When it comes to gizmos and gadgets I have usually tried and tested them all. Including all the useless ones I neither need nor use (that bread maker was still a great buy though). But for some reason, I’d never even thought of ever getting a video doorbell, until recently that is when we’d had an incident that wanted me to feel a little more secure in my home.
So, following the said incident, which is a story for another day, I decided to order eufy’s 1080p Wireless Doorbell and Chime for a little peace of mind.
Now, I’ve not had one before, but we know how good eufy products are following our review of their HomeVac S11 vacuum cleaner a few years ago, and I recommended them to family members about a year ago as an alternative to the Ring Doorbell because eufy don’t charge a standard subscription service for using their products.
Now, eufy does have a subscription service available if you want to store images and videos in the cloud, but the chime that comes with the video doorbell, or the home base if you go for the better model, both store content on an SD card which can be accessed wirelessly anyway. So, to save them a few pennies, this was the model I suggested they go for during Black Friday sales last year. And I was impressed with their experiences, so I took the leap to get one for myself.
And now I’m here today with my little review to tell you all about how I got on and whether the 1080p Wireless Video Doorbell and Chime were worth the money.
First Impressions
I already knew exactly what I was getting, having seen the model in use previously. However, when my family members bought it previously, the video doorbell came with a micro-SD card free, mine did not. So, after unpacking everything and revealing the video doorbell, the chime, the charging cable, and installation instructions to get set up, I realised it wouldn’t record and had to go order one to get full use out of it.
Besides that initial disappointment though, I was impressed with what was inside the box. Everything was well packaged and looked nice like it would fit into any modern home with the video doorbell itself looking the most impressive with its glossy black finish on the front. Plus, you get everything you need to get set up with ease, including drilling templates for putting it up into the wall outside your home.
The build quality of the video doorbell was impressive as well because it doesn’t feel cheaply built and the way it is designed and housed in the case which you screw to the wall ensures that it is fairly watertight and won’t become ineffective in bad weather. Although I have noticed some accessories you can grab on Amazon that add rain covers, they really are not necessary at all.
Set Up and Ease of Use
Now, we decided to set up the video doorbell on the app first for one very simple reason. When it comes to placing it outside, you want to make sure it’s not too high or low, so by using the app, you can hold it where you are thinking of putting it to get an idea of whether it is going to do what you want it to or not. When you install the app, which is available on Android and iOS devices, the instructions to follow are very simple and will have you ready to go in a couple of minutes.
The only issue was with naming the camera, and this is an issue I had previously set up my family members’ systems too. During the setup process, it wouldn’t let me put in the name I wanted. However, if you then abandon the set-up at that stage, you can rename your video doorbell through the settings. But besides that, it was a flawless process that scanned the video doorbell and linked it to my account with no issues.
If you have the tools, the physical set-up was a breeze too. The included templates make it easy to mark out where to drill the appropriate holes and it comes with screws and wall plugs if needed. Just make sure you don’t lose the video doorbell removal tool to unclip it from its home on the wall like I did, although if you do, the back of an earring works just as well in its absence after a few attempts.
Once it is up and you clip your video doorbell into place, you’re then good to go into more detail for the digital setup again. You can adjust settings such as area of detection, if you want it to go off for all movement or just when it detects humans, you can even link it to other eufy security products. It’s all very easy to do, and there is a lot to customise, so it’s well worthwhile taking a bit of time out to sit down and explore the settings to get things just the way you want.
A nice feature we especially like during the set-up as well is that you can invite other household members to have access to your device, so you don’t have to repeat all these processes on another device once it’s set up on the first one.
Battery Life
When you first get the video doorbell and go through the instructions, it advises you to charge up the doorbell fully before first using it. Now, we did that and the first week we thought it dropped a little quickly, but we were hammering the video and watching everything we could. Ignoring warning after warning that this would happen as we stared at our phone screens.
If we heard a noise outside, we were being nosey neighbours without having to twitch curtains. I and my partner would even use it to say hello and goodbye (trying to scare each other really) as we’d go to and from work.
After the initial excitement, we probably now charge it up for a couple of hours once per week. Then it’s good to go again. The video doorbell will begin to alert you it has a low battery with notifications, so no need to check on it constantly. But it does then beg the question, for those couple hours where it needs to charge, what do you do then?
You can always buy a replacement doorbell I guess to swap them over, you can even get a eufy security cam in addition to the video doorbell to at least record for the purpose of making sure your home is always covered, but you then lose out on the doorbell feature, so it is something you must consider when buying one. In the end, we just take it down during a period where we know nobody is likely to come, or if for example, we’re already going to be doing stuff in the garden so we wouldn’t miss anyone.
The ways it could be improved, besides improved battery life, would be for the video doorbell to come with two batteries you can switch out rather than needing to take down the full doorbell to charge it. It could even have a solar panel on the top of the doorbell in order for it to save and conserve energy to make it last longer, something some of the eufy security cams have.
Image Quality
In terms of image quality, you’re expecting some good quality images for a 1080p camera, and the video doorbell delivers them perfectly. It not only records clips, but when it gets an opportunity, it’ll also snap mugshots of people who have activated the alarm. All of which are crystal clear. Just see this image below that shows the outside of our house (excuse the messy garden though). You can even zoom in on the app and still make out the detail of the brickwork on our neighbours over the road. But the wide-angle lens pretty much captures everything you need it to.
Day Image
The only thing is that during the day, sometimes when the light shines on it, we do get a flurry of false activations, and we can tell this on the camera because the sunlight directly will also impact the quality of the image you can see. You can still make out most things, but it does have a significant impact and can make it harder to identify people.
One area it doesn’t lack though is when it comes to night mode. We get to test this out regularly as we have a lovely milkman who visits in the early hours of the morning. It’s amazing how well the video doorbell performs at night with crystal clear graphics as it uses the software inside to enhance the quality of the footage by making everything black and white and blanking out any signs of colour. Just see how clear the image is below of the same image above but in the early hours when it’s pitch-black outside.
Night Image
Value for Money
As it stands, the eufy 1080p Wireless Video Doorbell and Chime are set at around £99.99 with the 2K resolution version slightly more expensive. There are often sales with various retailers including the official eufy site, I picked mine up for £84.99 as an example when there was a £15 on Amazon. However, you can pick them up for as little as £64.99 in Black Friday sales with many places also throwing in a free microSD card. For that reason, I would say this is the perfect time to wait to get one.
Because otherwise, despite being cheaper than the market leader Ring! they are still more expensive than most video doorbells you will find on Amazon. Considerably so as well. However, whether they deliver the same level of quality, customisability, and customer service that eufy provide is questionable. I’d rather take the punt with a brand I know and trust than spend money on an unknown product when it essentially comes down to safety and security.
Once you register your first product as well, you can earn discounts on eufy products for yourself, friends, and family by referring others to all become part of the eufy family.
Overall Thoughts of the eufy 1080p Wireless Video Doorbell and Chime
I’m genuinely impressed with the video doorbell in most aspects. The setting up process couldn’t have been easier really after navigating the issue with naming my device, and once it is ready to go, it’s extremely easy to fine-tune and access when you want. The battery life could maybe be improved somewhat to make it need charging less, or even a way to have a battery you can swap in and out to minimize downtime. But we’re quite happy with the price we paid and what we have received, and for the peace of mind it brings, it’s priceless to us now.
You can find more information on this doorbell on the official site HERE, and more content like this in our Hardware reviews section. There may be affiliate links in this article that could earn us a commission if you buy products through them. You do not have to purchase items through these links, but doing so does help us to keep our site running.
