At GadgetGuy, we review many security cameras, and the features and functions are generally similar. Each brand and model, of course, has its differences, trying to set itself apart in your eyes and make you invest in a camera ecosystem to protect and monitor your belongings.
But what does Amazon, one of the largest and most connected companies in the world, do to make its cameras different? I reviewed the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus to find out more.
Table of contents
- How do you choose between different security cameras?
- Ring Outdoor Cam Plus Battery features
- Specifications and price
- Using the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus
- Who is it for?
How do you choose between different security cameras?
Let’s assume you are standing in a JB Hi-Fi or a Harvey Norman and want to buy a security camera. There are big boxes, small boxes, and different colours, and each box will list some key features. Here are the features you should consider when buying a security camera:
- Indoor or Outdoor: Where is the camera going to be positioned? Is it weatherproof?
- Battery or wired: Whilst most cameras connect via a wireless Wi-Fi signal, you will need a battery or a wired model to connect to mains to power them. Most have optional solar panels to recharge batteries.
- Camera Resolution and viewing angle: To ensure you can see detail in your captured images, check that the resolution exceeds 2K. The field of view refers to the width of the angle the camera sees.
- Lighting: Especially for an outdoor camera, do you want a camera with a built-in sensor light?
- Storage: Where do you want your images stored? On a built-in memory card, in the cloud, or perhaps both?
- Cloud subscriptions: Do you get any free storage, and what is the ongoing monthly cost? What extra value-added services come with that subscription?
- Multipacks: Once you buy one camera, you adopt its ecosystem and app. If you buy a different brand, you need another app. Multipacks of cameras reduce costs per camera.
- Price: You pay more for better quality and more features. Always look for the best value based on your needs. Remember that having to pay monthly subscription fees will add to your overall cost.
Ring Outdoor Cam Plus Battery features
The Ring Outdoor Camera Plus is a battery dual-band wireless 2K camera with cloud storage.
Ring also offers the camera as a plug-in-to-mains version, for $179, as well as multipacks and solar panels ($229 for a single camera and panel).
The camera is available in black or white and is very neat mainly due to no included light. The night vision on this camera works particularly well and is also designed for indoor use.
This is one of the first cameras I have seen supporting a dual-band Wi-Fi connection, which means if the camera is close enough to your Wi-Fi hub, it will use the 5GHz band, resulting in a faster connection. Being completely wireless with a built-in battery will give you more flexibility with mounting, which can be done both vertically or horizontally, subject to your Wi-Fi range.
The camera has a 2K resolution, technically making it sharper than the evening news on your TV. The camera has a field of vision of 160 degrees diagonally, 140 degrees horizontally, and 80 degrees vertically. (180 degrees would mean you could see everything from left to right of the lens).
Features that are standard on all brands today include a siren and two-way communication. A speaker and a microphone on the camera allow a two-way conversation between your camera and the owner’s smartphone. The same speaker can also emit a siren when movement is detected manually or from the app. I found the microphone very directional, so a person off to the side of the image was hard to hear.
To set up and monitor the camera, you must download an app to your smartphone. Once set up, you can also use a browser on your PC to access the camera and recordings. This same app supports all Ring cameras and doorbells.
The camera comes with a mount and two screws and wall plugs. On Ring’s website, they also sell compatible accessories, including:
- Pole wall mount $50
- Stake mount $65
- Hardwire kit (240 volts) $99
- Spare parts kit $8
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus specifications and price
| Camera resolution | 2K Field of view: 160 degrees Diagonal, 140 degrees Horizontal, 80 degrees Vertical |
| Storage | Cloud |
| Dimensions | 7 x 7 x 13 cm |
| Power supply | Battery with Micro USB charging |
| Price (RRP) | $179 |
| Official website | Ring |
| Warranty | 1 year |
Using the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus
I am not sure if it is because this camera comes from a bigger company or that Ring just has smarter people, but right from taking this product out of the box, I noticed little differences that make it more user-friendly.
These days, setting up most security cameras is very simple. It involves scanning a QR code with the camera and downloading an app. You simply follow the instructions. The difficult part is adjusting the settings to suit your particular environment.
The Ring setup process incorporates the environmental factors into your setup process. Ring provides simple explanations during your setup process to explain what and why you are customising.
For example, the setup process with other brands means that any movement in the field of view will activate the camera. Ring requires you to decide during the setup process rather than as a separate process. Say you have a flapping flag in the camera’s field of view that might trigger a motion alert. A portion of the camera’s view can be set not to trigger.
Another setting as part of the installation with Ring is to blank out an area that will not record. Let’s say your camera captures a neighbour’s window. This can be blanked out in recordings. You end up with a better setup as part of the guided installation rather than struggling with the settings by yourself afterwards.
My only bugbear with the Ring camera is that it does not offer free cloud storage. If you do not subscribe, you will only receive alerts and watch live images. If, however, you subscribe, then a whole new set of features awaits.
For your information, a recording can be made for up to 30 minutes, and multiple live cams can be displayed on the smartphone screen at once. By default, you will receive an alert each time movement is detected, and the alert on your smartphone will include a small preview snapshot.
In the table above, you can see the different available plans. Ring offers up to 180 days of recordings, which is significantly longer than other cloud subscriptions from other brands. I guess it helps that Amazon owns the data centres.
Having so much recorded footage is great over a long period, but finding an older recording could be an issue. Ring has solved this by allowing search by date, motion, person detected, vehicle detected, live view recordings, and deliveries. A new AI feature they offer is Smart Video Search, which allows you to enter a search phrase like “person with an orange shirt”.
I was extremely impressed with this camera’s night vision capabilities. In the images below, you can see the result of the Ring versus the Arlo Wired Floodlight Camera with its lights off.
Who is the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus for?
Ring has produced a well-made camera in a neat package that performs well. If you buy multiple cameras and possibly a doorbell, this camera and indeed the ecosystem would suit the less technically oriented.
The setup is easy, the feature set is rich, and Ring has really worked hard with its interfaces to make using the camera simple and easy to find footage from the cameras.
I wasn’t expecting much from the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus, but I’ve been surprised by how well it performs.
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