After an attempted break-in at our home and enthusiastic stories from colleagues about smart doorbells and having read me online, I initially opted for the Skybell HD Trim (also via Coolblue), especially because of. free online storage and the good reviews here and there, but because it eventually turned out not to be compatible with my wife's phone (sony Xperia Z1) (and the fact that the connection once shared with others turned out to be no longer revocable), I exchanged it for the Ring Pro. Fortunately, this was no problem at all with Coolblue.
The first Ring Pro model I got I connected without any major problems, except that it did nothing after booting (didn't set up a WIFI network). This was sent back via Coolblue and a new one in the house after two days. This one did right away. I have to point out that this is definitely not something you just do if you don't know anything about electricity. The information is also very limited. I am at home with it myself, so this was done in no time (by the way, this is much more user-friendly than with the Skybell, you do not receive any information there at all (just look online) and in most cases you have to buy additional things yourself, such as resistors or adapters).
Unfortunately my bell no longer works (by default it is also connected in such a way that it no longer works with the Ring). This was also the case with the Skybell, but that had to do with the fact that I had an AC bell and it is only compatible with a DC doorbell.
The Skybell had a viewing angle of 180 degrees, this Ring is slightly smaller. I thought this would be a disadvantage, but when you hang it in the corner, it turns out to be the opposite. instead of an extremely distorted fisheye shot, you get to see a little more in the image. In hindsight logical, but apparently I had to see it.
After installation, define the movement areas as well as set the times (these are not intuitive in my opinion, because you set the times when you do NOT want it to work - small thing).
I personally think the sound quality is mediocre. The sound suffers from distortion quite a lot, especially if you set it relatively loud. That said, he is good enough to understand each other well.
What also really disappointed me with the Skybell was the motion detection (or rather the lack of it) in the dark. During the day he saw everything, in the dark max 3 - 4 meters. So I was prepared for the same to be the case with the Ring. With the Ring, this is better during the day than the Skybell (somewhat depending on which zones you set and which sensitivity you choose. Sensitive is also really sensitive (think of leaves in the wind in front of the door, cars 50 meters away, etc.). In the dark, on the other hand, it is less good. You can't actually get more than 2 meters. Maybe three meters, but this also depends on where you hang it. If you hang it neatly in the corner (which I did), then walk people straight to the bell, this is actually detrimental to the detection, it is better that people pass from left to right (or vice versa) from the camera perspective.
What also disappointed me about the Ring (certainly versus the Skybell) is how early it transitions to night mode. Where the Skybell still shows color in the dark, the Ring immediately switches to infrared and therefore black-and-white image as soon as it starts to get dark. This even despite the fact that we still have a lamp hanging.
What is an absolute plus (and in my opinion also decisive) compared to the Skybell, is that it reacts much faster after something has already been observed. For example, the Skybell needs more than half a minute after detection before it can respond to movement again (and when something happens in front of the door, you soon suffer from this).
The support for smart home solutions was a bit disappointing (but I knew this in advance), while this is an excellent product that lends itself to this. For example, no API has been made available and it looks like Ring does not want to provide it either. Instead, you are pushed to use their own solution, but its capabilities are limited, especially if you want to integrate it more widely into existing solutions. However, there is IFTTT support.
My biggest criticism, however, is that Ring pretty much forces you to pay for their product. Personally, I think that with a product that is already so expensive to purchase, you should offer a minimum storage time, just like Skybell. In practice, you never look further than a few hours back (one night) because you receive notifications immediately. If something special happens that you would like to keep, you should save it anyway. Paying for a month of storage is actually completely unnecessary. Without a subscription you will immediately see nothing at all, so not even if there is movement and you are just too late. For me this is actually a serious shortcoming of the product, because sometimes you literally do not see who was actually at your door and therefore has nothing to do with added value such as storage over a period. You just need this, because without it it just won't work well.
That you miss events, happens quickly. I've also experienced several times that I don't receive messages until three hours later, but this is a different problem (probably a delay on the servers at Ring) and fortunately the exception rather than the rule. What is true in practice is that you receive a message when you move (or ring the bell). If you are not at home and the house looks somewhat deserted, people usually don't wait that long.
On average, I have about 2-5 seconds (varies a bit) between the time I ring the bell and the time I receive the signal on my phone or watch. Then you still have to grab your phone (you can't answer via watch, only receive the notification) and you'll be a few seconds further if it's not in front of you. Then if you click on the notification directly, you first have to unlock your phone, and then wait for the app to start and connect, which usually also takes 3 to 5 seconds. If it all goes fast I'll soon be about 10 seconds further, which is simply too late. If things go wrong, it can just be 15 to 20 seconds and you are actually already too late by default. Then you have to look back and that does not work without a subscription.
I myself have a good signal, but my router is also very close to the bell. Something to keep in mind during installation (otherwise it is recommended to buy a repeater for your network). We have also mounted a steel frame on the door in front of the glass. This obviously disrupts the WiFi signal. This is also something to keep in mind when hanging.
The design is partly a matter of taste and partly you get interchangeable fronts. Unfortunately, there is no neat included solution to hang it in the corner, so if you want this and don't want to film half of your wall and don't have slanted door frames, you will have to fabricate something yourself. There is also an LED around the button, which looks nice in itself, but I would like to be able to turn it off in the dark so that it is less noticeable. Unfortunately you cannot set this anywhere.
All in all, I definitely think it is a product that has added value. But although I would also like to tell myself that it was a very good investment, in retrospect, knowing what I know now, I would not buy it so quickly for this amount. I may be very critical, but for such an amount you can expect better I think.
