The Ring Stick Up Cam, now in its third era, might be deployed indoors or out. It operates on battery energy, which implies you may deploy nearly wherever your Wi-Fi community can attain, and it may be linked to an non-obligatory however cheap photo voltaic panel. It’s just about similar to the Ring Indoor Cam I reviewed a little more than a week ago, each in type issue and specs, however the Stick Up Cam’s battery and weatherized enclosure provides $40 to the worth.
There are higher-quality indoor/out of doors, battery-powered, Wi-Fi safety cameras available on the market, however the Ring Stick Up Cam prices half as a lot because the Arlo Pro 3 that tops our list, and also you’ll want to purchase that digital camera in a $500 two-pack that features a sensible hub (add-on Arlo cameras value $200 every). There are main upsides to Arlo’s product for certain, however they don’t matter if you happen to can’t afford the product within the first place.
On the opposite hand, you’ll want to enroll in a subscription to entry the Ring Stick Up Cam’s motion-triggered video recordings ($3 per 30 days/$30 per 12 months for one Ring digital camera, or $10 per 30 days/$100 per 12 months for a vast quantity). Without a subscription, you may solely stream reside video from the digital camera, and solely to the Ring app. The Arlo Pro 3 data video to its 2TB of native storage. Arlo provides subscription plans to unlock further options, however you don’t want one simply to view recorded video clips.
This assessment is a part of TechHive’s protection of the best home security cameras, the place you’ll discover critiques of competing merchandise, plus a purchaser’s information to the options you must contemplate when procuring.
I mentioned Ring’s new privateness protections and the way through which Ring cameras tie into the broader Ring residence safety ecosystem in my assessment of the Ring Indoor Cam, so I received’t repeat myself right here aside from to say few rivals can beat it—particularly at these costs (click here if you want to read more about that).
Ring Stick Up Cam Battery options
The Stick Up Cam may be very barely greater than its indoor cousin, measuring 3.82 inches tall and a pair of.36 inches in diameter with out its stand (in comparison with 2.95 inches and 1.81 inches respectively for the indoor mannequin). It can function on any flat floor, like a tabletop, or you may detach its swivel base and re-attach it to the again so you may mount it on a wall. You will want a $20 accent to mount the digital camera on a ceiling—that’s dear, even when it does include all of the screws and instruments you’ll want.
Twisting a bayonet-style base gives entry to its detachable battery, and Ring gives a set screw that may stop a thief from casually nicking it. A second set screw can be utilized to make it harder to take away the digital camera from its mount when it’s connected to a wall. Unlike Ring’s Video Doorbell 2, nevertheless, each screws have a Philips head. The firm’s doorbell makes use of a Torx-head screw, requiring a software that thieves are much less prone to have of their pockets.
Michael Brown / IDGThe indoor/out of doors mannequin delivers the identical 1080p decision because the cheaper indoor mannequin, nevertheless it has a barely narrower discipline of view: 110 levels horizontal and 57 levels vertical, in comparison with 115 and 60 levels respectively for the Indoor Cam. But its motion-detection zones are extra crude: You can toggle three wedge-shaped detection zones on or off, and you may modify the sensitivity of the energetic zones as an entire, however you may’t modify the width or depth of the wedges.
The Stick Up Cam Battery has the identical single-band (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi adapter onboard, however that frequency band usually delivers longer vary. That’s vital if you happen to’re putting in the digital camera outdoor, so I received’t complain about it. As you may need guessed, there isn’t any possibility for hardwired ethernet (or energy, both).
Ring says the Stick Up Cam Battery “can go months between recharging with normal use,” however let’s be actual; even when it does, Murphy’s Law dictates that the battery will fail on the worst potential second—proper earlier than an intruder steps foot in your property, as an illustration. And the extra time that passes between recharges, the extra probably you might be to overlook to observe it.
Fortunately, Ring sells a reasonable photo voltaic panel ($50) that you may mount close to the digital camera that may maintain its battery perpetually topped off, and that’s how I examined it. Ring’s photo voltaic panel measures 7.75 excessive and 5.5 broad and is 0.5 inches thick. It connects to the digital camera with a weatherproof barrel connector on the finish of a 13-foot cable. (If you’re evaluating the Stick Up Cam to the extra subtle Arlo Pro 3 safety digital camera, it’s value noting right here that Arlo’s photo voltaic panel prices $80.)
Michael Brown / IDGBeing a part of the Amazon household, it goes with out saying that Ring’s cameras are suitable with Amazon’s Echo sensible shows, so you may stream video from the digital camera simply by asking Alexa. If you’re a Google Home person, Ring’’s cameras are additionally suitable with Google Assistant.
Bottom line
I used to be in a position to deploy the Stick Up Cam Battery on the personal street in entrance of my home, which is 125 ft from my mesh Wi-Fi router’s closest node. That’s most likely the furry fringe of what the digital camera can ship—the Ring app’s Device Health reported RSSI (Received Signal Strength) of -67, in comparison with -30 for the Indoor Cam mounted in my storage, which is lower than 10 ft from my router (decrease numbers are higher on this scale).
Michael Brown / IDGThe Stick Up Cam didn’t ship excellent decision at that distance, and its two-way audio was a bit garbled, however colours have been vivid, its evening imaginative and prescient was spectacular, and the digital camera had no downside sending me movement alerts and recording motion-triggered occasions. Ring recommends having 2Mbps of add bandwidth for optimum efficiency, which must be a simple bar for customers with cable or fiber broadband to clear. DSL subscribers will discover that requirement way more difficult to satisfy.
If you don’t want the high-end sophistication of the very best safety cameras that may be deployed outdoor (the Arlo Pro 3, Arlo Ultra, Deep Sentinel, or Nest Cam IQ), or if you happen to simply can’t afford that dear {hardware}, the Ring Stick Up Cam is an unbeatable worth—and I extremely advocate selecting up Ring’s photo voltaic panel to go together with it. You received’t get the super-high decision or flashy AI options, however you’ll get an excellent product—and that goes double if you have already got different Ring units deployed round your house.