Ring Wired Video Doorbell 2nd Generation review

Ring Wired Video Doorbell 2nd generation: Introduction

• Type: Smart video doorbell

So dominant is Amazon’s Ring brand that its name is now practically a byword for the video doorbell. The range has just had an overhaul, and the Ring Wired Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) is the most basic of the wired options – not that you’d guess as much from its spec, which still covers what most households actually want.

The jump from the original is substantial. Gone is the 1080p landscape view with its 155° coverage, replaced by a square sensor that Ring badges ‘Retinal 2K’. To you and me, that’s 1,920×1,920. HDR is now standard, teasing detail out of both shadow and brightness. The new camera’s 140° coverage both horizontally and vertically means it catches the feet of anyone standing back a half-metre or more – a real boon for keeping tabs on the doorstep.

Naming is a muddle: Ring calls this doorbell the ‘2nd Gen’, Amazon the ‘newest gen’ or ‘newest model’. It’s grown, too, and switches to a fresh mounting design that may irk anyone upgrading, as it’s not backwards compatible. Talking of irritations, there’s no chime in the box, and this doorbell won’t sound your existing chime if you’re upgrading from a conventional wired bell.

Design and components

• Wired power only
• Screw mounted

This doorbell’s size is a surprise, given there’s no onboard battery. It’s only a little smaller than the chunky, battery-powered TP-Link Tapo Video Doorbell Camera D235, though its design is a bit more rounded.

It’s quite an involved doorbell to install, at least if you follow every step of Ring’s in-app guide. There’s no adhesive pad in the box, so you fix the mount with the supplied screws – there’s an angled shim to shift it a few degrees horizontally, but not vertically. You’ll also need suitable bell wiring; the doorbell should work with most existing low-power AC systems. My review sample came with a rail-mounted transformer to fit in a modern consumer unit (fuse box), but you won’t need it if you already have working wires.

The doorbell connects directly to your home Wi-Fi, so it’s worth a quick signal check outside the front door before buying. Unlike the Plus and Pro versions, this model supports only 2.4GHz networks – no bad thing, as they generally penetrate walls better than 5GHz. I was annoyed that the app didn’t handle it better when I mis-typed my Wi-Fi password – I had to reset the doorbell and start again.

Features

• Strong app
• Good integration with Alexa

That frustration aside, the Ring app is excellent. It offers an at-a-glance snapshot of the doorbell’s view; tap it for a page that neatly combines a live view and timeline, making it easy to scroll back through the day’s events. A calendar view lets you go back further.

The app lets you customise video, audio and general settings, but a few things are selected for you. There’s no choice of resolution or night mode: this version supports only infrared (IR) black-and-white video, switched on automatically once there’s no longer the light to shoot in colour. A few options, including AI Video Search, rely on letting Ring analyse your videos, and are off by default for privacy.

As you’d expect, the doorbell integrates well with Amazon Alexa. You can link it to an Echo for alerts and audio or video conversations with callers, and use triggers such as movement or a caller to start an Alexa routine – turning on a porch or internal light to welcome people, say. One frustration is that you can’t trigger on caller identity, for example only when a household member approaches.

Motion detection can be controlled via the sensitivity control and motion zones, but this model lacks the Radar-based 3D Motion Detection that the more expensive models. If your doorbell faces a street, 3D Motion Detection is a must, as you can control motion detection based on distance.

There’s also an option to detect people or familiar faces. Much of this depends on a Ring subscription, with tiers from £5 a month or £50 a year for a single device. Without it you get live view on demand, plus real-time motion and caller alerts with two-way talk – and not much else. The basic Ring Solo package adds 180 days of video event history, video alerts and person, package and vehicle detection. ‘Pro Intelligence’ costs an extra £3 a month per device, unlocking AI Video Descriptions, Video Search and Familiar Faces. Alternatively, the £16/month Ring Pro enables those across all your Ring devices.

Performance

I test battery doorbells facing straight out at the street, but my wiring is on a sideways-facing wall. That meant this doorbell didn’t have to contend with the busy pavement and road when processing and filtering alerts. Even so, performance was impressive, with subscription features such as Familiar Faces and Video Descriptions working well to identify family members and summarise captured clips.

Ring’s AI processing seems quick: my phone received notifications within moments of callers arriving or pressing the bell. I had a handful of false alarms, mostly when passers-by crossed the pavement while the car wasn’t on the drive. Adjusting the motion zone almost stopped these, but not quite.

I was generally pleased with video quality. Footage was comfortably clear enough to make out callers in daylight, dim evenings and under IR at night, and was sharp and well exposed in natural light. The doorbell struggled to preserve highlights on bright days but captured everything else well. At night it tended to expose callers nicely, at the cost of underexposing their surroundings.

Final thoughts

The Ring Wired Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) combines good camera quality with excellent alerts. How you feel about it will hinge on your appetite for a subscription, though, as it’s not really worth having unless you pay £5 a month to get Video Event History – you’ll be grateful for it if an incident leaves you hunting for footage. Stretch to another £3 a month and Pro Intelligence adds features that help you separate signals from the noise.

With all the features enabled in the one-month free trial, this doorbell offers great rich notifications and effortless searching through video and alert histories. It’s easy to use, and produces videos and alerts that match the best ‘fit and forget’ alternatives. Ring does work out better value if you take one of the multi-camera subscriptions and you have a Ring Alarm.

How we test

When we publish our reviews, you can rest assured that they are the result of “living with” long term tests.

Video doorbells usually live within an ecosystem, or a range of products that – supposedly – all work in harmony. And they are designed to offer a range of different options. Therefore, it’s impossible to use a doorbell for a week and deliver a verdict.

Because we’re testing smart home kit all day, everyday, we know what matters and how a particular smart device compares to alternatives that you might also be considering.

Our reviews are comprehensive, objective and fair and, of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.

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