulygg]

It took me the whole video to understand the title, nice one man.

[@WillFealey]

You can turn off the external ring but you have to email support and they do it remotely.

[@darrenpardoe]

That makes it a really good product then, or they could have just put it into the software. What a massive glaring oversight that someone may wish to turn the outside ringer off!!!!

[@LookInTheTunk]

I love them [the puppets], trying to figure out which videos they've been in so I can see them all. They are hilarious, you've got that comedic knack that just makes it work.

[@wgitelman]

if your ring doorbell is hard wired you can see it in live mode. the feature is disabled if running on batteries

[@Starter61]

All these years I was used to "Hailing frequencies open", and now finally someone said "Hailing frequencies closed" ! It was about time !

[@davidbosilj]

How to get infinite money: 1. Buy this bell 2. Call the company and tell them it's stolen 3. Sell both bells 4. Repeat

[@chaos.corner]

Since it's cloud based, potentially they deactivate the device reported as stolen.

[@badlarry172]

looking at most of these comments and going on the reliability of the one screwed to my house i think next time you saw your customers you'd have most of them thrown back at you

[@andrewstevenson2024]

Oxycontin Gucci really do one

[@livndays45]

They deactivate the old one, so this would fail.

[@jennysbloke]

Once again, the puppet sketches are inspired. You are something of a genius, my friend. "What a colossal waste of time ...." I laughed out loud and spilt my tea !

[@disanco]

with the current software it rings on your phone with no delay. and now they make a new unit called the ring pro. also they have added live view now too. you need to update your video

[@Techmoan]

I don't 'need' to do anything.

[@efraing726]

+Techmoan you tell em!

[@oskarwrobel1672]

Someone put obviously flawed product on the market. No one 'needs' to go around in circles fixing their own fault.

[@bennylofgren3208]

Bruce Wayne Not because some random stranger tells him to...

[@rars0n]

No delay? Yeah right. Especially when it comes to live view, which usually takes at least 10 seconds to connect, if it even does at all. The motion sensing is still completely broken. I have it set to the minimum 5 ft and it still goes off when a car drives by, even though the street is a good 25 ft away from the doorbell.

[@garyallsebrook3493]

Since my last post, I installed an Airport Extreme router near the ring and tripled my bandwidth. Its very close to real time now and I'm satisfied with its performance

[@NotATube]

Got to love how technology is sold as the solution to our every problem when devices like this seem determined to make life more- and not less- complicated. I mean, for ####'s sake, it's a DOORBELL!

[@freezerlunik]

It's a so-so doorbell, so-so motion activated security camera, so-so internet-capable intercom. Lots of features and potential uses outside the classical doorbell capabilities.

[@thingsdemystified]

I bought a Ring Video Doorbell Pro, and I love it! I liked it so much I bought their Floodlight version for the driveway. One of the things I love about them is being able to watch videos of my kids playing in the driveway or yard when I don't happen to have my video camera handy or if I'm unable to be outside at the time. It also alerts me whenever I get a package. Often times the delivery people don't even ring the doorbell. Oh, and there was one time where this scary looking guy was ringing out doorbell at night, and we didn't want to open the door. I ended up talking to him through the Ring because he wouldn't go away. Turns out it was a pizza delivery for the wrong address but I was glad I didn't have to open the door.

[@martijnkosters9024]

What a complicated solution for a problem that doesn't really exist.

[@rjc0234]

it obviously is a problem that exists. you know people do this little thing called go out and work, and the ability to communicate with people when you are away from the house is very very useful, however as demonstrated, it just takes so long to ring. complicated yes, but a problem that doesn't really exist? hell no.

[@joshuarosen6242]

The ability to communicate with people who have come round to my house when I'm not there doesn't seem even remotely useful. If they wanted to interact with me remotely, they could do that using a phone already. I can't think of a single occasion where this would ever have been useful to me.

[@rjc0234]

only if you know them, and i doubt you personally know the post man!

[@DeejvilleTV]

You are obviously not disabled then sir. Try shooting down the stairs in a stair lift and getting into a wheelchair sometime to grab a parcel. At least with this thing you get a chance to tell folk it'll take you a little longer to get to the door.

[@ThatDamnPandaKai]

I've had a pet sitter use the ring to get a hold of us during an emergency with one of our dogs; because we a poor cell signal she shouldn't call us, but we had LTE coverage and they were able to get a hold of us.