Ring Spotlight Cam Pro review - Digital Trends

Ring’s caller Spotlight Cam Pro is simply a caller summation to its fall 2022 location information line of information cameras, alarm devices, and different astute location products. It comes successful 2 flavors: the Spotlight Cam Pro and Spotlight Cam Plus, which stock galore features, but the top-level Pro that I tested includes radar.

Do you truly request that feature? After weeks of investigating it, I recovered that it was good worthy the premium

Contents

Ring’s Spotlight Cam Pro comes successful a compact bundle that includes the camera itself, a micro-USB charging cable, mounting screws, a screwdriver, and adjacent stickers to alert onlookers that your location is protected by Ring.

I tested the battery-powered Spotlight Cam Pro, but it besides comes successful AC-powered and solar-powered versions. The artillery exemplary ships with a azygous battery, but has country to adhd a 2nd for treble the artillery life. A USB-C larboard besides means you tin ever determine to usage it arsenic a plug-in exemplary later, oregon widen the artillery beingness with add-on star panels.

Installation

Ring’s mounting disc makes installing the camera ace easy. Simply screw the disc onto your outer partition first, adhd connected the holding cone, and lastly, drawback the camera into place. It takes little than 15 minutes.

You’ll privation to marque definite you spot the camera debased capable to easy scope it for artillery swaps and troubleshooting. Luckily, the full camera doesn’t request to beryllium removed successful bid to complaint the battery. You tin twist disconnected the bottommost and eject the artillery alternatively of removing the full unit.

Once acceptable up, you tin loosen the mounting knob to alteration the angles of the camera. The much backyard you have, the much level the camera volition request to be. I had it angled down rather a spot erstwhile utilizing it connected my flat porch.

Specs

The Ring Spotlight Cam Pro is 1 of the precise fewer cameras that uses radar to observe motion, not conscionable changes successful the camera image. This tech powers 3D question detection, which we’ll get into below.

Otherwise, the specs mostly reflector the cheaper Ring Spotlight Cam Plus. It records successful colour 1080p resolution, which, portion not 4K, is fantabulous for location usage and casual to prevention and stock done the cloud. Two tiny spotlights housed wrong the assemblage of the camera support the dimensions compact, but if you request much light, Ring makes the Floodlight Cam Pro (that’s the main quality erstwhile you comparison the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro versus the Ring Floodlight Cam Pro). The lights connected the smaller portion were capable for my porch, but I could spot idiosyncratic with much onshore to screen opting for the larger Floodlight Cam Pro.

The camera’s tract of presumption is 140 degrees horizontal and 80 degrees vertical. I’d emotion much vertical tract of presumption to debar needing to space it truthful debased to spot the door. Two-way audio with sound cancellation allows you to pass with guests, and a remote-activated siren lets you scare disconnected intruders.

Features

Three caller features marque the Spotlight Cam Pro basal retired from its peers: bird’s oculus view, 3D question detection, and pre-roll.

Pre-roll is 1 of my favourite additions. Instead of getting an alert and seeing what’s happening, you get to presumption a fewer seconds of footage earlier the alert comes through. This diagnostic tin assistance you way the way an intruder took to get into your country and assistance you forestall it from happening again. In my neighborhood, I lone person radical walking their dogs oregon kids moving around, but it was inactive chill to spot the beforehand movements.

The Spotlight Cam Pro tin discern people, animals, cars, and more.

Bird’s oculus presumption allows you to spot a way of wherever a taxable went successful the question zones during a clip erstwhile you weren’t successful unrecorded view. Like pre-roll, bird’s oculus is simply a fantastic diagnostic that helps you way intruders if needed. The lone downside to this diagnostic is that you can’t usage it with pre-roll; you tin lone alteration 1 oregon the other.

The past unsocial diagnostic is 3D question detection, which relies connected the caller radar exertion built into the camera. It’s not thing you alteration and disable, truthful overmuch arsenic a diagnostic that powers and improves each the question detection successful the camera. In the app, you tin set each question features, and you should announcement much precision successful your alerts.

App

Every situation is unique, and the Ring app allows you to set your camera for your property. For instance, each question diagnostic tin beryllium tuned for sensitivity, and if you lone privation 1 country covered, you tin usage shapes to specify that successful the map. The Spotlight Cam Pro tin discern people, animals, cars, and more, allowing you to take which you’d similar to person notifications about. Receiving notifications astir each of them produced overwhelming notification spam for me, truthful I enabled notifications for lone radical and animals, and lone for the country of my porch.

The Pro’s caller radar-based motion-detection features are immoderate of the astir close I’ve tested.

The camera tin besides instrumentality a snapshot periodically to springiness you a speedy presumption of your area. This helps you look astatine what has changed successful your country implicit clip successful lawsuit you don’t privation to usage notifications.

After mounting up 1 Ring astute location system, mounting up caller devices becomes overmuch easier due to the fact that details similar Wi-Fi accusation volition automatically transportation implicit during the archetypal setup. I person the Ring Alarm information strategy and different Ring cameras, truthful adding this outdoor camera was a breeze. You tin besides nexus devices, truthful if 1 camera detects motion, different camera tin commencement rolling, lights could crook on, oregon immoderate enactment you define.

Worth the premium

The Spotlight Cam Pro retails for $230, lone a $30 summation implicit the akin Plus model. For that price, the upgrade is simply a no-brainer. Either exemplary is simply a large outdoor information camera, but the Pro’s caller radar-based motion-detection features are immoderate of the astir close I’ve tested.

Just support successful caput that to decently instrumentality vantage of immoderate of the champion question detection features, you’ll person to wage a subscription of $4 per period oregon $40 per year. And that terms jumps if you person aggregate Ring cameras astatine home. But compatibility betwixt cameras and different devices is different beardown crushed to urge this camera. Ring has a full astute location suite of products to link to 1 another, and the connectivity helps them enactment better.

Depending connected your needs, you should see several alternatives erstwhile looking astatine the Spotlight Cam Pro. For example, the Ring’s Floodlight Cam Pro works good if you request a stronger airy and don’t caput little close question detection features. If you privation to link your information camera to a astute location ecosystem different than Amazon, past the Arlo cameras besides enactment well. Lastly, if you request much budget-conscious cameras, Blink makes models arsenic affordable arsenic $35.

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