$28 Million Funding for Doorbell Cam Startup
By: John Honovich, Published on Aug 21, 2015
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Comments (16)
Tuli Dembitzer
I find it to be a great device that fits into the residential market at the right price point. The excitement of being able to see and talk to your visitors from virtually anywhere makes it an easy purchase at $200.
The thing that irks me about the Ring though is that there is no door release option directly built into the device... The only way to integrate with a door lock (as per their website) is through one of the following: LockState, Kisi, or Lockitron. These make you buy an electronic deadbolt... hmm.. not the best option. and the kicker? You need to change apps to release the door.
Had they added a contact closure on the rear, it would have allowed hope for a future modification to add the simple ability of uh... oh yeah! letting people into your house ;/
I don't know why all of the geniuses at this $100,000,000 evaluated company would miss skip out on this.
Oh well.. still a decent device to see who rings your bell when you're not home.
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Greg Cortina
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Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
John, I agree with you that the company will have hard time keep up with the growth. This type of device looks like a cool idea at a glance. But I have a doubt on its practibility given the fact it is a stand alone device.
As you mentioned, this type of product would make much more sense to be part of a complete home automation solution.
I'm expecting an "open platform" (sounds familiar?? ;) gateway similar to OnHub for easy integration.
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Aaron Saks
When you press the button, it rings on the app. One issue I see is that is that with a traditional doorbell, you can hear it ringing in the house. If you don't hear it, you assume it is dead, and keep on knocking. Just hearing the small chime from the unit itself on the outside of the house may tip someone off that something isn't what it seems and that you are not at home....
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Jeff Dallmann
Hey Aaron, if the Ring is powered by your existing low voltage for your door bell, your existing chime will work the same as before. Also, Wink integration is coming next month, allowing one app to handle everything (for the most part). I don't have the Ring doorbell yet, but I think it appears to be a solid product.
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Jeff Dallmann
Ethan, Wink has problems IMO. I thought I would give Wink a try given the low price point, and while it has worked 95% of the time, it has certainly had some issues. I probably wouldn't recomend Wink at this point, unless I see some improvement in reliability.
Great concept, but not up to par with higher end solutions at this point.
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Undisclosed Integrator #3
Walk into bestbuy and theres 10 different brands/versions of these doorbell things.
Average person's doorbell isn't rung enough to spend $200 on this thing. Anyone who would have the money to spend $200 on a doorbell, would be better off having a professional video/intercom system installed so when the doorbell is rung, it is thru out the whole house, NOT tied to one persons phone, or phones at all.
And also, you have the gated communities with the guards or call boxes to let people thru the gate. I live in a gated community, and the guard has to let people in, so the doorbell I have is maybe rung 3 times a year at most.
Even if the thing has a separate "plug in chime"...just go to home depot and buy a $20 door bell system.
Wink system- been there done that...Spent a few hundred dollars to get the startup system with bulbs, etc and the nest thermostats...From day 1 it was problematic, slow to operate, and eventually, they screwed up on some security update which rendered the brain of the system useless (they pushed this update, and it screwed up every system out there to the point that they were sending people prepaid shipping boxes to have it repaired), so I got rid of it. Nest thermostats are still in use and only work half of the time in regards to being able to access with smartphone.
These startup compaines out there remind me of the tacky Tandy & X10/Powerhouse junk Radio Shack used to sell...garbage.
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