Buying a video doorbell? Here's 8 things you need to know

Buying a video doorbell? Hither's 8 things y'all need to know

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Video doorbells are one of the biggest smart dwelling house purchases, and then it's of import to ask questions before making a decision on which to buy. Only what are the factors yous should consider? Hither are viii things you lot should know when shopping for a video doorbell.

Quick Tips

Wired or wireless? Wireless video doorbells are fewer in number, but easier to install. Merely call back — you lot'll have to recharge their batteries.
What features do you desire? Some video doorbells offer package detection, person detection, and brute detection, which helps eliminate false alerts.
Are you buying other security cameras? If then, you'll want ones made by the same company, to save on subscription fees.

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Are you replacing an existing doorbell?

If you're swapping out an existing wired push-button doorbell for a video doorbell, then you have a lot of options, equally well-nigh of the all-time video doorbells are designed to use your home's existing wiring. The majority of doorbells, both traditional and video, are powered past a 24-volt transformer, so in most cases information technology's simply a thing of connecting your new video doorbell to the existing wires.

If, yet, you don't take an existing doorbell, then you'll need to either install wires to where you want your new doorbell to go, or purchase a video doorbell that can run on battery ability lone. There are fewer models that are solely battery-powered; of these, Arlo and Band make the best models.

Practise you have a chime in your firm?

You know, the affair that goes ding-dong when someone pushes the doorbell. If you take a doorbell, and so you probably have a chime, which can be either mechanical or digital. A mechanical chime has a hammer that strikes a metal plate, whereas a digital chime creates an electronic sound through a speaker.

If you don't have a chime, and so yous'll demand to purchase one that'southward compatible with the video doorbell y'all purchase; otherwise, your only alert when information technology rings will be a smartphone notification. Both Arlo and Ring sell digital, plug-in chimes that work with their video doorbells. These chimes are as well handy if y'all accept a difficult fourth dimension hearing your doorbell from certain parts of your house.

What do y'all want to run across?

A video doorbell's aspect ratio is crucial in what you can and tin't see out your front door. Originally, most video doorbells used off-the-shelf cameras, which, like traditional cameras, take a nice wide aspect ratio but didn't show a lot vertically. That meant that if someone left a package right by your front door, it would be out of view. That's starting to change; here's a look at some of the leading video doorbell cameras and their aspect ratios. The ones closer to a 1:1 ratio will more often than not show more of your front door, but no single-camera video doorbell will show you everything.

Proper noun	Aspect Ratio	Field of view
Arlo Video Doorbell	one:ane	127 degrees horizontal, 127 degrees vertical
Logitech Circumvolve View	3:iv	128 degrees vertical, 96 degrees horizontal
Nest Hello	4:3	96 degrees vertical, 128 degrees horizontal
Ring Video Doorbell (2nd gen)	five.2:3	155 degrees vertical, 90 degrees horizontal
Ring Video Doorbell Pro ii	ane:1	150 degrees vertical, 150 degrees horizontal

Do you lot want to know when packages arrive?

Many of united states receive a lot of packages, so information technology's important to know when 1 is left on your doorstep. A few video doorbells take built-in AI that can recognize the shape of boxes, and can transport y'all an alert if ane is dropped off. Currently, the Nest Hello and Arlo video doorbells accept this feature, and coming after this year, all video doorbells that use HomeKit Secure Video (such as the Logitech Circumvolve View Doorbell) will proceeds this ability.

Do you want to know when specific people arrive?

Because they're linked to your Google and Apple tree accounts, respectively, the Nest Howdy and Logitech Circle View Doorbell tin match up faces in your Google Photos and Apple Photos libraries with those they meet approaching your door, and and then announce their names. It's not a must-accept feature, but it is kinda neat.

Do you have a smart brandish or smart Telly?

One fun characteristic of many video doorbells is that you can now view what they're seeing on smart displays and even smart TVs. Some even let you lot interact with the person at your front door.

All of Ring'southward video doorbells volition work with Amazon'southward smart displays, such as the Echo Bear witness 10, Repeat Show 8, and Repeat Show 5. If you have a Burn TV stick, Fire Tv set Cube, or a Fire Tv, y'all'll too be able to view Band video doorbells.

Similarly, If you accept the Nest Hello, y'all'll be able to view it on Google'southward smart displays, also as Chromecast-enabled TVs. And, feeds from HomeKit-enabled video doorbells, such as the Logitech Circumvolve View, can be viewed on Apple TVs.

Arlo's video doorbells give y'all the all-time of both worlds, as they piece of work with both Alexa and Google-enabled devices.

You'll probably demand a subscription

Sad to say, only most of the best video doorbells will require y'all to purchase a subscription if y'all want to use all of their features. You'll yet be able to utilize all of them if you lot get without a subscription, merely the most you'll be able to practice is view alive video and respond to whoever's at the door. You won't be able to save videos or enable advanced features such as package detection, or the power to create custom move-detection zones. Plans mostly start at around $3/month for a single device. For a more detailed expect at what each visitor offers, cheque out our story on security photographic camera storage plans compared.

Are you planning to add other security cameras?

If y'all're thinking about purchasing additional dwelling house security cameras for your property, information technology makes sense to choose a video doorbell by the same company. That fashion, you're not paying for more than one subscription. Many of the subscriptions offered will comprehend more than one camera at a given location, then it's good to appraise all your potential security needs before making a conclusion on a video doorbell.

Michael A. Prospero is the deputy editor at Tom's Guide overseeing the dwelling, smart home, drones, and fettle/wearables categories, also as all buying guides and other evergreen content. When he's not testing out the latest running sentry, skiing or training for a marathon, he's probably using the latest sous vide machine or another cooking gadget.