Ring’s second-generation Battery Doorbell Plus offers a handful of nice upgrades to the original model, including Retinal 2K video technology, a streamlined design, and dual-band Wi-Fi. It also offers AI-powered video descriptions and face recognition, and it’s very easy to install. At $179.99, it’s more affordable than Ring’s 4K offering, the $249.99 Battery Doorbell Pro, but it’s still relatively expensive, and you have to pay extra to access recorded video and unlock certain features. For nearly half the price, the $99.99 TP-Link Tapo D225 Video Doorbell Camera offers 2K video, local storage, and support for Alexa, Google, and IFTTT, making it our Editors' Choice for video doorbells.

Design: Premium Styling With Easy Battery Access

The second-gen Battery Doorbell Plus is available in four color choices: Nickel Silver, Polished Night Navy, Polished Mocha, or Polished Sandstone. If you want to change up the look, you can buy interchangeable faceplates for $14.99 each. The doorbell looks identical to the second-gen Battery Doorbell Pro, sharing the same rounded-edge design, two-tone color scheme, and dimensions (5.7 by 2.1 by 1.5 inches).

(Credit: John R. Delaney)

The front of the doorbell holds the call button, an LED ring that flashes blue when the button is pressed or white during a firmware update, an ambient light sensor, two infrared LEDs, and a microphone. There are a pair of speakers on either side of the enclosure.

Behind the removable faceplate is a setup button and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a quick-release lever for easy removal. You can charge the battery using the included USB cable, but you’ll need your own AC adapter. Or, you can pick up a Ring Solar Panel for $59.99 and let the sun charge the battery. Around back are two wiring terminals if you decide to hardwire the doorbell.

Features: Sharp 2K Video and Useful Smart Alerts

The second-gen Battery Doorbell Plus uses Ring’s Retinal 2K technology, which provides 2,560-by-1,440 video resolution, 6x digital zoom, and enhanced low-light color video. If ambient light is insufficient, the infrared LEDs provide black-and-white night vision. With 140-degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles and a 1:1 aspect ratio, the camera provides a wide head-to-toe view of visitors to your doorstep. The standard Ring Battery Doorbell 2nd Gen ($99.99) also offers 2K resolution with the same field of view, but lacks the Low-Light Sight technology in the Plus and Pro that delivers color video in low-light conditions.

(Credit: John R. Delaney)

The camera will record video when motion is detected, but you don’t get the 3D Motion Detection and Bird’s Eye View technology available with the Battery Doorbell Pro. A call button press also triggers an event recording, but since there are no local video storage options with this (or any Ring) camera, you’ll have to subscribe to a Ring Protect plan to access recorded video and unlock certain features.

The Battery Doorbell Plus uses a Wi-Fi 6 dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) radio to connect to your home network, an upgrade over the standard Battery Doorbell, which only supports the 2.4GHz band. It works with Amazon Alexa voice commands and IFTTT applets for third-party integrations, but it does not support Apple HomeKit or Google Home.

Ring Plans: Advanced Features Come at a Cost

The Ring Solo plan is for a single camera and costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. You get 180 days of video history, intelligent alerts (person, package, vehicle), and extended live view (up to 30 minutes). For homes with more than one Ring camera, the $9.99-per-month or $99.99-per-year Multi plan gives you the same features as the Solo plan for unlimited cameras, plus an extended warranty.

The $19.99-per-month or $199.99-per-year Pro plan gives you everything from the Multi plan and adds 24/7 professional monitoring with emergency dispatch when necessary as well as Video Descriptions (for alerts that explain what's going on in the footage), Familiar Faces (this allows Ring to tell you when a friend or family member is at the door), Unusual Event Alert filtering (to be notified about abnormal activity only), Single Event Alerts (combining similar events into a single notification), and Active Warnings (to have the camera play a verbal warning to unwanted visitors to your doorstep).

Finally, the $99-per-month Virtual Security Guard plan provides everything from the Multi plan and includes live video monitoring with active threat deterrence from professionally trained security staff who will also verify an emergency alert before requesting dispatch.

App: Feature-Rich Controls and Event Management

The Battery Doorbell Plus uses the same mobile app (available for iOS and Android) as every Ring device. It gets its own panel on the dashboard screen, which displays the last captured image. The dashboard screen also features a Neighbors tile for accessing Ring's community app and a History tile for viewing recorded events. Tap the three dots in the upper right corner to open a small screen where you can view motion alert status (on or off) and access the settings screen.

(Credit: PCMag/Ring)

When you tap the camera's panel, you'll see a screen with a play arrow for live footage and a timeline of recorded events. Recorded video can be downloaded and shared, and you can take a snapshot of each event. The Calendar button lets you search for videos by date, and the More button allows you to set filters for video searches.

While a live stream is playing, you’ll see buttons to mute the speaker and microphone, access quick controls for linked Ring devices, end a doorbell call, and play a prerecorded message when the doorbell button is pressed or motion is detected.

A gear icon in the upper-right corner opens a control panel where you can access device settings. Here you can turn alerts and motion detection on or off and return to the live view screen. The rest of the screen is populated with tiles that let you adjust motion settings, view an event history list with thumbnails of recorded video, configure Mode Settings (Disarmed, Home, Away), temporarily snooze alerts for up to 12 hours, and link the doorbell to a Ring Chime and other Ring devices.

Tap the Device Health tile to view the battery level and Wi-Fi signal strength, check overall system health, view troubleshooting tips, and change network settings. The Smart Responses tile lets you configure and enable Quick Replies, turn on motion warnings, and set Alexa+ Greetings so the virtual assistant greets visitors and takes a message when the doorbell button is pressed.

Installation: Fast Setup With Minimal Effort

As with all of Ring’s wireless doorbells, the Battery Doorbell Plus is easy to install; you’ll have to download the Ring app and create an account to get started. I charged the battery and installed it in the compartment, then tapped Set Up a Device at the bottom of the dashboard screen. When prompted, I scanned the QR code on the back of the doorbell, selected my home as the installation location, and gave the doorbell a name. The doorbell immediately connected to the app. I entered my Wi-Fi credentials, and the doorbell connected to my home network within a few seconds. After a quick firmware update, I mounted the doorbell to the siding next to my front door using the included mounting plate and hardware.

Performance: Reliable Detection and Strong Video Quality

The Battery Doorbell Plus performed well in testing. Daytime video showed good image detail with rich, well-saturated colors, and black-and-white night video appeared sharp with good contrast. As with the Battery Doorbell Pro, nighttime color quality was better than average but lacked the richness you’ll see during natural daylight. The camera provided a wide view of my entire doorstep, my front yard, and part of my driveway.

(Credit: PCMag/Ring)

Motion detection worked as intended, offering timely alerts and accurate video descriptions. For example, one description read “a UPS delivery person is delivering a brown box and a package to the porch." Another read, "a person is opening a white door at the entrance." Familiar Faces also worked well.

I had no trouble streaming video to my Amazon Echo Show smart display using Alexa voice commands. I set up an Alexa routine to have a TP-Link Tapo L535E smart light bulb turn red when the doorbell button was pressed, and it worked every time.