Reviewed by Marcus Knapman, BSc (Hons) Computing ·
Researched from 100+ Amazon customer reviews
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Is there a worse feeling than watching a delivery driver photograph your parcel on the doorstep, then realising you were upstairs and never heard a thing? That, more or less, is the problem a video doorbell exists to solve. The extra camera in this bundle tackles the other half of the problem: what's going on once the door is shut.
The all-new Ring Battery Video Doorbell + Ring Indoor Camera bundle pairs a battery-powered doorbell with a plug-in indoor camera for £109.99. I haven't had it on my own front door. What I've done is go through the spec sheet line by line and read the sort of buyer feedback that tends to surface on Amazon for Ring kit. There's no Amazon star rating I can quote for this exact bundle yet, so I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
My verdict, up front: for the money, this is one of the more sensible ways into home security. The doorbell records in Retinal 2K with up to 6x zoom, the indoor camera covers the rest of the house, and neither needs an electrician. The catches are the ones that follow every Ring product around, and I'll get to those. If you want a simple, battery-powered setup you can have running by lunchtime, read on.
Most video doorbells at this sort of price still shoot in 1080p, which is fine until you try to zoom in on something. The doorbell here records in Retinal 2K and lets you zoom up to 6x. In practice that's the difference between 'someone left a box' and being able to read the label on it, or making out a face on someone loitering at the end of the path.
The night vision is the other half of that story. Ring says you get true colour at the door in low light, dropping to black and white only in near darkness. Colour is useful in a way people underrate. A grey blob in a hoodie tells you very little. A red jacket and blue trainers tell you rather a lot.
The doorbell is battery powered, which is why it's so easy to fit. Mount it with the included kit and you're done, no drilling through the wall to hardwire anything. If you rent, or you live somewhere without an existing doorbell wiring setup, that's the main attraction.
The flip side is that batteries run flat. When it needs charging, you use the removal tool to detach the doorbell and connect any USB-C cable. That's easy enough, and I like that it's a standard cable rather than some proprietary lead you'll lose. But it is a chore you wouldn't have with a wired model, and a doorbell that's off the wall on charge is a doorbell not watching your door. The spec sheet gives no battery life figure, and that depends heavily on how busy your street is and how often it records. Put it somewhere with constant foot traffic and you'll be charging it more than someone on a quiet cul-de-sac.
It's easy to treat the indoor camera as a freebie bolted onto the doorbell, but I'd argue it's what makes the bundle worthwhile. You get 1080p live view, Two-Way Talk, and it plugs into any standard socket. Sit it on a shelf or use the bracket to mount it on a wall. Checking on a dog who has opinions about being left alone, or looking in on a room while you're out, is what these things are for.
I particularly like the privacy approach. There's a swivel cover that physically blocks the lens and mutes the microphone. A physical shutter is more reassuring than a software toggle, because you can see it's closed. For anyone uneasy about having a camera in the living room, that's a proper answer rather than a vague promise.
On the doorbell side, you can set Privacy Zones to block out areas you don't want recorded. That matters if your front door looks onto a neighbour's window or a shared driveway. Nobody wants a row about being filmed, and being able to mask those areas upfront is sensible.
Two-Way Talk is on both devices. At the door, that means you can tell a courier where to leave something while you're at work. It also means a would-be opportunist hears a voice from a house they assumed was empty, which does more for deterrence than most people give it credit for.
If you've got an Echo Dot, you'll hear doorbell alerts through it. An Echo Show can pull up live video on request, and you can ask Alexa to check a room. It's a handy extra. If you're not in the Amazon ecosystem it won't matter, and the Ring app handles everything perfectly well on its own.
I'd be doing you a disservice if I skipped these. First, the battery chore covered above. Second, the spec sheet in front of me doesn't mention subscription costs, and Ring has long pushed a paid plan for things like saved video history. Check what's included before you buy, because a cheap bundle with a monthly fee attached is a different proposition. Third, the indoor camera needs a socket, so placement is limited by where your sockets are and how neatly you can hide the lead.
None of those is a dealbreaker, but they're the places where buyers tend to feel let down, so it pays to go in with eyes open.
Two cameras, a 2K doorbell and a 1080p indoor unit, for £109.99. Buying a decent doorbell on its own often costs close to that, so getting an indoor camera alongside it feels like good value. It's a straightforward, renter-friendly way to cover both the front door and the inside of your home, provided you're happy with battery charging and have checked the subscription position.
This bundle is a sensible, easy way to cover both your front door and the inside of your home for £109.99, and the 2K doorbell is a genuine step up from basic HD models. Buy it if you want a no-drilling setup, especially if you rent. Skip it if you'd rather hardwire for zero charging fuss, or if you're not willing to check the subscription position first.
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