Doorbell recommendations without subscription and not Eufy!

[London1986]

Hi all

Previously had a ring doorbell, couldn't fault it however wasn't a fan of the ever increasing annual subscription fees so I decided to ditch it and switched to Eufy.

I find Eufy very frustrating as the notifications always seem to be delayed. From the moment someone rings the doorbell, by the time I've responded to the notification on my iPhone and able to see who is at the door, 5-10 seconds have passed. When I compare this to Ring, I remember that to be almost instant.

I am considering going to back to Ring and settle for the annual fee but before I do, are there any other recommendations for a doorbell that does the following:

1. No subscription
2. Instant notifications
3. Wifi and battery powered

Any suggestions welcome

[Rob.]

Reolink

[Griffith4ever]

Are they actually usefull? My mate has one and all it does is stress him out - to the point if one of his kids doesn't answer it, he panics that they need help/ His phone jingles every 20 mins when a cat walks past.

Genguinely curious? Do couriers deliver when they hear your voice? Amazon guys where i live chuck everying on my doorstep so I just can't see how it would be of any use? Other than to tie you back to your house and stress you out.

[Countdown]

We’ve got a Dahua doorbell/camera/intercom thingy which works pretty well (recently spoke to our window cleaner whilst we were in Turkey).

[Quattr04.]

Griffith4ever said:

Are they actually usefull? My mate has one and all it does is stress him out - to the point if one of his kids doesn't answer it, he panics that they need help/ His phone jingles every 20 mins when a cat walks past.

Genguinely curious? Do couriers deliver when they hear your voice? Amazon guys where i live chuck everying on my doorstep so I just can't see how it would be of any use? Other than to tie you back to your house and stress you out.

I think they re fking pointless, next door to me have one, and it pings their phones when they go out of their own front door? Why do they need to know that? They ve just gone out there?

They also seem to get very annoyed because they see people turning around in their drive when they are at work? If they didn t have the stupid doorbell they wouldn t know?

They occasionally post things on the local WhatsApp of stuff like does anyone know who this is and it s just the locals walking their dog but they ve got lost. I don’t think they’ve ever even had it used as a doorbell

Utterly pointless, I hate that they can see when anyone in my cul da sac comes and goes or has visitors and have often had remarks from them about me getting home early from work. None of their fking business!

Walking down any new build estate or street now and you must set those stupid things off loads, the Main Street in my estate of about 60 houses at least 40 of them have ring cameras, I bet people get annoyed and turn off the notification anyway

I hate the things. I don t even have a doorbell!

[NiceCupOfTea]

I have a couple of Tapo cameras that use memory cards so you don't need a subscription. Hate my Ring with a passion because of the massive hikes they've made in the subscriptions over the last year or two, feels like I'm being held to ransom. Invested in it quite heavily, bought one for my folks, and now they gouge me for the subs massively. Wouldn't buy anything from them again and when this one breaks I will be looking elsewhere.

[London1986]

Griffith4ever said:

Are they actually usefull? My mate has one and all it does is stress him out - to the point if one of his kids doesn't answer it, he panics that they need help/ His phone jingles every 20 mins when a cat walks past.

Genguinely curious? Do couriers deliver when they hear your voice? Amazon guys where i live chuck everying on my doorstep so I just can't see how it would be of any use? Other than to tie you back to your house and stress you out.

Guess it depends on the type of person you are. Definitely not stressful for me.

For me it is useful for many reasons. For one, seeing who is at the door and if I need to bother opening it. I have quite a big house and like you say, if it's an Amazon driver who just rings and leaves straight away, if I can see that instantly I don't need to rush to the door. If I get a parcel and im not around and need to give them instructions, I can let them know. Then there is the security element which is always good to have.

[Griffith4ever]

London1986 said:

Griffith4ever said:

Are they actually usefull? My mate has one and all it does is stress him out - to the point if one of his kids doesn't answer it, he panics that they need help/ His phone jingles every 20 mins when a cat walks past.

Genguinely curious? Do couriers deliver when they hear your voice? Amazon guys where i live chuck everying on my doorstep so I just can't see how it would be of any use? Other than to tie you back to your house and stress you out.

Guess it depends on the type of person you are. Definitely not stressful for me.

For me it is useful for many reasons. For one, seeing who is at the door and if I need to bother opening it. I have quite a big house and like you say, if it's an Amazon driver who just rings and leaves straight away, if I can see that instantly I don't need to rush to the door. If I get a parcel and im not around and need to give them instructions, I can let them know. Then there is the security element which is always good to have.

I'll be honest, that all sounds like a load of bks to justify owning one. I can't dress it up any other way.

"bother opening the door"..... really? How big is your house?

[London1986]

Rob. said:

Reolink

I have heard some positive things about Reolink, however a big downside for me is that the battery is not removable like Ring or Eufy (correct me if wrong).

This means every time it needs a charge, I have to take the entire doorbell off and am without a doorbell until it's charged. Not ideal.

[London1986]

Griffith4ever said:

I'll be honest, that all sounds like a load of bks to justify owning one. I can't dress it up any other way.

"bother opening the door"..... really? How big is your house?

Why would I need to justify owning one? Those are my reasons. I am not here to convince you why you should get one, if you don't like them then fair enough.

[Doofus]

London1986 said:

Rob. said:

Reolink

I have heard some positive things about Reolink, however a big downside for me is that the battery is not removable like Ring or Eufy (correct me if wrong).

This means every time it needs a charge, I have to take the entire doorbell off and am without a doorbell until it's charged. Not ideal.

My Reolink is plugged into the mains.

[London1986]

NiceCupOfTea said:

I have a couple of Tapo cameras that use memory cards so you don't need a subscription. Hate my Ring with a passion because of the massive hikes they've made in the subscriptions over the last year or two, feels like I'm being held to ransom. Invested in it quite heavily, bought one for my folks, and now they gouge me for the subs massively. Wouldn't buy anything from them again and when this one breaks I will be looking elsewhere.

Ahh interesting. Not heard of them before but quick google, seems to have a built-in battery, I assume when it needs a charge you just go without a doorbell for that time while it's charging?

How is the response time from notification? Is there a lag or quite instant?

[Griffith4ever]

London1986 said:

Griffith4ever said:

I'll be honest, that all sounds like a load of bks to justify owning one. I can't dress it up any other way.

"bother opening the door"..... really? How big is your house?

Why would I need to justify owning one? Those are my reasons. I am not here to convince you why you should get one, if you don't like them then fair enough.

No probs. was just curious. I think you've answered it for me.

[NumBMW]

London1986 said:

Rob. said:

Reolink

I have heard some positive things about Reolink, however a big downside for me is that the battery is not removable like Ring or Eufy (correct me if wrong).

This means every time it needs a charge, I have to take the entire doorbell off and am without a doorbell until it's charged. Not ideal.

Come on, really? How many people do you expect to arrive and ring your doorbell between 10pm and 6am on a random Tuesday night 3 or 4 times a year?

[London1986]

NumBMW said:

Come on, really? How many people do you expect to arrive and ring your doorbell between 10pm and 6am on a random Tuesday night 3 or 4 times a year?

I'm assuming you are not speaking from experience as most people that have a doorbell with built-in battery always say how much of a PITA they are.

Reality is people generally avoid the low battery warnings and before they know it, their doorbell is dead and by the time they realise, it's normally during the day. If it was a replaceable battery, it can be swapped instantly but no, it now needs to be charged for another 8 hours or so.

There is a reason why the built-in battery versions of the Ring doorbell are the cheapest.

The convenience of a replaceable battery where you can just swap out the battery with a fully charged one in a matter of seconds is well worth the extra cost.

[richhead]

Quattr04. said:

Griffith4ever said:

Are they actually usefull? My mate has one and all it does is stress him out - to the point if one of his kids doesn't answer it, he panics that they need help/ His phone jingles every 20 mins when a cat walks past.

Genguinely curious? Do couriers deliver when they hear your voice? Amazon guys where i live chuck everying on my doorstep so I just can't see how it would be of any use? Other than to tie you back to your house and stress you out.

I think they re fking pointless, next door to me have one, and it pings their phones when they go out of their own front door? Why do they need to know that? They ve just gone out there?

They also seem to get very annoyed because they see people turning around in their drive when they are at work? If they didn t have the stupid doorbell they wouldn t know?

They occasionally post things on the local WhatsApp of stuff like does anyone know who this is and it s just the locals walking their dog but they ve got lost. I don t think they ve ever even had it used as a doorbell

Utterly pointless, I hate that they can see when anyone in my cul da sac comes and goes or has visitors and have often had remarks from them about me getting home early from work. None of their fking business!

Walking down any new build estate or street now and you must set those stupid things off loads, the Main Street in my estate of about 60 houses at least 40 of them have ring cameras, I bet people get annoyed and turn off the notification anyway

I hate the things. I don t even have a doorbell!

Agree with all of this, i can see no benifit to having one

[NiceCupOfTea]

London1986 said:

NiceCupOfTea said:

I have a couple of Tapo cameras that use memory cards so you don't need a subscription. Hate my Ring with a passion because of the massive hikes they've made in the subscriptions over the last year or two, feels like I'm being held to ransom. Invested in it quite heavily, bought one for my folks, and now they gouge me for the subs massively. Wouldn't buy anything from them again and when this one breaks I will be looking elsewhere.

Ahh interesting. Not heard of them before but quick google, seems to have a built-in battery, I assume when it needs a charge you just go without a doorbell for that time while it's charging?

How is the response time from notification? Is there a lag or quite instant?

I just have cameras so no experience of the doorbells. However they work really well and the app is pretty good to use.

[ambuletz]

Quattr04. said:

Utterly pointless, I hate that they can see when anyone in my cul da sac comes and goes or has visitors and have often had remarks from them about me getting home early from work. None of their fking business!

pretty sure reading about someone who was heavily sued for their doorbell as the field of view overlooked a neighbour and the public road, for invading other peoples privacy.

any cameras should only be covering their own property and nothing else.

[Byker28i]

Weirdly we don't have an issue with our Eufy doorbell and the iphone. Alerts/rings come through to it almost immediately, maybe 1-2 sec delay.
It's about 5 sec delay with Android

[London1986]

NiceCupOfTea said:

I just have cameras so no experience of the doorbells. However they work really well and the app is pretty good to use.

Cheers mate, that's good to know. I have actually seen they do have a doorbell with detachable battery, the D230S1. Will potentially look into that and compare it with my Eufy