Like-New Ring Wired Doorbell Plus - Upgraded, with added security features and a sleek design (existing doorbell wiring required)

Cliff notes ************* It's great assuming your doorbell transformer meets Ring's voltage recommendations, your wifi signal strength is adequate, you properly configure motion detection settings/alerts and your internet connection speed is decent. Video quality is adequate but not great. It's good enough to see what is happening at your door. ************* We have a couple security cameras already but they are wired to an NVR recording box and the notifications are so slow or don't even send that I can't really rely on it for real-time notifications. For a while I've resisted the notion of paying for surveillance when I can just get a cam with built in SD storage and a nice app like the Wyze cams (which I have inside and love) but having motion and video alerts and footage that can't be stolen or storage get corrupted and a well made phone app is worth $3 a month. I also like that if I decide to add more Ring cameras I can add as many as I want with the 10 dollar plan. Take notes here Nest. As for the doorbell itself, install was straight forward. I did have to upgrade my transformer for this. I installed the Endurance pro 24v unit. It was only a few bucks more than the 14v devices which apparently are the bare minimum Ring recommend. I figured that the extra voltage gives me some headroom to add a smart thermostat if I decide to do that in the future and after discovering how much of a pain it was to access my doorbell transformer in the attic, I'm glad I only had to do this once. Make sure you locate yours before deciding on this model doorbell or the Ring 2 which would have been at least an hour or two shaved off the install time. Once I setup the motion detection zone, basically all false positive alerts are gone. I have the motion detection setting in the middle of the 5 settings. Lowering it doesn't detect the postman at the mailbox despite it being in the motion zone. Notification on my phone is instantaneous. I tested while walking up to the door and it had notified me and I had pulled up the app before I even got to the door both when connected to my home wifi and when on LTE. The remote chime installed without any issues as well. Speaking of home wifi, this seems to be a big sticking point for some owners. I used an android phone app to measure signal strength at my door and it was around -60db (the closer to 0, the stronger the signal). As a network engineer who has implemented numerous small business and commercial wifi installations, for reliable video streaming, I would say if your signal strength at the door is -65 or closer to zero, you're good. If it's higher than -65 like -70 or -75~80, I would strongly recommend investing in upgrading your home wifi with a decent mesh setup like google's wifi, Orbi or EERO mesh. This will allow you to have a wifi access point closer to your door offering a much stronger signal for the doorbell to connect to. Wifi range extenders are hit or miss. They're less expensive than upgrading to a mesh setup but those have to piggyback off your existing wireless instead of just being a part of it and is generally more trouble than it's worth for the average user to setup. The final piece of this working well is your internet speed both upload and download. If you are in a rural area with less than a 10 Mbps connection down and less than 2 Mbps upload, you will probably not have the best experience as this thing is both having to upload/stream video data to Ring's servers and your phone is having to stream/download it from their servers. Ring's video is not that high of bitrate (quality) but still needs to stream that data to their servers before you can even download/see it. If your ISP is metered, you need to be aware that the doorbell is constantly sending video footage. Mine has uploaded 600 megabytes of data in 4 days. At that rate, it will transfer about 4.5 gigs of data in a month. If your data is capped, be sure that you have the headroom to allow the doorbell to stream video footage. FYI it needs to stream this because if something is triggered, that portion of the stream is probably flagged as something you should see and it snips the motion detection part of the stream and sends it back to you. This is why you see your activity video and at first nothing happens and then you see whatever it is that triggered the motion alert. It was recording before it actually saw something move. The only real gripe I have is that sometimes when you open the app to view an event that just got recorded, the app will say that it's processing and not available to play yet.

It does a real good job. The picture is good. It is easy to install. You really need to have at least the basic Ring Protect Plan ($3/mo) in order to take advantage of the features of this device. With the recording I can check my porch for packages, I can see who brought the packages, and if it comes to that I can see who stole them. I like the feature that allows me to describe the area from which to accept motion. Without describing and tightening the area, it will alert me whenever a car or joggers or bicycles go by on the street. I did move my wifi router closer to the front door in order to have a strong signal for the Ring device, but moving the router to the middle of the house also helped the function of several other devices. Make sure you install it at about 4-foot high so you can see the faces of the visitors. I had to move mine up from the original location of the doorbell button. -------------- Update (5/6/20) Device failed possibly due to power fluctuations. I reported the failure to Amazon and it was replaced in about 3 days. Thanks —————— Now we have 4 of these and really like them. All are working well.

So my wife and I decided to upgrade our doorbell and our security using the Ring, which is arguably the top name in camera doorbells. We picked up a package with a refurbished/reclaimed Ring Pro 2 wired and a new Chime for added wifi extension and indoor chiming, and just to be on the safe side, a doorbell transformer to ensure we had enough amperage for a powered doorbell. The Ring app makes everything look like the installation will be a breeze and that even if you only have two available brain cells to rub together, you can install this and it will be up and running in no time, no issue. And to be fair, hardware-wise, it's not altogether difficult. Connecting the wires (ours are like 22 gauge, really tiny and difficult to strip, but good enough that the doorbell was receiving good power) was not difficult, and we required no drilling. And then we worked with connection. The wifi signal wouldn't connect. The Chime Pro would create its own wifi connection and wouldn't recognize the Ring Pro. The baseline wifi (Xfinity extended through an Eero system) to our house would recognize the Ring Pro, but the Ring Pro wouldn't connect to it. We followed all the troubleshooting the Ring App would walk us through, which basically boiled down to killing the power on the wifi and/or the circuit, and running the Ring Pro/Chime Pro through their setup again. We did this, in varying steps, eight different times. Finally, after more profanities than I could count, the Ring Pro connected, security camera showed in realtime, everything was sis-boom-bah and working, and I even connected us to the Ring paywall for a yearly fee to ensure we had recording capability. That worked for a total of six hours. By the next day, the Ring was offline again, and I blew an entire weekend turning off power, trying to figure if there was an intermittent connection, if it was our Wifi/Chime Pro connection, our Wifi/Ring connection, our Chime/Ring connection, or some quirk of hardware, turning on the power, going through setup AGAIN, and getting squat. Finally I called the Ring Customer Service number, which involved a service tech walking me through the same procedure again, turning off power, going into setup mode, verifying that it was receiving power (it was, at a good clip), finding the wifi, all of that. And nothing. So the Ring Tech sent out a replacement Ring Pro 2. We installed the replacement Ring Pro 2, and voila, it connected right up, and everything was fine. This time for 4 hours. And then it went offline, and no amount of turning off, turning on, going into setup mode all OVER again, or anything, caused it to come back on. Frustrated, we spent six days without a doorbell at all. My wife eventually decided to take a crack at it and managed to get it back online, and then the Ring would intermittently go back offline, but still record events, which according to the net is a recurring issue with these doorbells. And finally, after two days, it had enough and didn't even record those. So after screwing around with it for another four hours on an extended weekend, we've had enough. We're returning it and the replacement, at the hope of maybe getting back our ridiculous investment of time and money, and will potentially look at another camera or something that doesn't have the shoddy connectivity of the Ring and Chime, and I will actively tell others not to bother with it, as well.

I've been slowly adding smarthome devices, and adding a video doorbell has been on my list for a while. With a family of 5 that sees frequent visitors, this was a must for us. Installation was easy and so far the experience has been worth it! For $100 during the holidays, this is a steal! Refurbished products are sometimes just returned, open-box items that go through testing. They may even get a new outer shell replacement and look like new again. The package I received was sealed and I couldn't tell a difference! Worked as expected, but here are some thoughts about the product itself... Before installation, you need to verify you have a transformer that's outputting a strong enough voltage. For the Ring Pro, the company recommends at least 16v, and you can use any cheap multimeter/voltmeter to measure (if you can't find the voltage labeled on your transformer). For me, I simply had to lift the cover off of my wall-mounted door chime to see the transformer. I measured it there, but another easy way to measure is at the doorbell itself. Remove the screws and tilt so you can access the back side. You'll have two wires going into leads. Doesn't matter which one you select as positive and negative when measuring. Fortunately, mine was outputting 19v. Once verified, the rest of the process is pretty straight forward. A nice step-by-step guide comes packaged with the device, but Amazon also has an online tutorial. There are also countless YouTube videos if you need visual guidance. For me, the most frustrating part was connecting to Wi-Fi. It will work with a 5GHz signal, but your 5GHz Wi-Fi network must allow 802.11n (Wireless N) connectivity. I only have that available on my 2.4GHz band, so at first I couldn't get it to connect until I figured that out. Generally, 2.4 GHz is better for penetrating walls and other obstacles, but 2.4 GHz tends to also be saturated with more congestion from other smarthome devices that typically rely on that band (and you may have interference from neighbors that live really close to you). Your mileage may vary. There is a signal strength reading referred to as RSSI, and you can see this in the Ring app after you get everything working. On the 2.4 GHz band, I'm usually getting -55 for the reading, and Ring recommends a minimum of -60 (higher is better, so -55 is better than -60). Optimally, you want this number in the -40s or better. Living on the edge of acceptable has led to an occasional choppy video or two out of every 10 videos, so it's not hateful. If you want to keep recorded videos so you can play them back later, you'll need to pay for a subscription plan to store them in the cloud. One Ring can use a "Basic" subscription for $40/year, but you'll need to upgrade to "Plus" for $100/year if you add more. My biggest gripe here is that Amazon should find a way to merge both Ring and Blink (both owned by Amazon) into one subscription plan. Currently both brands require separate subscriptions. Don't do what I did and buy Blink cameras to go with your Ring doorbell! As for other features, I love the fact that the Pro version gives you the option to customize your motion zone, and even add multiple zones with different sensitivities. Very helpful in reducing the number of alerts you receive. Ring also records audio and video at both ends, meaning I can hear what I'm saying as well as the visitor when I play back an "answered ring". Not every competitor does this, though more and more products on the market are beginning to add this feature. I also like the 1080p resolution, and the night vision is decent. An added bonus in the box is that you also get faceplates in multiple colors, allowing you to better match your door trim, if you so choose. ----------------------- Conclusion: This is a must have! After a lot of research (in late 2020), reading/watching comparisons online, it seems the Ring Pro is still leading the pack, even if only by a hair. In a future version of the Ring Pro, I would like to see an option to schedule live recording. Say I want to record uninterrupted between 11pm - 5am, I should be able to. It would also be nice if Ring offered more mounting accessories, like an extension bracket that would allow my Ring to get past the brick that's partially blocking my view (as shown in my pic). Nothing being offered by 3rd-party suppliers solves that little issue. In the end, don't hesitate to choose Ring over the competition, and refurbished is a good way to save some money! ---Update: 12/6/2023--- I have since upgraded the Wi-Fi in the home, actually in late 2022, and choppy video is completely a thing of the past. I can't remember the last time I had an issue with a recording! If you still have an old Wi-Fi router, it may be time to try to get it replaced from your ISP. They will usually do it for free, or consider changing ISPs.

***UPDATE*** I reached out to ring support over the phone to give them another chance and they agreed that my refurb unit was not working as expected. They sent me a new one and so far the new one is giving me a lot better experience. I am giving four stars because the product is truly great, but I would recommend to not go the refurbished route. There are three different generations of the ring doorbell pro and from my experience these refurbished ones are not the latest generation, which for the minimal price difference is not worth it to be behind a whole generation difference. Another recommendation is if you do have any issues you run into to call directly to ring support and not go through the chat support, as the phone support is probably the best support experience I have ever been through. Lastly, if you are using the device to talk in real time back and forth to many individuals I recommend to try the rapid ring app instead of the regular ring app, it works a lot better for that and it is crazy fast. Cheers to ring making a new customer happy and looking to purchase many more new devices through them as well. I waited a long time to finally start to move to the ring ecosystem and I am sadly disappointed. I took the leap and bought this doorbell in hopes of moving to all ring devices if this device worked well. This was not the case at all. One of the main reasons that I moved to ring is being able to talk between the people at the doorbell. That function does not work at all, I talk to the person and they speak back and the audio is so choppy that neither of us can understand what the other is saying. I have terrible glitches with the device when I hit the mute button after talking it gives me a black screen for a few seconds and disconnects the live video right after. The audio is so terrible the sound is always delayed in recordings and does not line up and do not match in any of the videos. I contacted Ring support and they did nothing to resolve but tell me my wifi speed (which based on the tests in the ring app were not an issue) and the distance from my router is a problem which doesn't make any sense because my ring doorbell pro is showing good network health in the ring app. I plan on returning the device but now I will be left with holes on my outside that I will have to professionally pay to have fixed. Buyer beware please don't make the same mistakes I made.

Update 2: the new one ring sent was received in a few days and took all of 3 minutes to have up and working.. it’s been working flawlessly definitely a huge improvement from the doorbell 2…. No more problems in the cold… UPDATE: After posting this review, RING immediately reached out to resolve the issue. Since I had already tried all troubleshooting steps, including resetting the device, checking the WiFi, and confirming that everything was set up correctly and met system requirements with the transformer, she offered to send me a replacement. Although it may take some time to arrive due to the holiday weekend and an expected snowstorm on Tuesday, I truly appreciate RING’s prompt response. Their professionalism, understanding, and kindness did not go unnoticed. I’ll provide another update once I install the replacement! I knew I shouldn’t have brought refurbished supposed to be tested and work right? ……Wrong! I brought the doorbell pro to replace my doorbell 2 that hasn’t worked because of the cold for months! I was really sick of replacing the battery over and over and it not making a difference even though it’s hardwired, however I have had it for years. So I figured even though it’s expensive time to upgrade the doorbell no battery, says it works in cold blah blah blah….. then I say “certified” refurbished and thought great! I can save some money!! I would have rather spent the money and saved myself the aggravation… it comes looking brand new everything packed just like a new one would… I’m super familiar to setting up ring products my whole house is ring… I installed everything the chime, then removed the old doorbell and installed the new one… well damn thing will not connect to my network… doesn’t matter what I do or don’t do! Called ring after doing all the the troubleshooting that they would tell me to do (hard reset etc) on the phone for an hour maybe more followed all the techs instructions and nothing….he requested pictures of the wiring, chime setup and the doorbell transformer, even though I assured him multiple times I knew what I was doing I felt like I was being gender classified as if I didn’t do it right because I’m a woman…. Well, let me tell you I can do almost all “home improvement” and “home repair” all by my little self and better than any man (or most) so anyway after he was literally sent pics that all was don’t CORRECTLY! He wanted me to go outside and disconnect the doorbell meaning uninstall it, at the time it was about 25° out with a colder windchill! So I’m like “seriously can you tell me what that’s going to do because if it wasn’t wired correctly it wouldn’t have power” (and it did) he said something about resetting it a different way… this made zero sense to me but I disconnected the entire doorbell anyway removed the wires from the terminals and held in the button for as long as he told me (he said he would instruct me when to let go of the button, meanwhile I’m questioning how he even knows I’m holding the damn button in the first place, he told me he could see it on his end…. Yeah That’s BS because the damn thing had no power and despite the internal battery if it not going to enter any type of “mode” then it’s not transmitting a signal… so after this what a surprise… nothing happened , and because I have horrible service with my cell phone at my house I dropped the call! There was zero point of me calling back and have to go through all the same BS steps with a completely different “technician” so my last thought was that maybe it was to cold I decided to give it 2 days until the weather was above freezing (in the 40s) still same BS… not even going to try customer service and waste time with someone else who thinks I’m not capable or do not know what I’m talking about because I’m a woman….. now I get to disconnect it all and send it back! I’ll be ordering an non refurbished one and hoping there are zero issues.. (I’ve never had this much trouble with any ring divide and I’ve installed all the components myself, moved took it all with me, then installed them again…… uggg so long story summed up….. spend the extra money and don’t buy refurbished! It’s called refurbished for a reason… there’s a problem with it, likely an internal error that they may or may not have fixed… in my case they did not….

I have been really happy with my Ring Doorbell. I’ve had it for about five months now and have found the app that accompanies it very helpful because it offers lots of customization, filters, playback options, and the ability to set notifications for motion and alerts to specific times of day. The main reason for purchasing Ring was for the fact that I am wheelchair bound and live alone which gave cause of missing couriers or a visitors for not having the ability to get to the door in time for answering. There are a myriad of reasons one might want or need a doorbell like this, but let me tell you what I like best. 1) The motion detection is quite helpful. I live at the beginning of a subdivision and the door faces the street. Therefore, having motion detection only would be quite aggravating merely for the vehicle traffic in and out. However, the Ring system is setup to have motion detection to filter only for humans. That the system doesn’t ping my phone for an animal, a bird, or a stray plastic bag blowing down the road is fantastic! 2) The range in which the camera can see humans is quite amazing because it doesn’t operate in a cone-shape from my door. It is basically a panoramic field of vision. From the front porch to the far side of my home that even to the human eye could be difficult seeing, this camera picks up movement of a human. Looking back on a missed motion that set to archive, I went back to see what triggered it. I started again and focused on the area that is not so easy to see. Due to a shrub in the way and the edge of my porch hindering view, I zoomed in, to find my neighbor spotted by the Ring camera though he only was in the frame for about one second as he was mowing his side yard. This was the only time he came into view and no other movement was passing in front of my home on foot, in the yard across the street, nor in my driveway—the same area past which the neighbor’s yard is located. I was amazed! This was not a one off because it captured it the same time the next week in that very limited corner of the camera viewing range. 2) The WiFi signal has never given me an issue. I recently had my internet provider install some equipment to make my signal across the home to be stronger. Ring never gave me an issue before or since the change was made for WiFi strength. It doesn’t skip or buffer while it is in video. (I have a harder time for my phone to access WiFi than my doorbell!) The phone access to the app had to be attached via WiFi like any other smart device, like a printer, AI device, or plug. The sync was quick and simple. 3) Installation was a snap. The instructions to make the install were concise and even came with photos. There were physical instructions included in the box, as well as, instructions you can view on Amazon. Those of you who might think you need assistance with this, or to hire it out: All you need is a screwdriver and some batteries. Check out the guide on the this product listing. I have the same doorbell chime from the old doorbell now hardwired into the Ring Doorbell. 4) There is fairly decent optics for the night vision. This doorbell can be monitored for security, and the night vision option makes for a good one. It can be in black and white and in color. I have only had motion detected once or twice at night, but it was for friends visiting. Due to the floodlights being on as they drove up the driveway, Ring captured motion as the person bent down to get something in the passenger floorboard! There are many things that are interesting about this device and the accompanying app/site which help me greatly in my daily life. When I have groceries or meals delivered, I can thank the delivery person through the doorbell speaker, or give them specifics on where I would like them to place my delivery so I can reach it when I bring it inside! I have spoken to postal carriers and given asked them to please wait if a signature is needed because it will take me just a moment longer to reach the door (or when to come back if I’m not home). This has also come in handy for when I have needed emergency services which are aware of my condition and can assist me with a fall. This way I can give them access to my home, through the doorbell speaker, and not have to give the dispatcher information for the responder to make door entry without force. While the latter has only been needed one time, the others have been very frequent. I highly recommend this device and hope to add Chimes to it at some point in the future. This is a separate device that goes in the house to give different and customizable chimes for Ring among other things. This isn’t a demanding need like with Ring has become, but it would be a nice addition. Five stars!

Great product, wiring a little tricky, hired an electrician so no possibility of wrong installation to prevent fire. Read instructions.