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Honorable Mentions
Photo: Simon Hill
We’ve tested several other video doorbells. These are the ones who gradually missed the heavenly place.
Doro Home Doorbell for £150: A simple smart doorbell for adults is a solid idea, and Swedish manufacturer Doro achieves more with Hemma. It’s a battery-powered doorbell that’s easy to install and use, offers a 1,440 x 1,440-pixel resolution with a good frame rate (30 fps), local recording via microSD card, and a ringer plug that sounds loud enough to hear. throughout the house. It worked reliably in testing, and the software is purposely updated, and is a useful way to hand off calls to a trusted friend or family member (who will also need the software). The two-way audio works well, there’s a useful display function when you’re on the move, and there’s a siren to scare people. It’s simple, so there’s no secret place or package notifications, and it can be a little tricky for front doors that are busy, although you can set it to alert with bell rings. Battery life is good, although the battery is not removable, so you have to remove the doorbell to turn it on or use the portable charger. Sadly, it’s only available in the UK and Europe.
SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro for $170: If you’re looking for standard security, SimpliSafe is definitely on your radar, and for people with a SimpliSafe setup, the Video Doorbell Pro is a good fit. Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano found it difficult at first, but, after being updated, she says it worked very well, sending notifications quickly and providing a clear view of her balcony. Resolution is limited to 1080p, but the camera supports HDR to suppress glare and has a 162-degree field of view. It must be wired, and you need to register from $ 5 per month to record videos, but SimpliSafe also offers the option of professional monitoring (from $ 32 per month), which is rare for doorbells and can be reasonable if you have a complete security system with them.
Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro for $230: The high-quality battery doorbell from the Amazon Ring brand almost received all the attention. It offers high-quality, vivid videos with HDR support and night vision. Notifications were fast and accurate, and the two-way audio was top notch. I appreciated the opportunity to set up several sections of the walk, including a bird’s eye view that allows you to interpret the colors. The preroll mode takes a few seconds before each image (even at low resolutions), which can be useful. Because there’s no local recording option, you’ll need to sign up for Ring Protect for $5/month ($50/year) for one camera, which also gives you 180 days of video storage, more notifications, and person and package detection. But all these bells and whistles come at a price, and battery life was disappointing (three weeks). You can mitigate this by buying a second battery to replace, since it’s removable, or opting for a Wired Doorbell Pro instead (although we haven’t tried it yet).
TP-Link Tapo (D230S1) Smart Battery Video Doorbell for $120: For people looking for local storage that doesn’t require registration, the Tapo doorbell is worth checking out. Notifications come through quickly and include a stable image, video quality is excellent, even at night, and the internal compartment takes a microSD card and doubles as a chime. On the other hand, it’s chunky, and the on-board AI (which has to recognize people, pets, cars, and packages) is clunky.
Hard to Encourage
Photo: Simon Hill
We didn’t like every doorbell we tried. This is what we do not recommend.
Reolink Video Doorbell (Battery) for $146: We loved the Reolink doorbell, mentioned above, so I was excited to try its first battery model, but it was disappointing. It offers 2K images with a 1:1 aspect ratio that gives you a full view of the balcony, but it does not have HDR and has a low resolution (15 fps). I like the option of not having to register for free, but it means putting the MicroSD card in the door itself, and this is an easy bell to remove. Reolink claims up to five months of battery life, but mine died in less than two months, and the internal rechargeable battery can’t be removed, so you have to take out the doorbell to recharge it. The content of the app is a bit confusing, the download time is slow, and the connection problems, and this is impossible to recommend.
Ezviz EP3x Pro for £133: This is a much better looking doorbell than the previous Ezviz, and it’s nice to see solar panels as an option for doorbells, though you’ll need a balcony that can turn on the light. The video is great, and you get a split view (like Eufy above) that includes packs or cats waiting at your door. Distortion control works well, and there’s optional night vision with constant brightness, although it only works at close range. I appreciate 2FA, with fingerprint, and 32 GB of storage (cloud storage is extra). Unfortunately, if you use a solar panel, you won’t be able to connect it to your wired chime. The lack of HDR was disappointing, people’s awareness was poor (mostly just looking at my cat), and I had problems with notifications failing to come through on other Android phones (even after I followed Ezviz’s instructions, they never worked reliably on my Xiaomi. 14 Ultra) . This version is not yet available in the US.
Botslab Video Doorbell 2 Pro for $170: The faulty installation process required several restarts, and the physical installation was not good, as the screws provided were so cheap that one head actually broke off. The camera has a fisheye view, but you can adjust it with different views. I loved the VR feature, which offers a 180-degree view of your front porch. It comes with plug-in chime support, alerts look reliable, there is an HDR option, and you can record locally (up to 32 GB) or in the cloud. You can also set the detection mode, which can be useful for street cameras. But the app is confusing, with an AI tab that lists the various skills that can be purchased. There is a login history and a limit of two devices logged in at the same time, but there is no 2FA, which makes this impossible to accept. It is flexible and expensive.
Wyze Video Doorbell Pro for $100: Wyze Video Doorbell Pro (7/10, WRED Review) was our budget proposal, but with a caveat. It warned reliably, provided clear video, and had the right AI to detect people, but you need a Cam Plus subscription (starting at $3/month). This camera was not one of those affected by the a security flaw that Wyze failed to fix or reporting to customers for three years, but after repeated security breaches from Wyze, recently showing thousands of camera feeds to other customersIt’s hard to recommend its cameras anymore.
Swann SwannBuddy Video Doorbell for $150: This doorbell comes with a battery-free wireless chime and a local storage option, but the good ends there. The video is crappy, the app is slow to load and glitchy, and the doorbell fails to register motion. I found the battery life disappointing. I also have to question the idea of providing local storage via a MicroSD card mounted on the doorbell (something that would be more logical and secure).
Ezviz DB2 Video Doorbell for $180: An inexpensive home theater that comes with a plug-in chime, the Ezviz DB2 works well, but it’s chunky and awful. The videos are detailed, but I had problems with bright spots when the sun was shining. The app is robust and quick to open, a door press activates your phone call, and you can record locally by inserting a MicroSD card into the chime. Unfortunately, it only offers a very limited way to define traffic parameters – a big problem if you live on a busy road. I also found the battery life to be below average, and it is difficult to remove.
