First of your videos I have watched. Wow. Absolutely thorough and informative. Can't think of a single question I could have that you didn't answer. You do a great job.
I just got this for free when I purchased the Alarm System at Best Buy , it wasn't advertised from what I could see, but came up as free in my cart. That's a better deal than the free $99 indoor cam deal on the Simpli Safe website. I'd say that's a great deal.
I understand about getting the free doorbell cam from Best buy.....know that this is the first time I have known them to give anything free via 3rd party seller. Let me ask you this: did you purchase the new SS3 system at Best buy when they gave you that free doorbell cam? Or was it the SS1/SS2 model which are the original? Did you have to plug a key fob in the top of the base station to get it to work? If so, that explains it. The original systems do not and can not get firmware updates. If Simplisafe is allowing Best buy to do that, there is a reason. NOTHING is for free....especially when this ten yr old startup just got their first investor....for a billion dollars. They did not throw that kind of investment in it for nothing. That 4.99/month extra charge for the cloud storage? Look at this way....that is just for one device...that only records for 30 seconds if an event is triggered....that doorbell just shows the front door. Most burglars break in the back or the side or through a cellar or garage. And from my experience with former customers, most do not get all the sensors they should. For example, let's say you have a total of 12 to 20+ entry points on the first level....most folks are only going to by the entry sensors because they are only 14.99 each. When you start recommending motion sensors and glass break sensors, they start either A.) thinking that your trying to make a commission which they do not get, but most don't believe it so they take a pass, and B) if you do not recommend everything and the kitchen sink, the floor bosses start threatening everyone on the sales team with a demotion to the tech department or a straight out firing. Does not matter if your brand new. Don't take my word for it, call any of Boston's staffing agencies, they are all on Simplisafe's speed dial. When you have that much turnover, that means customer service is going to really piss you off whether it is a week from now, or two months from now. And when you have that much turnover that means your more likely to be given false information on the specs and the what-if scenarios. I find it rather interesting the comment about getting the brand new doorbell cam that they took for ever to design only to now let Best buy give them away for free....with an original model. The one thing I did not want to do was start recommending other products even though I'm well qualified to do so because we'll, why give any company free advertising ? At the same time I want to make sure everyone knows what they are getting into.
very good video. Thank you for displaying the night vision and regular vision with and without the out door light on. You're very good at making tutorial videos.
Seems like a good doorbell. I'm pretty happy with my Hello though especially because it records 24/7. The notification delay on motion has gotten better (About 5 seconds) and the push doorbell notification is basically instant and awesome that it not only rings my house chime but all my Google home speakers.
@@slimnieves No, it doesn't. I have a couple of Echos and haven't figured out a way to do it. Amazon did recently release the APIs to allow this to work but I doubt Google would ever update the Hello to work with competitors (Echo).
Really great review. You did an awesome job if explaining everything and showing the experience from all perspectives. This video answered all of my questions. Hopefully you are getting some kickback from Simplisafe for this video, since this is what ended up selling me on the camera.
Hey LifeHackster, Your video was well done. Everything you went through is just what I was looking for. I am about to install my Simply Safe doorbell camera. Thank you Spencer
Does the base station act as a chime also??? I kept hearing a chime after the ring in the video before it hit your phone??? Reason I ask is my house has wiring at the doorbell but I can't find a chime anywhere. I know the people that built it and it was long before wireless.
I just got the SimpliSafe security system and would love to add the doorbell. I just wish it didn't require me to have an existing doorbell, as I don't currently have one.
Thank you for the thorough explanation of this device. I ordered two doorbells to add to my existing SimpliSafe system. They will be arriving today and your video has prepared me for installation and setup, thank you.
Cool. There are already people asking if the doorbell will also chime simplisafe's base unit which I don't know the answer because I don't have their Alarm System. Please let me know if it does. I assume it will not though but I know that the doorbell will start recording when Simplisafe's alarm goes off.
I'll still go with the Ring Doorbell Pro because eventually if you want to expand and add more cameras and home alarm, Ring will be the most cost effective on their subscription which is only $10/month or $100/year.
Looks like a good doorbell and easy setup, but I think I will stick with my Ring doorbell Pro that is still trouble free for me. Thanks for the info. Don from Milwaukee
It is a pretty good doorbell...It follows more the "KISS" principle. No AI, no facial recognition, no fancy chimes and alerts. Just a good 'ole video doorbell...records and notified you quickly when there is motion and doobell press, plus good 2 way audio.
I haven't tested the Simplisafe Alarm but I can tell you that the Ring Alarm is cheaper in monitoring $10/month and also that includes the cloud recording access on their cameras.
Nichole.. If your lease says "No Hard Wired" anything to the home, best to ask first because if they do come by to inspect the home which is also stated in leases that they will do, and they see that, they can evict you for breach of contract. I am in the same situation BUT I did find on youtube last night a video / talk doorbell that does run on battery. Depending on how much traffic you have in front, depends on how often you have to charge the battery to it. Also, if someone takes the doorbell off, the alarm goes off. Wasn't that expensive either. I meet with the realtor tomorrow to ask if this could be changed on my lease if I agree to put things back the way I got them. I also want the 2 way talk motion detector / alarm flood lights for my front and back yard.
hmm needing to be wired is a deal breaker for me at least. Though i wonder what the heck happned to the blink doorbell/camera promised like a year ago lol.
I know. Blink has been advertising their doorbell but never did deliver. I am testing the Arlo add on doorbell (You will need their cameras) but it is battery powered. We will see.
With Nest Hello's delayed notification and long cool off period, I will definitely pick the Simplisafe. This doorbell cam is following a "KISS" principle. there is no need for facial recognition or AI ..just good old notification and recording when it senses motion. I haven't had any false alerts yet.
LifeHackster question on the reolink ! can't seem to get phone notification going on the reolink argues 2 ! tried different emails ! have hotmail.com for emails !
Same on mine as to email notifications. I couldn't get it to work. For push notification on your phone, you just need to turn on PIR sensor and push notification in the settings.
So far I like what I see, but had a question. Is there anyway that the notification tie into the Simplisafe Alarm State. For instance, if my alarm is Off, I only want doorbell press notifications, not motion. If the Alarm is set to Home/Away I want to get notifications from both.
How many seconds does Ring Pro start recording before motion? And how long are the Ring's vid clips? If one was looking at getting either Ring Alarm system or Simplisafe Alarm system which brands complete package with doorbell would you recommend?
Ring Pro also starts recording around 3 seconds before motion is detected. Clips are also 1 minute long. As to pricing, Ring wins because professional alarm monitoring and cloud access to unlimited cameras are only $10/month or $100/yr. Simplisafe is more expensive. I think their interactive monitoring is $25/month.
It's too bad SimpliSafe is taking so long to get to market with their components. I moved into my new house this past spring and started with the SimpliSafe security system but bought my Nest Hello since SS didn't have an available option. The video quality on my Hello looks as good during the day and better in the dark and the cloud storage I pay for is only $5 per month. Now the question becomes "Do I ditch my SimpliSafe security system for Nests or do I ditch my Hello for this one?".
I haven't checked Nest's security alarm system but I know they are a bit pricier. Overall, Nest products are more in the expensive side. A lot of people don't like the motion notification delays with the Nest cameras.
@@blondebadger0311 yes, about 4 seconds. You figure with everything connected to Wi-Fi, it would all be in real time. This is where Simplisafe cuts corners. Then again, they will also tell you all their equipment is made in the U.S.A. Yet, everything says made in China. The biggest challenge you will now find with Simplisafe is when something goes wrong with the technology and you are unable to figure it out on your own and you have to call the one and only call center in Boston, Mass. If you look on craigslist Boston jobs under customer service, you will see multiple ads with no name of Simplisafe but the job pays 15/hr and you don't need any higher education , yada yada yada, which means it attracts a very young, and inexperienced labor force excited by $15/hr. Simplisafe mainly uses local temp agencies to recruit prospects and sucker in unsuspecting , more educated and experienced candidates with empty promises of being promoted fast. Simplisafe starts with a pool of prospects, splits the group in two. By the fifth and final day of training they flunk out 75 percent of the class and the rest are put on the floor and then the 30 days of training, handled by a team lead and a team supervisor . The problem for you as a customer for them is because of the poor follow up training for new reps combined with a serious favoritism to issue along with the poor call center management, and the politics they all bring to the floor, it leaves for an unstable call center unless you are lucky to get one of the really good ones which are far and few between because they either get fed up and quit or they speak up and get literally set up to be fired. How many home security companies do you know that has 3 or 4 temp agencies on speed dial? Call center reps are penalized if you ask to speak with a supervisor.
Okay folks. I use to speak up for Simplisafe. I believed in them and their products. Then came reality. You get what you pay for. It will be fine if in a perfect world, everything goes off without a hitch and you never have an issue with connectivity, and that includes the new doorbell cam. However, where you may get screwed and seriously frustrated is their customer service reps. Of course, there are some really good ones like Khalil on the evening shift. But that is one out of 200-300 reps between 2 shifts. There is a great chance that due to the horrible training they receive from some of their leads and supervisors that, they may not give you accurate information or resolve your connection issues, and may tell you it's all set when it really is not. They close at midnight every night at their one and only call center located in Boston, Ma. So, if your on the west coast and shit hits the fan before midnight eastern time, and they the rep does not know what they are truly doing and tell you it is all resolved and it is not? Your gonna be unprotected for the whole night until they open at 9 a.m the next day. If you go on vacation and your base station stops working and can not bounce a signal back to a tower, than A) you will never know it while your gone and B) even if you have a presence of mind to check your app, unless you have someone that can get into your home for you to unscrew the base station to do a manual reset, your at the sole mercy of the technology. To my knowledge , if you lose connectivity, the base station is not designed to send you a heads up notification when the base station fails to send the tower a refresh signal so that the rep can see what's going on. Most importantly, I was shocked to find out Simplisafe is not registered with the Better Business Bureau or any respectable consumer protection agency. You know who else is not part of them? Cable and Cellphone Carriers like Metro PCS/TMobile, and basically any business that employs a cheap workforce where it should count like customer service. Good luck asking for a supervisor on sales. They leave their sales reps to literally hang out to dry. They are petrified of being on the butt end of a bad customer experience. And if you push the issue the supervisors then put a derogatory report on you for not being able to keep the customer out of their hair. One last thing. Look on Simplisafe website. Scroll all the way down to their Google reviews. Look at the 4.7 rating and all the nameless 5-star reviews. Now go on Google and actually Google Simplisafe reviews on Google. Tell me what you notice before the in actual star ratings and comments from real customers. They claim to have gotten so big without clever marketing. Now read the fine print under how they got their own numbers. They are aware I'm on to them. They now include Amazon reviews as part of Google's 4.7 stars on their site, as small print. See those new commercials? Notice they are still referencing CNETS award they gave Simplisafe ...from 2014! Nothing since. They also say 30,000 5-star ratings!...what they don't tell you is that it is out of 2 Million customers! I'm willing to bet atleast half of those 5-Star ratings were bought and paid for. They have an app for that too now . You get paid to give great meaningless reviews! I'm also willing to bet they have sold 2 Million units in ten years but a quarter of those customers have stopped the monitoring due to too many tech issues coupled with horrible customer service including actual supervisors leaving them on hold only to accidently get disconnected...and do not call back, especially if they decided your a bad person and especially if your from Red States. Did I mention that Simplisafe decided to cancel NRA discounts for NRA members? Before you say something mething stupid about that, you should know that those members also include our military and police, and every law-abiding citizen who bares arms. The crazy part is a good chunk of their customers are from red States. Talk about biting the hand that feeds them! And don't you dare sound angry when you call from help...do not question their intelligence because this call center full of millianals that might take that as you talking down to them because you can tell what color their skin is or because they are a female. NOT ALL, but they have quite a few bad apples and that includes certain middle management. They DO NOT OFFER Law Enforcement discounts, either. Nor discounts for any widows of fallen police officers, or fire and rescue. I am just explaining the extra stuff here that will only really make since to the current and former Simplisafe Customers. I, on the other hand, for the 44 days I was there, gave away as many free months of monitoring I could to help any customers who had to call back and got me on the line because they were never called back by other reps, supervisors, and at times were hung up on by both or left on hold for two hours. I became a Target after an audit of one of my calls listened to by either my 21-yr old supervisor who has serious maturity issues and actually swore at me and yelled at me in front of the whole call center for not apologising to her for getting caught in a serious thunder and lightening storm which caused me to be 3 minutes late. I literally was soaked all the way through with no change of clothes. I did not yell back , however I very firmly and quit clearly called her out by her name and asked her why she would talk to me, a 41-yr old who has otherwise treated her along with everyone else with respect, every day? If looks could kill! Then she squints and shrugs her shoulders at me and said she didn't care. From that point on it was just time. Even though I was so good at my job and the customers adored me! I took care of them. The other boss that was under her, was suppose to really train me. That stopped after made it clear I was a straight guy, I was pro-military, pro-law enforcement , and that customers came first and that I would never sweep any negative feedback about other reps and supervisor's. I took my customer service representative extremely serious! And according to them on my 44th day, when I thought I passed the 30-day probationary period because all my medical and dental insurance kicked in. All my new doctors and appts were all set. And I couldn't wait to buy my mom , who I have been a caretaker for, for the past 5 yrs, her very first 4k t.v and her very own laptop which I taught her how to use. On my 44th day, I get pulled into the review with the 21-yr old brat who thinks she knows it all at 21, the director of training , and the head of human resources, all by the way, share the same ideology and we'll, I am going to leave the rest up to you to figure out. The director of training couldn't even properly explain why I was being let go other than, " I don't think you fit into Simplisafe culture." Then she refused to explain what she meant and they just stared at me. She made a very feable attempt to list some silly things said during the audits of my calls to which they became obsessed with. One was my comment about agreeing with a Simplisafe customer about how Comcast is, in short. Another was about an example I gave a would be customer as to why or how he would benifit from having a webcam rolling in an unfinished house.. That was the day after they pulled me in for the Comcast thing. And they both happened in the same day! And mind you my first week on the floor! In my first two weeks they literally had given me a verbal, and a written warning on trumped up stuff that with anyone else, especially their own ppl , would have been chalked up to expected rookie mistakes that we're avoidable. I have zero call center experience. Zero sales experience. Nothing but security and exceptional customer service skills. Yet, they fired me because I was not like them in more ways than one. Not only was I an instant fan fav but had won the sales trophy of the week....in my first week....but did not get the trophy until one minute to close, on my third week. So I ask any of you not to make any conclusions about Simplisafe without doing your research. Without actually speaking to them. Try and get a feel for your first experience calling them. Ask lots of questions. Be specific! They do get better evaluations the longer they stay on each call. That's why you will hear them ask you for your email, even if it's one question. Middle management expects reps to stay on the phone for 30 minutes no matter what. Even if you only have a question. I would call quit a few times over the course of a week. I noticed that pattern with interested customers with multiple quotes. They are trying to figure out who's selling them short, and who's trying to jack up the total equipment cost. They do not make commission! But they get credit in the form of points on a metric system that's seriously flawed. Listen to your gut. If you have a bad experience and do not like how you were treated by the rep or that they were not very bright, demand to speak to a supervisor. And watch the games begin! Don't bother trying to call anyone in corporate. They do not have an office line. Everything is through email or snail mail. The call center floor manager is the highest you will get to. They are not allowed to give you anyone's name or number or email unless they decide your worthy of an actual call back.
Kelly Klinger, please read my very long but very honest feedback about Simplisafe products, and the 2 biggest issues you will ever have is customer service and connectivity issues stemming from the base station. Also,please be advised this doorbell cam was not suppose to be out anytime soon, as they continued to have glitches that their software engineers and developers who make at the very least, over $165 k a year, have not been able to solve. In my professional opinion as a security expert and computer networking student, the fact that this doorbell cam can not be configured to Alexa when the new SS3 system and the fact that there is a 3 to 4 second delay with the new doorbell cam even on the same wi-fi network, tells me they are cutting corners and costs, just to start making money back on the investment. I would hold off personally on your investment until all the bugs are patched.
Great video! Wish I could find someone that would review these products catering to or at least mentioning what product is best for those that want to avoid google/Facebook spying.
If you upgrade to interactive and you don't have any more SS cameras, then it will cost you 10 bucks more which is not cost effective. You can just pay the $5 bucks/month... But..if you go with the Ring Pro for 1 camera cloud access is only $3.00/month and if you also go with the Ring Alarm + Ring Pro and all additional Ring cameras for only $10/month or $100/year. Decisions decisions ;)
Yes and No. The doorbell will only record when there is motion and it doesn't record 24/7 so technically, it doesn't need WiFi to be on all the time but to get notifications and for the camera to record motion events, it will need WiFi.
LifeHackster But you need Wi-Fi in order for this thing to have a blue light on it? If it’s successfully connected, I assume, that’s when the bright blue light shows on the unit. Therefore, if your Internet is out and you are not home, then the doorbell not only doesn’t light up, telling burglars that it’s not working, but someone in the house wouldn’t even hear the doorbell ring? I’m assuming it rings the same way your old doorbell does if you hook it up that way, coming out through the box you have on your wall? So the “ding ding“ sound I heard when you rang the bell for the simply safe rings outside the house so the person outside hears it? Or like regular doorbells, it rings inside through the same time system that you had before you changed out to this unit? It’s very difficult to tell. If someone doesn’t have Internet, then you no longer have a functional basic doorbell, as it can’t possibly revert to a traditional doorbell in the absence of no Internet. That’s what’s preventing me from installing it, because I don’t know exactly what the pitfalls are should Internet go out, have a poor connection, etc., as that has happened to me quite a few times before AT&T had to come out to fix the issues on the pole outside. Also, if you’re not home and someone rings the doorbell and you’re not a full subscriber, and then no one answers, the burglars might assume you’re really not home if they’re familiar with these doorbells. And if there something wrong with your phone, or your battery is dead, then someone coming up to the house and ringing the doorbell will do absolutely nothing because you can’t hear a ding ding inside the house, only a text message? And how does the rest of the family know someone’s at the door ringing the bell if the only alerts on my cell phone and it’s in my room while I’m sleeping?
Juan Urban I’m been using the Skybell HD for 2yrs and I love it..Skybell doorbell cams don’t have a cool off period and of course the 7days off free cloud storage and 180degree fov...
footage looks way better than Wyze. I have the $25 Wyze cam and it looks like 25fps when you're lucky, but for example a car driving by might be 5 fps for a moment. The car will be in one spot and the next frame it's already 15 further than before.
Simplisafe doesn't really advertise this on their cameras but if you go to the doorbell page (BTW, it seems like this page is not linked yet to their main page) and scroll down to one of the pictures..there is an asterisk and in fine print - requires $4.99 plan or interactive monitoring. -> simplisafe.com/video-doorbell-pro
I bought Ring about two years ago, loved it until it lost wifi connection 7 months and will not work now! Also bought the useless Ring solar charger. Useless as tits on a boar hog. I loved the way Ring worked. When it worked! Simplisafe has a way to go, unless they’ve improved it since your review. Ako na lang.
Jason Todd ❌amazon reviews like google reviews are full of snott....not all but a lot. I start with 1 star reviews and notice a pattern of the same complaints / issues.
Also, SimpliSafe doesn't make this CLEAR and they should for their benefit and ours. IF you have interactive monitoring with SimpliSafe which most of us SS customers do they will include 10 cameras for free so you don't have to pay to subscribe each camera.
@@LifeHackster How much "cloud" storage is included (Time / Clips) also how may days are kept? We already have a SimpliSafe system -- we do have 2 blink XT cameras -- still waiting for the Outdoor Camera -- but may add a door bell in meantime
Great review. The absence of a 45 degree side wedge to angle the camera out from a wall perpendicular to the door or a wedge to mount in a corner is a real shame.
@@LifeHackster I also could benefit from the angle bracket, as a beta tester for the doorbell they sent me one but it doesn't fit the updated version of the doorbell. They said they don't offer one for the updated version.
Get a piece of scrap pressure treated or cedar 2x4.. angle either a jigsaw, circular saw, miter saw , or table saw to the desired angle and thickness that you need. Cut it to the required size and thickness to make a custom mount.
@@andrewb941 I'm sure that is what most people will do. The problem is the name of the product is SimpliSafe. If you have to jig your own bracket, it ain't simple. And Harry Homeowner may not have many of the tools needed.
I noticed that after install of mine I noticed a buzzing at my doorbell chime. Also you said power by ac? Could I use the ring pro plug in power adapter? Great review.
LifeHackster Do you have the chime connector from the Ring still installed? I just received my doorbell. I want to kind of make sure that I might not need a chime connector.
They ordered the chime connecter 3 time for me and it's on backorder with no ETA. I thought about also using the ring pro kit chime connecter. Does it do the same thing? I don't want to break to simplisafe doorbell. Thanks
@Good Steward they finally got them in stock about a month ago and I installed it. Buzzing went away. Since then I took it down and put my ring doorbell back I like that the Alexa devices act as a chime.
Kinda...but it will be staying in my front door for now. I like the 2 way audio and fast opening of the app which the Ring Pro kinda lacks. On video quality, I will give it to the Ring Pro.
Good review..to bad u have to pay for cloud storage..Does it only connect to 2.4ghz wifi? and can it connect to a hidden SSID..? The daytime video looks great,as good as my Skybell HD doorbell cam..but video at night did not look so great on the Simiplsafe doorbell..I don’t like the 5min cool down period for motion, thats crazy( my Skybell doesn’t have a cool down period )..can u adjust the video quality to 720p or 480p..the app seem to be pretty responsive with the notifications..👍👍👍.. Its great more companies are making video doorbell cams..I would like to see more color nightvision with them...
Yes, it only connects to a 2.4 GHz and I think it can connect to a hidden SSID. I think it copies what your phone uses for the WiFi. This doorbell follows the KISS principle and I hope it stays this way. No AI, no facial recognition, no fancy chimes just basic doorbell features and they are just doing it faster... I'm hoping though that they will have at least a setting for the cool off so that it is adjustable. With this one, I have to manually turn off the night vision to have color recording at night. With my Ring Pro, my porch light is enough to turn off the night vision and most of the time, I have color recording at night.
Seems like a good competitor. Still on the fence on which door bell security I should get... might as well wait until Black Friday / cyber Monday sales :P
Good video. Do all of these door bells come with a subscription cost? I get the feeling that you like the SimpliSafe bell a lot, but the Ring 2 may be better. Cost aside, which bell do YOU prefer?
Hi and great review. I have SS alarm original system this should work fine with original I see they have an updated system now. Would like to buy video doorbell but dont want to buy new SS system.
The compression almost makes it look closer to a 720p camera. The night vision using the IR sensor was rough. If you have a Simplisafe system though, it would be an easy choice. Nice to have another option and like someone else said, I was really looking forward to the Blink Doorbell that is still MIA nearly a year since announced.
Video quality is not as good as the Ring's or the Nest. I'll be comparing these doorbells soon. As to Blink, I lost hope on them in releasing a doorbell.
The motion detection doesn't work for crap. You'll get an alert every 10 seconds even if u block off every single square. Other than that it works fine as a doorbell and camera. Pisses me off that the motion detection app doesn't work.
U just said that this thing doesn't require power... But then at the same time, you are seen installing the thing to external power.... So, what is it?
Have you received the new ring stick up cam yet? I’m waiting on your review til I buy it haha. I’m deciding whether between the new stick up and the arlo pro 2..
My neighbor has this exact same setup, & we live in an apartment setting. Our living situation is quite close so it acts as a monitor, tracking everyone’s coming & goings. Kinda strange. There’s 8 apartments in our building so I know that that bad boy is hella busy. I see this as more of a homeowner type tool, or if U are renting a house. To each his own though. Good video nonetheless. 👍🏿
Some renters go above & beyond. Im a homeowner whos house sits 6 inches from the sidewalk. I have 8 old style cameras plus simplisafe cameras. I cant get my old camera box online. So yeah my section 8 neighbors are rather unhappy with it! But they aint on no deed. So it kinda blows for them. I dont like paying school tax for their slu**y daughters who aint leanin' nothin'. So it all works out!
It is decent. Not that great... it has something to do with their compression. I noticed that it is pretty quick in uploading footage which also translates to faster loading of the app.
LifeHackster I’m curious if companies will start to offer cloud based upscaling so that local networks aren’t strained, but you can still get great quality
I have to pay 30 per year to keep video for 60 days. If I don't pay.. it keeps NO video in storage. What are the fees for this.. how long do I have access to the video, what if I go without paying, do I also have no video storage?
Robert touroo I am installing my doorbell tomorrow. I called SimpliSafe for the chime connector just in case. It will be here in 3 to 5 days. Is the noise loud?
@@erich1979 no not loud but noticeable. They keep telling me 3-5 days also that was 2 week ago still on backorder. Thinking about sending it back and going with nest hello.
Robert touroo At least it’s not too loud. Hopefully I won’t get the buzzing. If I do, hopefully the connector will come soon. I don’t mind waiting a week or two. If you get yours soon, please let us know if the issue is fixed. :)
@@erich1979 yes I'll let you know if the status changes. Let me know if yours is buzzing. The video is amazing I like this one because there is no fisheye effect and it's quick loading time.
Robert touroo I installed the doorbell and it works great! There is a slight buzzing sound in the chime box. I am happy I called about the chime connector. When I logged into the site it does say on back order. The buzzing isn’t bad at all so I am okay with waiting it out for the connector. Hopefully it doesn’t take forever!
You use the same message every time you do one of these. "Can I see Lifehackster please?" "Oh he's not here right now can you come back later?". What about a knock knock joke, hahaha. "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" (with delay). "Interrupting Cow" "Interrupting Cow wh" "Moooooo". Hahaha. Seriously though, I got Arlo Pro 2, but I think I rather have a hardwired doorbell camera so I don't have to mount a camera on the front of my house by the door. I like Arlo because 7 days recording with no fee, but honestly I don't really need this as much for "security" as to check on packages being delivered, and keep an eye on the front and backyards. I thought Ring because it's ok, and they have that spot light I can replace my other motion light with, I looked into Kuna, but no doorbell, I am looking at Zmodo, but no spotlight (and Arlo 2's isn't as easy to hard wire as ring). However, Ring like others has a fee. Not going to break me, but it does add to the cost. So tough. What do you actually end up using MOST of the time? What's your favorite for system, quality, speed, and cost? I know tough question, but appreciate your feedback.
Lol. on the knock knock joke... I might try that next time. I use Ring cameras plus their alarm. I justified the cost of the subscription because with $100/yr., I also have the professional monitoring which is by far the cheapest alarm monitoring subscription that I know of.... then the camera's cloud recordings for unlimited number cameras...are included..which for me, I think of it as free.... My old alarm system costs me $40/month
@@LifeHackster I just purchased, as there was a deal with the Chime. I am getting the feeling it DOES have the least issues from things I've read online, but also because we getting the ring we're moving to an alexa based system at home so everything plays nice together. Someone said they can ask alexa to show the camera on the tv if you have the fire stick, and we are getting the Echo Show 2, so things will pop up there which is cool. Doing an independent test, as I had purchased Arlo, but I feel for my needs Ring would be better and enough, I found the ring rang through VERY quickly and came right up with video on my friends phone, whereas Arlo took a while to respond (when it did), and then took a lot longer to connect. This was with my friends' Ring 2 at my house on the same wifi, so I think a lot can be said for the app, and I think the doorbell pro will work even better since you can set motion zones, etc nicely, and hardwired. Thanks for your help and your reviews. Keep up the good work :)
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I just ordered the doorbell and cameras during the 60% off sale. This video will help as this will be my first video doorbell.
First of your videos I have watched. Wow. Absolutely thorough and informative. Can't think of a single question I could have that you didn't answer. You do a great job.
Thank You. I appreciate it.
I just got this for free when I purchased the Alarm System at Best Buy , it wasn't advertised from what I could see, but came up as free in my cart. That's a better deal than the free $99 indoor cam deal on the Simpli Safe website. I'd say that's a great deal.
That's a good deal. Best Buy has some good deals lately.
I understand about getting the free doorbell cam from Best buy.....know that this is the first time I have known them to give anything free via 3rd party seller. Let me ask you this: did you purchase the new SS3 system at Best buy when they gave you that free doorbell cam? Or was it the SS1/SS2 model which are the original? Did you have to plug a key fob in the top of the base station to get it to work? If so, that explains it. The original systems do not and can not get firmware updates. If Simplisafe is allowing Best buy to do that, there is a reason. NOTHING is for free....especially when this ten yr old startup just got their first investor....for a billion dollars. They did not throw that kind of investment in it for nothing. That 4.99/month extra charge for the cloud storage? Look at this way....that is just for one device...that only records for 30 seconds if an event is triggered....that doorbell just shows the front door. Most burglars break in the back or the side or through a cellar or garage. And from my experience with former customers, most do not get all the sensors they should. For example, let's say you have a total of 12 to 20+ entry points on the first level....most folks are only going to by the entry sensors because they are only 14.99 each. When you start recommending motion sensors and glass break sensors, they start either A.) thinking that your trying to make a commission which they do not get, but most don't believe it so they take a pass, and B) if you do not recommend everything and the kitchen sink, the floor bosses start threatening everyone on the sales team with a demotion to the tech department or a straight out firing. Does not matter if your brand new. Don't take my word for it, call any of Boston's staffing agencies, they are all on Simplisafe's speed dial. When you have that much turnover, that means customer service is going to really piss you off whether it is a week from now, or two months from now. And when you have that much turnover that means your more likely to be given false information on the specs and the what-if scenarios. I find it rather interesting the comment about getting the brand new doorbell cam that they took for ever to design only to now let Best buy give them away for free....with an original model. The one thing I did not want to do was start recommending other products even though I'm well qualified to do so because we'll, why give any company free advertising ? At the same time I want to make sure everyone knows what they are getting into.
very good video. Thank you for displaying the night vision and regular vision with and without the out door light on. You're very good at making tutorial videos.
Seems like a good doorbell. I'm pretty happy with my Hello though especially because it records 24/7. The notification delay on motion has gotten better (About 5 seconds) and the push doorbell notification is basically instant and awesome that it not only rings my house chime but all my Google home speakers.
EverythingEvo would you know if Nest Hello would send prompt alerts also to the Amazon echo aswell?
@@slimnieves No, it doesn't. I have a couple of Echos and haven't figured out a way to do it. Amazon did recently release the APIs to allow this to work but I doubt Google would ever update the Hello to work with competitors (Echo).
It is pretty decent. I will eventually do a comparison video on this and the Nest and also the Ring Pro.
Really great review. You did an awesome job if explaining everything and showing the experience from all perspectives. This video answered all of my questions. Hopefully you are getting some kickback from Simplisafe for this video, since this is what ended up selling me on the camera.
Thank You. I wish simplisafe will send my a check :)
hey, so was it any good? cant decide which brand of doorbell cam i want to get lol
Well done video tutorial. Was a great help getting my video doorbell up and running. Thanks
First video on this I watched. Very informative and concise. Thank you.
You are welcome.
Hey LifeHackster,
Your video was well done. Everything you went through is just what I was looking for. I am about to install my Simply Safe doorbell camera.
Thank you
Spencer
You are welcome
Excellent Job reviewing the Simplisafe Video doorbell....Thanks
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Just finished my install. thanks to your video it was simple. I really like it. Thank-you
You are welcome.
Does the base station act as a chime also??? I kept hearing a chime after the ring in the video before it hit your phone??? Reason I ask is my house has wiring at the doorbell but I can't find a chime anywhere. I know the people that built it and it was long before wireless.
Coins Books By Helen how is yours holding up since you’ve installed it?
I just got the SimpliSafe security system and would love to add the doorbell. I just wish it didn't require me to have an existing doorbell, as I don't currently have one.
Same here
Thank you for the thorough explanation of this device. I ordered two doorbells to add to my existing SimpliSafe system. They will be arriving today and your video has prepared me for installation and setup, thank you.
Cool. There are already people asking if the doorbell will also chime simplisafe's base unit which I don't know the answer because I don't have their Alarm System. Please let me know if it does. I assume it will not though but I know that the doorbell will start recording when Simplisafe's alarm goes off.
LifeHackster ,
No pushing the door bell does not activate the base station.
Thanks for the info.
This was such an informative video on the doorbell. Thank you so much!
Does the base station or siren act like a chime? Do I need to purchase a separate home chime?
I am also curious about this as our house doesn’t have wiring or a chime so I ama looking for alternatives.
Matt Zaiman yep, I’m in the same position. I haven’t heard anyone mention this yet in any review or forum.
I actually don't know because I don't have the simplisafe alarm system.
That’s ok, I figured. Can anyone who may have the simplisafe alarm system and the doorbell answer this?
Another user that have both doorbell and the alarm system said that "no" it doesn't chime on the base station.
hello I need help. do it need to be charged each period or it charge his self when is connected to the doorbell wires?
This needs to be constantly plugged in via the doorbell wires..
If you had to pick between all the video doorbells, which would you choose, i do not have any other security systems. thanks.
I'll still go with the Ring Doorbell Pro because eventually if you want to expand and add more cameras and home alarm, Ring will be the most cost effective on their subscription which is only $10/month or $100/year.
Great video. Good description done of the entire system.
Thank You.
Does the phone app kill your phone battery?
Does the door bell camera record and (store) footage and audio?
I have the app on our phones and it does not drain our battery. Facebook app does though so I deleted it...lol
Looks like a good doorbell and easy setup, but I think I will stick with my Ring doorbell Pro that is still trouble free for me.
Thanks for the info.
Don from Milwaukee
It is a pretty good doorbell...It follows more the "KISS" principle. No AI, no facial recognition, no fancy chimes and alerts. Just a good 'ole video doorbell...records and notified you quickly when there is motion and doobell press, plus good 2 way audio.
Bra, you're so Filipino. Represent!
Rex navarette broh lol. Theres pinoy and then theres hellllla pinoy bruuuh
Which one is better simplisafe or ring alarm security? Can do video comparison between simplisafe or ring security alarm please.
Thank you for the video! You did an awesome job with this review. Excited to install mine now!
You are welcome.
Joe w how are you liking yours? Did it install easily? I don’t like the lack of Google Assistant integration, but it looks good otherwise.
What is the micro USB port for on the back of the doorbell for?
Robert touroo I’m really hoping its to charge an internal battery as they advertised at CES.
I think it is to power up the camera also or to charge the built in battery. I haven't seen any documentation for it.
So in the future it could run off battery? That would be great they would have to sell a chime then.
They might have a plan to run it on a battery in future.
@@basselassaad1272 that would be nice since they can't seem to get the chime connecter sent out, and make the base unit a chime.
I lost the security screwdriver. What size is it and any idea where I can get one
It is a T4 torx screw driver. You can go to your local Walmart and get a set of mini torx drivers or amzn.to/2Ln8bDU
Thanks for the review. Very well done. I have a SimpliSafe alarm system and am thinking about adding this.
Cool. Thanks for the compliment.
Thanks for the video! Sold me on this one :)
Great instructional video! Have you done one on SimpliSafe one wireless camera? Why does camera only work on 2g wireless??? Thanks.
I haven't checked out other Simplisafe cameras. This doorbell camera only work with 2.4 GHz and I don't know what their reasoning is.
Have they rolled out that image classification feature yet?
I'm not sure. I'll check it out.
Very helpful and detailed look at every aspect of the system.
Thank you.
Does the camera still work if you don’t use the doorbell
Yes..
Real good real-time review Thanks and keep us updated
You are welcome.
Have you ever made a video on their simplisafe outdoor camera??
How can I get the black? And is it possible to record the doorbell footage to your surveillance systems NVR?
Simplisafe now has a angle mount kit available to do left or right and they send it for free.
LifeHackster, between the ring system and SimpliSafe, which would you recommend?
I haven't tested the Simplisafe Alarm but I can tell you that the Ring Alarm is cheaper in monitoring $10/month and also that includes the cloud recording access on their cameras.
LifeHackster Thanks for the reply, I enjoy your videos. They are very detailed and helpful.
Fantastic review! Clear, concise, and informative. Nicely done! Answered ally questions.
I installed this doorbell and it works great, but my doorbell chime has a constant humming sound now. How do you fix that?
Can you do a review on the simplisafe outdoor camera
Does this work with the original SimpliSafe system?
I'm not sure if they have fully integrated it with their alarm system. It works as a stand alone video doorbell though.
Helpful video! Can you make any recommendations for installing this on a rental home?
You can, you just need to swap your existing doorbell..
Nichole.. If your lease says "No Hard Wired" anything to the home, best to ask first because if they do come by to inspect the home which is also stated in leases that they will do, and they see that, they can evict you for breach of contract. I am in the same situation BUT I did find on youtube last night a video / talk doorbell that does run on battery. Depending on how much traffic you have in front, depends on how often you have to charge the battery to it. Also, if someone takes the doorbell off, the alarm goes off. Wasn't that expensive either. I meet with the realtor tomorrow to ask if this could be changed on my lease if I agree to put things back the way I got them. I also want the 2 way talk motion detector / alarm flood lights for my front and back yard.
hmm needing to be wired is a deal breaker for me at least. Though i wonder what the heck happned to the blink doorbell/camera promised like a year ago lol.
I know. Blink has been advertising their doorbell but never did deliver. I am testing the Arlo add on doorbell (You will need their cameras) but it is battery powered. We will see.
I too was waiting for the Blink doorbell, but I gave up on them since they were bought out by Amazon and never delivered on their promise.
How is this compared to the Nest Hello? Besides constant recording that is. My Hello seems to be hit or miss.
With Nest Hello's delayed notification and long cool off period, I will definitely pick the Simplisafe. This doorbell cam is following a "KISS" principle. there is no need for facial recognition or AI ..just good old notification and recording when it senses motion. I haven't had any false alerts yet.
do u need to shut the electric breaker off when wiring it up ?
Yes, just for safety...
LifeHackster question on the reolink ! can't seem to get phone notification going on the reolink argues 2 ! tried different emails ! have hotmail.com for emails !
Same on mine as to email notifications. I couldn't get it to work. For push notification on your phone, you just need to turn on PIR sensor and push notification in the settings.
LifeHackster I have a arlo overlooking the front also so I'm getting alerts that way I'm covered
So far I like what I see, but had a question. Is there anyway that the notification tie into the Simplisafe Alarm State. For instance, if my alarm is Off, I only want doorbell press notifications, not motion. If the Alarm is set to Home/Away I want to get notifications from both.
I'm not sure because I don't have their Alarm system. What I know is that the doorbell will start recording when the alarm goes off.
How many seconds does Ring Pro start recording before motion? And how long are the Ring's vid clips? If one was looking at getting either Ring Alarm system or Simplisafe Alarm system which brands complete package with doorbell would you recommend?
Ring Pro also starts recording around 3 seconds before motion is detected. Clips are also 1 minute long. As to pricing, Ring wins because professional alarm monitoring and cloud access to unlimited cameras are only $10/month or $100/yr. Simplisafe is more expensive. I think their interactive monitoring is $25/month.
@@LifeHackster thanks. So then do you feel the more modern design and extra features of Simplisafe is worth the extra $15 a month?
It's too bad SimpliSafe is taking so long to get to market with their components. I moved into my new house this past spring and started with the SimpliSafe security system but bought my Nest Hello since SS didn't have an available option. The video quality on my Hello looks as good during the day and better in the dark and the cloud storage I pay for is only $5 per month. Now the question becomes "Do I ditch my SimpliSafe security system for Nests or do I ditch my Hello for this one?".
I haven't checked Nest's security alarm system but I know they are a bit pricier. Overall, Nest products are more in the expensive side. A lot of people don't like the motion notification delays with the Nest cameras.
So there's less of a delay with SimpliSafes model/service?
@@blondebadger0311 yes, about 4 seconds. You figure with everything connected to Wi-Fi, it would all be in real time. This is where Simplisafe cuts corners. Then again, they will also tell you all their equipment is made in the U.S.A. Yet, everything says made in China. The biggest challenge you will now find with Simplisafe is when something goes wrong with the technology and you are unable to figure it out on your own and you have to call the one and only call center in Boston, Mass. If you look on craigslist Boston jobs under customer service, you will see multiple ads with no name of Simplisafe but the job pays 15/hr and you don't need any higher education , yada yada yada, which means it attracts a very young, and inexperienced labor force excited by $15/hr. Simplisafe mainly uses local temp agencies to recruit prospects and sucker in unsuspecting , more educated and experienced candidates with empty promises of being promoted fast. Simplisafe starts with a pool of prospects, splits the group in two. By the fifth and final day of training they flunk out 75 percent of the class and the rest are put on the floor and then the 30 days of training, handled by a team lead and a team supervisor . The problem for you as a customer for them is because of the poor follow up training for new reps combined with a serious favoritism to issue along with the poor call center management, and the politics they all bring to the floor, it leaves for an unstable call center unless you are lucky to get one of the really good ones which are far and few between because they either get fed up and quit or they speak up and get literally set up to be fired. How many home security companies do you know that has 3 or 4 temp agencies on speed dial? Call center reps are penalized if you ask to speak with a supervisor.
Okay folks. I use to speak up for Simplisafe. I believed in them and their products. Then came reality. You get what you pay for. It will be fine if in a perfect world, everything goes off without a hitch and you never have an issue with connectivity, and that includes the new doorbell cam. However, where you may get screwed and seriously frustrated is their customer service reps. Of course, there are some really good ones like Khalil on the evening shift. But that is one out of 200-300 reps between 2 shifts. There is a great chance that due to the horrible training they receive from some of their leads and supervisors that, they may not give you accurate information or resolve your connection issues, and may tell you it's all set when it really is not. They close at midnight every night at their one and only call center located in Boston, Ma. So, if your on the west coast and shit hits the fan before midnight eastern time, and they the rep does not know what they are truly doing and tell you it is all resolved and it is not? Your gonna be unprotected for the whole night until they open at 9 a.m the next day. If you go on vacation and your base station stops working and can not bounce a signal back to a tower, than A) you will never know it while your gone and B) even if you have a presence of mind to check your app, unless you have someone that can get into your home for you to unscrew the base station to do a manual reset, your at the sole mercy of the technology. To my knowledge , if you lose connectivity, the base station is not designed to send you a heads up notification when the base station fails to send the tower a refresh signal so that the rep can see what's going on. Most importantly, I was shocked to find out Simplisafe is not registered with the Better Business Bureau or any respectable consumer protection agency. You know who else is not part of them? Cable and Cellphone Carriers like Metro PCS/TMobile, and basically any business that employs a cheap workforce where it should count like customer service. Good luck asking for a supervisor on sales. They leave their sales reps to literally hang out to dry. They are petrified of being on the butt end of a bad customer experience. And if you push the issue the supervisors then put a derogatory report on you for not being able to keep the customer out of their hair. One last thing. Look on Simplisafe website. Scroll all the way down to their Google reviews. Look at the 4.7 rating and all the nameless 5-star reviews. Now go on Google and actually Google Simplisafe reviews on Google. Tell me what you notice before the in actual star ratings and comments from real customers. They claim to have gotten so big without clever marketing. Now read the fine print under how they got their own numbers. They are aware I'm on to them. They now include Amazon reviews as part of Google's 4.7 stars on their site, as small print. See those new commercials? Notice they are still referencing CNETS award they gave Simplisafe ...from 2014! Nothing since. They also say 30,000 5-star ratings!...what they don't tell you is that it is out of 2 Million customers! I'm willing to bet atleast half of those 5-Star ratings were bought and paid for. They have an app for that too now . You get paid to give great meaningless reviews! I'm also willing to bet they have sold 2 Million units in ten years but a quarter of those customers have stopped the monitoring due to too many tech issues coupled with horrible customer service including actual supervisors leaving them on hold only to accidently get disconnected...and do not call back, especially if they decided your a bad person and especially if your from Red States. Did I mention that Simplisafe decided to cancel NRA discounts for NRA members? Before you say something mething stupid about that, you should know that those members also include our military and police, and every law-abiding citizen who bares arms. The crazy part is a good chunk of their customers are from red States. Talk about biting the hand that feeds them! And don't you dare sound angry when you call from help...do not question their intelligence because this call center full of millianals that might take that as you talking down to them because you can tell what color their skin is or because they are a female. NOT ALL, but they have quite a few bad apples and that includes certain middle management. They DO NOT OFFER Law Enforcement discounts, either. Nor discounts for any widows of fallen police officers, or fire and rescue. I am just explaining the extra stuff here that will only really make since to the current and former Simplisafe Customers. I, on the other hand, for the 44 days I was there, gave away as many free months of monitoring I could to help any customers who had to call back and got me on the line because they were never called back by other reps, supervisors, and at times were hung up on by both or left on hold for two hours. I became a Target after an audit of one of my calls listened to by either my 21-yr old supervisor who has serious maturity issues and actually swore at me and yelled at me in front of the whole call center for not apologising to her for getting caught in a serious thunder and lightening storm which caused me to be 3 minutes late. I literally was soaked all the way through with no change of clothes. I did not yell back , however I very firmly and quit clearly called her out by her name and asked her why she would talk to me, a 41-yr old who has otherwise treated her along with everyone else with respect, every day? If looks could kill! Then she squints and shrugs her shoulders at me and said she didn't care. From that point on it was just time. Even though I was so good at my job and the customers adored me! I took care of them. The other boss that was under her, was suppose to really train me. That stopped after made it clear I was a straight guy, I was pro-military, pro-law enforcement , and that customers came first and that I would never sweep any negative feedback about other reps and supervisor's. I took my customer service representative extremely serious! And according to them on my 44th day, when I thought I passed the 30-day probationary period because all my medical and dental insurance kicked in. All my new doctors and appts were all set. And I couldn't wait to buy my mom , who I have been a caretaker for, for the past 5 yrs, her very first 4k t.v and her very own laptop which I taught her how to use. On my 44th day, I get pulled into the review with the 21-yr old brat who thinks she knows it all at 21, the director of training , and the head of human resources, all by the way, share the same ideology and we'll, I am going to leave the rest up to you to figure out. The director of training couldn't even properly explain why I was being let go other than, " I don't think you fit into Simplisafe culture." Then she refused to explain what she meant and they just stared at me. She made a very feable attempt to list some silly things said during the audits of my calls to which they became obsessed with. One was my comment about agreeing with a Simplisafe customer about how Comcast is, in short. Another was about an example I gave a would be customer as to why or how he would benifit from having a webcam rolling in an unfinished house.. That was the day after they pulled me in for the Comcast thing. And they both happened in the same day! And mind you my first week on the floor! In my first two weeks they literally had given me a verbal, and a written warning on trumped up stuff that with anyone else, especially their own ppl , would have been chalked up to expected rookie mistakes that we're avoidable. I have zero call center experience. Zero sales experience. Nothing but security and exceptional customer service skills. Yet, they fired me because I was not like them in more ways than one. Not only was I an instant fan fav but had won the sales trophy of the week....in my first week....but did not get the trophy until one minute to close, on my third week. So I ask any of you not to make any conclusions about Simplisafe without doing your research. Without actually speaking to them. Try and get a feel for your first experience calling them. Ask lots of questions. Be specific! They do get better evaluations the longer they stay on each call. That's why you will hear them ask you for your email, even if it's one question. Middle management expects reps to stay on the phone for 30 minutes no matter what. Even if you only have a question. I would call quit a few times over the course of a week. I noticed that pattern with interested customers with multiple quotes. They are trying to figure out who's selling them short, and who's trying to jack up the total equipment cost. They do not make commission! But they get credit in the form of points on a metric system that's seriously flawed. Listen to your gut. If you have a bad experience and do not like how you were treated by the rep or that they were not very bright, demand to speak to a supervisor. And watch the games begin! Don't bother trying to call anyone in corporate. They do not have an office line. Everything is through email or snail mail. The call center floor manager is the highest you will get to. They are not allowed to give you anyone's name or number or email unless they decide your worthy of an actual call back.
Kelly Klinger, please read my very long but very honest feedback about Simplisafe products, and the 2 biggest issues you will ever have is customer service and connectivity issues stemming from the base station. Also,please be advised this doorbell cam was not suppose to be out anytime soon, as they continued to have glitches that their software engineers and developers who make at the very least, over $165 k a year, have not been able to solve. In my professional opinion as a security expert and computer networking student, the fact that this doorbell cam can not be configured to Alexa when the new SS3 system and the fact that there is a 3 to 4 second delay with the new doorbell cam even on the same wi-fi network, tells me they are cutting corners and costs, just to start making money back on the investment. I would hold off personally on your investment until all the bugs are patched.
Great video! Wish I could find someone that would review these products catering to or at least mentioning what product is best for those that want to avoid google/Facebook spying.
right now I have SS standard monitor plan($14.99), should I upgrade to interactive plan($24.99) or should I go for the Ring pro? thanks
If you upgrade to interactive and you don't have any more SS cameras, then it will cost you 10 bucks more which is not cost effective. You can just pay the $5 bucks/month... But..if you go with the Ring Pro for 1 camera cloud access is only $3.00/month and if you also go with the Ring Alarm + Ring Pro and all additional Ring cameras for only $10/month or $100/year. Decisions decisions ;)
LifeHackster thanks.
My only grip with SS is that as far as I know, you must have the $25/month monitoring package to use their phone app.
Hey @LifeHackster I bet this was made by Nest it almost looks alike! Would you get it over the Nest Hello?
I would get it over the Nest Hello...just because of Nest's notification delays. But, the Nest Hello is more well built though.
@@LifeHackster I bet the face recognition software is causing the delay. A feature I don't want anyway.
Hello, thank you for sharing the video. My question, do you need your own WIFI on 24hrs/7days/365 for this thing to work?
Yes and No. The doorbell will only record when there is motion and it doesn't record 24/7 so technically, it doesn't need WiFi to be on all the time but to get notifications and for the camera to record motion events, it will need WiFi.
+LifeHackster thank you!
LifeHackster But you need Wi-Fi in order for this thing to have a blue light on it? If it’s successfully connected, I assume, that’s when the bright blue light shows on the unit. Therefore, if your Internet is out and you are not home, then the doorbell not only doesn’t light up, telling burglars that it’s not working, but someone in the house wouldn’t even hear the doorbell ring? I’m assuming it rings the same way your old doorbell does if you hook it up that way, coming out through the box you have on your wall? So the “ding ding“ sound I heard when you rang the bell for the simply safe rings outside the house so the person outside hears it? Or like regular doorbells, it rings inside through the same time system that you had before you changed out to this unit? It’s very difficult to tell. If someone doesn’t have Internet, then you no longer have a functional basic doorbell, as it can’t possibly revert to a traditional doorbell in the absence of no Internet. That’s what’s preventing me from installing it, because I don’t know exactly what the pitfalls are should Internet go out, have a poor connection, etc., as that has happened to me quite a few times before AT&T had to come out to fix the issues on the pole outside. Also, if you’re not home and someone rings the doorbell and you’re not a full subscriber, and then no one answers, the burglars might assume you’re really not home if they’re familiar with these doorbells. And if there something wrong with your phone, or your battery is dead, then someone coming up to the house and ringing the doorbell will do absolutely nothing because you can’t hear a ding ding inside the house, only a text message? And how does the rest of the family know someone’s at the door ringing the bell if the only alerts on my cell phone and it’s in my room while I’m sleeping?
Have you done a review on the SkyBell Trim Plus doorbell? I have it and have been very satisfied with it.
Juan Urban
I’m been using the Skybell HD for 2yrs and I love it..Skybell doorbell cams don’t have a cool off period and of course the 7days off free cloud storage and 180degree fov...
I haven't and whenever they release a new version, just let me know and I'll check it out.
Can this send video feed to a Google Home Hub?
I don’t think the doorbell is compatible.
@@LifeHackster Thanks! talked to SImpliSafe and they don't support it for any of their cameras and it doesn't sound like they will either.
Have you bought the arlo Audio doorbell yet? It’s not for sale on best-buy for 80 dollars, looking forward to a review.
Yes and I already posted my review.
footage looks way better than Wyze. I have the $25 Wyze cam and it looks like 25fps when you're lucky, but for example a car driving by might be 5 fps for a moment. The car will be in one spot and the next frame it's already 15 further than before.
Is there a disclosure that cloud storage is free for interactive subscribers? I can't find it anywhere on their website.
Simplisafe doesn't really advertise this on their cameras but if you go to the doorbell page (BTW, it seems like this page is not linked yet to their main page) and scroll down to one of the pictures..there is an asterisk and in fine print - requires $4.99 plan or interactive monitoring. -> simplisafe.com/video-doorbell-pro
I bought Ring about two years ago, loved it until it lost wifi connection 7 months and will not work now! Also bought the useless Ring solar charger. Useless as tits on a boar hog. I loved the way Ring worked. When it worked! Simplisafe has a way to go, unless they’ve improved it since your review. Ako na lang.
Same thing happened to me with the ring, the solar thing is a waste of money. It does not recharge at all.
Elizabeth Martinez I was just about to by the solar charger. It has amazing reviews on Amazon. Is it really that bad?
Jason Todd ❌amazon reviews like google reviews are full of snott....not all but a lot. I start with 1 star reviews and notice a pattern of the same complaints / issues.
@@juliuscaesar8801 Exactly! 1 star reviews expose the problems those crooks try to hide at those companies
Very good video!! Thanks!!
You are welcome
What if you don’t have a doorbell prior to install, can this ring to SimpliSafe alarm base? @LifeHackster
I'm not sure because I don't have the Simplisafe alarm.
Also, SimpliSafe doesn't make this CLEAR and they should for their benefit and ours. IF you have interactive monitoring with SimpliSafe which most of us SS customers do they will include 10 cameras for free so you don't have to pay to subscribe each camera.
I know. They have more information about this. I didn't know that it is only good for 10 cameras.
@@LifeHackster How much "cloud" storage is included (Time / Clips) also how may days are kept? We already have a SimpliSafe system -- we do have 2 blink XT cameras -- still waiting for the Outdoor Camera -- but may add a door bell in meantime
Great review. The absence of a 45 degree side wedge to angle the camera out from a wall perpendicular to the door or a wedge to mount in a corner is a real shame.
I know, they should have included it together with their tilt wedge.
@@LifeHackster I also could benefit from the angle bracket, as a beta tester for the doorbell they sent me one but it doesn't fit the updated version of the doorbell. They said they don't offer one for the updated version.
Get a piece of scrap pressure treated or cedar 2x4.. angle either a jigsaw, circular saw, miter saw , or table saw to the desired angle and thickness that you need. Cut it to the required size and thickness to make a custom mount.
@@andrewb941 I'm sure that is what most people will do. The problem is the name of the product is SimpliSafe. If you have to jig your own bracket, it ain't simple. And Harry Homeowner may not have many of the tools needed.
Hey Gary I found someone selling it on eBay if you're interested: www.ebay.com/itm/143203605748
Very well done. Nice job, thank you!
I noticed that after install of mine I noticed a buzzing at my doorbell chime. Also you said power by ac? Could I use the ring pro plug in power adapter? Great review.
I haven't noticed any issues on mine. Yes, you can use an AC power adapter supposedly 8-24 volts...
I called them they are sending me a chime connecter that will stop the buzzing.
LifeHackster Do you have the chime connector from the Ring still installed? I just received my doorbell. I want to kind of make sure that I might not need a chime connector.
They ordered the chime connecter 3 time for me and it's on backorder with no ETA. I thought about also using the ring pro kit chime connecter. Does it do the same thing? I don't want to break to simplisafe doorbell. Thanks
@Good Steward they finally got them in stock about a month ago and I installed it. Buzzing went away. Since then I took it down and put my ring doorbell back I like that the Alexa devices act as a chime.
I dont have an existing. Doorbell....can i buy wirelesss door chime???
Got one for daughters new house. But, there is no doorbell 😡. What house has no doorbell?
I know. There should be a wiring at least.
Great review, thank you!
You are welcome.
Is there a secret to getting the setting screw in the bottom of the camera?! I can’t get mine in for the life of me!
It can be frustrating. I dropped mine a few times when screwing it in. I place the security screw first on the torx driver then try screwing it in.
The set screw uses a TORX head screw driver, not Phillips or straight slot. There was a small TORX screwdriver with my Simpli-Safe video door bell.
Can you download app on two phones?
Yes you can.
Do I need to paid to get notifications??
Excellant review!
Thank You.
Which one do you recommend?
Is it too early to have a preference between this and the ring pro?
Kinda...but it will be staying in my front door for now. I like the 2 way audio and fast opening of the app which the Ring Pro kinda lacks. On video quality, I will give it to the Ring Pro.
Good review..to bad u have to pay for cloud storage..Does it only connect to 2.4ghz wifi? and can it connect to a hidden SSID..?
The daytime video looks great,as good as my Skybell HD doorbell cam..but video at night did not look so great on the Simiplsafe doorbell..I don’t like the 5min cool down period for motion, thats crazy( my Skybell doesn’t have a cool down period )..can u adjust the video quality to 720p or 480p..the app seem to be pretty responsive with the notifications..👍👍👍..
Its great more companies are making video doorbell cams..I would like to see more color nightvision with them...
Yes, it only connects to a 2.4 GHz and I think it can connect to a hidden SSID. I think it copies what your phone uses for the WiFi. This doorbell follows the KISS principle and I hope it stays this way. No AI, no facial recognition, no fancy chimes just basic doorbell features and they are just doing it faster... I'm hoping though that they will have at least a setting for the cool off so that it is adjustable. With this one, I have to manually turn off the night vision to have color recording at night. With my Ring Pro, my porch light is enough to turn off the night vision and most of the time, I have color recording at night.
Excellent! Thanks!
You are welcome.
Great Video . Covers everything and tells Pro and Con. The 1 question can yuo use just the camera anytime to check front of home.
Yes, you can access and check the camera via live view.
Seems like a good competitor. Still on the fence on which door bell security I should get... might as well wait until Black Friday / cyber Monday sales :P
Oh yeah, there will be a lot of tech sales next month...
is it possible to not pay for a plan and just use the live function?
Yes. You can use the live view function without the subscription.
Good video. Do all of these door bells come with a subscription cost? I get the feeling that you like the SimpliSafe bell a lot, but the Ring 2 may be better. Cost aside, which bell do YOU prefer?
Hi and great review. I have SS alarm original system this should work fine with original I see they have an updated system now. Would like to buy video doorbell but dont want to buy new SS system.
This should work with their original system as long as you are subscribe to their interactive monitoring plan, then the $5.00/month fee is waived.
The compression almost makes it look closer to a 720p camera. The night vision using the IR sensor was rough. If you have a Simplisafe system though, it would be an easy choice. Nice to have another option and like someone else said, I was really looking forward to the Blink Doorbell that is still MIA nearly a year since announced.
Video quality is not as good as the Ring's or the Nest. I'll be comparing these doorbells soon. As to Blink, I lost hope on them in releasing a doorbell.
Thank you great help.
Can me and my wife have it on our phones at the same times?
Yes
Recording looks much better than my ring pro.
I'll be comparing both of them pretty soon.
The motion detection doesn't work for crap. You'll get an alert every 10 seconds even if u block off every single square. Other than that it works fine as a doorbell and camera. Pisses me off that the motion detection app doesn't work.
Looks like you didn’t click the face plate all the way on at the beginning
I might have .. :)
U just said that this thing doesn't require power... But then at the same time, you are seen installing the thing to external power.... So, what is it?
Can you do a ring vs simplisafe?
Oh I’m dumb nvm lul
I can’t set mine up.. it just flashes a yellow light and won’t go from there.. the white light never appears to set up on my phone. Ugh
Neftaly Duran me as well any fix ?
Have you received the new ring stick up cam yet? I’m waiting on your review til I buy it haha. I’m deciding whether between the new stick up and the arlo pro 2..
Got my review up. I will also review the battery version of it when it comes out and that will be a good camera to compare with the Arlo's.
My neighbor has this exact same setup, & we live in an apartment setting. Our living situation is quite close so it acts as a monitor, tracking everyone’s coming & goings. Kinda strange. There’s 8 apartments in our building so I know that that bad boy is hella busy. I see this as more of a homeowner type tool, or if U are renting a house. To each his own though. Good video nonetheless. 👍🏿
Some renters go above & beyond. Im a homeowner whos house sits 6 inches from the sidewalk. I have 8 old style cameras plus simplisafe cameras. I cant get my old camera box online. So yeah my section 8 neighbors are rather unhappy with it! But they aint on no deed. So it kinda blows for them. I dont like paying school tax for their slu**y daughters who aint leanin' nothin'. So it all works out!
7:30 - *requires a subscription to record? No thank you.* Dahua DB11 is a better choice if you want free recording.
can you at least use the live function and not pay for a plan?
Do we know the temperature abilities of this doorbell?
I haven't seen anything at their website regarding temp. range. They do need to put a specs sheet information.
Thanks, good info. Too many doorbell holes...#FirstWorldProblems :)
lol... I know.
Video quality is not good. Thanks for the review!
It is decent. Not that great... it has something to do with their compression. I noticed that it is pretty quick in uploading footage which also translates to faster loading of the app.
LifeHackster I’m curious if companies will start to offer cloud based upscaling so that local networks aren’t strained, but you can still get great quality
I have to pay 30 per year to keep video for 60 days. If I don't pay.. it keeps NO video in storage.
What are the fees for this.. how long do I have access to the video, what if I go without paying, do I also have no video storage?
If you are a simplisafe alarm customer and subscribed to the interactive plan, video storage will be free.. if not, 5 dollars a month..
Sounds like Ring is still the champ.
As to features, Ring still rules. Faster app opening and viewing, simplisafe is pretty good. It is just bare bones though. App settings are basic.
Thanks.
You are welcome.
From what I can tell alot of people are having the buzzing/humming for the doorbell chime.
Robert touroo I am installing my doorbell tomorrow. I called SimpliSafe for the chime connector just in case. It will be here in 3 to 5 days. Is the noise loud?
@@erich1979 no not loud but noticeable. They keep telling me 3-5 days also that was 2 week ago still on backorder. Thinking about sending it back and going with nest hello.
Robert touroo At least it’s not too loud. Hopefully I won’t get the buzzing. If I do, hopefully the connector will come soon. I don’t mind waiting a week or two. If you get yours soon, please let us know if the issue is fixed. :)
@@erich1979 yes I'll let you know if the status changes. Let me know if yours is buzzing. The video is amazing I like this one because there is no fisheye effect and it's quick loading time.
Robert touroo I installed the doorbell and it works great! There is a slight buzzing sound in the chime box. I am happy I called about the chime connector. When I logged into the site it does say on back order. The buzzing isn’t bad at all so I am okay with waiting it out for the connector. Hopefully it doesn’t take forever!
Too bad you need to pay to see your footage that you uploaded already. It's a deal breaker to me. Network storage or bust.
You use the same message every time you do one of these. "Can I see Lifehackster please?" "Oh he's not here right now can you come back later?". What about a knock knock joke, hahaha. "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" (with delay). "Interrupting Cow" "Interrupting Cow wh" "Moooooo". Hahaha. Seriously though, I got Arlo Pro 2, but I think I rather have a hardwired doorbell camera so I don't have to mount a camera on the front of my house by the door. I like Arlo because 7 days recording with no fee, but honestly I don't really need this as much for "security" as to check on packages being delivered, and keep an eye on the front and backyards. I thought Ring because it's ok, and they have that spot light I can replace my other motion light with, I looked into Kuna, but no doorbell, I am looking at Zmodo, but no spotlight (and Arlo 2's isn't as easy to hard wire as ring). However, Ring like others has a fee. Not going to break me, but it does add to the cost. So tough. What do you actually end up using MOST of the time? What's your favorite for system, quality, speed, and cost? I know tough question, but appreciate your feedback.
Lol. on the knock knock joke... I might try that next time. I use Ring cameras plus their alarm. I justified the cost of the subscription because with $100/yr., I also have the professional monitoring which is by far the cheapest alarm monitoring subscription that I know of.... then the camera's cloud recordings for unlimited number cameras...are included..which for me, I think of it as free.... My old alarm system costs me $40/month
@@LifeHackster thanks for replying. so you use the ring doorbell too Or something different? Looking at the hardwired pro.
I now installed back the Ring Pro. It is not perfect but it has the least issues.
@@LifeHackster I just purchased, as there was a deal with the Chime. I am getting the feeling it DOES have the least issues from things I've read online, but also because we getting the ring we're moving to an alexa based system at home so everything plays nice together. Someone said they can ask alexa to show the camera on the tv if you have the fire stick, and we are getting the Echo Show 2, so things will pop up there which is cool. Doing an independent test, as I had purchased Arlo, but I feel for my needs Ring would be better and enough, I found the ring rang through VERY quickly and came right up with video on my friends phone, whereas Arlo took a while to respond (when it did), and then took a lot longer to connect. This was with my friends' Ring 2 at my house on the same wifi, so I think a lot can be said for the app, and I think the doorbell pro will work even better since you can set motion zones, etc nicely, and hardwired. Thanks for your help and your reviews. Keep up the good work :)