Just getting into the Ring home security. Started with the doorbell, now a couple of lights. This was an informative video and gave us some good ideas for future Ring uses around our house. Thanks for making this video available!
I have the cameras. I just needed more lighting. So, being able to have the flood lights integrated with the cameras is all I needed. Thanks for the video.
PLEASE DO AN ECHO GUARD TEST, to see once armed if the echo will alert ring alarm for glass break. Maybe compare to wyze camera picking up smoke detector as well??
Thank you for the PIR info. This explains why I sometimes miss the triggers on my battery cams. I will look into adding lights and the bridge. I just checked. Videos recorded today, my battery spotlight cams are 720, my wired floodlight cams are at 1080.
Great video and break down regarding having the senor also. Going to get the Ring Smart Lighting - Floodlight, Battery-Powered, Outdoor Motion-Sensor Security Light, White (Starter Kit) and now get the ring senor also for better activation for the Flood Light.
Stay tuned for next weeks video where LifeHackster removes all of his existing lights and just replaces them with stadium lighting. Then when anyone gets within 50 yards of his house the whole place lights up like an nfl stadium :) Thanks for the review. Cool info :)
Haha!! All those cameras give me a frame of reference from which to compare lighting fixtures... I'm not so stupid anymore. Thank you for all the help, LifeHackster. Salamat
Good man. Appreciate you taking the time to share this stuff with others. Let's hope the 1080p issue gets resolved for most. My Spotlight cam in UK working and downloading at 1080p so hope that's useful. 👍
I commented on your other post, but yes I also noticed that issue with the cameras. I have a huge tree in front of my yard and noticed in recordings that the leaves aren't as "crisp" anymore. So I compared the recording to others and noticed my resolution dropped on March 30th as well. I thought it was a bandwidth issue, but after lot's of testing, determined it was not my bandwidth.
Excellent video as usual, my man. Don't know if you someone has commented on this yet, but I think your lower resolution issue may very well be due to your internet speed. I have 300 down and 20 up. Just checked all of mine and they're all recording in 1080p.
Great video. I was anxious to hear about the outdoor walkway lighting that was just recently introduced by Ring. I submitted the information to receive the equipment from Ring as an early adopter, but they did not choose me. I like your information packed videos.
Hi LifeHackster, as per your suggestion, I checked the resolution on my front & rear floodlight cams, and sure enough, boths videos are 720p!! Then I received a software update request, so performed it, then made new videos on both cams. Both cams are now recording in 1080p now
.... I just wanted to add, you guys over the pond get soooo much more from Ring than us here in the UK, we can't even link cams to both record when motion is detected on one or the other! No Alarm & no smart lighting either .....
I am having the same issue with the resolution. I only have one Ring product which is the Doorbell Pro. I went back and checked footage from this week and find some videos are 720p and others are 1080p. It seems to vary from video to video. At first I thought it could be when it records in night vision mode vs. daytime mode, but found that did not matter.
Not sure when this resolution issue started for me. Your video brought this to my attention. I only looked at this past weeks recordings. I would venture a guess the issue goes back further for me. Probably back to the timeframe you are seeing. Wondering if it’s because of a firmware update. Possibly because of signal strength? I enjoy your videos!
I am assuming Ring made an update around end of March and adding a command to lower resolution if upload speed is slow.. but my issue is that first before March, all my recordings were 1080p and second, they are advertising their cameras as 1080p and only needs 2MBPS of upload speed...which my network can certainly handle and then some...
Confirming that the resolution issue for me does go back to the end of March. I tried to go back further but that’s as far back as cloud storage would go. Through March, April and May my videos vary randomly between 1080 and 720.
Regarding the video recording below 1080... A friend of mine said he called Ring about it and they told him they downgrade the video quality based on connection quality. He told them he had a fast internet connection that he is confident with and asked them to set it to always be 1080p and they did that for him. Hope that helps.
I really think to at that time that it is firmware update that did it and they reverted my account when I posted the video..anyways, all my ring cameras now record back in 1080p.
I’m curious how often the batteries will need to be changed during the winter season. I’m up in Montana where it gets below 0 and is consistently below freezing during the winter.
Lifehackster ...I like Seamus would appreciate an answer if you have it. The floodlight false notifications during the daytime (clouds sunlight birds or whatever?) are terrible. I would not buy another one of these Ring Floodlights. I've set it to the lowest sensitivity and even built an "awning" to try and shield from the sun and point the sensor to various positions. I've had mine for about a year and am about to trash it.
I've been thinking about purchasing a couple of these products. Months later I still haven't. Living in the northeast I can't see the batteries lasting a year.
This is the worst Ring product. The bride would NEVER connect. I have a top line router and plenty internet speed. This crap is a piece of junk. Not worth spending time trying to get this crap to connect, we tried for hours moved to different location in the house even though it said to plug in the same room as the router, tried ever plug in the room it just would not connect. Tomorrow I'm going to return this piece of crap to the store and buy one of the Mr Beams battery motion light for $20 at Home Depot... Mr Beams Wireless 120-Degree Bronze Motion Activated Outdoor Integrated LED Security Spot Light Model# MB361XT-BRN-01 (245) $19.97
I have been researching for months too. I need to update my floodlights so I have been searching for best replacement. Camera vs no camera, best product, best storage and service. I have gone beyond due diligence to see where and how to upgrade. Whew! Lol
edit- mine was at 1080p but then as of a couple hours ago floodlight dropped to 720 while ring pro still 1080. i had the issue where my floodlight was rarely recording at 1080p or even 720; it was often at 480 or sometimes as low as 360. after trying multiple things (new mesh wifi, replacement camera, moving router) it turned out it was a now unused coax splitter on the line going to the modem. after wiring the modem directly to where it comes in from the street all has been good. ring said they were seeing packet loss which was causing the issue. oddly enough though my doorbell pro was always 1080p and never had the issue. possibly because the 5ghz wifi vs the 2.4?
Probably. 5GHz is a strong and faster channel but has a short range. It is from an update of Ring which make it record in lower resolution if it detects decrease WiFi signal... I’m assuming to decrease incidence of ring of death, choppy and freezing videos. I’ll verify this and see if it is from their end.
LifeHackster hi yes i think you are right i think they have an over aggressive firmware that degrades video quality to preserve smoothness. i did contact support tonight and they confirmed my floodlight had been set to auto and they switched it to 1080p and now all is good. i applied a firmware update for my router earlier this week which caused a reboot and i think the floodlight cam may have incorrectly assumed that was a connection issue and downgraded the quality. will let you know if it stays in 1080p over the next few days.
Can the smart floodlight be mounted to a ceiling? I would like to get a floodlight mainly to help my floodlight camera pick up motion turn on and notify me before the people get to my actual floodlight camera. I know of the smaller spotlights but I’m looking for something wired and also like the bigger/more lights in the floodlight VS the spot light. I currently have a ceiling mounted light that I could replace with the floodlight that’s why I’m asking. Maybe throw it in one of your video it possible thanks!
LifeHackster that would be awesome 👍🏽. I’ve been doing a lot of searches on Ring products on TH-cam and you by far have the best content and love that you unbiasedly review the Ring against other products. Also the tips and tricks that you’ve learned over time from having the ring system is helpful for us newer users.
I may have missed this, but quick question. I currently have a dusk to dawn floodlight and was thinking about switching it out for a ring outdoor floodlight camera. My issue is I like my backyard lit at night. I just got off the phone with a ring person who states I can NOT have the floodlight come on at night, or switch the light on at night to remain on. This device will not record or send alarm any other way other then remaining dormant till motion is detected. Any input?
Yup no need to go outside your house, get cameras. The motion lights also let you track movement. With app control you can randomly turn on your lights from your bed just for the hell of it with the rest of the house in total darkness.
Thanks for the tip on the 1080p. I am on my smartphone now and will have to check my computer. I do have the Ring app on my Windows 10 computer and do get alerts just like my smartphone on my three Ring cameras. On my Windows 10 computer, how would I check the resolution? I am not on my computer now, but will check and play with it later to see if I can get to the computer screen that you have on your video. Thanks, Don from Milwaukee
You have to download the file and then check it in file explorer. In the Windows app, just go to the event you want to view, right click on it and select download. Then go file explorer, to the location you saved it as, right click on the file and view Properties and then the Details tab.
I haven't had time to check video speed/quality on my computer yet, but I have noticed videos from my Ring cameras are not as clear as they used to be and more picture freeze. I have to wonder now that Amazon is running the show if they are at fault for video quality? Lifehacker, have you called Ring on this after you found this fault? Thanks again for bringing it to our attention. Don from Milwaukee
I called their customer rep which she said that she is seeing packet loss in my recordings. I’ll verify with my contact person just to confirm if this is really from an update...( which I’m positive that it is) and how we can rectify this...they have to know that advertising their devices as 1080p and only needing 2MBPS of upload speed and customers are not getting 1080p is not good business.
@@LifeHackster ,Even before I saw your video I have noticed more freeze ups and watching my spotlight videos it's actually fuzzy and never used to be. Both my floodlight and Ring Pro doorbell seem all right, but freeze ups. I still haven't had a chance to check on my Windows 10 computer yet. Thanks again. I may call Ring myself to complain too. Don from Milwaukee
@@LifeHackster , I finally got around to download three videos from my three Ring cameras and only my Ring floodlight is still at 1080p at this date. Both my Ring Pro doorbell and Ring spotlight are only at 720p. I emailed Ring customer service to complain stating that their TV commercials and their website State 1080p. I said do what you have to correct the problem and many Ring owners are aware of the fact. I don't see too much problem with my Ring Pro doorbell quality except some freezing, but my spotlight is definitely fuzzy quality. Lifehacker: Thanks again for bringing it to "our" attention. Don from Milwaukee
Both my doorbell cam and floodlight cam have motion events stored as 1080p. Not sure it is any better than 720p given the not so great sensor + terrible compression, but it is 1080. As others have speculated, it may be more about your 2.4ghz wifi being tapped than Ring being sketchy.
I am having the same issue during the daytime I get a lot of false notifications even at the lowest sensitivity for my flood light battery but at night it seems to be working properly, hopefully they fix this issue soon.
CAD0005 I'm pretty sure it's a software issue. I've installed a few of these and they all send false alarms. I'm going to just disable the motion during the day to the lights.
So how bright is the battery floodlight and spotlight at night? I have an small open backyard that goes into a wooded area. Not concerned with the woods, but i want to fill the backyard with lighting and also help the recording of my spotlight camera battery. I have a Mr Beams spotlight battery one already, but love the integration with Ring. Would you supplement that ring floodlight with others?
I purchased the Ring Floodlight and they didn't mention anywhere that I needed the bridge with it. I was pretty upset they didnt make that clear. I wanted to add it to my spotlight camera and doorbell 2. I'll wait until I purchase more lights before I grab the bridge
Do u need the bridge for the solar smart light to work? I charged the battery and got it connected to the solar piece. I usually gotta take it off and put it back on for it to start working again?
Does anyone know what size screw and/or drill bit is required for mounting this light to masonry or stucco? It doesn't come with a drill bit like the doorbell and Ring customer service has no idea and couldn't tell me anything.
How does the floodlight cam and smart floodlight look when lighting the backyard? One on each side, do they have the same color temp? I recently installed a floodlight cam on one side of my yard and is thinking of adding lighting on the other side.
It's not a bad unit, I have the same issue. The motion sensitivity is way too sensitive even on the lowest setting. I find myself turning off the motion notifications during the day because of the constant notifications which defeats the purpose of having these.
@@LifeHackster Today, the lights were coming on in bright sunlight which I thought shouldn't happen. Again I turned everything off. They need to do some serious updates.
Great review!!! Seeing same issue with motion detections on my ring spotlight during the day but only on the one in direct sunlight. The 2nd one under our carport with no direct light has no issues that I’ve seen yet. I’ll have to check the video quality. Great find there!!! Do you know or heard if Ring ever plans to ever allow live streaming directly from cameras to like a Ring Show? The major issue I’m fighting is limited internet bandwidth upload speeds in my area!
@11 11 Sorry. I meant the Echo Show. For one if they would allow you to connect via IP, this wouldn't be a issue or if they allowed you to install a application that could do direct IP, this wouldn't be an issue as well. And since Ring is owned by Amazon, I would think this could be something could offer. And when you say no one would use it, I find that false. I think alot of people look at ReoLink and other solutions for this exact reason. Why do I need to pull my video feed from Ring when I could keep it all local, this would seam more efficient? Also, this would be very useful for people like me who have VERY slow upload speeds who live in rural areas! I have currently 25mb down (no issue here) and 1.5mb up (big issue). And when you have 75 to 90 devices (lot of home automation) on your network fighting for the that 1.5mb up, it gets very bogged down. This is especially true for things like Ring, Amazon, Phillips Hue, etc... that require instant type access to be responsive. The issue I mainly have is when I get a notification and I'm trying to connect to live feed, it can take a minute or more to connect which in some cases and I actually miss what the actual trigger is. I then have to wait for the video to get uploaded to Ring and then watch it which could be 5+ minutes. Make sense?
The only thing I know is Ring will offer 24/7 recording...if internet is limited in your area, I suggest wired NVR cameras which record to the hard drive.
I recently added a chime to my ring alarm system and also there is a freeze in the recording. I have a wired ring doorbell where this occurs. I also have a ring doorbell 1 where there is no freezing in the recording. Both doorbells are connected to the same mesh network. Is the problem in ring's firmware or a problem with the WiFi network?
Have you noticed the lights coming on in daylight. I have threshold set to zero and the switch so they use the light sensor which is supposed to stop them from turning on in daylight. According to ring since I have one under my eve it is messing with the ambient light sensor. I sent them a. Video at 4pm in full daylight where the lights where turned on with Motion it is a huge flaw.. let me know what you think. Also I got less than one month on the ring spotlight 4D batteries..
LifeHackster That’s what I thought. It seems to come on during the day. I would have thought it wouldn’t come on when the sun is out. But, it comes on no matter what time of the day it is.
Life hackster I have a question for you. Im in the market for lighting my garage area. What's brighter, the ring floodlight or the solar lights that's on the side of your house?
Hey @Lifehackster, can the Ring Spotlight and Floodlight be set to be on dimly from dusk till dawn in the app? And when motion is detected they light up fully?
Thanks for another great review. I'm debating between getting the ring floodlight camera or buying the smart lighting floodlight with separate camera (like stickup cam). It seems by buying the light and camera separately I can overcome the recording delay that the floodlight cam may have by recording right when motion is detected. Is that correct? I'm trying to catch mail theft from my mailbox which I think is happening at night. Can't really have a huge lag but it's also an area that has to be wireless. Any thoughts?
Ring’s floodlight cam is wired and it will start recording 3 seconds before the motion has been detected but you do have to consider the distance between the camera to your mailbox for motion detection to work (within 30 feet) A good setup for your case is a ring camera overlooking your mailbox area, then rings motion sensor installed inside the mailbox...so whoever opens your mailbox will trigger a recording and you will not have false recording by people just passing by.
@@LifeHackster That's a great idea. I didnt realize there is no battery floodlight cam, wired won't work. But the false alarms would have driven me crazy anyways.
Hi , I bought the floodlight . Light sensor is enabled but still the light is turn on during the day light . I tested this inside the room with lights on . When asked ring they asked me to test during the sunlight where I doubt. What is the best way to test? Testing light inside the room is not the right way of testing ?
Great video - thanks. Do you think the signal strength could affect resolution? No matter what I do the best signal strength I can get for my Ring Spotlight Cam Battery is -68. My thoughts are that although a weaker signal might mean a clip takes longer to upload, the resolution itself shouldn’t be affected.
I am assuming that is what Ring wanted so that the video will be faster to upload but it is the wrong way to go because they are advertising that their cameras are 1080p HD and you only need 2MBPS of upload speed.
I have found Ring support to be dreadful. Despite asking three times, they have never answered the question “why don’t the technical specs mention that 1080p is dependent on RSSI?”. They even claim to have ran a speed test on my camera showing an upload speed of only 0.07mbps and that I should speak to my ISP. At the time they claim they did this test the camera was not functioning as both batteries had been removed and were being charged.
I checked a couple downloaded video clips. Both from May 7-2019. Both clips are from the same camera, and only 2 minutes apart. One of them is 720, the other is 1080. The smaller file size is the 720 quality. I have no idea why they are different.
I am experiencing the same thing..it is definitely an update from Ring but they can legally get in trouble with this update because they are advertising that their cameras record in 1080p.
My wired floodlight cam is recording at 1080, my ring doorbell 2 (battery) is recording at 720 and a 1st gen ring doorbell also at 720. My wifi is usually strong and I have a gig fiber connection. Interestingly my Doorbell 2 shows -56 rssi only 3ft from the chime pro, the flood light cam shows -44 at the far end of the house from the chime pro and of course the doorbell 1 struggles at -68 rssi at the other end of the house from the chime pro. I do have alot of things on my 2.4 ghz side though. There are 4 Y! cams running , hue, smartthings, etc
hello I have a problem with my ring spotlight smart lightning , the percentage keeps saying 0% even though I put up to 20 different D14 batteries on it
Question. I have a few floodlight cams . All set to the lowest settings. But keep getting triggered by rain , snow or a cat walking by. Also seams to take forever for the alert to notify me . Ring customer service has been non helpful and blaming my wifi lol my WiFi is strong enough that I still get a signal 4 houses down from mine .
Helpful video for Ring questions, but that is a lot of tech. It might be cheaper to just hire a full time armed Marine squadron to protect the entire neighborhood.
My Ring bridge always goes offline and the outdoor smart lights always flicker. Any brand alternative suggestions for outdoor smart light battery or solar operated that will work well with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistance? Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Hey! I just checked my Ring camera (Doorbell pro). It shows as 1080p. How ever this could very, I downloaded the same video both from my phone and my computer (ring.com). If you were to download the video on a different device/method It may be different. It could also be because what wifi you have, this mean if your wifi is slow or your wifi speeds are slow the resolution could drop. I am not 100% sure but this is what I think.
During testing, I downloaded both in my phone and via the web and they are the same. I also have 2 recordings one following each other and one is 1080p and the other 720p...
@@LifeHackster Maybe the Ring's servers had a malfunction... And decreased the resolution. This means that when the cameras are recording in 1080p but are being saved in 720p or lower...
So I just bought a house and it was pre wired with a local alarm company and my wife and I looking on who to get so we thinking about ring, but right now I'm reading that camera quality is not 1080p and the system I made for us costs almost 2000 so is it even worth getting because I don't wanna spend 2000 dollars and not get my money worth.
Ring is 1080p on most of its cameras..I think the original doorbell is the only one that is 720p..you need to have a good and solid WiFi connection to have the best video quality.
Just getting into the Ring home security. Started with the doorbell, now a couple of lights. This was an informative video and gave us some good ideas for future Ring uses around our house. Thanks for making this video available!
Me too. the possibilities are endless
Great information about Ring cameras! I have purchased quiet of few of them to test them out. I will keep you posted about 1080p. Again, great video!
I have the cameras. I just needed more lighting. So, being able to have the flood lights integrated with the cameras is all I needed. Thanks for the video.
PLEASE DO AN ECHO GUARD TEST, to see once armed if the echo will alert ring alarm for glass break. Maybe compare to wyze camera picking up smoke detector as well??
I'll be checking it out.
I forgot about that.. I need to test that.
10:40 very smart thinking! I love your reviews! Very thorough, Helped me purchase my ring cams
Thank you for the PIR info. This explains why I sometimes miss the triggers on my battery cams. I will look into adding lights and the bridge. I just checked. Videos recorded today, my battery spotlight cams are 720, my wired floodlight cams are at 1080.
This is definitely from an update that Ring released around March. I will verify and will let you all know.
Great video and break down regarding having the senor also. Going to get the Ring Smart Lighting - Floodlight, Battery-Powered, Outdoor Motion-Sensor Security Light, White (Starter Kit) and now get the ring senor also for better activation for the Flood Light.
Stay tuned for next weeks video where LifeHackster removes all of his existing lights and just replaces them with stadium lighting. Then when anyone gets within 50 yards of his house the whole place lights up like an nfl stadium :)
Thanks for the review. Cool info :)
Lol... I know.. that would be brighter than any of these lights.. :)
Haha!! All those cameras give me a frame of reference from which to compare lighting fixtures... I'm not so stupid anymore. Thank you for all the help, LifeHackster. Salamat
Very thorough review. It's something to know about other battery cameras having similar issues like RING.
Thanks.
Good man. Appreciate you taking the time to share this stuff with others. Let's hope the 1080p issue gets resolved for most. My Spotlight cam in UK working and downloading at 1080p so hope that's useful. 👍
Good to hear that. I have others comment that their recording are even lower than 720p.
I commented on your other post, but yes I also noticed that issue with the cameras. I have a huge tree in front of my yard and noticed in recordings that the leaves aren't as "crisp" anymore. So I compared the recording to others and noticed my resolution dropped on March 30th as well. I thought it was a bandwidth issue, but after lot's of testing, determined it was not my bandwidth.
It is from an update. I will verify this with my contact at Ring and will let you all know.
Excellent video as usual, my man. Don't know if you someone has commented on this yet, but I think your lower resolution issue may very well be due to your internet speed. I have 300 down and 20 up. Just checked all of mine and they're all recording in 1080p.
It might be but the last week or so, my recordings are back to 1080p and I haven’t done anything to my internet.
Thanks for the heads up on the recording resolution. My floodlight dropped down to 720 as well, however, my doorbell is still at 1080.
There are a lot of other users experiencing the same thing too. I will verify with ring next week and see how we can rectify this.
Can’t remember the last time I needed D or even C batteries.
Great video. I was anxious to hear about the outdoor walkway lighting that was just recently introduced by Ring. I submitted the information to receive the equipment from Ring as an early adopter, but they did not choose me. I like your information packed videos.
Thank you. I will be doing a part 2 video and will include the pathway lights.
Please could you do a ring stick up cam vs ring floodlight cam comparison test?
Thank you for the review. Very knowledgeable. Keep up the good work 👍🏼
Just heard of this product and knew exactly whom to come check out to find out about it.
Thanks :)
Hi LifeHackster, as per your suggestion, I checked the resolution on my front & rear floodlight cams, and sure enough, boths videos are 720p!! Then I received a software update request, so performed it, then made new videos on both cams. Both cams are now recording in 1080p now
.... I just wanted to add, you guys over the pond get soooo much more from Ring than us here in the UK, we can't even link cams to both record when motion is detected on one or the other! No Alarm & no smart lighting either .....
I am having the same issue with the resolution. I only have one Ring product which is the Doorbell Pro. I went back and checked footage from this week and find some videos are 720p and others are 1080p. It seems to vary from video to video. At first I thought it could be when it records in night vision mode vs. daytime mode, but found that did not matter.
Same thing with me... mostly mine are 720p and I kinda narrowed it down to March 27-28th when it started doing it.
Not sure when this resolution issue started for me. Your video brought this to my attention. I only looked at this past weeks recordings. I would venture a guess the issue goes back further for me. Probably back to the timeframe you are seeing. Wondering if it’s because of a firmware update. Possibly because of signal strength? I enjoy your videos!
I am assuming Ring made an update around end of March and adding a command to lower resolution if upload speed is slow.. but my issue is that first before March, all my recordings were 1080p and second, they are advertising their cameras as 1080p and only needs 2MBPS of upload speed...which my network can certainly handle and then some...
Confirming that the resolution issue for me does go back to the end of March. I tried to go back further but that’s as far back as cloud storage would go. Through March, April and May my videos vary randomly between 1080 and 720.
Another superb demonstration. Thank you.
Regarding the video recording below 1080... A friend of mine said he called Ring about it and they told him they downgrade the video quality based on connection quality. He told them he had a fast internet connection that he is confident with and asked them to set it to always be 1080p and they did that for him. Hope that helps.
I really think to at that time that it is firmware update that did it and they reverted my account when I posted the video..anyways, all my ring cameras now record back in 1080p.
@@LifeHackster Maybe update the description to let viewers know that it is no longer an issue.
Great video, very informative
I’m curious how often the batteries will need to be changed during the winter season. I’m up in Montana where it gets below 0 and is consistently below freezing during the winter.
Not sure yet.
Try lithium batteries if you can get them in the size you need. They preform much better than alkaline at low temperatures.
Any update to the false alerts? Did a software patch fix it?
Lifehackster ...I like Seamus would appreciate an answer if you have it. The floodlight false notifications during the daytime (clouds sunlight birds or whatever?) are terrible. I would not buy another one of these Ring Floodlights. I've set it to the lowest sensitivity and even built an "awning" to try and shield from the sun and point the sensor to various positions. I've had mine for about a year and am about to trash it.
I've been thinking about purchasing a couple of these products. Months later I still haven't. Living in the northeast I can't see the batteries lasting a year.
This is the worst Ring product. The bride would NEVER connect. I have a top line router and plenty internet speed. This crap is a piece of junk. Not worth spending time trying to get this crap to connect, we tried for hours moved to different location in the house even though it said to plug in the same room as the router, tried ever plug in the room it just would not connect. Tomorrow I'm going to return this piece of crap to the store and buy one of the Mr Beams battery motion light for $20 at Home Depot... Mr Beams Wireless 120-Degree Bronze Motion Activated Outdoor Integrated LED Security Spot Light
Model# MB361XT-BRN-01
(245)
$19.97
I have been researching for months too. I need to update my floodlights so I have been searching for best replacement. Camera vs no camera, best product, best storage and service. I have gone beyond due diligence to see where and how to upgrade. Whew! Lol
Lisha Fischer What kind of Router do you have?
edit- mine was at 1080p but then as of a couple hours ago floodlight dropped to 720 while ring pro still 1080.
i had the issue where my floodlight was rarely recording at 1080p or even 720; it was often at 480 or sometimes as low as 360. after trying multiple things (new mesh wifi, replacement camera, moving router) it turned out it was a now unused coax splitter on the line going to the modem. after wiring the modem directly to where it comes in from the street all has been good. ring said they were seeing packet loss which was causing the issue. oddly enough though my doorbell pro was always 1080p and never had the issue. possibly because the 5ghz wifi vs the 2.4?
Probably. 5GHz is a strong and faster channel but has a short range. It is from an update of Ring which make it record in lower resolution if it detects decrease WiFi signal... I’m assuming to decrease incidence of ring of death, choppy and freezing videos. I’ll verify this and see if it is from their end.
LifeHackster hi yes i think you are right i think they have an over aggressive firmware that degrades video quality to preserve smoothness. i did contact support tonight and they confirmed my floodlight had been set to auto and they switched it to 1080p and now all is good. i applied a firmware update for my router earlier this week which caused a reboot and i think the floodlight cam may have incorrectly assumed that was a connection issue and downgraded the quality. will let you know if it stays in 1080p over the next few days.
Can the smart floodlight be mounted to a ceiling? I would like to get a floodlight mainly to help my floodlight camera pick up motion turn on and notify me before the people get to my actual floodlight camera. I know of the smaller spotlights but I’m looking for something wired and also like the bigger/more lights in the floodlight VS the spot light. I currently have a ceiling mounted light that I could replace with the floodlight that’s why I’m asking. Maybe throw it in one of your video it possible thanks!
I haven’t tested the wired version..but will see if I can check them out.
LifeHackster that would be awesome 👍🏽. I’ve been doing a lot of searches on Ring products on TH-cam and you by far have the best content and love that you unbiasedly review the Ring against other products. Also the tips and tricks that you’ve learned over time from having the ring system is helpful for us newer users.
I may have missed this, but quick question. I currently have a dusk to dawn floodlight and was thinking about switching it out for a ring outdoor floodlight camera. My issue is I like my backyard lit at night. I just got off the phone with a ring person who states I can NOT have the floodlight come on at night, or switch the light on at night to remain on. This device will not record or send alarm any other way other then remaining dormant till motion is detected. Any input?
Yes because this is battery powered. Ring does have a wired version but I haven’t tested it.
Excellent review!
Thanks.
Yup no need to go outside your house, get cameras. The motion lights also let you track movement. With app control you can randomly turn on your lights from your bed just for the hell of it with the rest of the house in total darkness.
Thanks for the tip on the 1080p. I am on my smartphone now and will have to check my computer. I do have the Ring app on my Windows 10 computer and do get alerts just like my smartphone on my three Ring cameras. On my Windows 10 computer, how would I check the resolution? I am not on my computer now, but will check and play with it later to see if I can get to the computer screen that you have on your video.
Thanks,
Don from Milwaukee
You have to download the file and then check it in file explorer. In the Windows app, just go to the event you want to view, right click on it and select download. Then go file explorer, to the location you saved it as, right click on the file and view Properties and then the Details tab.
I haven't had time to check video speed/quality on my computer yet, but I have noticed videos from my Ring cameras are not as clear as they used to be and more picture freeze. I have to wonder now that Amazon is running the show if they are at fault for video quality?
Lifehacker, have you called Ring on this after you found this fault?
Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.
Don from Milwaukee
I called their customer rep which she said that she is seeing packet loss in my recordings. I’ll verify with my contact person just to confirm if this is really from an update...( which I’m positive that it is) and how we can rectify this...they have to know that advertising their devices as 1080p and only needing 2MBPS of upload speed and customers are not getting 1080p is not good business.
@@LifeHackster ,Even before I saw your video I have noticed more freeze ups and watching my spotlight videos it's actually fuzzy and never used to be. Both my floodlight and Ring Pro doorbell seem all right, but freeze ups. I still haven't had a chance to check on my Windows 10 computer yet.
Thanks again. I may call Ring myself to complain too.
Don from Milwaukee
@@LifeHackster , I finally got around to download three videos from my three Ring cameras and only my Ring floodlight is still at 1080p at this date. Both my Ring Pro doorbell and Ring spotlight are only at 720p. I emailed Ring customer service to complain stating that their TV commercials and their website State 1080p. I said do what you have to correct the problem and many Ring owners are aware of the fact. I don't see too much problem with my Ring Pro doorbell quality except some freezing, but my spotlight is definitely fuzzy quality.
Lifehacker: Thanks again for bringing it to "our" attention.
Don from Milwaukee
Both my doorbell cam and floodlight cam have motion events stored as 1080p. Not sure it is any better than 720p given the not so great sensor + terrible compression, but it is 1080. As others have speculated, it may be more about your 2.4ghz wifi being tapped than Ring being sketchy.
It might be. I will be exploring upgrading my WiFi soon. Thanks.
I am having the same issue during the daytime I get a lot of false notifications even at the lowest sensitivity for my flood light battery but at night it seems to be working properly, hopefully they fix this issue soon.
Thanks for letting me know... now it might be a software issue on their side..they might need to adjust the sensitivity on the floodlight side only...
CAD0005 I'm pretty sure it's a software issue. I've installed a few of these and they all send false alarms. I'm going to just disable the motion during the day to the lights.
So how bright is the battery floodlight and spotlight at night? I have an small open backyard that goes into a wooded area. Not concerned with the woods, but i want to fill the backyard with lighting and also help the recording of my spotlight camera battery. I have a Mr Beams spotlight battery one already, but love the integration with Ring. Would you supplement that ring floodlight with others?
It should be the same brightness as Mr Beams but just yellow color.
Question about the ring sensor, can that be used to trigger recording on the new blink outdoor camera?
I purchased the Ring Floodlight and they didn't mention anywhere that I needed the bridge with it. I was pretty upset they didnt make that clear. I wanted to add it to my spotlight camera and doorbell 2. I'll wait until I purchase more lights before I grab the bridge
Yes.. it needs the bridge so as to be able to communicate via WiFi in the app.
Do u need the bridge for the solar smart light to work? I charged the battery and got it connected to the solar piece. I usually gotta take it off and put it back on for it to start working again?
That was awesome. I'm just like you regarding all safety lights and cameras :) Thank you for sharing.
Have you checkout Litmor floodlight camera? I would like to see your inputs on that product vs the ring and Maximus floodlight.
They contacted me a while back stating they will ship me some cameras including the floodlight..but I haven’t received anything yet.
Ring is by far the best of the best
As long as they fix the resolution issue...
Does anyone know what size screw and/or drill bit is required for mounting this light to masonry or stucco? It doesn't come with a drill bit like the doorbell and Ring customer service has no idea and couldn't tell me anything.
You have a really nice set up thanks for the review 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Is the bridge still needed if I have the ring chime extender and ring home alarm base station
Awesome piece of information......very helpful. Thanks!
You are welcome.
Such an awesome video!!!
How does the floodlight cam and smart floodlight look when lighting the backyard? One on each side, do they have the same color temp?
I recently installed a floodlight cam on one side of my yard and is thinking of adding lighting on the other side.
They have the same color temp...3000 kelvin
It's not a bad unit, I have the same issue. The motion sensitivity is way too sensitive even on the lowest setting. I find myself turning off the motion notifications during the day because of the constant notifications which defeats the purpose of having these.
That is what I thought too.. a firmware update can fix this..I just got the replacement though but I haven’t set it up yet.
@@LifeHackster Today, the lights were coming on in bright sunlight which I thought shouldn't happen. Again I turned everything off. They need to do some serious updates.
great video! definetly going to buy some motion sensors so that my cameras can start recording faster..
Great review!!! Seeing same issue with motion detections on my ring spotlight during the day but only on the one in direct sunlight. The 2nd one under our carport with no direct light has no issues that I’ve seen yet.
I’ll have to check the video quality. Great find there!!!
Do you know or heard if Ring ever plans to ever allow live streaming directly from cameras to like a Ring Show? The major issue I’m fighting is limited internet bandwidth upload speeds in my area!
@11 11 Sorry. I meant the Echo Show. For one if they would allow you to connect via IP, this wouldn't be a issue or if they allowed you to install a application that could do direct IP, this wouldn't be an issue as well. And since Ring is owned by Amazon, I would think this could be something could offer.
And when you say no one would use it, I find that false. I think alot of people look at ReoLink and other solutions for this exact reason. Why do I need to pull my video feed from Ring when I could keep it all local, this would seam more efficient? Also, this would be very useful for people like me who have VERY slow upload speeds who live in rural areas! I have currently 25mb down (no issue here) and 1.5mb up (big issue). And when you have 75 to 90 devices (lot of home automation) on your network fighting for the that 1.5mb up, it gets very bogged down. This is especially true for things like Ring, Amazon, Phillips Hue, etc... that require instant type access to be responsive. The issue I mainly have is when I get a notification and I'm trying to connect to live feed, it can take a minute or more to connect which in some cases and I actually miss what the actual trigger is. I then have to wait for the video to get uploaded to Ring and then watch it which could be 5+ minutes. Make sense?
The only thing I know is Ring will offer 24/7 recording...if internet is limited in your area, I suggest wired NVR cameras which record to the hard drive.
I can’t wait for your review on the new Reolink Pan & Tilt solar powered camera.
Just waiting for Reolink to send it to me when it becomes available.
I enjoy your videos very much! good jobs
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Great review. Is there a way to link Mr. Beam lights to the Ring bridge at this time?
Not with Mr. Beams
How well would the solar panel charge in cloudy skies?
Another great video ! subscribed 👍🏼
Thank you.
I recently added a chime to my ring alarm system and also there is a freeze in the recording. I have a wired ring doorbell where this occurs. I also have a ring doorbell 1 where there is no freezing in the recording. Both doorbells are connected to the same mesh network. Is the problem in ring's firmware or a problem with the WiFi network?
Have you noticed the lights coming on in daylight. I have threshold set to zero and the switch so they use the light sensor which is supposed to stop them from turning on in daylight. According to ring since I have one under my eve it is messing with the ambient light sensor. I sent them a. Video at 4pm in full daylight where the lights where turned on with Motion it is a huge flaw.. let me know what you think.
Also I got less than one month on the ring spotlight 4D batteries..
Ring sent me a replacement which is better in motion detecting in daytime. I haven’t noticed the lights turning on in daytime.
LifeHackster I’ll have to call them again.. I got the run around when I email customer service
Hello where did you get your outdoor solar light? It looked like it was a long rectangular light with LED
Do you need the bridge for the lights to simply turn on when triggered?
No
Tech Guy weird how it still turns on without during the day. Waiting for the bridge to get delivered.
It shouldn’t. The bridge is used so that you can control the lights and change its settings.
LifeHackster That’s what I thought. It seems to come on during the day. I would have thought it wouldn’t come on when the sun is out. But, it comes on no matter what time of the day it is.
My pathway lights get tons of false detection in the day so I have motion alerts turned off from 6am to 8pm.
Checked my cameras their at 1920x1080p
Thank you for the info. and that’s good that your recordings are in 1080p still.
Awesome videos. So helpful
Do you need the bridge to use the flood smart lighting? Or you can do without it?
Yes. You will need the bridge.
Hi, if i put 2 batteries at the same time in the ring solar floodlight, will they be charged at the same time or one after the other? Thanks
Life hackster I have a question for you. Im in the market for lighting my garage area. What's brighter, the ring floodlight or the solar lights that's on the side of your house?
The Ring floodlight should be brighter..but I like the white light better though...
Do you have to have a ring bridge to use the spotlight?
Yes.
@@LifeHackster is it the same for the ring flood light cam?
Many thanks. Hope seeing review for Blink XT 2 soon
I just uploaded my review. Check it out.
What's the real world range of the bridge (some sort of 'proprietary protocol)?
Does the monitor sensor show up in the Alexa app / can you have I trigger routines?
Yes it shows up and actually connects automatically with Alexa. I will demo it in the part 2 video.
Hey @Lifehackster, can the Ring Spotlight and Floodlight be set to be on dimly from dusk till dawn in the app? And when motion is detected they light up fully?
Please review the new “Deep Sentinel security Camera system” thanks in advance.
I'll check it out.
Thanks for another great review. I'm debating between getting the ring floodlight camera or buying the smart lighting floodlight with separate camera (like stickup cam). It seems by buying the light and camera separately I can overcome the recording delay that the floodlight cam may have by recording right when motion is detected. Is that correct? I'm trying to catch mail theft from my mailbox which I think is happening at night. Can't really have a huge lag but it's also an area that has to be wireless. Any thoughts?
Ring’s floodlight cam is wired and it will start recording 3 seconds before the motion has been detected but you do have to consider the distance between the camera to your mailbox for motion detection to work (within 30 feet) A good setup for your case is a ring camera overlooking your mailbox area, then rings motion sensor installed inside the mailbox...so whoever opens your mailbox will trigger a recording and you will not have false recording by people just passing by.
@@LifeHackster That's a great idea. I didnt realize there is no battery floodlight cam, wired won't work. But the false alarms would have driven me crazy anyways.
Hi , I bought the floodlight . Light sensor is enabled but still the light is turn on during the day light . I tested this inside the room with lights on . When asked ring they asked me to test during the sunlight where I doubt. What is the best way to test? Testing light inside the room is not the right way of testing ?
Just want to ask what are the solar lights you are using for the side of your house?
Lemontec solar lights at Amazon. They work pretty good.
@@LifeHackster thanks for that mate. Appreciate it.
How are they vs. The cheaper China ones on Ebay?
Great video - thanks. Do you think the signal strength could affect resolution? No matter what I do the best signal strength I can get for my Ring Spotlight Cam Battery is -68. My thoughts are that although a weaker signal might mean a clip takes longer to upload, the resolution itself shouldn’t be affected.
ipb1966 I switched to Samsung WiFi mesh, it comes with 3 units. I have 5 ring cameras, ring alarm, and 4 wyze cameras. Never a problem since.
I am assuming that is what Ring wanted so that the video will be faster to upload but it is the wrong way to go because they are advertising that their cameras are 1080p HD and you only need 2MBPS of upload speed.
the rssi at my floodlight is -40 and it’s doing this 720/1080p switchers as of a couple days ago
I have found Ring support to be dreadful. Despite asking three times, they have never answered the question “why don’t the technical specs mention that 1080p is dependent on RSSI?”. They even claim to have ran a speed test on my camera showing an upload speed of only 0.07mbps and that I should speak to my ISP. At the time they claim they did this test the camera was not functioning as both batteries had been removed and were being charged.
Sorry if I missed it but was there any resolution regarding the drop from 1080p on your cameras?
I checked a couple downloaded video clips. Both from May 7-2019. Both clips are from the same camera, and only 2 minutes apart. One of them is 720, the other is 1080. The smaller file size is the 720 quality.
I have no idea why they are different.
I am experiencing the same thing..it is definitely an update from Ring but they can legally get in trouble with this update because they are advertising that their cameras record in 1080p.
My wired floodlight cam is recording at 1080, my ring doorbell 2 (battery) is recording at 720 and a 1st gen ring doorbell also at 720. My wifi is usually strong and I have a gig fiber connection. Interestingly my Doorbell 2 shows -56 rssi only 3ft from the chime pro, the flood light cam shows -44 at the far end of the house from the chime pro and of course the doorbell 1 struggles at -68 rssi at the other end of the house from the chime pro. I do have alot of things on my 2.4 ghz side though. There are 4 Y! cams running , hue, smartthings, etc
It is an update from Ring and I’m still waiting for their response on how to fix the issue.
hello I have a problem with my ring spotlight smart lightning , the percentage keeps saying 0% even though I put up to 20 different D14 batteries on it
You might need to reset it.
Can you change the brightness on the wired version of this floodlight?
Does the wired version offer the ability to set it always on 50% at night. And than 100% power for a set time during motion detection?
Question.
I have a few floodlight cams . All set to the lowest settings. But keep getting triggered by rain , snow or a cat walking by. Also seams to take forever for the alert to notify me . Ring customer service has been non helpful and blaming my wifi lol my WiFi is strong enough that I still get a signal 4 houses down from mine .
informative video thanks!
How often have You had to change the batteries? Great video, Thank You!
Hi LifeHackster, can I have Eufy camera start recording when the Ring smart lights are triggered? Can they talk to each other? Thanks
Helpful video for Ring questions, but that is a lot of tech. It might be cheaper to just hire a full time armed Marine squadron to protect the entire neighborhood.
:)
I started thinking the same so I came down to the comment section and you didn't disappoint.
Great review as always 👍🏼
Thank you.
What model solar lights are you using in your alley way. They look like a nice low profile
Lemontec solar lights at Amazon -> amzn.to/2Wl3r9O
LifeHackster thank you, I just ordered them.
Nice job. Thanks
Does the Wired Floodlight (not camera) have Light Schedule capability?
I'm not sure. I haven't tested the wired one.
LifeHackster I bought one and it does have Light Schedule capabilities. Thanks. Salamat.
I’m experienced the same problem with the resolution on the cameras what should we do to fix this
lazaro gonzalez
It could be your uploading too many things at one time and its using all your upload bandwith..
Call or get in touch with Ring...
If I want to keep the lights on at night while sitting outside, how long would it stay on for? The battery cam stays on foe for 30 seconds only.
Do you have a review for ring bridge
Will the Floodlight Cam work with the bridge?
If you have the protect plus plan, you will be able to integrate your ring cameras with the smart lighting.
Per your suggestion: I checked two Floodlight cams and one Spotlight cam, all wired, and videos are 1080P.
Thanks for the info.
My Ring bridge always goes offline and the outdoor smart lights always flicker. Any brand alternative suggestions for outdoor smart light battery or solar operated that will work well with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistance? Any info would be greatly appreciated!
How can I set it for when there is motion on floodlight, the lights turn on? Instead of manually
Hey! I just checked my Ring camera (Doorbell pro). It shows as 1080p. How ever this could very, I downloaded the same video both from my phone and my computer (ring.com). If you were to download the video on a different device/method It may be different. It could also be because what wifi you have, this mean if your wifi is slow or your wifi speeds are slow the resolution could drop. I am not 100% sure but this is what I think.
During testing, I downloaded both in my phone and via the web and they are the same. I also have 2 recordings one following each other and one is 1080p and the other 720p...
@@LifeHackster Maybe the Ring's servers had a malfunction... And decreased the resolution. This means that when the cameras are recording in 1080p but are being saved in 720p or lower...
Hello, live your videos... where can I get those solar lights?
After installing the Ring Bridge it seems that my Ring app is slower and takes longer to load the videos and live view. Uggh
Try letting it update...if not, try deleting and installing it again.
Reinstalling the app fixed the issue.
Try rapid ring app. It kinda works in junction with the ring app.
So I just bought a house and it was pre wired with a local alarm company and my wife and I looking on who to get so we thinking about ring, but right now I'm reading that camera quality is not 1080p and the system I made for us costs almost 2000 so is it even worth getting because I don't wanna spend 2000 dollars and not get my money worth.
Ring is 1080p on most of its cameras..I think the original doorbell is the only one that is 720p..you need to have a good and solid WiFi connection to have the best video quality.