Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus Review: The Best Just Got Better!

Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus is the newest version in a long line of the super-popular Band Doorbell serial.

Equally COVID-xix cases rising again nosotros are beginning to hunker down in our homes. Despite existence cooped up though, nosotros are suckers for some good Black Friday deals, aren't we? So what's a skilful mode to go on track of all our deliveries? After all increase in online shopping has as well meant an increase in theft and mishandling by delivery people.

Ring has been a household name in the video doorbell department for quite a few years. Simply in 2020, we have seen the refresh to the basic Doorbell, and a new Doorbell iii. Well Ring has decided to refresh the Doorbell 3 and sent usa at AH a review unit of the new Doorbell 3 Plus.

Earlier we exercise a deep swoop review of this latest doorbell iteration, allow'south become the unboxing out of the mode.

Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus Unboxing

Everything about the parcel screams premium. From the sleeve to the easy-open box, information technology's easy to see the attention to detail. But let'southward check out all the goodies that are inside, shall nosotros?

Inside the box is a sleeve with instructions, Doorbell 3 Plus, rechargeable bombardment, wedge, and corner mounts, micro-USB cablevision to charge the battery, mounting hardware and installation tools which include a screwdriver and a masonry drill bit.

Band Video Doorbell iii Plus Tech Specs

The Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus has a 1080p Hard disk camera with a 160-degree horizontal viewing angle. It supports two-way audio communication with built-in racket cancellation. For Night Vision the doorbell has 4 IR LEDs. The ring app supports Android and iOS. Connectivity protocol is 802.11 a/b/g/n so Wi-Fi @2.4GHz/ 5GHz is supported out of the box.

The dimensions are 5.i-inches by ii.4-inches by 1.ane-inches. It is as well weather condition-resistant with an operating temperature range of -v°F to 120°F. You can power information technology via a rechargeable battery or hardwire information technology with the existing door chinkle wiring. For continuous charging a transformer with 8-24 VAC, 40VA max is recommended. These are hands available online for less than $xx including taxation.

Installing the Ring Video Doorbell iii Plus

Typically installing the Ring Video Doorbell three Plus should be quick. Still, in my case, the existing door chime button was in an offset/corner location. Then it took a footling longer than the recommended install time of ~v minutes.

Start step is to download and install the Ring app on a device. I installed it on my S20 Iron, created an business relationship, and scanned the QR code unique to my Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus unit. Completing the setup in the app was relatively quick and painless. Yous volition need your WiFI countersign and exam the camera to see the picture in the app to finish the initial setup. This entire procedure took a trivial less than a couple of minutes.

Next up was installing the optional Corner Mountain in the box since my existing doorbell resides in a corner. I used the mini level in the box to ensure the Corner Mount was in the correct location and horizontally level prior to marking the location for the holes. Using a drill and the masonry drill scrap from the device box, I started drilling holes in my stucco wall. The drill bit provided in the box proved to be dull for the job. So I used a Ryobi masonry drill bit to become the holes drilled. Ring provides anchors and screws forth with the screwdriver which made the Corner Mount installation job piece of cake.

Before starting the mount installation procedure, I put the rechargeable battery to charge. Next upwardly was wiring the Ring Video Doorbell iii Plus to the ii wires from the existing chime. This took less than a minute with the pre-stripped wires and connectors in the box. Mounting the doorbell to the Corner Mount started off piece of cake only took a bit longer for the pinnacle left corner screw. The reason is the screws provided are tiny and the total clearance gap wouldn't allow for proper alignment with the screwdriver provided. Took me some other 5 minutes to observe a magnetic matching scrap screwdriver to install the last screw in the top left corner.

In my haste to test the new gadget, I installed the battery, mounted the Venetian Bronze faceplate, and moved on to tweaking the diverse settings in the Band app. Then I never fully charged the provided battery which is Teaching number one in the guide. Ooops. And so my suggestion is to please follow the instructions in the guide. Luckily, my current doorbell transformer was giving out enough ability to slowly trickle charge the battery per the Band app.

Ane small-scale item to notation that there is no star head screw in the bundle that would secure the faceplate to the threaded insert in the battery. The star head tip is included on the screwdriver bit just I was not able to discover a screw in the box contents.

Every bit you can meet from the pictures, the overall installation looks quite nice despite a couple of minor hiccups. And I did swap out the faceplate to Satin Nickel to take pictures for this review. Overall, start to finish fourth dimension was approximately almost 25 minutes.

The ring App is fully featured and very easy to use

Remember the initial setup is washed prior to the actual installation. Once the Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus was installed, the regular usage for the review commenced. First thing right off the bat I noticed the crazy amount of notifications. These come up in pretty much instantaneously so I dived into the app settings to see if I could fine-tune the motion detection settings. I volition become to the details in a bit just first I am going to do a walkthrough of the Ring app.

Main menu lets y'all chop-chop toggle off alerts, move detection, and movement alerts. Y'all can also go direct to Alive View to see who is at the door. Pressing Live View shows who is at the door, flipping the phone to landscape fashion offers full-screen view for better clarity. Tapping Event History shows all the diverse things captured past the camera. You can filter each of the activities left to right from the diverse options including marking some using 'Star' button.

Next upward allow's meet what other options are available in guild to maximize the benefit of this smart security device. Style Settings lets you lot cull Domicile, Away, or Disarmed modes. If y'all have a lot of human foot traffic at your door – event, political party, article of furniture commitment, home repairs etc you tin can choose to snooze the motion detection from 30 minutes to 4 hours. The next item is Linked Chimes which is self explanatory. I linked the Doorbell iii Plus to my existing chime without any bug.

You can add more users via the Shared Users menu option. It is fairly cocky-explanatory every bit far every bit adding extra users is concerned.

Using the Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus

I have now been using the doorbell for a little over a week. The video and sound quality are absolutely stellar. I like the Pre-Roll feature quite a flake which is the main upgrade over the previous version. Pre-Scroll allows you to see an additional four seconds of video prior to a movement event alert being triggered which is its unique first-to-market characteristic. The Pre-Gyre video is in black and white and low resolution to preserve bandwidth/storage/battery life. But still, I think this is a great characteristic to take.

My front end door faces the street and on the beginning mean solar day of use, the number of movement notifications was absolutely bonkers. A quick trip to the Motion Settings menu was all it took to calm the notifications storm downwardly. Showtime off use the Motion Wizard and respond a few questions to help calibrate what motion detection yous are interested in. Second, utilize Motion Zone to narrow the detection zone with even more precision to become rid of street traffic notifications. And lastly, use Avant-garde Motion Detection to improve accurateness and trim empty footage from your recordings.

Side by side I recommend going to Smart Alerts and toggling on people only manner to further assistance reduce unnecessary motion detection notifications. One time these options are fine-tuned it is a good idea to toggle on rich notifications so you lot tin can actually see a preview of the person's face in the notification itself!

Afterwards getting all settings dialed in, I had zero unwanted motion detection alerts. Notifications on the app are on indicate and instantaneous. And because of rich notifications, you can become a preview of the video correct from the notification itself rather than having to open the app which is an amazing feature.

Of grade, you tin e'er tap the notification to go to Live view and accept a two-way conversation. And, if you miss the notification and tap it at a later time, you volition see the Pre-Roll footage along with the residual of the video clip. As far as audio is concerned, the two-way talk feature works merely similar a regular video conversation call and audio quality was excellent during my review fourth dimension.

The Ring app has a few other menu items to help you lot either navigate or use the device better. For case, Device Health shows Power, Network, Device MAC address, and Firmware data. You can besides check Ring Status and Device Health Report from this carte du jour. The last bill of fare left is the Aid Content where you lot tin browse tutorial videos and helpful articles.

Now that we have looked at the diverse options in the app it is time to find out how good the video capture really is. In summary, the pic quality in daylight is crisp, and it is piece of cake to see who is at the door especially delivery drivers. See an example below for yourself.

Dark video is blackness and white merely nonetheless provides reasonable clarity. In addition, the sound quality is still as good during the daytime with the HD color videos. Below you can run into an example screen grab from a nighttime time motion detection video clip.

In summary, my experience with the Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus after using information technology for over a week has been extremely positive. Specifically, I like that I can hear a physical chime instead of just relying on my smartphone. I besides love the Rich Notifications with the preview image and the Pre-Roll footage is an excellent addition to an already feature-rich device and app.

Band Video Doorbell 3 Plus is a recommended gadget this holiday season

Ring has improved on their electric current fix of rechargeable/hardwired doorbell series with the new Video Doorbell 3 Plus. It provides a lot of options for installation including customized faceplates. The app is very easy to use and is feature-rich and robust. Video and sound quality are fantabulous and the Pre-Roll feature is the icing on the cake. For these reasons, it earns our Editor's Choice recommendation for a smart security device.