Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsWould not install on my BT Home Hub 5. Had to buy Chime Pro with its own network to resolve.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 13 March 2023
My two brand new Ring 4 doorbell cameras (both of them) would not install on my BT Home Hub 5. Tried 20 or 30 times with many resets, and yes this was right next to the router.
Hint: Channels 1 and 6 were the only ones that worked, but had to go into the wifi router settings to get it to connect manually to these channels.
When connected, and software updated, I installed outside, and they would then drop out over 24 hours if only 8 metres away, and through a couple of walls.
I eventually gave in, and after reading reviews bought the RIng Chime Pro, to assist in easy installation , and stability, which became a breeze. Its another outlay, but I would recommend getting from the start, especially if you have an old router. However, it does not increase the wifi range by much at all ! I would still say 10m maximum from the router works ok on the chime pro network, with almost a clear line of sight. Otherwise it drops below the healthy RSSI 70% strength if you go any further.
I have since upgraded my BT router, as part of the upgrade to BT full fibre, 500mb, and I decided to keep my 2 ring doorbell cameras on the Chime Pro network, and did not bother to connect direct to my new BT wifi Smart Hub 2, as it all seemed to work very well as it was. Nice quick motion response etc. In the near future I will retest on the installation on the new Smart Hub 2. But for now, I have kept them on the Chime Pro network.
Battery life is OK, but has gone down 30%-40% over a few weeks with just a few test live views, and light useage daily (a few visitors daily) . I bought a solar charger for my rear door, but this doesnt really benefit without direct sun for at least 3 hours a day ! It also does not show connected / charging, and a reboot through the app seems to be needed to resolve.
Ring hardware and software is constantly getting better with new features being added. (eg parcel delivery) . I am impressed with the easy battery replacement on the model 4, and bought a spare battery so can swap them in seconds, if going away. I really recommend getting one for front and rear of the house, and also if you have elderly relatives, get them one too, so you can keep an eye on them easily, and help with any visitors.
I also like that you can view all your cameras (local and remote) one one app screen, with a quick image refresh, so you can see vehicles parked at front at a glance etc. There is also a Chime Snooze function so you can suspend all alerts on an iphone or ipad, for up to 12 hours. (only on one location at a time though).
I have since taken out the Protect subscription following the free 1 month trial, as very impressed with the cloud storage of all the videos etc.
Camera resolution and night vision is very good, and clear but nothing special by todays standards.
In summary 4 star. WIth better battery life and a slighly higher res camera, it will get 5 star.
