Doorbell needed asap!
April 10, 2023 1:35 PM Subscribe
What kind of doorbell should I get for my house? It has to be simple and inexpensive. REALLY dont want a monthly bill or subscription.
I've happily lived in my house for almost two years without a doorbell. People just knock or call and its fine. I've been meaning to get a doorbell "when I get around to it" and fully intended to get a simple, old fashioned one that merely makes a ding dong noise when someone pushes it. No camera, no wifi, no motion detectors, none of that.
HOWEVER. A couple nights ago I was watching TV around 11pm and I heard someone run up my front steps and BANG on my front door three times really loudly. Scared me to death! I looked out the front windows to the right of my house and didnt see anyone. My house is such that I cant look to the LEFT of my house without opening the front door, so I couldnt see if anyone was running away in that direction. But they must have been.
They didnt try to open the door. They ran away immediately. So I guess it was just kids being dumb. But it still really scared me. SO I guess I DO need some kind of fancy doorbell with a camera system. (Yes, I already have an alarm system set up, but I dont set it until I go to bed. So the night in question, it was not yet set.)
What should I get for my front door? I want the simplest thing possible. Really cannot afford yet another subscription service but if I have no choice, then I have no choice. Also I am not handy. I cant install things. Anything more complicated than hanging a picture frame is going to be difficult for me. I dont know where to start.
I've happily lived in my house for almost two years without a doorbell. People just knock or call and its fine. I've been meaning to get a doorbell "when I get around to it" and fully intended to get a simple, old fashioned one that merely makes a ding dong noise when someone pushes it. No camera, no wifi, no motion detectors, none of that.
HOWEVER. A couple nights ago I was watching TV around 11pm and I heard someone run up my front steps and BANG on my front door three times really loudly. Scared me to death! I looked out the front windows to the right of my house and didnt see anyone. My house is such that I cant look to the LEFT of my house without opening the front door, so I couldnt see if anyone was running away in that direction. But they must have been.
They didnt try to open the door. They ran away immediately. So I guess it was just kids being dumb. But it still really scared me. SO I guess I DO need some kind of fancy doorbell with a camera system. (Yes, I already have an alarm system set up, but I dont set it until I go to bed. So the night in question, it was not yet set.)
What should I get for my front door? I want the simplest thing possible. Really cannot afford yet another subscription service but if I have no choice, then I have no choice. Also I am not handy. I cant install things. Anything more complicated than hanging a picture frame is going to be difficult for me. I dont know where to start.
I have a set of Blink cameras. Blink does have doorbells, but I don't personally have the Blink doorbell.
Blink is owned by Amazon and is a subscription based camera system. But it doesn't have to be.
I bought my cameras retail in a bundle at Costco. I set them up and never linked them to my Amazon account and never set up the subscription. They're battery powered (nice long lasting batteries) and talk to my wifi, and I have a USB stick in the hub for recording instead of using The Cloud. Amazon doesn't know my cameras exist and I like it that way.
There are some features that are available on subscription that I don't have, but honestly? The limited utility set is completely sufficient for my needs, the system is cost effective in that I have paid for it once and never will again, and these things are so frickin easy to use.
posted by phunniemee at 1:48 PM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
Blink is owned by Amazon and is a subscription based camera system. But it doesn't have to be.
I bought my cameras retail in a bundle at Costco. I set them up and never linked them to my Amazon account and never set up the subscription. They're battery powered (nice long lasting batteries) and talk to my wifi, and I have a USB stick in the hub for recording instead of using The Cloud. Amazon doesn't know my cameras exist and I like it that way.
There are some features that are available on subscription that I don't have, but honestly? The limited utility set is completely sufficient for my needs, the system is cost effective in that I have paid for it once and never will again, and these things are so frickin easy to use.
posted by phunniemee at 1:48 PM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
The Wyze Video Doorbell has a 30-second installation process (with adhesive instead of screws) and can be used without a subscription.
posted by mezzanayne at 2:30 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mezzanayne at 2:30 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I use the Wyze camera (not doorbell). I agree with you that the doorbell is not a high priority. I think the camera is. I also us Alfred Camera using an old phone in the window that works really well and costs me nothing. I just looked and if you do not have an old phone to use, they will sell you a camera for $30.
Tangent to what you asked, but it always struck me that I wanted the alarm in my house on when I was in it more than when I was out. I could always replace possessions, but replacing my health is much harder. Once I am in for the night, well before I go to bed, I turn my alarm on.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:51 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Tangent to what you asked, but it always struck me that I wanted the alarm in my house on when I was in it more than when I was out. I could always replace possessions, but replacing my health is much harder. Once I am in for the night, well before I go to bed, I turn my alarm on.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:51 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Ring camera doorbells (also owned by Amazon) don't require a subscription if you don't use the video recording features. (Not really a recommendation, but I have one that came with my house and I use it that way.) Pretty much all of the easy-setup doorbells that use an app and WiFi are going to be interacting with "the cloud" in some way. Since you don't have an existing doorbell, you'll need to occasionally charge the unit's batteries.
All that said, you could buy a peephole for your door which uses no electricity, subscription or internet connection, is super cheap, and would provide you with a better view of the area in front of your door without having to open it. Installation requires drilling a hole in your door but it's not too complicated. You might consider buying one with a flap on the inside to keep it so people can't use it to peek inside if that's something you're worried about.
posted by Aleyn at 5:45 PM on April 10, 2023
All that said, you could buy a peephole for your door which uses no electricity, subscription or internet connection, is super cheap, and would provide you with a better view of the area in front of your door without having to open it. Installation requires drilling a hole in your door but it's not too complicated. You might consider buying one with a flap on the inside to keep it so people can't use it to peek inside if that's something you're worried about.
posted by Aleyn at 5:45 PM on April 10, 2023
I have a Wyze camera in free mode with an SD card in it so I'm not stuck with the short cloud snippets you get on the free tier. (I don't use it at my front door, but the experience will be fairly similar.)
It works just fine, but does not recognise the difference between cars, cats and people, and that's a problem if your front door overlooks a road or anything else with movement, so you might want to tweak its viewpoint or the detection area. Paying the subscription (and there is, or was, a 'pay what you want' level, so you don't have to pay much) gets more features, like spotting that humans are in frame.
Note that they need plugging in to USB power. Long USB cables are fine, but the power supply still has to go somewhere.
If you point it through a window, turn off its IR light and set up a motion sensing light outside instead. The IR just reflects in the window and you can't see anything.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:54 PM on April 10, 2023
It works just fine, but does not recognise the difference between cars, cats and people, and that's a problem if your front door overlooks a road or anything else with movement, so you might want to tweak its viewpoint or the detection area. Paying the subscription (and there is, or was, a 'pay what you want' level, so you don't have to pay much) gets more features, like spotting that humans are in frame.
Note that they need plugging in to USB power. Long USB cables are fine, but the power supply still has to go somewhere.
If you point it through a window, turn off its IR light and set up a motion sensing light outside instead. The IR just reflects in the window and you can't see anything.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:54 PM on April 10, 2023
Response by poster: I will check out these suggestions. I am pretty sure this was just a prank since I was A. clearly home and B. whoever it was didnt try the door knob. I just dont want it to turn into a repeat thing.
JohnnyGunn, I've accidentally set off the alarm myself a bunch of times (apprenently whenever I put a glass in my sink, my alarm system thinks a window is being broken and I'm under attack!) so I've learned not to set it until I'm literally in bed, about to fall asleep.
posted by silverstatue at 7:04 PM on April 10, 2023
JohnnyGunn, I've accidentally set off the alarm myself a bunch of times (apprenently whenever I put a glass in my sink, my alarm system thinks a window is being broken and I'm under attack!) so I've learned not to set it until I'm literally in bed, about to fall asleep.
posted by silverstatue at 7:04 PM on April 10, 2023
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If you don't have a electrical outlet near your door, you can also buy a battery-powered indoor receiver. The batteries in both the inside and outside unit have to changed about once a year.
Do you really need a camera one for an isolated incident? Those are way more expensive and generally more work to install.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:44 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]