How we test video doorbells

Video doorbells are a common sight on the front doors of UK households, but it wasn’t always this way. Before smart video doorbells appeared, most people relied on simple mechanical chimes or wireless doorbells. Then came the Ring Video Doorbell.

Since then, however, millions of households have bought one, and the number of models and manufacturers have mushroomed, making the task of choosing and buying the right doorbell harder than ever.

That’s where Expert Reviews comes in. We’ve been testing and reviewing video doorbells since the first Ring Doorbells appeared on the market, so we know the difference between a good product and a bad one – but how exactly do we decide exactly how good they are?

The answer to that is not a simple one, because video doorbells aren’t simple products. But to summarise, we test, analyse and compare each one carefully and we use them on a day-to-day basis to make sure they’re fit for purpose.

Design

Design is a key part of our overall assessment of any video doorbell, but not necessarily just aesthetics, although the way a doorbell looks is important.

We’ll take note, for instance, of any peculiarities – if the doorbell push isn’t obviously a button for instance, or if it’s overly bulky – and we’ll mark it down if we think these factors are detrimental.

We’ll also consider how robust a doorbell feels. We’ve seen doorbells break from ham-fisted couriers jabbing the button too hard, so it’s essential that a video doorbell feels solid and sturdy.

And, finally, we will always consider the IP rating (ingress protection) as part of our overall score, although some manufacturers, surprisingly, don’t bother to get their doorbells tested.

IP-ratings are the result of carefully monitored lab tests, so they’re difficult to replicate in the real world, but we do give each doorbell a quick blast from a jet washer to test basic resistance to water ingress.

Features

Video doorbells can be complicated things and manufacturers are continually adding features to their products to make them more attractive to customers.

For example, the latest doorbells support full-colour night vision, and motion detection for cars, animals or people. Some doorbells even have facial recognition, so they can tell you who’s at the door and the arrival of AI has added new options like chatbots that can answer the door in your absence. We test all these new features in the real world to make sure they work as advertised.

However, there’s a set of core features we think all doorbells should have and we’ll make sure these are working correctly, too. Zonal motion detection, for instance, is critical but doesn’t always work as well as you’d expect and setting it up is often fiddly on your smartphone.

Local video storage via microSD card is another feature that gets a big thumbs up from us, as it obviates the need to pay a cloud subscription fee. We’ll test the doorbell in both modes, to make sure it’s easy and straightforward to access and download your video clips.

If a doorbell comes with a separate chime – another feature that gains extra Expert Reviews brownie points. We set it up in a remote corner of the house to make sure it’s picking up transmissions, no matter the distance. We’ll test the volume using a noise meter, and that we can hear it when it rings even with intervening doors closed.

Finally, we test support offered for popular IoT or Internet of Things smart home services such as Google Home, Alex and Apple HomeKit, which can send a live video feed to a connected display with a voice command. These features aren’t critical, but can be useful if you want your doorbell to trigger actions like switching on the hallway lights when it’s pressed.

Ease of use and installation

Part of the attraction of video doorbells is that they can be very easy to set up, and this makes up a critical part of our overall assessment of any doorbell when we are reviewing it.

Setup should not extend beyond downloading an app onto your smartphone, creating an account and then following some basic instructions. If we encounter any problems in the set-up and installation procedure, we’ll let you know.

Unless you have a domestic doorbell power supply you’ll need to remove the doorbell to either replace or recharge the battery on occasion. I’ve yet to encounter a doorbell that’s difficult to unmount but we’ll always mention any unusually fiddly procedures and special tool requirements.

Some doorbells only connect to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi signal, others to either 2.4 or 5GHz. We connect the doorbells we review to our home Wi-Fi networks and ensure that signal reception is strong enough to work throughout the average home without the need to set up extra access points.

Image and audio quality

This is an area of intense competition between camera makers with an increasing number offering 2.5K or even 4K video and full-colour night vision.

Higher resolution doesn’t always equate to a better image; lens quality and sensor size are also a factor – and the way a camera illuminates its subject when the light gets low or the backlighting is strong. That is why we carefully examine both still and video images to judge how good the quality of the camera is and how it compares to other doorbells.

The camera’s field of view is another key feature but, again, wider is not always better. Those with recessed doorways, in particular, will end up with much of the frame occupied by walls, which is why we consider a broader vertical field of view as more useful.

This lets you see a more complete view of your visitors and your front step – some doorbells use a second, step-facing camera for the ultimate wide vertical view and this is a feature that comes high on our wish list for smart video doorbells.

Audio is almost as important as video and is another element we test for carefully. Audio quality on smart doorbells is often an afterthought – breakup and lag are common – and the best video doorbells eliminate this. Where possible, audio tests are conducted on windy days with traffic passing to replicate a worst-case scenario.

Performance

A video doorbell can have as many fancy features as you like but if it doesn’t work well as – you know – a doorbell then you may as well not buy it. This is why one of the most important areas to assess when reviewing a doorbell is its responsiveness.

That is, how quickly it takes for an alert to appear on your smartphone screen once the button has been pressed – and how long it takes to bring up the video feed once you tap the link on the alert to see who is there.

It’s no good being able see who is at your door remotely, if your “visitor” has either broken in and shut the door already, or the courier has left with your parcel without you being able to tell them to leave it with your neighbour. Speed is critical.

This is where we inject a little bit of science. To assess responsiveness, we time how long a variety of tasks take with a stopwatch (for example how long it takes from doorbell press to an alert appearing on the screen of your phone), we repeat those tasks five times and calculate an average. This gives us an idea of how slow, or fast a doorbell is in use and allows us to compare one doorbell to another.

We don’t formally test battery life in the same way, first because testing every doorbell for one or two months isn’t practical, and second, battery life varies depending on how your camera is set up and what the camera is pointed at.

But we do set our cameras up in such a way that power demand will be at the high end, so we can provide estimates how quickly the battery drains in a worst-case scenario.

Conclusion

In short, video doorbells are complicated things, which is why we take our time using and testing each one before publishing our reviews. And it’s why you can trust our recommendations to be thorough and balanced.

Whatever your needs are, however, you can be sure we’ve given each and every part of it the once over to make sure you end up with the right video doorbell screwed to your front door.