Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This doorbell is fairly high quality, but it seems blink has kneecapped it in a few areas much to my disappointment. I would like to advise the TP-link doorbell as a subscription-free alternative, but with the recent privacy issues TP-link had last march, I'm not sure if there even is a good doorbell camera on the market. Camera The Camera quality on this doorbell is excellent. 1080p still remains HD enough to beat most security systems on the market, striking a very good balance between color, resolution, and file size / streaming speed. The night vision mode is excellent, and regardless of mode, it does a very good job of detecting motion. Honestly, I don't know why google, or ring, or anyone else bothers with anything above 1080p unless you're trying to look at the nosehairs of whoever is thefting your packages. Ring / Bell system The doorbell's button is huge, and it plays a chime both outside the home, and on any traditional doorbell ringers you may have. The Alexa integration is very useful, especially for me since I have an apartment without a doorbell. I could install it using some command strips as adhesive, and use the Alexa integration to have my Echos notify me when someone was at my door. I was even able to set a routine with custom commands, to show the live feed immediately after someone pressed the doorbell button on one of my Echo Shows. Mounting This is the failure that drove me to write the review and give up on this doorbell. after 3-4 months of good service, the doorbell dropped its connection to my sync module / router, and refused to reconnect without me having to take it off of the mount and reset the unit. Unfortunately, I wasn't particularly interested in doing that, so I let the device sit on the mount, not working for 2 months whilst I got around to it. When trying to use the key to unlock the device, by inserting the key and pulling away from the wall to lever it in, the key forced my doorbell away from the wall and broke all 6 mounting hooks. Now even if my doorbell did connect to WiFi again, I wouldn't be able to mount the darn thing. I am very cross at this turn of events. Power Supply Whilst I, an apartment user am very fond of it's exceptional battery life, I have parents with a proper home and a need for a better working doorbell, in a more permanent installation. To that end, I would like to wire the doorbell into their home, and then forget about it for the next 3 decades as it works and works without failure, recharging, or other attention needed. Unfortunately, Blink does not seem to care as their doorbell will burn through the included batteries, (which generously are very-high capacity disposable AAs), even if it is connected to a doorbell power supply. This is rather upsetting, as it means someone who knows how to manage the doorbell is going to have to be present in 2 years whenever the batteries fail anyways. video storage Even though mounting is the issue that drove me to this review, and the power supply is concerning on its own, this is a persistent thorn in my side that I find to be the most egregious, and it isn't even a problem with the doorbell itself. The doorbell has options for both cloud storage with a subscription (Yuck), and local storage with the blink sync module 2. The local storage option has no provision for recording constant video, but instead clips triggered by motion activity. I actually like this, since the motion detection is adjustable and consistent with the adjustments set in the app. What I consider to be the critical flaw, and what irritates me is the fact that the local storage cannot be automatically deleted, or bulk deleted. If I was to give this to my parents, they would have to take the usb-drive out every so often, plug it into a computer, and delete the stored clips. I would much rather the device instead just delete every recording after it passes xx days old, or it starts deleting clips once the storage unit hits 95% full, instead they wont even let me delete clips in bulk using the app. In conclusion, the doorbell itself is nice, pleasant, inoffensive to the eyes or your home's surrounding façade. It performs its job well, in rain, wind, snow, and sun. It is compatible with a variety of existing doorbell chimes, and is a great option for those with none. But Amazon/Blink has kneecapped it, and has failed its customers by giving it such a poor mounting system, battery management system, and coming up with a hilariously poor video storage solution. Fixing either the battery or the sync module would be enough for me to reconsider, but since it has well passed its 30-day return window, it's another piece of e-waste. I am sorry.