In this weekly column, hosts Brandon Doyle, Doyle Real Estate Team with RE/MAX Results, and Colton Pratt, project manager, walk through smart-home products and showcase their capabilities while reviewing pros and cons.
When it comes to video doorbells, there are plenty of options available, ranging in price from $99 up to $249. Other important factors include ongoing subscription costs, local versus cloud based storage, video quality, available power supply and existing products you’d like to integrate with.
In this week’s video, we’ll compare six top brands to help you decide which video doorbell is right for you. But in summary, here’s how these products fare when pitted against one another.
Ring is the most well-known video doorbell brand. It’s available in both wired and battery-powered versions, and it integrates well with Amazon Echo devices and SmartThings.
If you’re looking for a more affordable alternative, Eufy is a solid choice with its 16 GB of local storage and comparable monthly fees. Remo+ RemoBell S Smart Video Doorbell Camera is the most affordable option at only $99. What’s more, it includes three days of rolling cloud storage for free.
If you’re already using other Google or Nest products, you may want to stick with their ecosystem. Although it’s more expensive and has a higher subscription cost, it does offer additional features such as familiar face detection.
There’s also another doorbell worth mentioning. Arlo is capable of 4K video and is a great addition if you’ve already got other Arlo wireless cameras. When paired with a BaseStation, it can record locally.
Lastly, GateLabs is the only smart lock with an included video doorbell. This is great for Airbnb hosts as it lets you create and edit access codes remotely. It would also work well for a condo building where you don’t traditionally have a doorbell.
For more details and comparison between Ring, Nest Hello, Arlo, Eufy, Remo+ and GateLabs, watch this week’s video.
Brandon Doyle is a Realtor at Doyle Real Estate Team — Re/Max Results in Minneapolis and co-author of Mindset, Methods & Metrics – Winning as a Modern Real Estate Agent. You can follow him on Twitter.