Ring camera/ doorbell— happy to have

[GON]

Our home came with a ring doorbell and one side of the house camera/ spotlight. I never used the system, I didn’t want to pay a fee to ring.

After returning from working oconus,I was in Costco and the store had an instant rebate on ring system. With the super duty taillight and tailgate thefts, decided to buy the ring packs at Costco, and tie the system to the already installed ring components.

System works great, amazed at the supplemental confidence the ring system provides. The confidence comes primarily from the live feeds that are activated when something triggers the ring system.

Wife wasn’t thrilled with the ring system. She said she was alone in the home for almost two years, and I did nothing with the ring. I return and get worried about parts being stolen off of vehicles and get the ring system working.

Everything changed Monday evening. I am about 150 miles east of the house at a fuel station , and I get a ring alert. Note I know next to nothing about the system.

I look at the alert and see two men at the front door. One of the men is knocking hard on the door, very hard. I am wondering what’s going on, as we have not one but two door bells at the front door- why the hard knock. Note our front door is of German design and door has no door knob (great design by the Germans).

Two guys are not leaving, and my wife is in the house. One guy lights a cigarette. I am about to call my wife and tell her whatever you do, don’t answer the door, and be prepared to call 911.

On the ring screen, I see a speaker icon turned off. I decide to press the icon, and sure enough the speaker icon lights up.

I ask the men what do they want. They respond they are going through the area and are soliciting for window washing business.

Not that it matters, but my wife keeps our windows spotless, hires a window cleaner quarterly. In some ways, our home is the last home to try and solicit window cleaning business. Might be the first home also, but that’s not relevant.

The men seemed dismayed talking to a voice with no personal physically present. The men reluctantly left when I was clear in the way I talked.

Wife heard the entire conversation from inside the house. She is now happy we have the ring system, as am I.

Supplementally- German front door, and one has to scale a five foot steel fence to enter from the front yard to the back yard. The exterior windows are designed so an adult can’t crawl through the window without shattering the glass. Not an easy home to break into.

Here is a picture from the event. Note no visable items like marketing materials, pen, notepad, clipboard. No uniform or clothes that indicates a professional business solicitation for business.

 

[walterjay]

We really like ours.

 

[demarpaint]

We have one, it was annoying at first but it is worth having imo.

 

[wavinwayne]

I like ours. Not crazy about the monthly fee, but I'll keep it until they inevitably jack up the rates.

 

[shortyb]

Doorbell cams are great. Almost everyone in my area has one, either Ring, Blink, or some other brand.

Before I retired, our department allowed folks to voluntarily register their doorbell cams (or any exterior cam) for access in real time to our system. Our mainframe body camera system at the station (the system that folks registered their cameras with) would be able to transmit images from these cameras within seconds to our BWC (body worn camera) screens, or the in-car camera systems. Once we received any reports of suspicious activity, break-ins, theft, etc., we could activate the system of registered cameras to blanket the involved area for images and send them out. Owners of registered cameras would receive an instant notification that their camera was to be monitored and could elect to cancel being included, at that time, in the coverage area if they wished. Never had anyone do that and as a result, property crimes and thefts dropped exponentially. Once word got out to the no-good-nics, and the speed in which apprehensions occurred, they stopped doing their dumb acts. At least in our city.

 

[Kira]

And how much is this monthly fee?

 

[GON]

Doorbell cams are great. Almost everyone in my area has one, either Ring, Blink, or some other brand.

Before I retired, our department allowed folks to voluntarily register their doorbell cams (or any exterior cam) for access in real time to our system. Our mainframe body camera system at the station (the system that folks registered their cameras with) would be able to transmit images from these cameras within seconds to our BWC (body worn camera) screens, or the in-car camera systems. Once we received any reports of suspicious activity, break-ins, theft, etc., we could activate the system of registered cameras to blanket the involved area for images and send them out. Owners of registered cameras would receive an instant notification that their camera was to be monitored and could elect to cancel being included in the coverage area if they wished. Never had anyone do that and as a result, property crimes and thefts dropped exponentially. Once word got out to the no-good-nics, and the speed in which apprehensions occurred, they stopped doing their dumb acts. At least in our city.

Until this incident last Monday, I had no idea the ring doorbell had a speaker and a microphone.

Reading almost daily of bad people entering random homes, the ring or like system sure seems like a great way to compliment other security and safety measures.

 

[alarmguy]

Lorex doorbell camera is a great option and no subscription fees, I removed my builder supplied ring system once ring started charging a monthly subscription fee and not only that a year later to raise the price another 25%
Lorex doorbell camera, no subscription fees and no games

I also recently installed two Eufy solo cam E30 outdoor solar powered cameras. Just for the fun of it we’re in a gated community and there is no crime. They are so impressive. I might even now upgrade them to a more expensive version not that it’s needed, but I’m into this stuff.

Same deal never subscription fee. Video for both companies is stored on a micro SD card.
Lorax doorbell camera comes with the card and Eufy outdoor cameras you buy the SD card and insert it
Below is the video from the two outdoor cameras. Eufy Solocam E30 No wires to hook up, comes with a solar panel.
Cool part is you can remotely change the direction of the cameras (pan and tilt) and even turn on auto tracking with the camera will track a person automatically.

I use the rear camera to see if there’s any wildlife coming through the yard at night and the front camera. Let’s say we’re out to dinner, in our area you could be in a place 5 miles away in a heavy thunderstorm and check your own home camera and see if it’s not raining there. Fun stuff like that.

 

[GON]

And how much is this monthly fee?

I can’t recall, but suspect OOA $25 USD monthly.

And that is the game of all the subscription services. Can’t recall how to cancel, never send a bill,raise monthly charges.

Maybe my new goal (at a later date) is to cancel anything that I get a monthly bill/ subscription.

Outside of water/sewer/electric, and natural gas, imagine how many thousands in the bank one might have if they spent zero monies on anything that requires a monthly fee/subscription, if that money was tracked for five years.

 

[mccandish]

We had a young girl next door lock herself out of the house without her phone while her parents were at work. She went to the neighbors across the street and rang the doorbell - they answered it from 800 miles away on vacation. They were able to communicate back and forth, and then call her mother who worked close by and came right home to let the girl in - pretty handy.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Love our ring, it's like $5 a month or something.

 

[alarmguy]

I forgot we also have a Eufy indoor pan and tilt camera. Comes in handy if we’re gone a while and we want to check up on the dog. Resolution on all cameras is good. You can really zoom in close.
No subscription fee fees for any other cameras that I mentioned. You put in an SD card and all video clips saved (triggered by motion).

This is zoomed in down the hall of our house

I forgot all cameras in my post number eight and my post number 12 have two way communication. You just enable it on the app.

 

[SShooterZ]

We have a Remo+ at our house. Invaluable and has led to some parent-to-parent discussions when neighborhood kids are playing ding-dong-ditch at 2:00 AM. Also nice to know when food delivery arrives and gives a nice view out the door and captures part of the driveway too. I'm tempted to put more around the house, but haven't taken the initiative yet. Stories like this motivate me to do so. Thank you for the post.

 

[JohnnyG]

We get solicitors of all kinds here, from tree trimmers, to window washers. Window washing seems to be the latest thing for "someone without a steady job", and are sometimes outrageously expensive.
$225.00 to wash 8 windows......nope.
Oh, I'll cut you a break and do it for $125, still nope. I mean if it was a two story home and you needed a ladder, then maybe, but these are all reachable from the ground.

 

[TMoto]

I also have Eufy Cameras around the exterior of my property. They're not the new PTZ but are 4k so the resolution is good and I have enough they overlap. I like the idea of no monthly fees which led to my decision.

I know people who have older low resolution cameras and I didn't see the point other than deterrence. The quality is so bad you couldn't identify anyone or read a license plate if you wanted to.

I know not to say never, but I don't see myself ever putting cameras inside my home, but that's just me.

 

[andrew_j]

Does the ring have a SD card to keep 24hrs footage on a loop?

 

[GON]

Does the ring have a SD card to keep 24hrs footage on a loop?

I don’t know.

I was able to pull of the Monday evening picture this Thursday morning from my phone while waiting for a greyhound bus in El Paso. So draws to the conclusion ring is storing the activity in a cloud for at least 72 hours.

 

[mk378]

"POSTED" and/or "NO SOLICITING" signs would be a good investment.

The problem with cameras having only local storage is that the crooks can take the camera and then you have no pictures. If they try that with a cloud-connected camera you usually get a perfect close-up face shot as they're prying the camera off the wall.

 

[alarmguy]

I also have Eufy Cameras around the exterior of my property. They're not the new PTZ but are 4k so the resolution is good and I have enough they overlap. I like the idea of no monthly fees which led to my decision.

I know people who have older low resolution cameras and I didn't see the point other than deterrence. The quality is so bad you couldn't identify anyone or read a license plate if you wanted to.

I know not to say never, but I don't see myself ever putting cameras inside my home, but that's just me.

I hear you on the interior cameras. Just a note to let you know the one I posted in Post #12 has a privacy setting on the app.
Most all do but anyway, for the Eufy, when set to privacy it turns off, turns itself around and faces the wall.

Our last interior TP link did something similar, but instead of turning around facing the wall, a solid black lens cover drops down over the lens.

Just an FYI many cases, we keep it unplugged, except if we are going out for a while and want to check up on the dog (mostly for fun)
Also if on vacation, we have a simply safe alarm system, if it ever triggers it will send our two phones a text message. If needed we can then go in, turn on the interior camera and actually see if someone is in the house. Gosh and if there is ever a fire, we can also call a neighbor and remotely unlock the front door to let them get our dog out.

One other handy thing is when our builder under warranty a year ago, moved us and our furniture out of the house for 3 days while they replaced all the flooring, we were able to go into the camera and check up on it.

Anyway, I get the privacy thing ...

 

[alarmguy]

Does the ring have a SD card to keep 24hrs footage on a loop?

I don’t know.

I was able to pull of the Monday evening picture this Thursday morning from my phone while waiting for a greyhound bus in El Paso. So draws to the conclusion ring is storing the activity in a cloud for at least 72 hours.

Ring stores your video on their servers in the "cloud" for some that raises privacy concerns. Though this has been already exposed and Ring fined for its activity, Im sure it doesnt take place anymore, right?
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/new...mers-failed-stop-hackers-taking-control-users

Eufy video is stored on your SC card in the device itself.