Sometimes I see something and I try for a good while to get it to review before I ever wind up with it, sometimes it isn’t cut and dry and it isn’t instant – but it seems like those are always the most exciting reviews that I get when they come to be a reality. Oh, and sometimes you have to find somewhere other than the actual brand to get the review from too!

The latest item that I got to review was one of these “special” items and it was the Ring Video Doorbell that I got thanks to the wonderful folks at Hammacher Schlemmer. I worked with them last year on a review for my wine fridge which I really love, but I did end up gifting it to my parents a couple months ago! I would have kept it but I know that they would enjoy it and that it was going to a great home 🙂

In case you don’t know Hammacher Schlemmer has almost anything in the world that you can think of, and you can even get their catalog sent to you if you want. I always find so many unique things that I love when I browse their catalog and website – things I have both heard of and things I haven’t and when it comes to picking a gift guide review item from them every year it is pretty hard but I had the ring video doorbell in mind for at least a year- ever since I knew they had it!

The 3 Reasons I wanted A Ring 🙂

I have wanted a Ring Video Doorbell ever since I knew their was one… for many different reasons too! I am at home a good portion of the day by myself and I knew that it would help me feel more secure. I am commonly alone between the hours of 6 a/m and 5 p/m. I have actually mistakenly answered the door before when I was expecting packages and didn’t think twice when someone knocked.

This is how I got trolled by some religious folks for a while. I know it wasn’t very smart to open the door with out looking out my peep hole but for the longest time my peep hole was actually shattered and I couldn’t get it replaced! I like the idea that I can be more safe with answering the door and not having to either look out the window or use the step stool *you’ll see what I mean by that in just a second!

Also I get a lot of packages and it sometimes gets annoying because they usually will leave my package without a signature , but I always feel like I need to be home just to say Please leave the package or I will stalk for the package all day long because I am worried they will knock and I won’t know they came because of doing something else. This way I can be sure I know what is going on and I don’t have to necessarily be around either!

Oh and A note about peep holes? they aren’t made for us short folks. I have to keep a step stool over near the door so I can even try to see out that thing even when it has worked. I mean I am totally thankful that it got fixed because I didn’t break it and needed to be able to use it!

A little bit of RING information:

The concept of ring is that even if you aren’t at home to answer your doorbell, or if you see activity outside your door when you have a motion detection if you are using that setting, that you are essentially home because you can answer your door from wherever you might be with the Ring video doorbell app! The Ring video doorbell has 2 way audio and of course you can see what is going on. There is also a way for you to even see a live view at any time you might desire!

This is like the 3rd reason I wanted to have a ring video doorbell! You all know how I am about going away on trips because I am always wondering what is going on at home. Now , I don’t currently have a way of checking on Sam on the inside but I do feel a little bit better with being able to find out what is going on outside!

The RING App & The Protect Plan!

There are LOTS of awesome things you can find via the app including getting notifications from your neighborhood (you can set a radius) and if there is suspicious activity around , people in your area can post the video for others to see /you can post your videos for people to see as well.

You can also find out the health of your doorbell (battery life, signal strength,etc) The battery will generally last 6 months to a year depending on the weather and the use and settings that you choose. I have had ours several weeks and it is holding strong at 85 % and we have done quite a bit of playing with it!.

You can get notifications on the activity of your doorbell by when someone actually rings your doorbell and/or by setting motion zones as well. I try to not keep the motion zones on very often unless I am not at home or unless it is night time and I am by myself because my next door neighbors kind of act a little bit like they aren’t excited that I have it, and I really don’t want them to say anything to the apartment office people!  When you have the motion sensors on it actually lights up so someone would know they were being recorded. I know I can have the doorbell and everything, and they aren’t hardly ever even home but..yeah!

You can get a Protect Plan for your Ring for as little as $3 a month which gives you 60 days of cloud storage to save your footage and you can also share your videos as well! I know that I will be looking into this option very soon because I got the first 30 days free and I still have a little time left!

Setting Things Up & Installation:

Basically you just use the ring app to set up the doorbell, and it can be found in the apple store or the google play store. It is pretty straight forward and you just follow the instructions and it doesn’t take but a few minutes!

As far as installation the kit comes with anything and everything that you can think of for installation in about any surface that you might have. We simply just screwed ours in to the siding. I had actually considered putting it on the door with some mirror tape (that wasn’t included, just my idea) but I said to heck with it and let David screw it in 🙂

You can hardwire the doorbell if you have that sort of set up , but you can totally just use it freestyle with the battery as well!

Pictures & Video Clips:

A little note for when we get to my video clips- our apartment place hallway stays pretty dark especially in the evening because our lights on our side are auto set and they don’t seem to come on. Also we have had a lot of cloudy days. I would like to say though when the lighting is right and not enclosed like our breezeway – your videos would be in color 🙂

This is David & Marley

This is when My Brother in law Alex came over randomly one evening!

Summing It Up:

I am VERY happy with my Ring Video Doorbell that Hammacher Schlemmer was awesome enough to work with me so I could have one! I love that I can see what is going on in many different ways including the zones, ringing of the bell and even the live view. I loved the simple set up and the functionality of the app and that it was easy to install as well. I look forward to having it for a long time in the future and being able to enjoy it!