I’m excited to have been sent the brand new Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro for review here on Digital Reviews Network! I will say, I’ve only had the new Ring doorbell installed and operational for about 24 hours now, but as a long time user of Ring products (including the previous model battery doorbell) I feel like I’ve seen enough of this new model to give you a good run-down of my time using it.
Let’s start with the details and spec of the freshly released RING Battery Doorbell Pro, shall we!
- 1536p HD+ Head to Toe Video
- 3D Motion Detection
- Bird’s Eye View
- Colour Night Vision
- Colour Pre-Roll
- Two way talk with Audio+
Moving on to setup
The setup is pretty well identical to any previous Ring battery doorbell, the screws for most surfaces, mine being a timber door surround, are included as are the security screws that keep your battery securely in place and a small driver to insert the security screws (You’ll need your own Phillips head screwdriver and a drill to pre-drill your screw holes (always a good idea!) before mounting your doorbell. The basic kit includes a corner mount bracket so you can install your Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro slightly off to the side of your door and it will still be angled toward where your visitor might be standing – handy.
If you haven’t installed the Ring app on your iOS or Android device (for the purpose of this review, my app is installed on my iPhone 14 Pro Max) go ahead and do that now, you’ll find a QR code in the documentation included in the box, or you can search in the app store of your choice. While you’re doing this, take the included rechargeable battery and pop it on charge with the included Micro-USB cable… Now, I’m a bit confused why a device that you want to have up and running essentially all the time, for both security reasons and for people coming to your door, is using an older standard in Micro-USB, considerably slower at charging than USB-C. So fully charging the included battery can take a few hours depending on where you plug it in – A USB brick that you plug into a wall vs your computer’s USB port etc… Be prepared for that.
Once you’ve got the green light, literally, on the charging battery, you can go ahead and get started by scanning the code on the inside of your Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro which will lead you right to setup (or to installing the app if you skipped that part earlier) and will allow you to go ahead and connect your doorbell to WiFi and configure it. Installation is very simple and guided on the screen of your Android or iPhone device, so we’ll skip through this bit.
I’m planning to buy a Chime Pro for this doorbell since some folks in my household don’t use phones. I want to ensure they can hear the doorbell when it’s pressed! Another option, which seems great based on my research, is syncing the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro with Alexa. Unfortunately, I don’t have an Alexa device at home, so I couldn’t try this out.
In my tests, the response time between someone pressing the doorbell or appearing on the camera view, and my iPhone alerting me, whether on Wi-Fi, 4G, or 5G, was quite acceptable, ranging from 4 to 8 seconds. Additionally, you can configure the doorbell to automatically play a pre-recorded Ring message or a seasonal greeting. However, I’d prefer the option to record my own greeting. All the pre-recorded ones have an American accent, which might be confusing for some here in Australia.
I’ve set my doorbell to respond ten seconds after someone presses the button, giving me just enough time to either reach downstairs and open the door or answer the press via my phone. It’s a sweet spot, ensuring visitors don’t think nobody’s home and leave prematurely. You can tweak the reply time of your doorbell to suit your preferences.
The video is quite different to my previous (still in service, just on a different door!) Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Gen in that it’s ‘head to toe’ which is brilliant for package deliveries in this day and age of what feels like constant mail and package theft talked about in my local Facebook groups! With the 150° horizontal, 150° vertical vision you can see when something is left on your doorstep (.. and if someone decides to come and take it!)
The main differences between this new version and the previous version of Ring’s battery doorbells are significant. The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro offers upgrades such as 3D Motion Detection with Bird’s Eye Zones and Bird’s Eye View, as well as Color Pre-Roll and Audio+. However, there’s a hiccup with the Bird’s Eye zones in Australia. During setup, the map for pinpointing your house and camera boundaries isn’t accurate. When I set up mine, it grouped my house with my neighbour’s and a nearby block of apartments as one building, with no option to adjust. Additionally, the camera placement selection was blurry, making it hard to distinguish property boundaries. It was a disappointing experience. Nevertheless, the camera effectively captures nearly all movement without relying on the 3D Motion Detection and Bird’s Eye zone features, which is fortunate.
In my iPhone screenshot below, you can see the 3D motion detection picks up my being in the frame, and my movement, but the image overlay of what is supposed to be my property is pretty much indistinguishable.
As with previous version, you have the ability to define motion zones, where the camera should alert if motion is detected, as well as privacy zones where you can black out designated areas within your camera’s field of view so that they are not viewable in Live View or recorded in your videos.
The colour pre-roll feature is a nice addition, capturing about 4 seconds of footage before the main clip starts, providing useful context (though without audio and at a lower frame rate). Both day and night video quality are impressive. While it may not be 4K like my main security camera, it still captures excellent detail. Even in night colour mode, it performs well with minimal ambient light. The full-body coverage and video quality are compelling enough for me to consider upgrading from my Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Gen. Moreover, the audio is excellent, featuring noise cancellation and full-duplex capabilities. I didn’t encounter any issues with overlapping conversations, which I’ve experienced with previous products.
Here’s an example of my previous camera’s night ir video vs the new Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro colour night vision – quite impressive really!
Above is the night vision for my Battery Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) I will say that the night sky and ambient light are much less at this house as it’s not in the city, I also don’t have the little solar fairy lights on the verandah like I do in the photo below. You can also see the effect of the 150 degree view in each axis, my doormat (and the plethora of kids shoes!) clearly visible in the colour image.
In summary, the new Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro is a solid upgrade from the previous model, primarily due to its impressive video and audio quality. However, the Bird’s Eye features require significant improvement, and I’d appreciate the ability to personalise pre-recorded greetings. While switching to USB-C for battery charging might be beneficial, the battery life seems decent, especially if motion detection settings are moderate. I haven’t tested the battery life extensively yet, but I’ll update this article once I do. To alleviate your battery woes, you could also purchase a second battery for $49 or an external power supply with a 6 meter cable for $35 – Make sure any doorbell power adaptor you use falls within the specs of the Ring unit so you don’t explode the poor thing! 24v max (Scroll down to see the options on this page)
Regarding aesthetics, the design of Ring’s Battery doorbells has remained unchanged for quite some time, which might feel a bit outdated.
Rating this product is challenging. On one hand, it deserves 4 out of 5 stars for its excellent video and audio performance, along with decent alerts and motion detection. However, the lackluster performance of the Bird’s Eye 3D motion detection deducts a star. So, let’s settle for a 3.5-star rating.
The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro is available from Ring or Amazon with a RRP of $349. DRN would like to thank Ring for providing the review unit.
