Ring Battery Doorbell Plus
The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus features a 1:1 aspect ratio, 1536p HD+ resolution, and color night vision for clear head-to-toe footage in all lighting conditions. Although it only supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, it has a reliable battery, offering about eight months of usage per charge.
Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2
The Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 has an aspect ratio of 1:1 for head-to-toe coverage and streams 1536p HD+ footage, giving you a sharp view. It is dual-band, records six-second pre-rolls, has Alexa greetings, bird’s eye view, color night vision, and 3D motion detection.
Smart doorbell camerasoffer the easiest and safest way of monitoring your front door while also keeping an eye on your packages. Ring’s range of wired and battery-powered video doorbells are some of the best options you can incorporate into your home’s security system. The Video Doorbell Pro 2 and Battery Video Doorbell Plus, in particular, are good cameras with great customizable features and unmatched footage quality. You can even link them toEcho smart displaysfor better visual output. However, depending on your needs, budget, and preferences, you may find either more appealing. But before you choose, let’s compare the two.
Price, availability, and specs
Both the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus and Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 are available from Ring’s official store and major retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy. The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus costs $180 and sometimes goes for less by up to a $40 discount. It is the brand’s best battery-powered video doorbell so far in terms of video quality.
The wired-only Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 retails at $250, but you may benefit from a cost markdown during Amazon’s Prime Day sales. It’s one of Ring’s most expensive wired video doorbells, but for good reason.
The specs are largely similar, with the Doorbell Pro 2 offering some additional features lacking in the Doorbell Plus — though only the latter can be run on battery power to skip traditional doorbell wiring. Below is a table of the full specifications:
The first thing you should know right off the bat is that the Doorbell Pro 2 is wired and does not have a battery, while the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus, as the name suggests, is battery-operated. One thing most people like about the Doorbell Plus is that you can hardwire it to 8-24 VAC doorbell transformers, meaning you can choose the most convenient power source. Nevertheless, hard-wiring the doorbell camera won’t transform it into a wired video doorbell.
It’ll only get continuous trickle charging, so you won’t have to pull out the battery often. The rechargeable battery on the Doorbell Plus provides about eight months of usage for each charge. Also, the Video Doorbell Plus allows for quick and easy installation (that is, if you choose not to wire it). The Video Doorbell Pro 2 may pose a few challenges during installation, especially if you don’t have pre-existing doorbell wiring.
Both doorbell cameras are rectangular, with the Video Doorbell Plus being slightly wide and bulky due to the battery. It measures 5.1-by-2.4-by-1.1 inches, while the Doorbell Pro 2 has dimensions of 4.49-by-1.9-by-0.87 inches, making it the slender option. The doorbells come with satin nickel faceplates that you can swap with different color options, costing about $15 each on Amazon. It’s worth noting, the Doorbell Plus has a similar appearance to the Ring Video Doorbell 4.
Software, features, and connectivity
You can access all functions of the Doorbell Pro 2 and Doorbell Plus through the Ring app. Both models offer multiple smart features such as quick replies, motion detection, real-time notifications, two-way talk, instant package alerts, and also allow you to customize motion zones according to your security needs.
What makes the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 stand out is that it employs 3D motion detection, allowing it to pick up movement more easily within the frame up to 30 feet. With the help of this feature, you can program the Pro 2 to start recording footage only when the subject or object is within a given threshold. That way, the camera will only respond to things that are actually moving towards your front door.
The three-dimensional motion detection function utilizes radar technology, which further enables yet another smart feature — the bird’s eye view, providing an aerial map highlighting the subject’s path. Better yet, the Doorbell Pro 2 features Alexa greetings, so you can set it to converse with visitors when you are away. But this feature may not be as useful to those always at home. Plus, not everyone will want to have a conversation with a robot.
In addition, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 can work with 2.4GHz or 5GHz Wi-Fi frequencies, while the Doorbell Plus is only compatible with 2.4GHz network systems. The other thing that sets the two doorbells apart is Pro 2’s six-second color pre-roll function, which allows the camera to start recording a few seconds before an incident.
Video and sound quality
There is no difference in video quality between the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus and Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2. All deliver crisp footage in 1536p HD+, allowing you to identify objects and faces within the camera’s frame with the utmost ease. Both cameras have a 1:1 aspect ratio and a wide field of view of 150 degrees (horizontal and vertical), providing a head-to-toe view of the person standing in front of the camera.
Additionally, you will have a full view of package deliveries placed at your doorstep, making these some of the best doorbell cameras for keeping an eye out for package thieves. They have color night vision and allow you to monitor your porch even when it’s dark. Regarding sound quality, both doorbells deliver clear audio and feature mics with noise cancelation. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 sounds slightly better thanks to the Audio+ feature, which aids in echo cancelation and sound enhancement.
Ring’s subscription service
These charges are paid per device and not for all Ring cameras you may have in your home, which is a downside if you own several devices. In a nutshell, all three plans enable cloud storage, package alerts, video sharing, event history, and rich notifications, to mention but a few features. The Plus plan also includes extended warranty coverage, and the Pro plan allows you to add professional home monitoring to your Ring system.
Which is right for you?
Ring’s Video Doorbell Pro 2 and Doorbell Plus are both at the top of their niches — the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus seems to outshine most battery-powered video doorbell cameras in its class, and the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 is probably one of the best wired video doorbell cameras out there. Moreover, they are all high-res cameras at 1536p with a 1:1 aspect ratio, so the decision to pick either option cannot solely rely on video quality or field of view since it ends in parity.
The Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 is a wired device, so it’s generally more reliable than its battery-powered counterparts. Its ability to record six-second pre-rolls puts it slightly ahead of the Doorbell Plus, with 3D motion detection and bird’s eye view being the cherry on top.
That said, it all comes down to the factors mentioned at the beginning of the article (your budget, preferences, and needs). Do you want a wired or battery-powered video doorbell? Or would you like to try out the Pro 2’s bird’s eye view, pre-roll, 3D motion detection, and Alexa greetings? If so, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 is the ideal pick, provided you don’t mind the steep price tag. However, if you are looking for a more affordable option without the wires, you can’t go wrong with the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus.
The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus is easy to install, records quality footage in 1536p, and provides head-to-toe coverage of subjects within the field of view, making it one of the best battery-operated video doorbell cameras you can buy.
