Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First off, I had the Ring Door Bell (non pro) prior to this. I have recently been seeing some negative reviews about this product and it's complexity of installation. The truth is, it installs the same way as every other doorbell with a camera in it. The Ring Pro and August doorbells need the existing 2 wires from your old doorbell. The Ring Doorbell (non pro) has the option to not be connected to a power source because it has an internal battery. I had the experience of having the Ring Doorbell wired and not wired, and of course, wired always offered the best experience due to convenience of not recharging the unit as well as more responsive with motion detection and chime response. Skybell HD From reading reviews in the past, the regular Skybell non HD was a miss due to many shortcomings with hardware and software. I did some research online prior to switching due to many advantages over the Ring, including the cost benefit of not paying $3 per month on cloud service. The Skybell HD does not require you to purchase a subscription based cloud service, however it only saves the last 7 days of recording. You do have the ability to save the recordings. It is all free, which made the biggest aspect of switching over to the Skybell HD. Installation Installation is similar to the Ring Doorbell I had. All I did was remove the old Ring and hooked up the mounting plate and installed the Skybell HD with mounting screw at the bottom. It took me only 10 minutes to install this. The hardest part was probably drilling 2 holes in the stucco for the mounting plate. The software setup was easier than the Ring doorbell. Setup requires you to connect to the Skybell HD wifi and setup an account, probably another 2 minutes. Software integration was actually easier on the Skybell due to not having to put your personal information such as address and credit card information. Actual Use Overall, very positive. I would say the Ring non pro has a better motion detection in terms of sensitivity, it would pick up trees moving and cars passing by. The Skybell HD, even with its most sensitive setting, would only notify me 3-5 times a day of those false detection. It will however, pick up people coming in to door just like the Ring doorbell, but as for picking up moving objects in the far background it would sometimes trigger but not as sensitive as Ring. I think this is a personal preference, they will both have no issue detecting who comes to the door. But I would rather choose the Skybell HD for not having as many false alarms. Comparing the saved images from both Ring and Skybell HD. Hands down, the Skybell HD is a lot better in terms of resolution, color and exposure. Some reviews online even prefer the Skybell HD in image quality over the Ring Pro. Daylight and nightime video quality knocks it out of the park. You also have the option to select video quality to 480p, 720p, 1080p right from the app, which will benefit those who have limited wifi signal. I would have to say this is probably the second best feature of this doorbell after the free cloud storage. Summary Pros: + No monthly fees, free cloud storage, free on demand viewing + Image Quality, smooth video recording + 480p/720p/1080p video quality selection for those who have low wifi signal + Live stream and talk + change LED color, volume of outdoor chime, sound of outdoor chime + turn on/off motion detection/sensitivity + App is reliable and constantly being updated + Price to features/performance value + Integration with Nest/Alexa etc.. Cons - Motion detection not as good as the competition - Cloud recording auto delete in 7 days but you CAN save the videos. I think this is the only way they are able to afford a free cloud storage service and I think this business model will trump paid cloud subscription over time when people realize. Who wants to pay $30 a year for a doorbell camera when you can have it for free? TLDR Reading reviews from earlier times, the hardware and software have come a long way and I would have to say this is one of the best purchases I've made in a while. If you are on the fence between this and Ring Doorbell (non pro), this would be the better choice. If this or the Ring Pro, I would still choose this, even though the motion detection is not as good because it will save $30 a year for the next X amount of years. Update 8/8/17: So far I have been very pleased with this product. It's not perfect but what motion detection unit is? There are way too many variables which can fool the camera. However, I only set the notification when the doorbell is pressed. This became one of the must-haves for a homeowner like me. No monthly fees rock, 7-day cloud recording is still enough, and still surviving the 100F+ heat. Skybell has now improved its motion detection. I had a family member buy one of these and was complaining because of the poor motion detection and possibly wanting to return the unit. I told him to wait for the firmware update because the unit will automatically update its firmware as long as the wifi connection is solid. And now he really likes it. Give this unit a chance to update to the new firmware before making a judgement. You may have to contact Skybell to confirm that you have the latest firmware.