Does eufy security wireless video doorbell (battery-powered) with 2K HD have no monthly fee? A high-resolution camera and HDR imagery make the Eufy Video Doorbell a solid choice for anyone looking to beef up security around the outside of their home. It’s relatively easy to install and configure, delivers sharp video, does a good job of differentiating between human motion and objects, and supports voice commands. That said, it doesn’t integrate with other Eufy products or any third-party smart devices for that matter, nor does it offer support for IFTTT applets. Our Editors’ Choice, the RemoBell S, doesn’t give you 2K video, but it does deliver sharp 1080p video and offers free storage and support for Alexa and Google voice commands. Moreover, it works with other smart devices via IFTTT applets and is around $60 less expensive. Reveal more in eufy security wireless video doorbell (battery-powered) with 2K HD no monthly fee review.
In the box
- Video Doorbell 2K (Battery-Powered),
- Screw Hole Positioning-Card,
- Mounting Bracket,
- 15 degree Wedge,
- USB Charging Cable,
- Extension Wires (for Hardwired Connection),
- Screw Packs,
- Doorbell Detaching Pin,
- HomeBase,
- Power Adapter (for HomeBase),
- Ethernet Cable (for HomeBase),
- Quick Start Guide.
Who’s it for… eufy security wireless video doorbell (battery-powered)?
Smart Home security DIYers
If you want a system that doesn’t cost anything to maintain and love being in charge of how/where the video is stored, the Eufy Video Doorbell is great. It gives you complete control with no overhead cost.
Renters who can’t or don’t feel comfortable re-wiring their space
For renters, the Eufy Video Doorbell is great too because it can just stick into some wood and be relatively secure. There’s no need to un-attach your standard doorbell if you have one and that’s something landlords will love.
Who’s it not for…
Home away from homers
In an emergency, Eufy can be pretty slow to load. This really isn’t the best solution for folks looking to have an instantaneous connection to a distant property.
Paranoid people who don’t like downtime
The Eufy Doorbell Camera has solid battery life, but it eventually needs to be recharged, and when you have to bring it inside, you’re left defenseless outside. Needs round-the-clock protection? You’ll want to find a video doorbell cam with swappable batteries.
Price and availability
In terms of price, you’re looking at $199.99/£159.99 (around AU$285) for both the doorbell camera and the included HomeBase, which you’ll need to connect directly to your router. You can find a standalone version that only comes with the doorbell on Eufy’s website for $119, but you should only buy that if you already have an existing Eufy setup in you home.
To put that number in perspective, the Eufy Smart Doorbell costs just a bit less than the Ring Doorbell 3 Plus, which comes in at $229, and a bit more than the Nest Hello and Arlo Video Doorbell, which cost $179 and $150, respectively.
Key features – eufy security wireless video doorbell (battery-powered)
Protects You, Your Family, and Your Privacy
Every eufy Security product is engineered to ensure your data is kept private. Keep a secure record of everything that happens around your home.
A clear view (2k resolution)
HD resolution combines with advanced WDR, ensures video is recorded in 2.5x the clarity.
180-day battery life
Enjoy half a year of surveillance from just one charge. Recharge with ease so you always know who’s at your door.
Storage You Can Trust
Military-grade AES-256 data encryption ensures your footage is kept private on transmission and storage.
Your Data is Safe Inside
All recordings are stored directly onto the HomeBase that is located inside your home. This means that even if someone were to forcibly remove the doorbell all your data will remain secure.
IP65 Weatherproof
Ensures non-stop operation in extreme temperatures from -4°F to 122° F (-20°C to 50°C)
Install in an Instant
Simply fix the mount and snap on the Doorbell. No need to mess around with complicated wiring , self-installation in minutes.
Connect the Dots
Use your Echo Dot to act as a chime so that you never miss a ring.
eufy security wireless video doorbell (battery-powered) with 2K HD no monthly fee review
Design
The Eufy Security Doorbell has two major components, the actual doorbell camera itself and the aforementioned HomeBase comes inside the box.
The Security Doorbell, as you’d expect, has a fairly slim, basic-looking all-black design with a front-facing camera and a built-in microphone while the Eufy HomeBase looks like an all-white wireless router – it’s fairly plain but still a bit bulky. That’s ironic, of course, because you’ll need to connect it to a router and will find all the wires to do so inside the box.
Homebase
The HomeBase acts as a brain for the whole system. It securely stores all the footage – which means, if your camera is ever stolen, all of the video is still safely stored inside. Even better, Eufy uses a proprietary communication technology that’s more power-efficient than standard Wi-Fi, allowing the wireless camera to work for months without recharging.
Even better, the HomeBase supports up to 16 devices, which means if you ever want to expand your home system with, say, a bunch of Eufy Cam 2 cameras, it’s no hassle.
The HomeBase can also serve as a chime, which is nice, but you’ll also get phone notifications on both iOS and Android should you want those, too (eufy security wireless video doorbell review).
Image quality
The doorbell camera has an impressive 2,560-by-1,920-pixel (2K) resolution and uses HDR technology to deliver crisp highlight and shadow detail. It has a 160-degree field of view and uses 12 tiny infrared LEDs for night vision, and it has a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio to connect to your home network. The doorbell supports two-way audio and motion detection with pre-buffered recording that will catch the first few seconds of activity that occurred before a motion trigger, and it uses 4GB of eMMC memory to store recorded video locally. According to Eufy, that’s more than enough to give you 30 days of storage before it begins overwriting older clips.
Voice commands
You can use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands to view live footage on compatible devices, but the doorbell doesn’t interact with other Eufy devices such as the EufyCam. Moreover, it lacks support for IFTTT applets that allow it to work with devices such as door locks, sirens, and lighting systems.
eufy security wireless video doorbell (battery-powered) Apps review
The doorbell uses the same Eufy Security mobile app as the EufyCam that I reviewed earlier this year. The home screen displays panels with still images from all installed Eufy cameras. Tap the Play arrow to launch a live feed that can be viewed in full-screen mode by turning your phone sideways. You can also tap the two arrows in the top right corner to see a zoomed image. At the bottom of the screen are buttons for capturing video and still image photos, a microphone button for two-way talk, a voice response button that allows you to use a pre-recorded or customized response when somebody rings the doorbell, and a speaker mute button.
Battery life
After your initial charge, Eufy says to expect about 180 days of battery life – depending on how many events are triggered in a day and how often you’re pulling up a livestream.
Unfortunately, that means battery life is really dependent on where you keep the camera, what it’s pointing at and how close it is to the street. If you’re living in the city with people constantly passing by, it seems unlikely that it will hold six month’s worth of charge. But out in the country, with only a few triggering events per day, that number feels accurate (eufy security wireless video doorbell review).
Over our two-week testing period, our camera was triggered close to three dozen times recording 10-second clips each time and is currently holding strong at 90% battery life. Extrapolating that data, we’d be looking at around 140 days of battery life, or around four-and-a-half months, which is a significant improvement on our battery-powered Ring that needs to be re-charged every month.
Again, it’s obviously a your-mileage-may-vary situation so don’t take our numbers – or Eufy’s – as the absolute, definitive battery life, but this should be able to help you set some expectations.
Of course, when it does need to be re-charged, you’ll have to pop the doorbell camera off its enclosure use an included pin that sticks into the bottom and bring it back indoors for charging.
Charging is done in about six hours, which means every few months you’ll probably have to go to bed without a doorbell camera – which is a minor inconvenience. It’d be nice if Eufy adopted swappable battery packs and included an extra with the bundle, but it’s not a deal-breaker either way.
eufy security wireless video doorbell (battery-powered) with 2K HD no monthly fee Performance review
Coming from an original Ring Doorbell, the Eufy Security Wireless Doorbell Camera is a huge step up in both resolution and performance – the camera feed loads faster and feels more stable on the Eufy than it does on the Ring.
Part of that, again, has to do with the HomeBase that sets the stage for a faster connection, but you also have to take into consideration the 2K camera resolution that’s twice as clear as 1080p security cameras and four times the clarity of 720p cameras like the first-gen Ring.
The other difference is that it records in a 4:3 aspect ratio, which means you can see people’s faces when they’re close to the door and can be crucial when you need to spot little details for a police report should you ever need to give one.
Unfortunately, however, while the clarity is nice, this Eufy camera only supports Wide Dynamic Range instead of High Dynamic Range, which means that colors are bit more subdued and it can lose detail in very bright situations. Thankfully, Eufy has a pretty darn good night mode and is great for keeping tabs on the especially dark areas of your property.
The other potential flaw that some people point out about the Eufy Camera is that, because it records at a 2K resolution, it can chew through the 16GB of on-board storage fairly quickly. The counterpoint that we’d make there is that 16GB can still store over two weeks of footage, and Eufy will eventually enable the option to add storage via USB on the HomeBase.
The bad news here is that, despite a solid design and great playback of recorded events, it’s not the most responsive when it comes to actually answering the door. Whether you watch it on your phone or a smart screen like the Google Home Hub, the stream takes a few seconds to start and voice messages have a small delay from the time you send them to the time they arrive, making it hard to have a full conversation.
Thankfully, the Eufy app lets you send a number of preset responses that can be sent in a hurry like ‘Please leave the package at the door’ or ‘We will be right there’, but it would obviously be better if there wasn’t such a massive delay between the app and the camera.
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