Ring don’t want to be famous for doorbells, they want to be famous for home security – for neighbourhood watch, and for playing a role in the prevention of crime.
You see the more deterrents you put in place the more unlikely it is that someone will try and break into your home. Their doorbell was a huge thing initially, but their Floodlight and Spotlight cams can also play a huge role in that process.
I’ve been testing the spotlight cam for a while now and it’s a great addition to their lineup.
It’s not as powerful as the Floodlight – that device has much brighter lights and two of them to be pointed directionally, plus it’s mains powered. The Spotlight is battery powered, which will frustrate you at first, until you shlep out and buy a solar panel for it – $49 – the best money you’ll spend, making the Spotlight Cam set and forget.
The large motion sensor on the Spotlight Cam does an amazing job at detecting motion and initiating a recording immediately.
At my front door it was recording before I could even see the people (Geoff and Bowen) walking outside. The initial moment of video in a daylight recording is bright for a second then adjusts and is clear.
I wouldn’t describe the video as “brilliant HD” – its great, and does all you need, but if this was the quality of HD TV you’d be unhappy.
Ours is set to be always on, always recording all the motion. It gets a lot of “false positives” from excess movement of trees in the wind, but that’s ok – because battery isn’t an issue.
I don’t use it for alerts, instead opting to take those from the floodlight cam – if this was your only device you’d really need to dial in the sensitivity because there have been many things the Spotlight Cam has missed which the Floodlight Cam on the other corner of the home did pickup.
We didn’t have a porch light before the Spotlight Cam, so it’s been a game-changer for us in that sense, however it doesn’t turn the light on every single time. It’s as if the sensor detects motion, turns on the light. Waits, turns off the light after a set period, then the sensor heads out for a coffee and comes back on shift a minute or so later. I can walk out to put rubbish in the bins, the light goes out while I’m around a the bins, come back, and the light doesn’t turn on. Strange, and rarely an issue – but worth noting.
Given its simplicity of installation, at $329 it’s a cracker. You also need a RING subscription if you want cloud recordings so that’s another $40 odd dollars a year. You can access the videos on any device any time you’re internet connected.
Great device, well worth a look for some security and peace of mind.
