This is my first video doorbell. I read numerous reviews and watched a ton of videos before deciding.
I wanted something I can use without paying a continuing monthly subscription. And which can store video locally but preferably not on the doorbell itself.
I want to sit in my basement office and not have to run upstairs to speak to someone at the front door. Two-way talking over my Echo Show is best for me. I can do all this with the Aosu doorbell.
This doorbell comes with a base station that stores videos. It can store 8Gb, which is a lot of videos.
The base connects to Wi-Fi and also doubles as a chime. It has 3 different chimes and doorbell itself has 3 chimes.
I chose the Ultra because I wanted something I could hardwire and avoid worrying about recharging the battery. In my case, I did not plan to use my old doorbell chime, just the transformer.
I was not sure how to wire when taking the old chime out of the loop. But Aosu support was quick to give great instructions. I thought I might need to put a resistor in the line from the transformer and they quickly confirmed that. Ann at Aosu support, even sent a link to the type I should consider.
I eventually went with a Ring resistor because it comes with little wires already attached to each end of the resistor. I cannot solder electrical stuff, so I went the easiest route even though it did cost more.
Be careful, you can wire to your existing doorbell transformer but that is assuming you leave the existing chime in place. The chime provides some resistance. I happened upon that info reading reviews. I found online many people saying they fried their new doorbell because they didn’t install a resistor. If in doubt, ask support.
The doorbell came neatly packaged with pretty much everything you need to install, including a little screw driver. These guys put a lot of thought into the packaging.
The doorbell seems to be well built. It has some weight to it.
This is the only (non-subscription) doorbell I could find that allows for two-way talk using Alexa and the Echo Show. I found that many doorbells say “Works with Alexa.” But can they do two-way talk using the Echo Show? The Eufy looks nice, also costs quite a bit more. Works with Alexa, but no two-way talk they told me. Scratched them from my short list.
I get a very clear picture on my Echo Show 8. The daytime images are very sharp and colorful.
Night images are good considering I have only a small light at the front to illuminate the door and walkway. Without porch light on my walkway is very dark yet camera captures pretty good image also. It sees much better in the dark than I can.
I have not played much with Alexa. When the doorbell is pushed the Echo Show announces that someone is at the “Front Door.” My Echo Show automatically opens the camera view. Right now, I say, “Alexa, talk to Front Door”. And two-way talk starts. The sound quality is pretty good. Not great but it is a doorbell after all.
You need to download the Aosu app to your smart phone to activate the doorbell. The app is necessary for you to receive notifications. Notifications can come via Wi-fi or cellular data.
Notifications are sent when the doorbell senses motion. During testing it actually sent the message “Someone is loitering at the front door.”
It allows you to set the detection zone so I can crop out things like my flag flapping at the end of the garage. I have set sensitivity to “far” and so far, no false notifications. It caught me trying sneak up to the door at the far end of my zone which is about 30 feet. This is good for my house. It should be enough to catch the FedEx and UPS guys who never push the doorbell button and just throw the packages the last 3 or 4 feet anyway.
I have yet to see the neighbor’s cat visit so cannot say if she will cause a motion alert.
I don’t know how other doorbells perform. But this doorbell’s image quality is really nice.
You use the app to see recorded sessions. You can delete them whenever you want or download some to your phone. Downloading could be important in case a visitor did something bad and the Aosu caught them.
Conclusion, I am very happy with this buy. The price was very reasonable. No monthly fees. Alexa is happy to show my front door any time.
And the support folks at Aosu, especially Ann, have been really great. I don’t know where they are based, but their English is very good.
If you are sitting on the fence, buy it. Especially if you have an Echo Show to play with.