Thursday, October 29, 2015

SkyBell Review

SkyBell sent me one of their doorbells to review.
 This is an wonderful addition to any wired home.  The innovative features serve as an extension of your home security system as well provides ultimate convenience and peace of mind. 
 
 The system arrived well packaged in a slick presentation box.  Installation of the unit in place of the existing doorbell was simple and took just a couple minutes.  There was no complicated wiring or configuring.  The SkyBell looks great and looks clean at the entry of the house. 


Syncing the unit to your phone isn’t complicated; however, it’s important to follow each step precisely.  It took a couple hours from start to finish.  My router caused some of the delays; however, this is where SkyBell’s customer service comes in to the picture.  They asked very precise questions in order to resolve the issue.  Once the router issue was resolved the app made the remainder of the installation easy. 
 
SkyBell has a fabulous live interactive video and audio.  A normal doorbell requires you to either look through a peephole or to open the door to find out who’s there.  SkyBell resolves that problem by being able to do this with your phone in your home or away at work.  
 
The video and microphone can be set to activate by motion sensor, when the doorbell is pressed or on demand. The simple to use app manages these options and allows the user to make tweaks to match the features to needs.  Immediately after installing the system I rang the doorbell while my wife was at work 10 miles away.  Within a few seconds I could hear her and I was able to have a conversation.  The video she saw from the app was clear and the microphone produced great sound.  Over the next few weeks I found myself testing the SkyBell to make sure it was reliable and would work when the family needed it to.  It never failed once and I found more to like about it as time went on. 
 
 

The wide-angle lens covers the entire porch of the house so it doesn’t matter where a person is standing when they ring the bell or if I have the motion sensor set to on.  Setting the motion sensor to on is a great feature if you’re expecting a child to come home at a certain time. 

 

The night vision mode on the camera is clear and is a great feature if you have your porch light off.  Lastly, the theft guarantee is an awesome free insurance plan.  In the unlikely case of your SkyBell being stolen the company will replace it free of charge.  For security and convenience the SkyBell can’t be beat.  Don’t consider it a novelty that wears off.  After a few months of use I’m finding that the SkyBell is exactly what our family needed.  For the money you can’t go wrong! 

 
 
I have also found this extremely useful when I'm running late and meeting someone at the house. I can answer from my phone and let them know I'm running late without having to give my phone number or text/drive.

You can also download clips to your phone as well!! :)

2 comments:

  1. Ahh but the problem is you did go wrong! Not only is the SkyBell 2.0 (what you have tested above) far inferior video quality to the Ring door bell, it is also no longer their best unit. You really should be testing the SkyBell HD, which has been out for over a month now.

    You can see more thoughts about all 3 here in my blog:
    http://arijaycomet.com/2015/11/06/battle-comparison-review-of-the-ring-wi-fi-video-doorbell-versus-skybell-hd-and-skybell-2-0-wi-fi-video-doorbells-versus-august-doorbell-cam/

    What you'll quickly find out is that the SkyBell 2.0 has really poor video quality, an issue you'll find in many reviews of the device. Their software was nice that you could download clips, but guess what, in their better video quality HD version, that feature is gone! I have more thoughts on the HD in my link above, if you wish to consider an upgrade. :)

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  2. Once installed, the doorbell button turns to green – a color indicator that signals a successful connection with your Wi-Fi router. If it turns red, the connection was unsuccessful.
    - http://www.doorbellhome.org/reviews/skybell/

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