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Honorable mentions
Photography: Simon Hill
We have tried many other video bells. These are the ones who missed out on a top spot.
Doro Home Doorbell for £150: A simplified smart doorbell for the elderly is a solid idea, and the Swedish manufacturer Doro has it very well with Hemma. It’s a battery-powered doorbell that’s easy to install and use, offering a 1,440 x 1,440 pixel resolution with a decent frame rate (30 fps), local recording via microSD card, and plug-in sound which becomes loud enough to hear. throughout the house. It worked reliably during testing, and the app is deliberately simplified, with a handy option to forward calls to a trusted friend or family member (they also need the app). Two-way audio works well, there’s a handy zoom feature when you’re live, and there’s a siren to scare people. It is simplified, so there are no privacy zones or package warnings, and it can be too sensitive for occupied front doors, although you can set it to warn only for stamps. The battery life is decent, although it is not removable, so you need to remove the bell to charge it or use a portable charger. Unfortunately, it is only available in the UK and Europe.
SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro for $170: If you’re looking for a solid security system, SimpliSafe is probably on your radar, and for people with a SimpliSafe setup, the Video Doorbell Pro fits the bill perfectly. Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano found it sensitive at first, but after an upgrade, she says it worked almost perfectly, sending quick alerts and offering a good, clear view of her porch. Footage is maxed out at 1080p, but the camera supports HDR to banish glare and has a 162-degree field of view. It must be wired, and you need a $5 per month subscription to record video, but SimpliSafe also offers the professional monitoring option ($32 per month), which is a rarity for doorbells and might make sense if you have a complete security system with them.
Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro for $230: Amazon’s flagship Ring brand battery doorbell is about to earn a full recommendation. It offers high-quality, sharp videos with HDR support and color night vision. Notifications were quick and accurate, and two-way audio was of relatively high quality. I appreciate the option to set multiple movement zones, including a potentially useful bird’s eye zone that lets you define range. The preroll feature captures a few seconds before each clip (even at a lower resolution), which can be useful. Because there is no local recording option, you must subscribe to Ring Protect for $5/month ($50/year) for a single camera, but that also gives you a generous 180 days of video storage, rich notifications, and detection of people and packages. But all these bells and whistles come at a premium, and battery life was disappointing (three weeks). You can mitigate this by buying a second battery to swap out, because it’s removable, or opt for the Wired Doorbell Pro instead (although we haven’t tested it yet).
TP-Link Tapo (D230S1) Smart Battery Video Doorbell for $120: For people looking for a local storage option that doesn’t require a subscription, this Tapo stamp is worth a look. Notifications come quickly and include a still image, video quality is excellent, even at night, and the center of the interior takes a microSD card and doubles as a chime. The downside, it’s chunky, and the on-board AI (which has to recognize people, pets, vehicles and packages) is flaky.
Hard to recommend
Photography: Simon Hill
We didn’t like every video doorbell we tried. These are the ones we do not recommend.
Reolink Video Doorbell (battery) for $146: We liked Reolink’s wired doorbell listed above, so we were excited to try their first battery-powered model, but it was a disappointment. It offers up to 2K footage with a 1:1 aspect ratio that gives you a full view of the porch, but lacks HDR and has a relatively low frame rate (15 fps). I like the option to go subscription-free, but it means putting a microSD card in the bell itself, and this is a relatively easy bell to remove. Reolink suggests up to five months of battery life, but mine died after less than two, and the rechargeable battery inside can’t be removed, so you have to take the bell to recharge it. Factor in the somewhat confusing app, relatively slow loading times, and connection glitches, and this is impossible to recommend.
Ezviz EP3x Pro for £133: This is a much nicer bell tower than Ezviz’s previous models, and it’s nice to see solar panels as an option for the bells, although you’ll need a porch capable of catching some rays. The video quality is good, and you get a split view (like the Eufy above) that includes packages or cats waiting on your doorstep. Distortion correction works well, and there’s optional color night vision with a built-in light, although it only works at very close range. I appreciate the 2FA, with fingerprint login, and 32 GB of onboard storage (cloud storage is an optional extra). Unfortunately, if you are using the solar panel, you cannot connect it to your wired chime. The lack of HDR is disappointing, human detection was a bit off (often pinging for my cat), and I had problems with alerts not arriving on some Android phones (even after following Ezviz’s instructions, no have ever worked reliably on my Xiaomi). 14 Ultra). This model is not yet available in the United States.
Botslab Video Doorbell 2 Pro for $170: The flaky setup procedure required a couple of restarts, and the physical installation was no better, as the supplied screws were so good that one of the heads actually came off. The camera has a fisheye effect, but you can correct it with different views. I like the VR mode, which provides a 180-degree view of your front porch. It comes with a handy chime plug-in, the alerts seem reliable, there’s an HDR option, and you can record locally (32 GB included) or in the cloud. You can also set a detection range, which could be useful for street cameras. But the app is confusing, with an AI tab listing various skills available for purchase. There is a login history and a limit of two devices signed in at once, but no 2FA, which makes this impossible to recommend. It is versatile, but also relatively expensive.
Wyze Video Doorbell Pro for $100: The Wyze Video Doorbell Pro (7/10, WIRED Review) was our budget recommendation, but with caveats. It warned reliably, offered clear video, and had accurate AI for people detection, but you need the Cam Plus subscription (from $3/month). This camera model was not one of those affected by the security flaw that Wyze failed to fix o report to customers for three years, but after repeated security briefings from Wyze, more recently expose thousands of camera feeds to other clientsit is difficult to recommend their cameras more.
Swann SwannBuddy Video Doorbell for $150: This bell comes with a battery-powered wireless bell and local storage option, but the positives end there. The video quality is poor, the app is painfully slow to load and glitchy, and the bell often fails to register motion. I found the battery life disappointing. I must also question the decision to provide local storage via a MicroSD card inserted in the bell (the bell would make more sense and be more secure).
Ezviz DB2 Video Doorbell for $180: An affordable video doorbell that comes with a plug-in chime, the Ezviz DB2 works pretty well, but it’s very bulky and a bit ugly. Video footage is detailed, but I had issues with blown out highlights when the sun was shining. The app is solid and quick to load, bell presses activate a call to your phone, and you can record on the spot by inserting a MicroSD card into the chime. Unfortunately, it only offers a very limited option to define movement zones – a big problem if you live on a busy street. I also found the battery life to be below average, and it’s hard to get rid of it.
