Anyone have it? If so how is it. We are getting a new door installed and I’m going to put a video doorbell in at the same time. Was leaving toward this over Ring Pro. Will be doing wired.

This post was edited on 9/5/21 at 9:29 pm

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Posted by Hopeful Doc

Member since Sep 2010

15388 posts

Posted on 9/5/21 at 10:15 pm to Shotgun Willie

I’ve had Ring and Arlo owners both comment on how much better picture a ubiquiti Unifi g4 doorbell is.

You’ll get sticker shock if you want to buy in just for the doorbell- it’s $200, and it requires a $200 appliance (cloud key Gen 2+) as well as a hard drive (many reports of a standard 2.5” ssd in lieu of a surveillance drive suggest improved performance with theoretical long enough lifespans)

You can add other cameras, most excitingly a $30 wifi camera that’s 1080p with 2-way audio, but it’s in its infancy and often out of stock.

So, if $500 with no monthly fees moving forward is comparable to the $150-200ish + $3-10/m, maybe consider it, but it’s probably better suited for someone who is already using their other gear. Which tends to be nerds. Which tend to have spare hard drives lying around. But the 3-5 year cost makes it at least a real option, and I really am impressed with the doorbell footage and alerts. Thought it warranted some consideration.

Full disclosure: I own two. One of them wouldn’t “ring” my chime (wired, mechanical). I isolated the problem to the little battery/transformer that comes with it. I explained to them that it was just this part that seemed to be the problem. They had me submit an RMA and replaced the whole setup (doorbell, chime battery). They didn’t make me send back the mounting hardware but sent a new set. I tend to read about “poor” support from them. But this is my only need for support to date. It makes me feel somewhat bad that I made them send a $200 product, didn’t give them their mounting hardware back for a ~$15 accessory, but I definitely can’t complain about them.

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Posted by 98eagle

Member since Sep 2020

2622 posts

Posted on 9/6/21 at 12:15 am to Shotgun Willie

Consider getting an Ezviz DB1C video doorbell[/b] currently $90 on Amazon. For the money I don't think you can beat it for a nice doorbell cam. I think this cam has more features overall than just about any other door cam, except I don't think it integrates with Alexa, if that matters. It even records several seconds before the motion is detected so we see the entire event before someone steps on our porch. It has AI human detection, pixel specified detection zones, it rings your phone with a snapshot of who rang your doorbell and you can "hang up" or answer instantly in and see the person live while you talk with them. It has a nice App, large vertical view to see packages and the entire person. It has a really good picture day or night with the Sony Starlight sensor, and more. It is only 1080P but it's easy to clearly see faces. There is no subscription. You record to a micro SD card up to 256GB and with H.265 compression. You do need between 12V to 24V AC measured at your doorbell, plus a decent WiFi signal where you install it. If your doorbell voltage is under 12V measured with a multimeter, just replace the doorbell transformer with a 24V transformer. If the Wi-Fi is too weak, you benefit by adding a mesh router system or a Unify Ubiquity if you want one of those.

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Posted by Korkstand

Member since Nov 2003

29000 posts

Posted on 9/6/21 at 12:54 am to Hopeful Doc

quote:
it’s $200, and it requires a $200 appliance (cloud key Gen 2+) as well as a hard drive

quote:
if $500 with no monthly fees

FYI the CK+ comes with 1TB hard drive, so it's "only" $400 to get started. Still the math definitely works out better if you buy or plan to buy more cameras.

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Posted by philabuck