The best Prime Day video doorbell deal isn’t a Ring – our pick is £70 and subscription free
One of our favourite video doorbells on test is on sale this Prime Day – and it isn’t one of Amazon’s Ring devices
As you’d expect, there’s a plethora of price cuts on Amazon’s own products during the Prime Big Deal Days event, including pretty much all the Ring doorbells. The company’s newest Ring Battery Video Doorbell has been reduced to £60 from £100, and our favourite Ring doorbell – the Battery Video Doorbell Plus is down to £89 from an average £125 price.
Both of these are excellent products. They’re easy to install, easy to use and perform well, allowing you to answer the door – and see who’s visiting – from the screen of your smartphone.
Before you splash the cash, however, I’d advise you to stop and consider a couple of alternatives, because Ring isn’t the only video doorbell brand in town. Our favourite video doorbell is the TP-Link Tapo D230S1, and it has also seen a huge discount this Prime Day, with the price reduced to a very reasonable £70.
There are several reasons why you should opt for the Tapo over the two Ring doorbells detailed above. The first is that it comes with a chime in the box; with Ring doorbells, you have to buy the chime separately.
The second, and much more important, is that you can use most of the functions of the Tapo doorbell without having to sign up for a monthly video storage subscription. You can store your motion-triggered video clips on a cheap microSD card, and things like smart detection for packages, humans, vehicles and animals all work without restriction.
With Ring doorbells, many core functions – for example, storing and retrieving video clips and the ability to set up motion zones, to prevent your doorbell alerting you every time someone walks across its field of view – aren’t available unless you pay at least £5 per month on top of the price of the doorbell itself. All you can do with a Ring doorbell without a subscription is view the live stream from the doorbell and use that to converse with visitors remotely.
That may be enough for you. If not, the TP-Link Tapo is your best alternative bet. It’s a smart-looking thing, finished in white and black, captures high-resolution 2K video at 15fps with a 160-degree field of view and even comes with colour night vision. I found the chime was nice and loud and it’s very easy to install, thanks to its removable rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Everything you need to attach it to your wall or door frame is included in the box.
It isn’t perfect. The camera isn’t as wide-angle in the vertical plane as some rivals, so you won’t be able to see if a delivery driver has left a parcel on your step, but it is, in my considered opinion, a far better option for most people than any of the Ring doorbells that are currently on sale this Prime Day.
- These deals are exclusive for Prime members but you get it if you sign up for a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime
