Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsReview updated - Now it works flawless
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2017
I am updating my review from below because its not longer valid. I noticed my Ring Elite was updated to firmware version 1.8.21. Now I'm getting full high def video. It now works exactly as advertised. I'll leave the old review just for edification. But as of 8/10/2017, the device works flawless.
Old review
I will start this by saying that I am a Network Engineer. In fact my specialty is Voice/Video over IP. My house has a very elaborate network inside of it that is of better quality than the average business network. I am providing an absolutely ideal network for this device to function within.
A previous person complained about the ethernet jack being at the bottom and it being difficult to place this inside the junction box. I personally did notice the same when I installed mine. But I was able to get it in very easily. I certainly wouldnt knock any stars off for that. So why did I only give it two stars? Great question. Well most important is this thing is no where near 1080p. Maybe, just maybe the camera itself has a CCD that can do 1080p, but the stream coming off this unit is of exceptionally poor quality. When reviewed on my computer (or handheld) the video is very washed out and grainy. Being that I work with loads of video over ip products, I would compare this to a Cisco 9971 which runs at 320k using h.264 30fps.
Second complaint is that it only rings the indoor chime about 50% of the time. I'm sure someone from Ring would love to say that its my wireless signal thats the problem. Negative. I have a Meraki MR32 sitting about 15 feet away from the chime. My Meraki portal says the signal strength is 28db. Thats more than adequate. I also hadnt mentioned this, but my Ring Elite is hard wired to my Cisco 3750G POE switch. So that is also not a wireless problem.
Third complaint is they are not doing anything about firmware updates. I'm currently sitting at 1.7.22. I've seen a 1.8 and a 1.9 firmware come out. I asked tech support and was told that both of these firmwares had problems and had gotten pulled out of production. I'm glad they didnt break my device. But c'mon. When are you going to write a new firmware. I'd like to think that my complaints would be resolved with a new version.
I'm giving it two stars because I wouldnt return the device. It rounds out my smart home design, and I dont know of a comparable product that is flush mount and poe. Its no where near worth the $500 price point. I personally think its worth maybe half that. (maybe). I also think the poe injector that is included should be an option buy as to lower the price of the unit. Why did you include a $100 injector if I dont need one. I would have appreciated paying $100 less.
If Ring would like to reach out to me, please feel free. Considering I have the perfect test network I'd love to help you resolve your issues. I can offer pcaps and firewall logs to help isolate whatever is wrong. I originally attached a video to my review so you could see the video quality. But Amazon rejected my review.
