Ring video doorbells are becoming increasingly popular, especially in these dark winter months. With the camera in the doorbell, you can already see who is there via your smartphone or tablet before you open the door. Ring’s most popular doorbells are the V2 and the PRO. In this article, I will compare them and make it easier for you to make a choice ring video doorbell 2 vs pro.
What is a Ring video doorbell?
If you are not quite sure what a video doorbell is, here is a brief explanation. A video doorbell is a doorbell, intercom and camera in one! In this blog, I compare two video doorbells from the Ring brand. The ring is focused on security and a video doorbell will certainly help secure your home.
This ensures that when someone rings the doorbell, a video recording is already taking place through motion detection, you will receive a notification on your phone and can see who is at the door, even when you are not at home! The device is also equipped with 2-way communication, which means that you can not only see the person at the door but also talk to them.
The ring is also one of the first brands to provide their cameras with motion detection. By this, I mean that the camera gives a notification and starts recording when motion is detected, and you can adjust the detection zones yourself. The videos are stored for up to 60 days, but you do need a subscription of € 30 per year.
In this blog, I will only compare the Ring V2 and the Ring PRO because we get by far the most questions about this and because they are the most popular. In addition, there are still the first version Ring V1 and the top of the segment, the Ring Elite.
Ring V2
This is the successor to the first edition of Ring, the V1. The V1 still had some teething problems, such as sometimes problems with water tightness and rust formation. The V1 also did not have a Full HD Camera yet. When we talk about the V2 everything works how it’s supposed to work. The V2 is easy to install yourself.
The doorbell can be installed wirelessly and works on a rechargeable battery that lasts a few months on one charge. You can also purchase a second battery separately so that your smart doorbell is always online. You can also install the bell wired if you don’t want to worry about charging.
You then connect it to the old doorbell wiring, as described in the manual. If you do not have an old doorbell and you still want to connect it to a power supply, you must purchase an 8-24 VAC power supply, and possibly provide it with a resistor. There is also a separate Ring Chime (gong) available if you do not think a notification on your Smartphone or Tablet is sufficient.
With the razor-sharp 1080p Full HD camera you can see 160 degrees wide, not only during the day but also at night thanks to its infrared night vision. The doorbell is equipped with an adjustable motion sensor, and you can set the zone (s) in which the sensor can detect movement fairly accurately. Furthermore, the V2 is fully weatherproof and also has a theft guarantee, which means that if it is stolen you will receive a new refund from Ring, provided you report it to the police.
However, we have encountered two drawbacks. There are some users of the doorbell who wanted to install it wired to the power supply of their old doorbell, and this did not work because the power supply of the old doorbell chime was not strong enough.
We recommend solving the problem with the Ring power adapter. The second disadvantage of the V2 is that the design is a bit wider than most door frames, so you have to come up with something yourself to be able to hang it there. Ring does offer a number of accessories to help with that.
Characteristics
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Wireless via Wi-Fi 2.4GHz |
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Rechargeable battery (Micro-USB) or wired (8-24 VAC) powered |
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Mounting material included |
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Easy to install |
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1080p HD video camera |
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160-degree field of view |
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Infrared night vision |
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Built-in motion detector |
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Cloud storage available |
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2 Way communication |
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2 Different colored covers included |
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Weatherproof |
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Cloud storage not free |
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Does not fit on every door frame |
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Does not work on every doorbell power supply |
Ring PRO
All the important aspects and functions that the V2 has, such as Full HD Camera, motion sensor, night vision, weatherproof and theft guarantee, the Ring PRO also has. Why is the PRO version € 80 more expensive, you probably ask? This is because the PRO comes with an extra Chime (gong), 4 extra colored fronts, and a bell transformer to start with.
Furthermore, this doorbell is a lot smaller (11.43cm x 4.67cm x 2.03cm) so that it fits on almost any door frame and looks just a bit nicer. The Ring Pro is also suitable for connecting to the faster 5.0GHz WiFi network. However, this doorbell does not have a battery and must therefore always be wired to the supplied power supply (24 VAC transformer.)
The Ring PRO doesn’t really have any disadvantages, except that it doesn’t run on battery, so it takes a little longer and takes a bit more effort to install. You can no longer use your old gong, but you will get a Chime. And the Ring PRO is, as mentioned earlier, € 80 more expensive than the V2.
Characteristics
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Communication via WiFi 2.4GHz & 5.0GHz |
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Smaller design than its predecessors |
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Never recharge, wired (16-24 VAC) powered |
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Mounting material included |
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Easy to install |
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1080p HD video camera |
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160-degree field of view |
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Infrared night vision |
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Built-in motion detector |
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Cloud storage available |
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2 Way communication |
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Weatherproof |
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4 Different colored covers included |
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Extra doorbell for the socket |
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Storage in Cloud not free |
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Cannot be installed completely wirelessly |
| Chime doorbell only via 2.4GHz WiFi |
Conclusion
We recommend that you take a good look at where and how you want to install your doorbell. If you want to install the doorbell wired, we advise you to go for the PRO version, because you have the chance that the power supply of your old doorbell does not provide sufficient voltage for the Ring V2 doorbell.
For the V2 you need a separately purchased 8-24 VAC (minimum 9W power) power supply and for the PRO you need 16-24 VAC which is included. If you want to use the doorbell via a battery, we recommend using the V2, the PRO only works wired.
In addition to the supplied power supply and Chime, the PRO has a considerably smaller size so that it almost always fits on the door frame, and with the PRO you get 4 extra fronts, namely: Venetian Bronze, Satin Nickel, Black and Cream. The V2 comes with 2 fronts: Venetian Bronze and Satin Nickel.
| Property | V2 |
PRO |
| Full HD 1080p | |
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| Field of view | ||
| Night vision | |
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| Weatherproof | |
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| Motion detection | |
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| Includes Chime | |
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| Dimensions (lxwxd) | ||
| Including transformer | |
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| Extra fronts | ||
| Intercom | |
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| Link | 2.4GHz | 2.4 & 5.0GHz |
| MSRP | € 199, – | € 279, – |