Ultimate Video Doorbell Comparison: Finding the Best

[Music] hey what's up this is reid for the last two weeks i've been working hard on this video it's been a beast but a lot of fun i installed and rigorously tested six different doorbells to simulate real world usage at the end the results made it very clear which ones are the best and the worst i'll show what it's like to use each doorbell and i'll be moving pretty quickly but if you want more details then check out the article for all of my notes also make sure to subscribe because i'll be giving automation ideas and updates on doorbells in this video alright let's get started with the least expensive doorbell on this list the first doorbell is from amcrest and it only costs a hundred dollars it has a 1080p camera and does a decent job with the basics for example the notifications will show up quickly but you may receive multiple alerts within 30 seconds the doorbell press loads quickly and there is very little latency on the live view even when testing with the wi-fi off when i dropped off a package it picked up all the footage and even a few seconds before so you don't miss anything my name is montoya you've killed my father prepare to die you can insert a micro sd card and it's the only video doorbell out of the bunch that currently support rtsp which means you have a lot more storage and viewing options there's no monthly fees unless you want cloud storage it's a big reason why people like this doorbell however it has its fair share of imperfections person detection isn't available so you might be getting more notifications than you would like you can create a custom zone but it's not easy to use with the zone detection enabled it did avoid false notifications from the street so that's good i was able to add it to alexa but it only shows up as a basic camera it can't trigger routines or announce on an echo device from a doorbell press just be warned also the app the installation process and the overall quality is definitely lower than the others but hey it's half the price i would say that if you're on a tight budget and prioritize free storage over smart home integration it will get the job done next is the arlo video doorbell which didn't get the job done i really wanted to like this one but i ran into some major issues the arlo doorbell is unique because it has a one-to-one video aspect ratio you can see much more at the top and bottom which is great for faces up close and packages on the ground this aspect ratio makes a really big difference look at it compared to the 1080p amcrest but there's a catch when trying to view the live video feed on the echo show or nest hub display it won't work if the video resolution is 1536 by 1536 i wish it auto-scaled down like the ufe does you can also get person notifications zone detection and alerts with an image preview these all worked well the issue is that you have to pay a monthly fee for all these features you also don't get any cloud storage for free like you get with the older arlo cameras which is a big letdown you can connect the arlo doorbell with a base station and use the local storage on that however you have to jump through hoops to view that footage remotely it feels like arlo is making an inexpensive doorbell camera so they can get you with the fees my name is aningo montoya you killed my father prepare to die even if you can look past the fees the doorbell just doesn't work well for me the video feed doesn't load correctly when the doorbell's pressed i troubleshooted quite a bit but nothing worked what's weird is that it loads fine when i just load the live feed but there is a six second delay in what's happening this is just unacceptable the audio is nearly instantaneous but you could be trying to talk to someone at the door and they could have already left the motion notifications took about five seconds to show up which is a little slow i honestly don't know how the arlo doorbell got such good reviews even if you don't run into the same major issues that i and others have had as well i personally would pay a little bit more for a better doorbell without fees skybell has been around for a while and it stands out because of its seven days of free cloud storage there's also a few other unique things about this doorbell it has really bright rgb leds that you can change standing far back at night i guess i could see it being a slight deterrent also i don't think it has any infrared leds for night vision instead the top led changes to a bright white at night it's kind of strange but seems to work well i guess the biggest disappointment with skybell was the notifications i couldn't get any motion notifications at night unless i really tried for a few minutes during the day the notifications happened way too often i tried turning down the sensitivity but any wind on the tree would set it off there aren't zones or person detection so it makes sense why motion detection is turned off by default when setting it up the app and install process are very dated it's the only doorbell that i tested where the wires go on the base plate strange my name to die is a doorbell press wasn't bad but the notifications are a deal breaker for me it's too bad because seven days of free cloud storage sounds really good however i would definitely pass on skybell the yuffie doorbell is one of my favorites you get a lot of premium features with no monthly fees for example you get both person detection and motion detection zone to reduce false notifications these are paid upgrades on arlo and nest hello you can only make one zone with yuffie which works but is annoying i got alerted when i should and it didn't notify me about my fake bird you can also get image previews in the phone notifications and again this is for no monthly fees the video resolution is 2k and it does make a difference you can still see the details of my face when i'm standing pretty far back look at it compared to some of the other doorbells none of these video doorbells have bad resolution but ufe doesn't rely on your isp's upload speed for quality footage the reason why is that it uses 16 gigabytes of local storage on the base station you can access this local footage remotely so take that arlo my name to is motion notifications can take a while to show up if they need to create a thumbnail but you can change that to be faster in the settings which is pretty cool you have that option however the doorbell press notification is fast and there's very low latency on the live view while on wi-fi while using data there was a slight delay it's also the only one that can temporarily disable both motion notifications and chime i have a napping baby so i appreciate that the wdr or y dynamic range helps to be able to see faces better in the shadows it's good but it's no hdr alexa routines can't be triggered from motion right now it can be triggered from a doorbell press though and you can also use your voice to show the live view on the echo show or the nest hub displays this is the only one with a rechargeable battery in this video so you don't have to wire it overall i'm very impressed with the ufe doorbell and it's high resolution no fees and great privacy the nestle has been out for a little while now but it still has some great features first it's the only one out of these doorbells to have out of the box 24 7 recording it's cloud recording with a subscription of course it's the only storage option available unlike yuffie amcrest or arlo that have local storage if the internet goes down nastillo will miss that footage if you buy this doorbell it's best to just plan on paying the monthly fee for nest aware cloud recording this subscription does have a few extra features that might be worth it for some people not only does it have person detection and the ability to create multiple zones for motion but it has facial recognition so it can tell you who's at the door reed is at front door this is an awesome feature and makes it stand out i wish they took it a step further and had an option to only be notified on unrecognized faces though the hdr is really good because you can see what's in both the shadows and the sun really well compared to eufy's wdr which doesn't look as good however yuffie's resolution is better and it's noticeable the zones for motion are also very customizable and accurate my name is amingo montoya you killed my father prepared to die seeing who's there from a doorbell press is quick even while just on data and no wi-fi notifications are a slight weak point though nest has a long cooldown period so if i walk in the door and a package was delivered a minute later i might not get a notification since i just got one a minute before this actually happened to me a few days ago you also can't temporarily mute notifications i would rather have more notifications and be in control of when i get them you can temporarily mute the chime which automatically mutes the google home devices this is a great feature and the nest hub displays still show who's there even if it's muted this has been a big selling point for the nest hello is the automatic display of the live video feed however ring has finally answered yes now ring doorbells can finally show the live footage automatically on the echo show i tested it on the ring pro and the ring 2 and it worked well on both i chose the ring pro over the new ring 3 plus because the pro gives you better notification features like multiple zones and people only alerts these worked well and were really accurate the ring pro is much faster than the ring 2 motion notifications showed up fast and everything loaded up quickly from a doorbell press there was about a 1 second delay in the live view on wi-fi on data that jumped up to about 2 seconds the only option for video recording is to pay a monthly fee for cloud storage if you're already paying for ring protect then this might not be a big deal however just like the nest hello if the cloud is down then you miss footage the video quality isn't the greatest it doesn't have hdr like the nest hello and the 1080p resolution doesn't look as good as yuffies the ring pro has been out for a while so that kind of makes sense you can turn off the chime but you cannot temporarily snooze it you can snooze the motion alerts though another thing missing is a preview on the app notifications it's a small thing but makes a difference i like the ring pro but it's difficult to stomach the required monthly fee to see recordings i really wish there was a local storage option one thing to note is that if you use smartthings then ring is the only compatible option out of the box if you need that compatibility or if you're heavily invested in the amazon ecosystem like you have the ring alarm or echo show and you want that automatic live feed or you want better elixir routines then the ring pro isn't a bad option if you're okay with the fees if you don't mind paying fees then the nest hello is also a really great option i love the face detection and the 24 7 cloud recording it definitely felt like the highest quality doorbell i tested i debated which doorbell to leave up and i ultimately went with yuffie because for me personally i don't feel like i need to pay a subscription fee for a few extra features with ufe your footage is stored locally and privately you get some of the premium features without the monthly fee rumor has it the battery version will be homekit compatible this summer but who knows if that will happen though when looking at the settings in the alexa app for the yuffie doorbell it says the echo show is available for announcements and automatically displaying the live view i tested for the live view and it's not working right now but it makes it seem like it might be working soon which would be awesome however google is about to update the routines and if they can utilize that face detection into my automations in my home that might make me change my mind because the nest hello is my second choice hopefully you found this video helpful and don't forget to check out that article with more details please subscribe if you haven't already thanks for watching and we'll see you again next time can't believe you've changed the code and locked us out hey let us back in sorry mom and dad i just need to stay outside a little bit [Music] longer

Channel: Smart Home Solver

Views: 662,647

Rating: 4.9193296 out of 5

Keywords: Best smart doorbell, best budget smart doorbell, best video doorbell, best video doorbell with free storage, video doorbell comparison, smart doorbell review, ring pro vs nest hello, ring pro vs arlo, ring pro vs eufy, skybell vs ring pro, smart home, home automation

Id: Twy4RUUakSk

Length: 12min 22sec (742 seconds)

Published: Sat May 09 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/_ryde_or_dye_]

It’s frustrating to be in the market for one of these and already have Arlo cameras. The Arlo video doorbell would fit nicely but I’m not convinced that it’s the best choice.