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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask for help with ring doorbells?

40 replies

arthar · 03/10/2024 00:17

I'm looking to buy not while they are on sale, but how do I work out what I need? I'm definitely leaning towards the one with a mount, but then I need to add a chime as it won't be hardwired?

What have you got? any suggestions welcome

OP posts:
Blink1982 · 03/10/2024 00:48

It will ring on your phone app or on the alexa.

Twinkletwinklelil · 03/10/2024 04:36

You need the doorbell (wired vs unwired) unwired means having to change the battery every couple months.
a chime OR Alexa OR just use your phone.

sashh · 03/10/2024 04:49

Mines on a battery, it said it should last 2 years.

Glittertwins · 03/10/2024 05:11

Ring batteries don't last 2 years without charge. We have a spare one that is permanently charged up and swap out every month or so, just depends on how I have set the motion settings on it. We never bothered with the chimes, we can either hear it from the door itself or see the notification on phone / watch.

VeryStressedMum · 03/10/2024 05:37

Ours is unwired, the battery does not last 2 years in the slightest. Buy a spare battery charge it and swap it when the other one runs out we get app notifications when the battery is running down
We also bought the chime because otherwise you have to be near your phone if someone rings the bell, we didn't need it because the dogs let us know if someone is at the door anyway.

We also have the subscription, I can't remember what it does but there's a reason we decided to pay for it!

sashh · 03/10/2024 05:52

Not taken re the battery I will get on to that today.

@VeryStressedMum I paid for the subscription because that way it records rather than it just being live.

gerispringer · 03/10/2024 05:58

We had ours wired in as got fed up with charging up the battery every few months. We pay a subscription so we can record who’s at the door. We also have a chime near the door.

ForLovingAquaSheep · 03/10/2024 05:58

I've got ring but better going for a eufy. Ring cost £50 a year, which has seen substantial price rises over the last few years.

Eufy provides largely the same service subscription free

Tezza1 · 03/10/2024 06:08

Mine isn't hardwired and chimes at the front door, as well as on my phone. Never bothered pairing it with the Alexa.The camera part is rechargeable, and then lasts for several months. I have had it for several years.

I don't know what brand it is now, but it was the basic el cheapo available during an Amazon sale.

Autumnalfun · 03/10/2024 06:21

We have ours paired with Alexa. And we have it chime on that and our phones, plus a chime on the top floor. Needs charging every couple of months, I just take it off and charge it when it gets to about half, no biggie. We don’t screw ours to the door frame, you’d not know to look at it and makes it easier to just lift off,

halfthesun · 03/10/2024 06:41

We have ours charged by solar panel. Connected to phones via Ring subscription.

unsync · 03/10/2024 06:49

I have a eufy which is better than ring. You keep your own data and there is no subscription cost.

meditated · 03/10/2024 06:49

All my neighbours have one. Does it mean I need to be mindful of what I'm wearing when taking the bins out? What is the range?

Bgfe · 03/10/2024 06:54

Eufy Eufy Eufy. No subscription. You just have to buy a micro SD card. I don’t want to pay a monthly charge after I’ve bought the thing.
We have the wireless one and it needs charging about every 6 weeks via USB. Happy with it. About £100.

FawnFrenchieMum · 03/10/2024 07:00

We have the none wired one but it’s pretty old now, it’s the one that the battery doesn’t remove so have to bring it in to charge. We have to re charge it every three months or so.

We bought a chime originally but unplugged it after a month or so as it drove the dog nuts and we all had it on our phone or could hear it anyway from the doorbell.

We pay for the subscription so that it keeps the recordings. The subscription has increased a lot over the last few years so we are going to start looking at other brands soon.

.

VeryStressedMum · 03/10/2024 07:01

sashh · 03/10/2024 05:52

Not taken re the battery I will get on to that today.

@VeryStressedMum I paid for the subscription because that way it records rather than it just being live.

Oh yes that's right it records and keeps the footage for however long that's why we pay the subscription!

BleachedJumper · 03/10/2024 07:05

I have a eufy and am happy with it, and very happy with the fact it doesn’t have a subscription that seems to rapidly increase year on year.

it’s a battery and we’ve got into the habit of charging it every Sunday when we’re back from a dog walk and having breakfast for an hour or so in the house, so it never runs fully low.

MouseofCommons · 03/10/2024 07:18

Mine has a battery. Each charge lasts about six weeks. I've splashed out on a second battery so the next one is ready to click in while the first one charges. They do take a few hours to charge and I don't like not having it working. (Rough area).
I have a Chime or else my children would never answer the door.
Annual subscription is about £50 (I've forgotten now 😳) but that keeps footage for 30 days at a time. Without it it's just a rolling 24hrs.

Talipesmum · 03/10/2024 07:19

We have ring doorbell, wireless, and it’s screwed to the front door frame. Can’t remember if this involves a mount or not.
We have two chimes spread around the house so you can hear it from anywhere, and it also dings on our phones (but sometimes I have it on silent so it’s good to have the physical chime as well).

We don’t pay the subscription fee so we can’t watch back any footage, we can only view it live. That’s fine for us as we didn’t get it so we could have recorded video stuff, just so we could have the doorbell pinging our phones. But if I was doing again I’d probably go for eufy as you get all the same but no subscription cost for video recording.

We need to charge the battery every couple of months. Depends on how sensitive you have it set. You can clearly define the area in which it alerts you. It charges up in a few hours - we generally do overnight.

Talipesmum · 03/10/2024 07:23

MouseofCommons · 03/10/2024 07:18

Mine has a battery. Each charge lasts about six weeks. I've splashed out on a second battery so the next one is ready to click in while the first one charges. They do take a few hours to charge and I don't like not having it working. (Rough area).
I have a Chime or else my children would never answer the door.
Annual subscription is about £50 (I've forgotten now 😳) but that keeps footage for 30 days at a time. Without it it's just a rolling 24hrs.

Without the subscription you can’t view anything back - it’s live view or nothing. It doesn’t keep it for 24 hours (maybe it used to but it hasn’t done this for the last couple of years).

Pascha · 03/10/2024 07:23

We got the chime as I couldn't hear it at the other end of the house without and my phone often registers the ring up to five minutes after the button is pressed which is annoying.

If I got one again I'd choose another brand tbh.

Pascha · 03/10/2024 07:24

Also battery lasts a month. We have a spare like others.

MouseofCommons · 03/10/2024 07:32

Thanks Tal. That's changed. When I first bought mine in spring 2021 it kept free footage for 24hrs.

Firesideblanket · 03/10/2024 07:38

We have a ring (not currently using as in between homes) but when we do move into new house I’ll sell it and buy another brand where I don’t need a subscription. I ended up turning it off on my phone as I didn’t want it going off when I was at work etc.

BuzzieLittleBee · 03/10/2024 07:42

I'm amazed that some batteries only last a month. We easily get 3 months+ out of ours, but it's not recording all the time.

Charging is no bother though- we just bring it in overnight and put it back in the morning.

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