Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) - Big Battery Boost

When it comes to installing a doorbell camera, opting for a battery-operated one makes a lot of sense for most people.

Not everyone is replacing a wired doorbell and trying to attach a wired version to your front door itself would be virtually impossible.

However, there's one obvious drawback; at some point you're going to have to charge the battery that powers that doorbell camera and that probably means you'll have no doorbell (or camera) until that charging process is complete.

If "going dark" for a few hours is a major concern, at least Ring now has an option that charges faster.

The Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) is a significant update for Ring, for a number of reasons but while we're at it, let's start with the battery.

For as long as I can remember, Ring's battery-operated devices have used the same form-factor of quick-replaceable, rechargeable battery, other than the odd option with a built-in cell.

This means you've usually had the option of purchasing a second battery pack so you can immediately swap out batteries when it's time to charge - so no down time.

Although these "Quick Release Battery Packs" were the same shape, they weren't always the same model, with newer versions for newer cameras and doorbells offering better battery life.

Now Ring has really bitten the bullet and changed the size and shape, introducing the "Quick Release Ultra Battery Pack." Not only is it thicker, wider and significantly longer than previous iterations, as you would expect, it has a much bigger capacity; lasting up to 67% longer than the previous "Standard" model.

But that's not the only improvement. The old battery packs had dual LEDs that would show one green and one orange when charging, then change to double green when fully charged. If quite flat, charging would take hours - literally all day or all night, whichever you felt more comfortable going without your doorbell for. What's worse, up until this recent upgrade, you still charged the battery pack using the extremely outdated microUSB cable. Assuming you hadn't already thrown them all away because hardly anything uses them anymore.

Now, the "Ultra" edition features a more useful 4-LED display to show your charging progress and thank goodness, because you can now plug in the included high-capacity USB-C cable, charging times have been slashed dramatically.

A differently shaped battery also means a taller, yet slimmer, doorbell itself. As far as I can tell it only comes in one colour; deep silver - although it's fairly neutral and to my eye, the new design is perhaps more attractive overall.

Certainly the mounting system has been streamlined, with a very small, low-profile bracket plate all that's required to slot the Battery Video Doorbell Pro into place. As usual for Ring, there's a generous amount of hardware included in the box including screws, terminal adapters if you prefer to wire it in and a corner kit if you need to mount the doorbell at an angle for a better field of vision.

There's also a specialised release tool for the battery cover, making it a little more challenging for any bad guys intent on tampering with the device.

The other major modification on this version of the Battery Video Doorbell Pro is the step up to Retinal 4K. There aren't that many 4K doorbell cameras on the market - certainly not in this price range - and the leap in picture quality is certainly palpable. The higher resolution means you can zoom in on faces, number plates and even package labels - up to 10x - without any significant blurring or pixelation.

Ring's Retinal AI system also tunes the image to the lighting conditions, dropping down to black and white only in pitch darkness. Even relatively low-powered security lights should be enough to let the Battery Doorbell Pro continue to shoot in colour.

Obviously, you'll also get all the other innovative features Ring has developed over the years, like two-way audio communication and 3D Motion detection, which uses radar to precisely scan the areas you want, while ignoring motion on busy streets or paths.

Unfortunately, the other thing that hasn't changed is how utterly useless this device is without a subscription. Unless you fork out for a Ring Protect Plan, the only thing the Battery Video Doorbell Pro can do is send you motion detection notifications and stream a time-limited live view.

I know I say this every time I review a Ring product, but it still annoys me there's no way to store video from your own camera unless you make a monthly payment. The reason that annoys me so much is there are other options out there that let you save videos for free - either on device, on a backup drive or in the cloud.

With Ring, you'll get 180 days of cloud storage - but only if you pay. To be fair, there are an awful lot of other features on offer too. Things like person, package and vehicle alerts are genuinely useful, as is a daily summary of detected events.

The top-of-the-line Pro plan is where some high-functioning AI really kicks in. For just under NZ$300 a year, you'll get AI-generated video descriptions, saving you the effort of watching yet a another video of "Cat walking by" or alerting you to "Masked man using tools on door."

You can also use that same technology to search through your video library. For example, with a Pro plan you can simply ask Ring, "When did the kids get home?" and it'll find the relevant vid.

There are a couple of beta features that seem pretty useful too - Unusual Event Alerts, drawing your attention to when something out of the ordinary happens - and Single Event Alerts, combining actions like me passing backwards and forwards with the lawnmower into one notification instead of 40.

There's no doubt, for NZ$429.00, the Battery Video Doorbell Pro is about the best you can get for the price. As usual, it's just a shame that price isn't the final price, because you'll be locked into an ongoing subscription to access the vast majority of its features.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Ring Battery Doorbell Pro.