Interesting that folks call this system outdated... Until about 2 or 3 years ago most alarm systems haven't changed much in the past 30 years ;-) Doesn't necessarily need to be "state of the art" to be good. These companies that have easy to use apps and self installed hardware are a huge improvement over systems from about 5-10 years ago where if you forgot to set it and were away - too bad so sad... The fact that monitoring is so inexpensive ($8.75 - $10 / month) and extra sensors/contacts aren't expensive (comparatively) is a "win" in my book. I'm sure the system will be hacked or easily defeated but so are about 90% of the systems out there. The weak link here is always in install or lack of coverage (not enough contacts or sensors). People cheap out or don't consider what burglars would do to gain access to a home. Simply going in through a 2nd story window and staying upstairs where there's no motion sensors is usually all it takes. Worse yet most don't even set their systems when they just go out for a little while or at all during the day (when most home burglaries occur).
Hi Luke, I just purchased this awesome device but I was curious if there is a way to not have a sensor go off while the the alarm is set to Home. For example, say its midnight and my house is set to Home but I need to let my dog out the back door. Do I have to unarmed the entire home in order to open the door? I think Nest has an option for this. Does Ring?
Yes, this is definitely possible! If you go into the settings (Devices -> Base Station -> Door sensor -> Gear icon), you should see the Mode settings for Home and Away. If you go into these, you can set if a sensor is included, and what kind of delay is used. So you could set your back door to not be included for Home mode, but leave it included for Away mode. Hope this helps!
Do you need to close the front door before disarming? E.g does the door contact need to be made again prior yo disarming? .. With my current alarm when i open the front door I can disarm the alarm without having to close the door first which can be a pain if youre bringing in shopping or carrying items...
As far as I can tell, no. Once you open the door, it starts a countdown from your configured time (i.e. 30, 60, 90 seconds), but as long as you disarm the alarm within that time period, you are fine. Closing the door has no affect, and is not necessary.
@@LukeofAllTrades0 Also I should note that you have a 1st gen system, I recently got this system and it was a newer version. I suggest you upgrade to the newer version.
@@BukuiZhao Yes, this review is for the first gen version, so everything looks a little different now, but in practice it works about the same. Since mine is still working, I probably won't upgrade, but it's definitely tempting!
Can I add the ring camaras to this alarm system? I have 3 ring camaras that I have not put up and also have a nest doorbell and nest thermostat installed already. I got my 2009 prius catalyc converter stolen from my driveway about 5 days ago so I would like to put a nice motion sensor light and a camara infront of driveway
I don't know if you can have the camera trigger the alarm, but according to Ring, you can have it turn on a light, and of course have it record events when it sees activity. You could put a motion sensor outside that triggers the alarm, but I'd be careful because it may go off if someone just walks by in the distance, there is no way to limit the area that causes an alert like you can do with the cameras.
Yes, it will still go off and alert you, it just won't alert their monitoring service, who can contact the police. I think it's a great option for people who aren't real concerned, but want to have a way to get notified and hopefully scare people off.
Keep in mind that with ring - if you want professional monitoring and live in an area where the city/county requires an alarm license/permit ring will require you to "prove" you have one. Simplisafe will ask for it on the website but doesn't seem to "require" it for monitoring. In some places the alarm license/permit can be expensive and requires a lot of personal information which you may not wish to give. Just something to think about. Where I live if you do not have an alarm license/permit the cost of a false alarm is about $100 for the first one and goes up from there - if you have a permit you get the "first one free" and is less expensive after that. You can (with most monitoring companies) instruct them to not call the authorities until you or another contact has been reached to avoid false alarm calls but if there were an actual break-in that'll delay them responding. I've had various alarm systems since 2000 and have simplisafe now but am considering a switch - I've only had 2 false alarm calls in the 18+ years I've had the various systems.
Thanks for this video. It has definitely helped me decide to buy the product. By the way, as I listened to your commentary and I pictured Jeff Goldblum narrating.
Haha, thanks! It's a really nice product for the price, and since everything is wireless, it's easy to move around over time if you want to switch where you're monitoring, or set it up for a long vacation, or something like that.
Attention Potential Buyers: A major downfall with the ring Alarm System is its Range Extender, which does not connect to the network via Wi-Fi; instead, it connects to the Base Station via Z-Wave, thereby limiting its connectivity range & consequently, its ability to broadcast the needed Z-Wave signal used by [remote] Motion & Door/Window Sensors. ring REALLY needs to design/debut a Range Extender that connects to the Wi-Fi network & broadcasts Z-Wave, for customers, who have detached garages/shops (>80' from Base Station) & can't utilize keypads & sensors, due to poor-nonexistent Z-Wave signal. I own the Home Alarm, Doorbell Pro & 3 Floodlight Cams. ring should give more priority to its loyal customers.
@@jetsetjoey Why would you need a combo Wifi and Z wave extender? Your base station connects to wifi or ethernet, and it has to be in range of the Wifi signal, the Z wave is a separate thing
Maybe. It just needs a 5 volt, 1 amp power supply, with a micro USB connection. If you're wiring provides 5 volts, there's probably a way to do it. They keypad can run for quite a while off the built-in battery, it was actually designed to be used like that. Plug it in for a few hours every month, and it will run off batteries the rest of the time. You can monitor the keypad battery life through the app, so you know when it needs to be charged.
I'm returning this product because the siren is inadequate, standing right next to the base it is tolerable, by my front door next to the keypad it's a joke. The real benefit of alarm is to be loud enough to be herd outside to potentially alert your neighbor that something is happening and to be intolerable to anyone inside where the siren has been set off . This system has the makings of an awesome DIY Alarm system and I hope they will fix this problem and not think selling an additional siren that has a lesser decibel then the current 110 that they say the base unit has would be a fix.
There is a volume control on the keypad to make it louder. I think they would also suggest that you purchase the monitoring service, so that the proper authorities can show up after the alarm goes off.
Hi, I am also considering this security system. I have a question about the door contact "chime" or the "tone"... I just don't like the "Dings..." every time I open the door, is there a way to silent the tone? I know you can bypass the zone. I don't want to bypass it, just want to silent the tone. Thank you.
There's no mention that they're waterproof, so I would expect not. You could probably put one half in a plastic sandwich bag, and it would work okay. The slim piece is just a magnet, so that part would probably be fine.
Hello Luke I don’t live in the USA, my internet connection is not stable. If there is no internet and someone breaks in will the system be triggered and activate the siren alarm anyway? Than you
Yeah, K L is right. Everything should still work, and the siren will still sound. The only problem I could see would be if the cellular radio inside can't connect to any network. If the ring alarm is for sale in your country, it should work.
Yes, it assumes you have WiFi. You could move it someplace without WiFi after that, but you would be constantly alerted that it is running on cellular backup. Don't know if that's really a problem, but not what they expect & recommend.
Yes. All sensors (contact or motion) can be configured to show open/closed-(faulted/cleared) status when the system is unarmed. In the App, you can choose to get Push notifications on your phone when these events happen.
A. Chill Woods is right, this is definitely possible by turning on alerts for each sensor, and you will receive those notifications even if the system is Disarmed.
Looks like a great find! It's not available yet, but you can give them your email to show your interest. They say the operation temperatures will be 32F to 104F, so it may not be suitable for everywhere, but it should cover most places most of the time.
According to the documentation, only about every 10 months. I don't know if I'd wait that long, but after a month the battery indicator in the app was still full, so you could wait quite a while I'm sure.
They are both about 6.5 feet long. The keypad uses a standard micro USB cable, so you could replace it with a longer one if you desired, or it can work for a while unplugged, so you could just charge it every so often.
What is the grey circle on the right side of the keypad, seems like it wasn’t there in the original design or photos. Just wondering what they may have added or if the keypad has a motion sensor in it.
As far as I can tell, that's just a light sensor, so it knows whether to light up or not. When it's plugged in, the current mode (disarmed, home, away) is always lit, but when it's not plugged in, those lights are not on. When I cover that spot with my finger, the keypad and mode light up a few seconds later. Everything goes off once I remove my finger and wait a few seconds.
Yes, the base station has both battery and cellular backups, so it will run for a little while on battery. All the sensors are battery powered anyways, and the control panel has a rechargable battery that can last for months. You get an alert when the power or internet goes out too, so it's easy to tell what's going on.
I think you have to have wifi to set it up, but you could do that at someone else's house and then take it home. After that, it will just alert you that there is no wifi.
It has a cellular radio in it for backup, but it's definitely designed to use Wifi most of the time. I'm sure you could configure it all on wifi, and then take it to a place without it, and it would work fine, but I don't know if you would constantly receive alerts to reconnect it to wifi. That could be annoying.
Phil S is right, it has a battery backup, which in theory will last for a while, so you could just charge it periodically. There's no battery level that I can see on the device itself, but you can see it in the app. The lights on the keypad do not stay on continuously when it is unplugged. That could be seen as a positive or a negative I guess.
There is a sensitivity slider for it, it is meant to be usable even with pets. You might have to position it so your pets don't set it off, but the sensitivity setting should help.
You can adjust the settings through the ring website as well, yes! I went in and looked at how the different sensors were configured, and it has all the same information that's in the app.
I have a few questions, coming from SimpliSafe :( Do the motion sensors have different settings like L/M/H? How are they with pets? I have cats that get up on things Can you set some door sensors that are timed when coming in (near the keypads) while others have no delay and trigger the alarm instantly regardless of Home/Away? Is there a Ring Forum? I can't seem to find one Thanks in advance
Yes, there is a sensitivity setting for the motion sensor, so it can be adjusted. And yes, you have some options for the door sensors, so they can be only included in certain modes, and there is an overall delay for the Home/Away mode. I don't see a way to have different delays for different devices though, so it will trigger after 30, 45, 60 (or whatever you configure) seconds, no matter which device triggers it.
Just an update, it is now possible to have the different sensors have different delays for triggering the alarm! So you could set some door sensors to trigger immediately, while leaving some with a delay so you have time to turn it off when you get home.
Yes, you can add more of everything except the base station. The keypads have speakers in them, but there's no separate siren components that I'm aware of.
When it's disarmed, you just hear a generic chime whenever the door/window opens. When it's armed, you get an alert of which one it is, and the alarm sounds.
What about when your alarm is not armed? Does both the keypad and the base station alerts? If you get multiple keypads then it should alerts on all the keypads right? I have a funky layout and can’t always hear things
I talked to Ring about this. No it does not "say" which door is open like the Nest Alarm, but the app says which one was triggered. We are considering buying one, and one of our main questions was if you could turn the door chime on and off when it is not armed. Say you have a 2 year old taking a nap and you want to go in the garage. I didn't want a ding ding when I opened the door. But later when he grows up, I would like to know if the door or window is opened. They said I could turn that feature on and off and gave me specific instructions about how to do so.
Lake: You need to very clearly and distinctly identify each device, state it's effective rang and how much it costs so we can intelligently determine what we need
Lorelei Biggs it's done from the app (and undoubtedly their website, though I didn't do any of it that way). The one thing I dislike about the system is that each individual PIN code has to be tied to an email account that then creates an account with Ring. My example: I am the "owner" of the system because I'm the person who set up and registered it. Upon doing so I gave myself a four digit PIN . Then, from within the app, to add a "user" I invited my girlfriend's email. She then used her email, after Downloading the Ring app, to make her own Ring account. Once this has all beem done, I then Grant access to certain devices for her account (which the app has already recognized as registered) as well as issue her a pin. I really dig each and every user having their own pin, I just don't like that I have to invite people to register in their system. I should be able to just type in "Susan", set her up with a pin, and be done with it.
The Ring Alarm is also marketed for renters. If you rent an apartment many stories up and the only entry point is your door, then you only need one contact sensor. This way, people only get what they need. They can get the exact number of contact sensors they need by buying more.
Phenom Menon it's already a subscription base if you choose professional monitoring ( or already have the Ring protect plus plan ) at $10 monthly or $100 yearly. No contract and if you decide to not sign up for it then you can still self monitor your system, although lose all contacting authorities for you from the support teams end
I have ADT. ring will say that it’s only $10 a month but that’s so that you can monitor it yourself. So if you are in a different city and you get a notification that someone is inside your home then you call the police you will call the cops in the area that you are in and then they have to transfer to the city that your hone is in. So it takes 2 times longer. If you want ring to monitor your home for you then it costs 80 bucks a month. For ADT it’s only 27.99-59.99 depending on the package you get. And they give you up to $1000 to put towards your system to get sensors. I wouldn’t suggest getting ring.
I'm not paying anything and I get alerts on my phone. Yes, if I was far away from the house, I would have to do some work to call my home town police, but it's easy enough to store that local dispatch in my phone specifically for that use. The $10/month (or $100/year) is for them to monitor it and call you and the police if they get an alert. I couldn't find an $80/month plan anywhere on their site, or in other reviews, so I'm not sure what you're referring to. Could you share a link to the $80/month service?
Hi thanks for the video. I am basically looking into this system for the door sensors. And I don't want the alarm to go off, I just want it to notify my phone. Is that possible? Thanks!!
As of right now, that does not seem possible. You can open the app and see when they were opened and closed, and the current state, but it won't send a push notification unless it triggers the alarm.
IM with the Big (A) 😉 company And I can tell you that's the Fakest home protection device I've ever seen, get (Two way voice) for big cities, and ditch the reset button then we'll talk LOL.
Can't the thief just take the base and smack it or dump it in the toilet? Cops won't arrive until 10+ minutes later. By then your stuff is all gone. I think there should be a siren outside the house like other security systems. That way my neighbor can have his gun ready and come over to check it out.
I think in general, a thief won't stick around too long once an alarm goes off. They might grab something close, but they won't spend another 5 minutes rooting around, because they don't know who is going to hear the noise and potentially show up, or see them running off with stuff under their arm. If you really want your neighbor to help monitor your house while you're away, Ring has the concept of "Shared Users" that can see what's going on, either through your doorbell, and I think even your alarm. I haven't tried it, but they might be able to get alerts on their phone, even if you don't pay for the monitoring service. Maybe I'll have to try that out in a future video!
If you mean the little chime from opening a door, yes. That's configurable per device, so you could have just certain things chime, or have different chimes for each door. I'll try to demo these in next video.
You don't! That was the point of my review, to go through what it's like to use if you don't want to pay for the subscription. It could be worth it for some people, but it's a nice system even without paying for the service.
This system is already outdated. It’s equivalent to Simplisafe’s older alarm version. Considering they are late to the game it’s not bad. But, they need to catch up. Can’t always just rely on their brand. Can’t believe their price is so high for this. They could’ve flooded the market with a cheaper price. Costs more than Simplisafe’s new system! Why Simplisafe is better: 1. Dual communication system with cellular and WiFi capability. In case burglars disarm one. Also WiFi not reliable. 2. Smash the main unit and automatically alerts police. This unit you find the main unit before it alerts and you get no alert. Considering the main unit makes noise it can be easily found. 3. Window, door and motion sensors are much smaller with longer range. 4. LCD screen on the control panel. Verbally tells you which entry areas are open and visually as well. 5. Just like ring you can monitor on own or with their central unit at $14.99 per month. 6. Total battery operated. Lasts several years. Never had to replace mine. No usb plug in required. 7. Been in the alarm business longer. It’s their third unit released. Gets better every release as bugs are worked out. 8. Given all the pluses the Hardware is cheaper in price!!!!
I think the competition is good, if nothing else. I think you bring up a lot of good points, but I don't know if I can agree with all of them. 1. The Ring base station can use cellular if the Wifi is down, so no need to worry about burglers that may cut your power or turn off your Wifi before entering. 2. The main unit doesn't make noise until it's alerting, so it might not be easy to find and smash before it's sent an alert. If you setup a motion sensor pointed at the area around the base station, with a zero-second alarm, you should get the alert before someone could get to the base station. Maybe that's good enough for people. 3. Smaller sensors would be nice, that'd be good feedback to give Ring 4. This sounds like a great feature, and definitely better than the Ring. 5. Ring's monitoring service is $10 per month, not $15. $60/year cheaper then. 6. That does make it more convenient for placement, but only the Ring base station and range extender need to be plugged in, the sensors and keypad are all battery powered. The base station and extender have battery backups, so it can last a while without power. Looking online, it looks like the Simplisafe base station requires being plugged in. Can you explain how your base station works on battery only, for several years now, without battery replacement? 7. Yup, Simplisafe has been doing it longer. 8. The closest Simplisafe package I could find was the Foundation (base station, keypad, one motion sensor, one entry sensor), which is $229, the Ring is $199, and includes a range extender. Pretty similar to me, although the keypad on the Simplisafe seems worth the additional $30.
I was stuck on SimpliSafe vs. Ring and pulled the trigger with Ring just a week ago. All of Luke's points are valid, and I think the only real valid plus to SimpliSafe that you mentioned is probably #4. 1) Ring has dual comms 2) tamper detection on devices, and what do you mean if they find the unit you get no alert? That's not true at all. There is no power button, and removing DC power switches it over to its 24 hr internal battery. If the alarm is tripped, and they don't type in the keycode or disarm on the app, you're getting an alert. 3) Did you test the range of sensors and compare? I'm doubtful on this one. I had no issues connecting any of my devices. These days, people should have good routers, access points or meshes. 4) Yep, agreed, their keypad seems a bit nicer. 5) Ring monitoring is cheaper (10/mo), or you can select the cloud-only self-monitoring option to retain videos (3/mo), or of course no monthly at all. 6) Nope, all Ring devices have batteries, including base station and keypad. They plug-in to recharge. Keypad battery they claim is 6-10 months on a charge, and base station is 24 hours. 7) So? 8) I don't think so, especially with the combo deals going on right now over at Ring. A few points you didn't mention 1) Key fob 2) Glass break sensor Now, a few benefits of Ring over SimpliSafe 1) They didn't boycott the NRA 2) They offer several devices that integrate that SimpliSafe doesn't (floodlight cams, several doorbell models - SimpliSafe has 1) 3) Neighborhood App - networked neighborhood watch, view crimes and other suspicious behaviors people have reported within a radius of your home, and watch videos they've shared.
"Just like ring you can monitor on own or with their central unit at $14.99 per month. " I am not sure if this is correct. If you dont subscribe to the SS monitoring plans you dont have the push notifications etc. But with RING i think the push notification etc work even if you dont subscribe. Let me know if i got it right ?
The keypad can run off its built in battery for several months, so you don't need to plug it in to anything most of the time. The little mount it comes with let's you hang it anywhere (within range of the rest of the system).
Interesting that folks call this system outdated... Until about 2 or 3 years ago most alarm systems haven't changed much in the past 30 years ;-) Doesn't necessarily need to be "state of the art" to be good. These companies that have easy to use apps and self installed hardware are a huge improvement over systems from about 5-10 years ago where if you forgot to set it and were away - too bad so sad... The fact that monitoring is so inexpensive ($8.75 - $10 / month) and extra sensors/contacts aren't expensive (comparatively) is a "win" in my book. I'm sure the system will be hacked or easily defeated but so are about 90% of the systems out there. The weak link here is always in install or lack of coverage (not enough contacts or sensors). People cheap out or don't consider what burglars would do to gain access to a home. Simply going in through a 2nd story window and staying upstairs where there's no motion sensors is usually all it takes. Worse yet most don't even set their systems when they just go out for a little while or at all during the day (when most home burglaries occur).
Pro systems are not easily hacked and have to go through pretty significant approvals so can't agree with your statement.
Jeff Goldblum, is that you?
Uh uh, uh... life, uh, finds a way.
I would recommend this to anyone
I like my Ring alarm!
Hi Luke, I just purchased this awesome device but I was curious if there is a way to not have a sensor go off while the the alarm is set to Home. For example, say its midnight and my house is set to Home but I need to let my dog out the back door. Do I have to unarmed the entire home in order to open the door? I think Nest has an option for this. Does Ring?
Yes, this is definitely possible! If you go into the settings (Devices -> Base Station -> Door sensor -> Gear icon), you should see the Mode settings for Home and Away. If you go into these, you can set if a sensor is included, and what kind of delay is used. So you could set your back door to not be included for Home mode, but leave it included for Away mode. Hope this helps!
Do you need to close the front door before disarming? E.g does the door contact need to be made again prior yo disarming? .. With my current alarm when i open the front door I can disarm the alarm without having to close the door first which can be a pain if youre bringing in shopping or carrying items...
As far as I can tell, no. Once you open the door, it starts a countdown from your configured time (i.e. 30, 60, 90 seconds), but as long as you disarm the alarm within that time period, you are fine. Closing the door has no affect, and is not necessary.
Very helpful review, thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
@@LukeofAllTrades0 Also I should note that you have a 1st gen system, I recently got this system and it was a newer version. I suggest you upgrade to the newer version.
@@BukuiZhao Yes, this review is for the first gen version, so everything looks a little different now, but in practice it works about the same. Since mine is still working, I probably won't upgrade, but it's definitely tempting!
Can I add the ring camaras to this alarm system? I have 3 ring camaras that I have not put up and also have a nest doorbell and nest thermostat installed already. I got my 2009 prius catalyc converter stolen from my driveway about 5 days ago so I would like to put a nice motion sensor light and a camara infront of driveway
I don't know if you can have the camera trigger the alarm, but according to Ring, you can have it turn on a light, and of course have it record events when it sees activity. You could put a motion sensor outside that triggers the alarm, but I'd be careful because it may go off if someone just walks by in the distance, there is no way to limit the area that causes an alert like you can do with the cameras.
Will the alarm will still work if I don’t sign up for the ring Protect?
Yes, it will still go off and alert you, it just won't alert their monitoring service, who can contact the police. I think it's a great option for people who aren't real concerned, but want to have a way to get notified and hopefully scare people off.
Keep in mind that with ring - if you want professional monitoring and live in an area where the city/county requires an alarm license/permit ring will require you to "prove" you have one. Simplisafe will ask for it on the website but doesn't seem to "require" it for monitoring. In some places the alarm license/permit can be expensive and requires a lot of personal information which you may not wish to give. Just something to think about. Where I live if you do not have an alarm license/permit the cost of a false alarm is about $100 for the first one and goes up from there - if you have a permit you get the "first one free" and is less expensive after that. You can (with most monitoring companies) instruct them to not call the authorities until you or another contact has been reached to avoid false alarm calls but if there were an actual break-in that'll delay them responding. I've had various alarm systems since 2000 and have simplisafe now but am considering a switch - I've only had 2 false alarm calls in the 18+ years I've had the various systems.
most counties require alarm registration. it’s usually 50$ or less for the year which grants you atleast 2 false call cop visits per year w no fine.
Thanks Jeff Goldblum (you sound like him). Life, ughh, finds a way! lol I bought this today thanks to your reivew!
Ha, that's the first time someone's told me that, pretty funny! Congrats on the Alarm, it's nice!
Good review and very helpful! Thanks!!
When you pay for the alarm system services do they notify the police when the alarm goes off?
Yes, that's the added value for paying for monitoring.
Yes. The monitored service includes law enforcement notification.
Thanks for this video. It has definitely helped me decide to buy the product. By the way, as I listened to your commentary and I pictured Jeff Goldblum narrating.
Haha, thanks! It's a really nice product for the price, and since everything is wireless, it's easy to move around over time if you want to switch where you're monitoring, or set it up for a long vacation, or something like that.
Attention Potential Buyers:
A major downfall with the ring Alarm System is its Range Extender, which does not connect to the network via Wi-Fi; instead, it connects to the Base Station via Z-Wave, thereby limiting its connectivity range & consequently, its ability to broadcast the needed Z-Wave signal used by [remote] Motion & Door/Window Sensors.
ring REALLY needs to design/debut a Range Extender that connects to the Wi-Fi network & broadcasts Z-Wave, for customers, who have detached garages/shops (>80' from Base Station) & can't utilize keypads & sensors, due to poor-nonexistent Z-Wave signal.
I own the Home Alarm, Doorbell Pro & 3 Floodlight Cams. ring should give more priority to its loyal customers.
Chime Pro has a wifi extender.
@@BukuiZhao, I know that. I'M TALKING ABOUT THE Z-WAVES...
@@jetsetjoey What do you mean then?
@@BukuiZhao, I’m talking about the Z-Waves that need to be extended with a WiFi-Z-Wave Extender…
@@jetsetjoey Why would you need a combo Wifi and Z wave extender? Your base station connects to wifi or ethernet, and it has to be in range of the Wifi signal, the Z wave is a separate thing
Can the keypad be powered by an existing alarm system's keypad wiring?
Maybe. It just needs a 5 volt, 1 amp power supply, with a micro USB connection. If you're wiring provides 5 volts, there's probably a way to do it. They keypad can run for quite a while off the built-in battery, it was actually designed to be used like that. Plug it in for a few hours every month, and it will run off batteries the rest of the time. You can monitor the keypad battery life through the app, so you know when it needs to be charged.
Luke Wallace Nice. I guess I'll just charge it every so often then. Thanks for the reply.
Hello, If you have no contract and your alarm goes off. Do you get an alert that it is going off and can you remotely turn it off? thank you!
Yes to both! This is how I use it at the moment.
I'm returning this product because the siren is inadequate, standing right next to the base it is tolerable, by my front door next to the keypad it's a joke. The real benefit of alarm is to be loud enough to be herd outside to potentially alert your neighbor that something is happening and to be intolerable to anyone inside where the siren has been set off . This system has the makings of an awesome DIY Alarm system and I hope they will fix this problem and not think selling an additional siren that has a lesser decibel then the current 110 that they say the base unit has would be a fix.
There is a volume control on the keypad to make it louder. I think they would also suggest that you purchase the monitoring service, so that the proper authorities can show up after the alarm goes off.
Hi, I am also considering this security system. I have a question about the door contact "chime" or the "tone"... I just don't like the "Dings..." every time I open the door, is there a way to silent the tone? I know you can bypass the zone. I don't want to bypass it, just want to silent the tone. Thank you.
Yes, you can choose "none" for the chirp tone on each door sensor independently.
Luke Wallace thanks Luke!
Are the contact sensors waterproof for outdoor gates?
There's no mention that they're waterproof, so I would expect not. You could probably put one half in a plastic sandwich bag, and it would work okay. The slim piece is just a magnet, so that part would probably be fine.
Does this system have zone options,
New Zealand mains power is 240 volts. are the 110v pins changeable for 240v pins.
Both the power adapters for the base station and keypad can handle 240v, I just looked at them.
Hello Luke I don’t live in the USA, my internet connection is not stable. If there is no internet and someone breaks in will the system be triggered and activate the siren alarm anyway? Than you
Yeah, K L is right. Everything should still work, and the siren will still sound. The only problem I could see would be if the cellular radio inside can't connect to any network. If the ring alarm is for sale in your country, it should work.
Do you need Wi-Fi to set it up
Yes, it assumes you have WiFi. You could move it someplace without WiFi after that, but you would be constantly alerted that it is running on cellular backup. Don't know if that's really a problem, but not what they expect & recommend.
You can also plug it directly to your router
Hi luke
I was wondering. If we decide to not always arm it, can you set it to notify you of motion or doors opening without sounding the siren?
Yes. All sensors (contact or motion) can be configured to show open/closed-(faulted/cleared) status when the system is unarmed. In the App, you can choose to get Push notifications on your phone when these events happen.
A. Chill Woods is right, this is definitely possible by turning on alerts for each sensor, and you will receive those notifications even if the system is Disarmed.
I would like to have module/siren that you could mount outside the house as well. Is there such a thing for this system?
Found this one. The weather range is not great, but should be okay under the eave in California, I think.
shop.ring.com/products/dome-siren
Looks like a great find! It's not available yet, but you can give them your email to show your interest. They say the operation temperatures will be 32F to 104F, so it may not be suitable for everywhere, but it should cover most places most of the time.
How often do you need to charge the keypad?
According to the documentation, only about every 10 months. I don't know if I'd wait that long, but after a month the battery indicator in the app was still full, so you could wait quite a while I'm sure.
Very good question. It is what I expected for an answer also. Very good.
Thanks for the detail review! How long is the cable for the base station and keypad?
They are both about 6.5 feet long. The keypad uses a standard micro USB cable, so you could replace it with a longer one if you desired, or it can work for a while unplugged, so you could just charge it every so often.
What is the grey circle on the right side of the keypad, seems like it wasn’t there in the original design or photos. Just wondering what they may have added or if the keypad has a motion sensor in it.
As far as I can tell, that's just a light sensor, so it knows whether to light up or not. When it's plugged in, the current mode (disarmed, home, away) is always lit, but when it's not plugged in, those lights are not on. When I cover that spot with my finger, the keypad and mode light up a few seconds later. Everything goes off once I remove my finger and wait a few seconds.
What happens if they cut the internet - if you have no wifi or electricity .. does anything works?
Yes, the base station has both battery and cellular backups, so it will run for a little while on battery. All the sensors are battery powered anyways, and the control panel has a rechargable battery that can last for months. You get an alert when the power or internet goes out too, so it's easy to tell what's going on.
One contact sensor?
Yes, but you can order more. They have different combinations of sensors now, this was just the first combination they made.
I have no wifi at home since i have cellular data only.so whats the cons to this system with no wifi
I think you have to have wifi to set it up, but you could do that at someone else's house and then take it home. After that, it will just alert you that there is no wifi.
Does the Ring system send a push notification through the app when the alarm goes off?
Yes, even if you don't pay for the service!
@@LukeofAllTrades0 If a thief was able to cut the phone and cable lines would u still receive an alert.
Yes, because it has a built-in cellular radio for backup. Cutting a phone line would never affect it, since it uses the internet for alerts.
Luke Wallace so you can just buy it and get the system and get alerts but not pay for the monthly service ?
@@Aceinfinity-le8zc Yes, that is exactly what I do.
Thanks for the review 👍
So can you use it like Simpli Safe without internet connection?
It has a cellular radio in it for backup, but it's definitely designed to use Wifi most of the time. I'm sure you could configure it all on wifi, and then take it to a place without it, and it would work fine, but I don't know if you would constantly receive alerts to reconnect it to wifi. That could be annoying.
Can KeyPad be installed anywhere or does it have to be plugged in all the time in an outlet?
Phil S is right, it has a battery backup, which in theory will last for a while, so you could just charge it periodically. There's no battery level that I can see on the device itself, but you can see it in the app. The lights on the keypad do not stay on continuously when it is unplugged. That could be seen as a positive or a negative I guess.
If you have pets, does the motion sensor get set off by them?
There is a sensitivity slider for it, it is meant to be usable even with pets. You might have to position it so your pets don't set it off, but the sensitivity setting should help.
Great video thank you.
Luke is there a website similar to Simplisafe where you can adjust the settings or is it ALL thru the app? Thanks.
You can adjust the settings through the ring website as well, yes! I went in and looked at how the different sensors were configured, and it has all the same information that's in the app.
Awesome thanks!
I have a few questions, coming from SimpliSafe :(
Do the motion sensors have different settings like L/M/H? How are they with pets? I have cats that get up on things
Can you set some door sensors that are timed when coming in (near the keypads) while others have no delay and trigger the alarm instantly regardless of Home/Away?
Is there a Ring Forum? I can't seem to find one
Thanks in advance
Yes, there is a sensitivity setting for the motion sensor, so it can be adjusted. And yes, you have some options for the door sensors, so they can be only included in certain modes, and there is an overall delay for the Home/Away mode. I don't see a way to have different delays for different devices though, so it will trigger after 30, 45, 60 (or whatever you configure) seconds, no matter which device triggers it.
So no instant trigger like SimpliSafe, which I like
How about a users forum? I can't find one
Rick
There is no official forum that I've been able to find.
Instant Trigger would definitely be nice, maybe they can add that in the future.
Just an update, it is now possible to have the different sensors have different delays for triggering the alarm! So you could set some door sensors to trigger immediately, while leaving some with a delay so you have time to turn it off when you get home.
Can you add more keypad and siren?
Yes, you can add more of everything except the base station. The keypads have speakers in them, but there's no separate siren components that I'm aware of.
An additional Dome siren was recently released as well
Does the door sensors announce which door is actually opening or is it simply a notification on the app?
Antonio King it sends a text and a alarm goes off just installed mine pretty good
When it's disarmed, you just hear a generic chime whenever the door/window opens. When it's armed, you get an alert of which one it is, and the alarm sounds.
What about when your alarm is not armed? Does both the keypad and the base station alerts? If you get multiple keypads then it should alerts on all the keypads right? I have a funky layout and can’t always hear things
I believe it chimes on the keypad and the base station. I'll do some checking, and add this to my video review followup.
I talked to Ring about this. No it does not "say" which door is open like the Nest Alarm, but the app says which one was triggered. We are considering buying one, and one of our main questions was if you could turn the door chime on and off when it is not armed. Say you have a 2 year old taking a nap and you want to go in the garage. I didn't want a ding ding when I opened the door. But later when he grows up, I would like to know if the door or window is opened. They said I could turn that feature on and off and gave me specific instructions about how to do so.
Can you do a video of it set up? I wanna see how it is when it’s on the armed home mode. Is the alarm pretty loud?
The alarm is pretty loud, yes. I will plan on doing a video showing it, and answering some other questions too.
Lake: You need to very clearly and distinctly identify each device, state it's effective rang and how much it costs so we can intelligently determine what we need
The USB on the base station is so you can plug in the keypad to it
That would definitely work, great idea!
How would I let my mom enter the house when I’m not home? How would she disarm?
She comes over to watch my baby. Can she just walk in and disarm it?
Yes, she can just disarm it using the code on the keypad. You can setup other users, and give them their own code if you want.
Does it work with smartthings?
Not that I can tell. It's possible support will come later.
Luke Wallace thank you.
Thanks for the info!
how do you set you pin # on the keypad?
Lorelei Biggs it's done from the app (and undoubtedly their website, though I didn't do any of it that way). The one thing I dislike about the system is that each individual PIN code has to be tied to an email account that then creates an account with Ring.
My example: I am the "owner" of the system because I'm the person who set up and registered it. Upon doing so I gave myself a four digit PIN . Then, from within the app, to add a "user" I invited my girlfriend's email. She then used her email, after Downloading the Ring app, to make her own Ring account. Once this has all beem done, I then Grant access to certain devices for her account (which the app has already recognized as registered) as well as issue her a pin.
I really dig each and every user having their own pin, I just don't like that I have to invite people to register in their system. I should be able to just type in "Susan", set her up with a pin, and be done with it.
NotThatGuy... Has it right, it's done through the app, which has some pros and cons.
Luke Wallace had to clean up my punctuation and such due to the video publisher responding! 😉
Why would they only give you one contact sensor?
I would guess to keep costs down, and to entice people to buy more.
The Ring Alarm is also marketed for renters. If you rent an apartment many stories up and the only entry point is your door, then you only need one contact sensor. This way, people only get what they need. They can get the exact number of contact sensors they need by buying more.
@@LukeofAllTrades0 mine came with two
i get a feeling they will make this a subscription service soon. like zmodo did.
Phenom Menon it's already a subscription base if you choose professional monitoring ( or already have the Ring protect plus plan ) at $10 monthly or $100 yearly. No contract and if you decide to not sign up for it then you can still self monitor your system, although lose all contacting authorities for you from the support teams end
I have ADT. ring will say that it’s only $10 a month but that’s so that you can monitor it yourself. So if you are in a different city and you get a notification that someone is inside your home then you call the police you will call the cops in the area that you are in and then they have to transfer to the city that your hone is in. So it takes 2 times longer. If you want ring to monitor your home for you then it costs 80 bucks a month. For ADT it’s only 27.99-59.99 depending on the package you get. And they give you up to $1000 to put towards your system to get sensors. I wouldn’t suggest getting ring.
I'm not paying anything and I get alerts on my phone. Yes, if I was far away from the house, I would have to do some work to call my home town police, but it's easy enough to store that local dispatch in my phone specifically for that use. The $10/month (or $100/year) is for them to monitor it and call you and the police if they get an alert. I couldn't find an $80/month plan anywhere on their site, or in other reviews, so I'm not sure what you're referring to. Could you share a link to the $80/month service?
Hi thanks for the video.
I am basically looking into this system for the door sensors.
And I don't want the alarm to go off, I just want it to notify my phone. Is that possible?
Thanks!!
As of right now, that does not seem possible. You can open the app and see when they were opened and closed, and the current state, but it won't send a push notification unless it triggers the alarm.
/
Thank you for sharing your review. I’m between the 1st and 2nd generation, they seem to be similar just different styles.
Yes, my understanding is that most of the changes are to the aesthetics, so it should be functionally the same.
The 2nd gen contact sensors also has Quick Exit. At one point I might get some first gen devices to do a comparison but I haven't yet.
Please Talk about how life finds away. Lol!
jbgulfport1 Nice- Chaos Theory
That kypad needs a MAJOR redesign lmao.....shit looks like a fisher price toy. And it has a wire to power? is this 2003?
The wire is only to recharge it, it can last months on a charge.
I'm shocked they made it so bulky and dated looking. Considering getting one still.
IM with the Big (A) 😉 company
And I can tell you that's the Fakest home protection device I've ever seen, get (Two way voice) for big cities, and ditch the reset button then we'll talk LOL.
Skyler Hicks (
Can't the thief just take the base and smack it or dump it in the toilet? Cops won't arrive until 10+ minutes later. By then your stuff is all gone. I think there should be a siren outside the house like other security systems. That way my neighbor can have his gun ready and come over to check it out.
I think in general, a thief won't stick around too long once an alarm goes off. They might grab something close, but they won't spend another 5 minutes rooting around, because they don't know who is going to hear the noise and potentially show up, or see them running off with stuff under their arm.
If you really want your neighbor to help monitor your house while you're away, Ring has the concept of "Shared Users" that can see what's going on, either through your doorbell, and I think even your alarm. I haven't tried it, but they might be able to get alerts on their phone, even if you don't pay for the monitoring service. Maybe I'll have to try that out in a future video!
@@LukeofAllTrades0 Thank you!
Can you turn the chime off?
If you mean the little chime from opening a door, yes. That's configurable per device, so you could have just certain things chime, or have different chimes for each door. I'll try to demo these in next video.
Great thank you
now amazon knows when your not home
What do you think they are going to do with that information?
It’s 2018 data is the new gold / oil. IoT devices are the future. That’s additional revenue for amazon. And you get none of that money.
Any idea how this compares to simplisafe?
yes, its better and cheaper for professional monitoring
Do you need a subscription?
You don't! That was the point of my review, to go through what it's like to use if you don't want to pay for the subscription. It could be worth it for some people, but it's a nice system even without paying for the service.
This system is already outdated. It’s equivalent to Simplisafe’s older alarm version. Considering they are late to the game it’s not bad. But, they need to catch up. Can’t always just rely on their brand. Can’t believe their price is so high for this. They could’ve flooded the market with a cheaper price. Costs more than Simplisafe’s new system!
Why Simplisafe is better:
1. Dual communication system with cellular and WiFi capability. In case burglars disarm one. Also WiFi not reliable.
2. Smash the main unit and automatically alerts police. This unit you find the main unit before it alerts and you get no alert. Considering the main unit makes noise it can be easily found.
3. Window, door and motion sensors are much smaller with longer range.
4. LCD screen on the control panel. Verbally tells you which entry areas are open and visually as well.
5. Just like ring you can monitor on own or with their central unit at $14.99 per month.
6. Total battery operated. Lasts several years. Never had to replace mine. No usb plug in required.
7. Been in the alarm business longer. It’s their third unit released. Gets better every release as bugs are worked out.
8. Given all the pluses the Hardware is cheaper in price!!!!
I think the competition is good, if nothing else. I think you bring up a lot of good points, but I don't know if I can agree with all of them.
1. The Ring base station can use cellular if the Wifi is down, so no need to worry about burglers that may cut your power or turn off your Wifi before entering.
2. The main unit doesn't make noise until it's alerting, so it might not be easy to find and smash before it's sent an alert. If you setup a motion sensor pointed at the area around the base station, with a zero-second alarm, you should get the alert before someone could get to the base station. Maybe that's good enough for people.
3. Smaller sensors would be nice, that'd be good feedback to give Ring
4. This sounds like a great feature, and definitely better than the Ring.
5. Ring's monitoring service is $10 per month, not $15. $60/year cheaper then.
6. That does make it more convenient for placement, but only the Ring base station and range extender need to be plugged in, the sensors and keypad are all battery powered. The base station and extender have battery backups, so it can last a while without power. Looking online, it looks like the Simplisafe base station requires being plugged in. Can you explain how your base station works on battery only, for several years now, without battery replacement?
7. Yup, Simplisafe has been doing it longer.
8. The closest Simplisafe package I could find was the Foundation (base station, keypad, one motion sensor, one entry sensor), which is $229, the Ring is $199, and includes a range extender. Pretty similar to me, although the keypad on the Simplisafe seems worth the additional $30.
Great points between the both of you. Makes me want to do even more research. Thanks for the information.
I was stuck on SimpliSafe vs. Ring and pulled the trigger with Ring just a week ago. All of Luke's points are valid, and I think the only real valid plus to SimpliSafe that you mentioned is probably #4.
1) Ring has dual comms
2) tamper detection on devices, and what do you mean if they find the unit you get no alert? That's not true at all. There is no power button, and removing DC power switches it over to its 24 hr internal battery. If the alarm is tripped, and they don't type in the keycode or disarm on the app, you're getting an alert.
3) Did you test the range of sensors and compare? I'm doubtful on this one. I had no issues connecting any of my devices. These days, people should have good routers, access points or meshes.
4) Yep, agreed, their keypad seems a bit nicer.
5) Ring monitoring is cheaper (10/mo), or you can select the cloud-only self-monitoring option to retain videos (3/mo), or of course no monthly at all.
6) Nope, all Ring devices have batteries, including base station and keypad. They plug-in to recharge. Keypad battery they claim is 6-10 months on a charge, and base station is 24 hours.
7) So?
8) I don't think so, especially with the combo deals going on right now over at Ring.
A few points you didn't mention
1) Key fob
2) Glass break sensor
Now, a few benefits of Ring over SimpliSafe
1) They didn't boycott the NRA
2) They offer several devices that integrate that SimpliSafe doesn't (floodlight cams, several doorbell models - SimpliSafe has 1)
3) Neighborhood App - networked neighborhood watch, view crimes and other suspicious behaviors people have reported within a radius of your home, and watch videos they've shared.
@@LukeofAllTrades0 also if you prepay, your price lowers to $8.33/month... Basically 2 months free.
"Just like ring you can monitor on own or with their central unit at $14.99 per month. " I am not sure if this is correct. If you dont subscribe to the SS monitoring plans you dont have the push notifications etc. But with RING i think the push notification etc work even if you dont subscribe. Let me know if i got it right ?
Has any one told you you sound and speak like Jeff Goldblum?
Ha ha, actually I've gotten that once or twice before!
For goodness's sakes, did this guy rehearse what he was going to say? Sounded like Aunt Clara from Bewitched. sheesh
No rehearsal, no edits!
This is dumb where do u even hook the keypad since it connects to base? Lol
The keypad can run off its built in battery for several months, so you don't need to plug it in to anything most of the time. The little mount it comes with let's you hang it anywhere (within range of the rest of the system).
Luke Wallace ok thx
Uh uh uh every other word couldn't listen to review .
Uh, sorry.
Please don’t ever make another video again
Whoops.