Smart doorbells are popular in the smart home industry. There are several companies that manufacture reliable, functional and durable smart video doorbells.
While not all of them can be trusted, a few of them stand out. One of the well-known and popular manufacturers, Ring, leads the market with their innovative and promising products.
Ring 2 and Ring Pro are two of the most successful doorbells Ring has released. Functionally, these two are quite different and we need to find out how exactly Ring Pro and Ring 2 differ.
Table of Contents
Ring 2 vs Ring Pro: Pros & Cons and Verdict
In this Ring Pro vs Ring 2 Video Doorbell article, we’ll compare, rate and discuss the most important aspects of both doorbells. We’ll also present a few charts and lastly, we’ll come up with a reasonable verdict and crown one of these two as a leading product.
Answer the door from anywhere and watch over your home in 1080HD video with Ring Video Doorbell Pro. You’ll get mobile alerts when anyone comes to your door, so you can see, hear and speak to visitors from your phone, tablet and PC.
1. Installation Process
It’s important for our smart doorbells to have a simple setup process since no one likes spending hours reading manuals and watching guides on YouTube to complete a simple task like this.
Luckily, Ring manufactures DIY doorbells and the setup takes about 5 minutes to complete.
Ring 2 Doorbell
Unlike the Ring Pro, Ring 2 can work as both a wired and a wireless doorbell. If you prefer the wireless setup, it literally takes a minute or two to have a fully functional Ring 2 doorbell up and running.
The doorbell pack includes all the necessary equipment to complete the installation process. In order to activate your doorbell, simply download the ‘Ring’ mobile application on your smartphone. From there, it’ll guide you through the whole process.
If you’re interested in how it’s done, I’ve included a wonderful video uploaded by Ring. It explains the whole thing in under 5 minutes.
If you still encounter any issues during the setup, refer to the user manual. It’s well-written. Alternatively, reach out to the Ring support team. Those people are superb and will help with any issues you might be facing.
Ring Pro
Since the Ring Pro is wired, it’s not as easy to install as the Ring 2 doorbell. Like the second-generation Ring, the Pro version includes all the necessary tools to complete the installation.
Below, I’ve dropped another video uploaded by Ring. It’ll guide you through the whole setup:
That’s pretty much it. Simply follow Ring’s guidelines and you’ll have your Ring Pro up and running in 10 minutes maximum. Plus, you can use the mobile application or the user manual for further instructions.
2. Design
It’s crucial for all modern smart home products to have eye-catching and apt designs. Everyone wants to purchase gadgets that improve the overall attractiveness of their houses. Since we’ll be mounting these doorbells next to our doors, it’s important for them to look good.
Ring 2 Doorbell
The first thing that comes to mind when you see a Ring 2 doorbell is how good-looking it is. The second-generation Ring is quite similar to the first one. It’s just bulkier in size and has two interchangeable faceplates.
Before making the decision to purchase the Ring 2, ensure that you measure the space where you’ll be installing the doorbell. Ring 2 is 5.05-inches tall, 2.50-inches wide, and 1.08-inches thick. Despite the bulky size, Ring 2 doesn’t look weird installed next to your door.
Ring 2 feels like a well-made, quality doorbell. I’ve talked with other Ring 2 owners and everyone seems to be happy with their purchase. Compared to its competitors, Skybell and August, Ring 2 looks more attractive.
I really loved the fact that Ring’s package includes two faceplates — Satin nickel and Venetian. You can always change the colour if you think that the current one doesn’t look nice.
Ring Pro
I personally like the Pro’s design more than the Ring 2’s. It has a traditional doorbell look, it’s well-sized and has four interchangeable faceplates. Unlike Ring 2, the Pro model gives us more options to change the doorbell’s visual appearance to one’s liking.
At 4.5 by 1.8 by 0.8 inches (HWD), the Ring Pro is slimmer than the company’s other doorbells. We have the black faceplate installed and it looks awesome.
Compared to other video doorbells, we like the Ring Pro best. It’s compact, well-made and eye-catching. The interchangeable faceplates provide an additional perk and you can adjust the visual appearance of the doorbell to your tastes.
3. Features
The next topic we need to discuss is the features of Ring 2 and Ring Pro. It’s essential to know what these two have to offer for us to differentiate them properly.
In order to find out, we’ve created a detailed chart which includes all the main features of both. While both offer interesting features, there’s a crucial feature difference that makes the Ring Pro standout.
1080p HD Video
160° Field of View
Motion Alerts
Amazon Alexa Support
Motion Zones
Cloud Recording
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1080p HD Video
Amazon Alexa Integration
Motion Alerts
Motion Alert Customization
5-second Pre-Roll
On-Demand Streaming
Cloud Recording
In terms of features, these two are nearly identical. The main difference we find here is the Ring 2 being dual-powered (works wired and wireless) and Ring Pro being a wired doorbell.
Otherwise, Ring 2 and Ring Pro are the same. Another exception is the latest feature of the Ring Pro doorbell which allows the user to rollback the video 5 seconds before receiving the motion alert.
4. Performance & Camera Capabilities
This is the most important aspect of our comparison article since the main reason why people purchase these smart doorbells is due to their performance and camera capabilities.
If Ring 2 and Ring Pro can’t record proper vids, it’ll affect the whole user experience. So we need to be sure that both are capable of what the company promises.
Ring 2 Doorbell
To begin with, Ring 2 works pretty nice. The first generation Ring doorbell was known for its glitches and bugs. Fortunately, Ring worked hard and improved all the issues.
Whenever you install the Ring 2 doorbell and someone approaches your door or presses the button, you’ll get a notification on your smartphone with an option to start a live feed. If you have the Ring Chime installed, it’ll sound, too.
The huge perk of the doorbell is the ability to have a two-way talk with your visitor. If you’re not home and someone’s there to leave a package, you can use the smart doorbell to speak and provide further directions.
Since the Ring 2 is battery-powered and a lot of people purchase it because of that, it’s important to know the longevity. Ring promises that the battery of Ring 2 lasts for 6-12 months.
For obvious reasons, we couldn’t test it for that long, but we’ve discussed the matter with other doorbell owners and it was rare to hear a complaint about the battery life.
The motion tracking of Ring 2 does wonders. It’s enhanced and works much better than the previous generation model did. As soon as the doorbell detects motion, it’ll send a notification on your phone and you can start recording a video.
You might hear some people complaining about the sensitivity levels of the doorbell. By default, it’s set to ‘high’; so if you experience some false alerts you can simply lower the setting in the mobile application.
Like the majority of other smart doorbells, Ring offers a subscription plan to record clips. If you don’t subscribe, Ring’s capabilities will be limited.
It’s really a heart-breaking factor that Ring doesn’t offer a free cloud storage plan. If Skybell does it, Ring could’ve done it too.
Luckily, the subscription isn’t expensive. You can pay $3/monthly or $30/yearly.
Since the camera quality of the Ring 2 has improved from 720p to 1080p, we can get better pictures now. With this, the zoom feature has got better and while zooming in, the quality isn’t lost (maybe only a little).
If you’re interested how well the doorbell records, take a look at this:
Ring 2 records really well. You can see from the image above that the quality is more than acceptable. The face of the person was clearly visible but we had to blur it due to privacy concerns.
The night-vision of the doorbell is also good. Compared to what the first-generation model offered, it’s drastically improved.
You might notice that the live feed video is a bit blurry but downloaded/saved clips look way better. This might be caused by Wi-Fi connectivity. Ring stated that the quality of the feed is heavily linked with Wi-Fi strength.
Audio quality is nice. It’s clean, loud and clear. Ring’s 160-degree field of view is great. You can check the angle in the above image. It’s pretty wide.
Monitor your home, your way with the all-new Ring Video Doorbell. Enjoy improved 1080p HD video, crisper night vision, and adjustable motion zones – including the added near zone that reduces false notifications.
Ring Pro
Ring Pro also records in 1080p and has a 160-degree field of view. It’s another powerful video doorbell that has wonderful features and powerful capabilities.
Recording capabilities of Ring Pro turn out to be the best. Compared to Ring 2 (we tested it as a wireless doorbell), Ring Pro takes better vids and images.
We have a wonderful sample of Ring Pro’s daytime recording capabilities. If you’re interested how well it works, ensure you watch the full thing.
The night-vision is also decent. It’s still black-and-white though (only August Doorbell Cam has a coloured night vision). We had a few cases of both Ring Pro and Ring 2 being pixellated at night. It wasn’t something problematic but it’s surely worth mentioning.
What I love about the doorbell are the ‘customizable motion zones’. Since the first-generation Ring was sending a lot of false alerts, Ring came up with a cool feature that minimized such instances.
If you often receive false alerts and reducing the sensitivity levels doesn’t help, you can ‘tag’ the zones you’d like your doorbell to be active in.
With these settings, your video doorbell will send notifications only if it detects activity in that specific area.
It should also be noted that pairing Ring Pro (also Ring 2) with Amazon Alexa and IFTTT went flawlessly. We never had issues and Ring perfectly followed all the commands.
That’s pretty much it. Ring Pro is on par with the Ring 2. We even liked the recording capabilities of Ring Pro more. As for the cloud storage, it’s the same for the Pro version.
You have to pay monthly but to start off you get a month of free cloud storage to test it.
Ring Pro comes with the pre-roll feature, for example, which means that the camera will show you video of the four seconds before the doorbell was pressed, which can add context to your videos and prove useful in certain situations. The pre-roll on the Ring Pro is recorded in full color and high resolution too.
This is the sole reason why Ring 2 will never outrank the Ring Pro doorbell.
5. Mobile Application
It’s important for a smart doorbell to have functional mobile application since we use it to control, monitor and navigate our doorbells. If Ring’s app fails to deliver, the user experience will be heavily affected.
Luckily, the app is really good. It’s well-built, intuitive and straightforward. There’s no chance of messing up or getting lost.
Ring uses the application for all of its devices. So whether you own a doorbell or a security camera, or both, you’ll be using a single app.
The app itself provides a lot of insight. You can check motion triggered events, watch recorded clips, and check the status of your device and the battery life.
You can configure the motion zones from the app and it also has a feature to schedule notifications so that the sound won’t interrupt at inappropriate times.
You can also grant access to your family members. They’ll be able to review footage and answer doorbells.
You can also disable Ring and motion alerts. Plus, you can customize the motion zones using the application.
If your front door is close to the street, it’s highly possible to receive a lot of false alerts. You can minimize the instances by correctly configuring the motion zones.
You can also view the live footage without receiving a notification. In order to do so, you have to tap the doorbell name in the app and then the ‘Live View’.
Bottom Line
Both of these video doorbells are top-notch devices. They offer the best features, good capabilities and high durability. Ring 2 and Ring Pro are weather-resistant doorbells and can easily withstand harsh environments (including rain, wind and snow).
If you’re someone who doesn’t like the idea of drilling and spending a little extra, Ring 2 might be just for you. It takes around 5 minutes to set it up, it’s cheaper than the Pro model and, if needed, it can work as a wired doorbell too.
While the tests showed that the video capabilities of Ring Pro exceed the Ring 2, it’s still not something we would consider as a huge advantage (the difference is slight).
Ring Pro and Ring 2 both support IFTTT, Amazon Alexa, Wink and SmartThings. All integrations went smoothly and we rarely experienced a glitch or a bug.
Still, despite being nearly identical, we still prefer the Pro version since it’s a more tested doorbell. Buyers complain a little bit more about the Ring 2, but all the issues are manageable and minor.
In short, if you’re on a budget and looking for a wireless doorbell, Ring 2 is the way to go. Otherwise, Ring Pro is a better smart doorbell and there’s no reason to favor the Ring 2 over it.
Answer the door from anywhere and watch over your home in 1080HD video with Ring Video Doorbell Pro. You’ll get mobile alerts when anyone comes to your door, so you can see, hear and speak to visitors from your phone, tablet and PC.
All Ring Doorbells Comparison Chart
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