Ring’s flagship battery-powered video doorbell is 35% off for Labor Day

What’s up?

The flagship Ring Battery Doorbell Pro is 35% off until Labor Day and available for $150.

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ZDNET’s key findings

• Amazon recently launched a new Ring Battery Doorbell Pro for $230.
• The high-quality video doorbell is battery-operated, making it easy to install anywhere. It also has the pro features Ring is known for, such as bird’s eye views and 3D motion detection.
• My biggest issue with Ring is that you have to pay a subscription to access most of the device’s features, and that issue can’t be overcome with local storage options. I also wish this Battery Doorbell Pro had a 2K resolution instead of 1536p to justify the upgrade to “Pro.”

Ring has become the ultimate video doorbell brand. It’s like Kleenex is to tissues, Google is to search engines, and Band-Aid is to Band-Aids. In short, you can’t help but think of Ring when you hear about video doorbells.

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I don’t always recommend Ring products to everyone looking for a video doorbell or security camera for one simple reason: Most of the best features are tied to a subscription, and you can’t get around that by adding a separate hub or microSD card like you can with many other brands. However, many smart home and security enthusiasts prefer the convenience and security of a subscription.

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The Ring Battery Doorbell Pro is the company’s top battery-powered video doorbell, hence the name “Pro.” It’s the first battery-powered doorbell in Ring’s Pro line of devices, which stand out from other product lines with their sturdier construction, high-quality build, and additional features like a bird’s eye view and 3D motion detection.

After testing the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus recently I couldn’t spot any major differences right away. The two doorbell devices have some minor physical differences, but they’re as hard to find as a game where you can spot the differences.

Aside from the Doorbell Pro being 1mm taller than the Plus, both are the same width and thickness, and have an outer casing that appears to be made of the same plastic material. The Pro weighs about 8.5 ounces, while the Plus weighs about 8.2 ounces, a difference of less than an ounce.

The look of the camera is one of the only physical differences between the two video doorbell models. The Pro has a deep, dark bezel around the camera and a different set of lenses.

The Low Light Sight feature was my favorite feature when testing the Battery Doorbell Pro – a feature that only this video doorbell offers and helps you see more clearly in near-total darkness. This doorbell also features zonal infrared LEDs that help even out the image to compensate for over- and under-exposed video.

The different appearance of the cameras suggests that the Pro uses a slightly larger aperture. Amazon doesn’t specify the exact aperture, only pointing out that the Ring Battery Doorbell Pro has “premium image sensors.”

This feature—and the Battery Doorbell Pro’s video quality in general—was excellent. I have to admit that Ring’s video clips looked better than my 2K-resolution doorbell, although performance was largely similar in all other respects.

Also: How to extend the battery life of your smart doorbell in cold weather

Installing the Ring Battery Doorbell Pro is easy and doesn’t require any additional mounting plates to attach the doorbell to – probably one of my favorite features of the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus and Pro.

Since this Pro video doorbell has a removable battery, you install it by removing the faceplate and screwing the doorbell directly to your porch wall or door frame. When the battery needs charging, you can always remove it or swap it out for a fully charged one if you want to have a spare battery on hand.

In addition to Ring Protect Pro features like bird’s eye view, 3D motion detection, and pre-roll, the Ring Battery Doorbell Pro also supports Audio+ for enhanced two-way talk and dual-band Wi-Fi, meaning it can support both 2.4 and 5 GHz networks.

An interesting feature is the bird’s eye view setup. You use an overview map to delimit a surveillance area at a distance of up to 9 meters. This feature gives you an aerial map of the events around your home and allows you to see the path a person took when entering your property.

The 3D motion detection feature uses radar to detect motion in a customizable area you choose, reducing false alarms and providing a bird’s eye view.

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Essentially, these Pro-exclusive features enable advanced motion detection to reduce false alarms and provide more accurate notifications, giving you more details about what happened when someone enters your property. Ring hopes these features will help reduce the motion detection alerts you may receive when leaves fly past the doorbell.

And my testing suggests that these additional features work. I tested the Ring Battery Doorbell Pro for a few months and had no problems with false alarms or missed notifications. However, I did not have these problems with the Plus model or my Eufy Security E340 neither. While the bird’s eye view information was nice, I didn’t feel like I needed this feature, nor did I feel like it gave me much insight into individual video clips and motion events.

Buying advice from ZDNET

The Ring Battery Doorbell Pro is certainly the best battery-powered doorbell the company offers. It has most of the high-end features and its performance does not disappoint, especially with the current Labor Day deal.

However, it is more difficult to make recommendations when the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus already has many of the same features. Both devices offer 1536p resolution with full screen, intercom, person and package detection, a quick-change battery and color night vision.

I wish the Pro unit had an improved 2K resolution to justify the extra cost and as a bonus for its Pro name. There’s also the issue that you can’t get around a subscription fee. You shouldn’t buy a Ring Video Doorbell Pro unless you’re OK with always having to pay a subscription fee to access most features. I’m on a tight budget and want to save as much as possible, so I don’t want to spend $200 on a security camera and then pay a dollar amount every month to keep using it.