Video doorbell recommendation

jeffy22

Can anyone recommend a good but not expensive  video doorbell that's relatively easy to set up?
I've looked at ring and blink but you need subscriptions?

I want to be able to talk to people through the device from my phone. 
Have motion sensor that records video in the middle of the night. 
And a doorbell that chimes when someone rings it

BUFF

You don't need a subscription for Blink (if you have the hub you can have local storage via USB).

DullGreyGuy

Nest, Ring and Blink work to a fashion without a subscription but its clearly limited... Nest only store events for 3 hours without a subscription so no good for seeing what happened in the middle of the night if you are wanting that security aspect to it.  

Not used them, we have Nest, but Eufy seem to get good reviews for the ones that are fully functional without subscription. 

shiraz99

I'd go for the Blink doorbell as far as value is concerned, and as mentioned there's no subscription if you buy it with the Synch module. Currently £54 for both on Amazon and you can also get an Echo Dot thrown in for free.

1616six

We have had a Ring for the past couple of years and had great customer service experience. 

Bought it during lockdown when there was a spate of dog thefts in our area and I got paranoid. Beginning of this year it just died completely, I phoned the Ring customer service line, they talked me through some steps, confirmed it was knackered and offered to send a replacement out - they’d stopped making the one we had so even upgraded it to the new model for free. 

Once we move, I’m looking to get a security/floodlight cam and see there a few options.. tempted to get a second hand Ring one of those for simplicity and being able to link them together.

scrummy-mummy

We've had the Eufy doorbell for 18 months and have added security cameras in the last year. Very happy with them all. No subs to pay, decent quality footage and the security cameras have lights too so we could get rid of our expensive halogen ones.

greensalad

I have a Nest and I like it. You don't have to have a subscription, but you get the data saved for longer if you do. I like it because of how it integrates into the rest of the Nest items in my house. I have a Nest Hub on my desk so when someone rings the doorbell I get a video feed pop up and can decide if it's worth answering, all while still working (useful in video calls!) I also like the face library that announces who's at the door (even though it's not always accurate!)

Rosco32

I second Eufy. The rechargeable (can be wired if needed) battery lasts for months on end, and as opposed to paying a subscription for storage, you have a home base which stores all footage etc. It just requires plugging into the mains and into a spare ethernet port on your internet router. The home base also acts as an audible notification, so if I've left my phone downstairs and I'm upstairs I can still hear it and know someone is at the door.

Tomogicom

Seems like there are a ton of options out there, and it can be a real head-scratcher to pick the right one.

moneysaver1978

What smart devices do you currently use, e.g. Amazon Alexa, Siri, etc.?

We have Alexa (with Echo Show) and as I didn't want subscription, we went for Blink and found it was good. We had some USB memory thumbstick to store the recordings and it's been great.

The main thing we missed from the subscription was the ability to view live while it's being recorded but we eventually got used to it.

That said, I have heard good things about Eufy and I might be tempted to go with them instead of Blink because it seems that they offered more features (it wasn't available at that time).

Also might be worth moving this thread to https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/techie-stuff in case you want additional opinions.

ashe

I am a huge smart home geek and my honest opinion is to get a standard doorbell that meets your requirements e.g either a simple tone, customisable MP3 tones, and either wired or connected to plug in chimes. Our doorbell was £22 and been running 5 years now, it has two plug in chimes so we hear it wherever we are in the house. 

Now, to satisfy your want for recording the door, I would use a standard security camera that again meets your requirements - for us we use Nest as we have other things in the Nest Eco system. 

The angle of a camera installation means you record them as they walk anywhere near the door, not just when they walk in front of the doorbell or push the button. We went Nest as it records 24/7, not just when motion is detected, but it also does facial recognition so we know if its the post lady or my mate has popped over. it does two way audio, but we find having these services separate beneficial - doorbell cameras don't capture the whole front view as well, and theyre easily stolen as in easy reach - lot of them have issues with delays, or couriers even avoid using them and just knock. People use standard doorbells, but you have the camera triggering motion alerts etc anyways. Doorbell is easy to swap out when it conks out and you aren't locked into that one doorbell.