The new Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera from the team at Ring has been looking over my house now for a few weeks. It’s spent some time in my workshop, overlooking the backdoor / my dog’s door, and some time keeping tabs on my office. Here’s my review!
The new HD (1080p) Pan-Tilt security camera from Ring is a small cylindrical security camera that sits on a small also cylindrical base. The camera is in the top part of the unit, the base is heavier and serves to stop the unit toppling over when it spins around to see what you want it to see. The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Security Camera can cover 360 degrees around its pan axis and 169 degrees in its tilt axis. The physical unit sits at 15cm tall including the base and comes in black or white plastic. It comes with a wall plug and a 3m usb-a to usb-c power cable and connects over 802.11 b/g/n wifi (2.4ghz).
The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Security Camera has a good clear 1080p HD image and also supports colour night vision where the camera will combine infrared and whatever ambient light there is to make the image colour in low light, honestly not a big deal and in my experience the black and white of your regular night visions feels like a slightly better image, but the option is there should you desire it.
Setting up the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Security Camera is easy, you just need to make sure you have the Ring app installed on your Apple or Android device, add a new device, scanning the QR code on the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Security Camera and follow the prompts on your screen. You do need a Ring Protect account to have any videos saved, you do get a 30 day trial with the device, but when that runs out, you either need to pay the subscription fee of $4.95 (Aussie) a month or $49.95 a year (Saves you a tenner… you might be able to get one coffee and half a muffin!) alternatively, if you have multiple devices in the home, you’re likely better off with the PLUS Ring Protect plan, which is $15 a month or $150 a year, and that covers all the devices in your home… If you’re fortunate enough to have two locations/houses with Ring devices, you’ll need to pay that subscription fee twice, they’re not all covered on the one Ring plan. I don’t feel that Ring have this subscription model as fine-tuned as it could be, currently costing me $300 a year for two doorbells and two cameras, We’re well on our way to a fixed security setup with a homebase that stores your clips for as long as you like. That said, the Ring model is easy to navigate and is well supported, but if you’re even slightly tech-savvy, maybe there’s a better option for you.
The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Security Camera has two way talk with noise cancelling, with a good connection the audio is clear and a conversation is possible, but you’re at the mercy of many factors (how many people are on your wifi / what your internet connection is like, etc) but for general monitoring of, for example, a pet, the video and audio over 4G was sufficient to see what was going on with my dog, Coco, and to hear if she was barking at the moon for no apparent reason, and to talk to her through the camera… (I’m a dog dad, don’t come at me!) ….don’t worry, she doesn’t talk back – though I wish she would!
Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Security Camera has a home position which tricked me the first couple of times, I’d setup the camera and using the phone app (You can’t move the camera on its pan/tilt axis via your computer as far as I can see, kinda annoying) I’d swivel the camera to where I wanted it pointing, and then I’d go to check it again and it’d be pointing in a different direction – fool me once, and I’m going to read the instructions 🤣 The camera will calibrate itself, allow you to choose your home location so that when you’ve finished looking at your children stealing biscuits from the biscuit tin, it will return to its home location. A caveat here, if you place your camera on a narrow shelf, or beside something on a shelf and then you do the home calibration, the camera will likely knock itself off the shelf or knock something else off the shelf, so just something to be aware of – put the camera in the open, calibrate it and then place it where you want it.
Speaking of stealing biscuits from the biscuit tin, the camera has a privacy cover, I’ve got to say that when trying to close or open the camera’s privacy cover, I thought the thing was going to snap off its base – it’s a very awkward process with one hand. When you close the cover, your app will ping you to tell you that the cover has been closed… So you’re telling me that if my kids don’t want me to see them stealing biscuits, they can just close the cover? – Yes, yes I am. (Or a burglar taking your telly?) I get it, privacy is a big deal, but the ability to close the cover – actually, half way through this sentence I thought, well, someone could just put a book in front of the camera or pull the USB-C cable out of the back of it…. Rant Over haha…
The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Security Camera is a good unit, good image quality, good sound quality, very easy to use, but I find the subscription model very limiting. I feel like there needs to be a 30 second video download option or something similar? Maybe give users 25 free videos a month and then if there are more alert, they need to pay – something, anything.
Aside from my feelings about the subscription model, I’m a fan of the Ring range of products, this one included.
You can get your own for AUD$129 in black or white colourways from Amazon. DRN would like to thank Ring for providing the review unit.
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