Ring Video Doorbell 2 $160 @ Amazon

https://shop.ring.com/pages/faq

"All Ring devices will operate without an additional fee or subscription. However, we offer optional Ring Video Recording Plans that cost a monthly or yearly subscription fee. Without Ring Video Recording, you will still receive alerts when visitors press your Doorbell or trigger the motion sensors in your device, and you’ll still get live streaming video and two-way audio, so you can see, hear and speak to guests in real-time, as the event is happening. However, if you don’t have Ring Video Recording and you miss an alert or a live event, you will not be able to review the video. Ring Video Recording will save all of your recordings to your Ring account for up to 60 days, and with Ring Video Recording, you can also review the videos, download them to local storage, and share them via social media, text and email. There are two options for Ring Video Recording: Basic and Protect. Basic costs $3 per month or $30 for the year per device; Protect costs $10 per month or $100 for year, and it covers an unlimited amount of Ring cameras, offers a lifetime product warranty and gives you an additional 10% off future purchases at Ring.com."
 
I will be installing the Elites this winter. It has PoE which is something that interests me. Also, I don't mind cloud storage for exterior recording. I don't care if a third party has access to the driveway. Especially when it's mostly Amazon shipments. It'll make getting refunds and returns easier when they see the Postman stomp on my package.

Interior cameras freak me out though.
 
I researched the heck of these a few months ago when I was looking for an HD quality video doorbell that did NOT require a monthly/annual sub. I wanted something Wi-Fi that would just talk to my PC and I could store video there. There weren't a lot of options :/

This looked like the slightly better choice - SkyBell HD Wi-Fi 1080p Video Doorbell - Silver (SH02300SL)

/definitely a fmmv sort of thing....



 
It's $3/month per device, or you can pay annually at a flat $30/year per device. I believe this caps out at $15/month or $100/year, IIRC. It's more than recording though, there's a "neighborhood watch" aspect to the Ring Protection/Basic subscriptions where you and your neighbors can share reports/videos of crimes, disasters, and suspicious activity. IMO, this adds a lot of value to the subscription service that didn't exist when I first signed on with my Ring. After I worked out my latency woes, I've been very pleased with my Ring device and the services. I can't imagine a more turn-key solution than this.

So sure, you can probably go with a competitor that doesn't charge a monthly fee or DIY a solution that's cheaper than any off-the-shelf product, but there will be compromises. It just really comes down to what your requirements are and how much effort you're willing to put into its setup.
 
for price I'll happily pay to have the cloud recordings. $30/year is what.. 1 coffee a month? I bet a lot of people spend a ton more on alcohol or cigarettes, and that way I don't have to worry about maintaining storage for it.

I ended up with this model about 3 months ago and the only complaints I have are;
1) I need to buy a second battery to keep charged
2) the lag time to pull up the video when someone rings the bell.

I wanted to go with the Pro version (I don't think they had the Elite at the time) but where the current doorbell line is run doesn't support the size of the Ring doorbell (or any camera/doorbell like Skybell and others). Hell.. just drilling the holes to mount the Ring on my brick was a PITA since I don't have an impact drill. As far as I can tell, the old doorbell wire was run between the brick and the door frame (and most likely stapled) which would require cutting and splicing a new line, getting it up inside the wall next to the door and then drilling all the way through the brick work to feed the line out. More work than I wanted to deal with :p

I'm tempted to pick up a second one for my garage door since the UPS/Fedex guys seem to randomly drop packages off there instead of at the front door. No rhyme or reason to that though. We had a box from Vitacost sitting out there for 3 days before anyone noticed it :(
 
I have one, bought it from costco last year during black Friday, came with the ring chime and a year sub for $180. Its been great, ring also has superb customer service (literally 24/7 I called them at 2 am once and they were still superb). About 5 months in they sent me an email saying that there was a problem which I didnt even notice and they would send a replacement out and all I had to do one send the old one back after I installed the new one. I thought about getting the ones with no sub, but so far I am really happy and the sub isnt expensive and Ring themselves are great. I am worried about Amazon acquiring them a while back since I've been trying to limit Amazon and google lately.

Also of note is that Wifi strength needs to be really good for it to work well and give notifications with a large delay. I have a mesh system so my signal is perfect through out my house and I get notifications almost instantly.
 
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