Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update after a few months of use: I'll continue to evaluate this and hope the company listens and reads these reviews. I've downgraded the rating to 2 stars. - even with the sensitivity down to minimum and restricting the "zone" to a barely 2 feet perimeter around the device, people walking down the alley which is about 30 feet away, trigger the "person" alarm and I get notifications. I hope a firmware might clean that up sooner than later. - I don't have the Kasa Cloud for two reasons: 1. I hate how the company steers the users by making this a needed feature and pushes for it and 2. I hate being manipulated into getting something at the expense of a local storage feature which doesn't work properly (again pushing, indirectly - the local storage option using a microSD is a joke. It doesn't loop. It simply runs ouf of space, then I have to re-format the card every time when that happens because it simply stops recording anything. This is bad for many reasons! I record at 720p which lasts about a month (I think). Again, the fact that the device triggers people walking 35 feet away from it even when I restrict everything and try to tell it to only "look" 2 feet away, adds to this problem of running out of storage. I wouldn't mind it if it at least "loops" and records over old footage. But it doesn't do that! The last time I had to reformat the card, the device simply hung which prompted a direct removal of the one of the power wires. That reset it and got it to function again. But AGAIN, I'll have to contend with reformatting and possibly have to again, reset it by being out in the cold as the winter is coming here in the midwest. And speaking of winter, if this thing makes it until the Spring, then maybe I'll continue to use it. But right now, I have already started to look for a replacement. The price was right but "you get what you pay for" firmly applies here. I love the company but they have a lot of work to do here to make this better. I hope they do. I'll wait until Spring and hoping that new firmware versions address these issues. I'm now very far from my initial excitement and my initial review. Still a nice design with potential which I hope the company takes into account and listens. Update: I'm going to describe a major ISSUE here which I did not mention in my original review of the product and which I hope might help you or someone else who might search for it. I also detracted a star from my initial assessment of the product. I wasn't fully aware of this issue as the description on Amazon wasn't clear and searching on company's web site didn't help either. It's a business practice which isn't singular to this product or TP Link (unfortunately). The major drawback with this system (and also other cameras under the Kasa home security and automation) is that the company pushes for Cloud (remote) video storage. You can store video footage as a continuous loop on a micro SD card, which is local and not shared/stored remotely in the cloud, doesn't take up internet bandwidth and which you CAN review within the Kasa app. but to DOWNLOAD any snippets of it or any particular notifications (someone uninvited at the door or something or someone doing something suspicious, etc) to your phone directly via the app. you MUST have a Cloud subscription (3 dollars/month). The only way to download footage (say there's a particular clip that you need to save and share with police, or keep record of etc), you would have to take the SD Card (if you don't have the cloud subscription and the video footage is saved as a loop on the SD card) out of the unit and plug it into a reader attached to your computer desktop or laptop, then plug the card back into the doorbell unit again. This is a very tricky and unfortunate tactic by the company but the product, support, the Kasa app, what it does, features etc is great. Especially for the price. Some people are turned off by this "tactic". I'm a little pissed off here but I think it's a matter of personal preference. Personally, I don't have a need to save the footage locally to my phone or computer, unless there's a particular "legal or criminal" activity that I need to keep record of. Still, the manipulative tactics are upsetting. I initially had in mind to subscribe to the cloud but because of this tricky business practice (almost in the ransomware category), I'm going to stick with the micro SD card for the foreseeable future. I've always enjoyed using TP Link products and I understand that they are not the only ones pushing for cloud storage subscriptions but I still find this practice and how it's buried and not fully disclosed, appalling (no matter who does it). This could have been a perfect product. Unfortunately, it isn't. +++++++++ I ordered it and got it two days later. I figured I'd give these smart video chimes a try. I'm glad I did. This company is great! I've used their products successfully for years, in the past. This product is no different. The design and materials used are great. Very nicely looking. Priced unbelievably affordable. I was up and running in about 30 minutes, including the outside, on the side of the door install. The power from my old chime was enough. This thing came in a box with everything. I jumped (included) the old chime which now just sits quietly in a nook on the wall. I took the outside old button off and exposed the two wires. My front door has a screen door which made the installation a bit more tricky as the surface wasn't completely flat (there's some trim as part of the screen door). But they thought of everything and also included in the package (brilliantly) a very nice, angled mounting piece which solved my problem. It was all a breeze. Setting it up. Synchronizing the outside camera chime with the actual device that plugs into an available outlet and makes a noise when someone rings the "bell" outside. BTW, there is Christmas chime as a choice too (very neat!)! The video is perfect. Facial recognition and how much, rectangular space in the front of the camera, you'd want to control and have the system triggered should something or someone walk or move in that space. The image is perfect. I don't know if I'd want something with more video quality since I've never had one of these things before and for what its intended purpose is, the quality is perfect ( I keep mine at 720p, the lowest setting). The light coming off the ring around the push-button which lights up when the camera senses a person approaching the door and which I think helps the night vision (if there's something like that built in it) to see face of the person in the front of the door. I tested it by standing in the front of the camera at night, pitch dark around and behind me and I could see my face pretty well when up close to the door (which is what people do when they ring this thing). I understand that there's a cloud 24/7 video saving subscription with the company as they have a few different subscription plans. I haven't tried any of that yet. I plan on sticking a micro-SD card in the unit and save the video continuously in that manner. I'm looking at some indoor/outdoors security cameras from TP Link which look very promising and which are all integrated with the Kasa app. I think once I have everything installed, I might give the "cloud subscription" a try. Might be a good thing for peace of mind. Not sure sure yet but I might do it on a trial basis and re-assess the benefits vs costs. Overall, the ease of installation, the wonderful design and having all the needed accessories right in the box for a headache free install process, the features and the good name of the manufacturing company, made this purchase a success. I hope it stays this way and I'll get to use it and enjoy it for many years to come.