Video Doorbells have been growing in popularity since their release in 2013. The idea behind them is great and many people have invested in these products. Since then, the product has developed further and people have continued to buy them. Although, I believe their purpose has become more of a grey area rather than focusing on serving a specific job.
So many people seem to think they can substitute the work of a professional security system for a Video Doorbell (or maybe something similar that is available on the market). I’m taking a wild guess here, but I presume the biggest driver for this is probably the price. Well ok, on paper they may seem far more affordable but in reality, are they?
Check out this article for Pros and Cons of Video Doorbells: https://www.helloinspire.com/blog/smart-tech/product-review-ring-smart-doorbell
The whole point of video doorbells in the first place was to fill a gap in the market for people who needed a solution for being able to ‘answer’ their door when they aren’t home…or can’t be bothered to get off the sofa. This sounds great doesn’t it. It is yes, but the product has filtered into the security industry and is being used now as an alternative for CCTV. The issue I have with this product is not that it isn’t good, as it’s great for the purpose it was made for, a doorbell, but it’s that people feel that this is sufficient for protecting their home. This really surprises me. If someone is taking their time and effort to investigate ways to protect their property, they are clearly concerned about the risk of burglary or other criminal activities. So why, if you are already worried about the risk, only make do with what is essentially a glorified doorbell. This is your home at the end of the day.
Video doorbells run off your home WIFI, so if the connection isn’t strong enough, you will find that the information being sent to your phone will be very, very slow. Plus, if someone actually wanted to burgle you, then all they need to do is download a WIFI jammer onto their phone and at the tap of a button they could disconnect your system, without you even knowing.
We actually tested a Video Doorbell to see how effective they were. We knew our postman was due to arrive and left the door unlocked. The postman managed to arrive and enter the premises before it had even picked up that there was an ‘intruder’ onsite.
So, if you don’t want it to run off your WIFI, you’ll need to get an electrician in any way to install it, which is going to bump the cost up. Just to add to the fun of this, after the hassle of installing it, they typically only last a year and then will need to replaced, due to the fact that once the battery has died, that’s it. As a general ball park figure, if you want to install something like this and haven’t had any previous security solutions installed in your property before, you could expect to end up paying roughly a total of £350. The cost though will strongly depend on property type and various other factors so please just take this with a pinch of salt.
It’s not what I would recommend, but if you literally just wanted a camera to watch your front door then you can buy just one camera, which is wired to your internet with an SD card in it and voila, you’ve got something which is safe and able to do what you wanted.
The only problem with this solution is, it’s not exactly going to deter anyone from attempting to break into your home.
If you’re looking for something to secure your home then my first suggestion would in fact be a burglar alarm and this can be improved further by combining it with other security solutions.
If you want to discuss security solutions for your property please give us a call on 01420 375376.