Ring's new video doorbell is its cheapest yet — but there's a catch
Ring Video Doorbell Wired costs $40 less than other models, but forget about batteries
Ring is the market leader when it comes to video doorbells, but it's facing increasing pressure as competitors release ever-cheaper models. Enter the Ring Video Doorbell Wired, a $59.99 video doorbell that will be available on February 24. However, as its name suggests, this video doorbell will have to be wired to a power source to work.
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Ring Video Doorbell Wired price and availability
The Ring Video Doorbell Wired costs $59.99, and can be preordered on on Ring.com and amazon.com; it will start shipping on February 24. From February 24 through March 25, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired will also be available at The Home Depot, and will be more widely available afterward.
The main difference between the Ring Video Doorbell Wired and the $100 Ring Video Doorbell, the company's next-least expensive video doorbell, is that the latter can run on battery power. The Wired version needs to be, well, wired. That means if you're not replacing a wired doorbell, the installation will be trickier, as you'll have to run electricity to your door.
Other features of the Ring Video Doorbell Wired include everything you'll find on the Ring Video Doorbell: 1080p HD video, night vision, two-way audio, customizable motion zones, and privacy zones.
If you subscribe to Ring Protect (which starts at $3/month for a single camera), you can also save recordings, a People Only mode and Rich Notifications, which displays a thumbnail image when you get a notification.
Additionally, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired will record color Pre-Roll; when enabled, this feature continually records six seconds of video, and when a person is detected, it adds this clip to the front of the video. That gives you a better chance of seeing someone as they approach your door. Both Arlo and Nest video doorbells have a similar feature.
Currently, the majority of the best video doorbells cost anywhere from $100 to $200, so Ring's new wired model represents a pretty hefty price cut. Ring is probably counting on people to buy a Ring Protect plan, which is only $30 per year and cheap for a single camera, but not the best among security camera cloud storage plans.
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Ring's new video doorbell also looks to be a preemptive strike against the Wyze Video Doorbell, which is slated to launch in February for just $29.99. What this means is that we're going to be busy testing video doorbells to let you know which is the best.
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Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.