Smart doorbell vs normal doorbell

[minipie]

We need to put a new doorbell in. Starting from scratch as the old one has been ripped out and there is just a wire to the outside now.

I can’t decide whether to get a smart doorbell or a normal doorbell. We’re not techy and I wonder if the alerts on my phone would just annoy me. Especially as we get lots of junk mail so would get a lot of alerts. I don’t really need to know who’s at my door when I’m away...

On the other hand I can see a few ways it would be handy - mainly checking who is there before I answer if it’s late and (arguably) as a burglar deterrent.

If we got one it would be the Nest Hello but wouldn’t pay the monthly fee for the constant recording function, so would just get video when someone comes to the door.

Anyone got one and find it annoying? Or is it the best thing ever? I’m especially interested to know if there are any similarly non techy people who have one, as many of the reviews I’ve read are from people who love all tech...

Thanks

We've got the Ring doorbell and the app on our phones. I am not tech savvy at all, DH is! I've had all the alerts turned off on my phone because it drives me mad, DH has them all. He likes the fact there's a recording camera (you can set the distance I believe) and can talk to people at the door. Handy for regular deliveries etc as we have a smart lock too so he can open the door from his phone and the delivery can be put inside.
Any questions I can ask DH!

Thanks! Yes I can see it would be more useful with a smart lock but have been put off having one of those as apparently they are easier to break into. I think both DH and I are like you and might well end up turning off the alerts...

I might look at Ring again and see if there’s an option to only get alerts when someone presses the bell (rather than just a leafleter). Nest doesn’t have this option.

We’ve got the ring doorbell and you can set it so you don’t get alerts with motion at the door and just when someone rings the doorbell. You can also set a motion schedule so you disable for set times, for example our doorbell is switched off to people moving in front of it mon-fri between 8am and 5pm as we currently have builders in who keep coming and going for tools from their van but we still have the doorbell function active, there’s quite a variety of ways of setting it. I thought I’d be annoyed with it when my husband installed it but I really like it now.

Thanks! The reviews for the nest are bit better than the ring but sounds like the ring may have more options to make it less annoying. I’ll have a look