Ring Video Doorbell + Stick Up Camera Review

Updated: December 5, 2019. This is a sponsored post that may contain affiliate links.

Over the years of being a tech blogger I have tested many, many different home cameras. Some work better than others. Some I would not recommend to a friend because of limitations. Some are excellent. I have learned that a doorbell camera is a must in my life. I highly recommend the Ring Video Doorbell, as well as Ring Spotlight Cameras that are now available.

As anyone who blogs or works from home will tell you, we get a lot of packages. Over the past couple of years I have always kept a camera pointed at my porch. This is mainly to see when the Fedex or UPS guys are leaving me goodies.

Until a couple of days ago, when someone rang, to decide if I wanted to answer the door I had to quickly grab my phone, open up the app associated with my camera, and in some cases log in. By this time whomever is at the door may have been leaving. And this did not help me at all if I was not home. Yes, the camera has motion detection, but it was not quite instant. And if I wanted to talk to them I had to then run to my hall and use the home intercom system. It was not an all-in-one solution. And because of weather, orientation limitations, and fear of destroying one of my cameras I had no way of seeing if there was anything left on my porch.

Ring.com has brought together the best of 2 worlds. Not only do I now know instantly if someone is ringing my doorbell, even when I’m not home, I can answer the door and have a two-way chat right from my smartphone! This means that I can choose whether or not I’m going to say something, run to the door, or pretend I’m not home. LOL!

Here’s footage of my boys testing out the Ring Video Doorbell. You can even hear how clear my voice sounds talking to them through my smartphone!

 

 

 

 

The Ring doorbell can be used independently, or hardwired into your existing doorbell system. This is what I recommend. This way when someone rings, not only does your phone ring, but so does your home doorbell system. Or course, you may choose to use Ring elsewhere, for example on the back of your home where you do not currently have a doorbell, or even on an apartment where you cannot hardwire. If doing it this way, your ring doorbell will need to be charged. The internal battery can last 4-6 months on a single charge.

Installation was easy. After just a few steps I had replaced my existing doorbell with the Ring Video Doorbell.

Notable Features:

• Built-in motion sensors trigger instant mobile alerts
• Adjustable 180-degree field of view and up to 30 feet in range
• 720p HD wide-angle lens for clear video footage
• Free cloud storage for 30 days, after which it’s just $3 per month ($30 per year) for 6 months of video and audio recordings
• Choice of either hardwiring through your existing doorbell or powering by the rechargeable battery
• Option to interface with many popular home automation and security products
• Ability to share alerts with other users, so more than one phone will ring

Live View

Ring is currently rolling out the Live View function to all hard-wired units. This allows you to pull up live streaming video from your Ring camera at any time, not only when someone rings the bell. This is very helpful if you want to check the weather, see if there was a package left on your doorstep, or even keep on eye on your car in the driveway. This makes me happy.

Ring Stick Up Cam

The Stick Up Cam is an easy to install, wireless, outdoor security camera with two-way audio motion detection, cloud HD video recording and night vision. When used with Ring Video Doorbell, Stick Up Cam provides a full ring of security around your home. The Ring Stick Up Cam allows you to mount a motion sensing camera just about anywhere. I mounted my Stick Up Cam at the top of my porch pointed at my door. Now even if I don’t answer my Ring doorbell soon enough, I can view the footage triggered by the motion sensor and see if there is a package on my porch.

The motion sensor works great! It gets quickly triggered. Here’s footage of my friend, and landscape guy clearing the porch of leaves.

 

 

 

 

Ring Solar Panel

The Ring Stick Up Cam has the same long lasting battery as the Ring Doorbell. However, Ring has also come up with a way to make it so you never have to charge that either. The Ring Solar Panel plugs into your Ring Stick Up Cam and keeps it charged at all times via solar power. How cool is that? I’m sure that Ring probably has it in the works, but I would love to see the addition of Live View on the Stick Up Cam. Being able to pull up video at any time is very helpful.

The Ring Video Doorbell can be purchased on Amazon.com. Additional accessories and options available.

 

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Ring.com. All opinions are my own.