Reolink - Wired Video Doorbell (WiFi)

Their doorbell cam can do both, at least the one I bought. You can simply replace the old doorbell with the reolink one and use the two wires onto the screws in the back. Check out the manual for it. As long as you have good voltage and bypass the chime, it'll work. Heck, it even comes with a plug in chime! Make sure you also buy a microSD card for local storage of events. 32gb is plenty for me. Creating no motion zones will also help keep the recording down from unnecessary events. *This is not an affiliate link and I make no commission off this link.* https://a.co/d/0fnlME3j I just replaced my Nest Hello doorbell since Google decided to nearly double the cloud subscription. So far I'm happy with it.

I have had two Aqara G4s fail partially. One just wouldn’t stay connected when mounted next to the door. The other one stopped sounding its chime. I moved one to the attic to watch for mice and moved the other one to a door no one ever uses. Replaced with a Reolink which I’m pulling into HomeKit with Scrypted.

that's where it falls apart. I can use Home Assistant to send the image (webrtc) to the Google Home hub, have live notifications (with live view when someone rings the doorbell) on my phone, have AI face detection (using llmvision and memory), ai person detection is like 99.9% accurate here and notifications arrive after like 1 second but I really canot get 2 way audio working outside the reolink app. Tried everything, frigate, scrypted, webrtc card and go2rtc. Not possible here.

If you have an existing doorbell, the Reolink WiFi doorbell cam works perfect with HA and scrypted. Works over the existing 24v doorbell wiring.

I like Reolink. If there is currently a doorbell there you can get power from it and not need batteries.

Don’t get the battery one. I bought it and returned it. It doesn’t have ONVIF, RTSP, or any of the things that would make integrate with HA or Scrypted, and the battery constantly goes dead even though I had it connected to my transformer. Just sucked all around for this purpose. I replaced it with the hardwired wi-fi version and it’s 100x better. I use it mostly with Scrypted and Homekit, but it is added to my HA instance as well. The difference in image quality is negligible to my eyes although the battery version did have a wider FOV.

The WiFi doorbell also recognizes vehicles with the latest firmware.

Reolink makes a couple of Wifi door bells that can be powered by the existing wiring. One can use the existing chime if you want to keep that. No subscriptions.

I just setup a Reolink wifi white version. I have been pretty happy with it. I chose this over Ubiquiti due to the lower cost of entry and had more features.

A Reolink doorbell will give you false alerts that someone is standing in front of your door and there is no way to turn that feature off. It's really good at that.

I'm not 14 years old. I am a very, well educated man in my sixth decade. If you are assuming that I just started flicking sliders around, without waiting and observing, you would be wrong. Yes, I did change something. I changed the ring tone. That was all. It was a week of false alarms at all times of the day and night before I started making slight changes. I have had this doorbell camera running flawlessly for almost 3 years. It turned to sh!t when I changed one setting. If I'm the only one in the thousands of people who have deployed these cameras, we'll then I guess that's on me. Logically, in my mind, changing a ringtone shouldn't change other sensitivity settings.

Reolink. Cheap, supports sd and the app is easy to use. The AI for detection is good

Yes, I'm pretty positive that you can wire the Reolink Wi-Fi version to an existing doorbell wiring. Although, of course, the PoE version will always be superior. Wi-Fi/Wireless is not reliable.

I like Reolinks. You can record 24/7 to an SD and a local hard drive, and you can upload your own custom auto replies, and it also has an alarm siren

The battery doorbell cannot do 24/7 recording. The wired doorbells can. Both have the same AI detectors as far as I know. (But the wired black doorbell (landscape view) don't do packages detection the the white wired ones (portrait view) due to the different camera views. If you want 24/7 recording get the wired doorbells (wifi or poe), and if you want package detection get the wired white doorbell. If you don't care about 24/7 recording the battery should be fine

I enjoy my Reolink doorbell

Yeah i got reolink after i had stupid ass blink and they pulled the crap where they forced you in to subscription. Costs more but way better product.

One down side of the Wi-Fi version is that I doesn't work with regular chime. I will use my Google speakers around the house. This will give me more options in setting volumes etc. baby off etc

It seems I did the total opposite by ordering the battery one but I'm not really satisfied it's really bulky and after checking the specifications it seems that the Wi-Fi one has a better camera. Besides that it's a bit smaller and initially the idea was to hang it on a place really depending on the battery but now I made a decision to wire it so the battery is not adding that much anymore. The Wi-Fi one has continuous recordings what the battery one doesn't have or at least I couldn't find it the Wi-Fi one has 5 megapixels where the battery has 4

I regret ordering the battery one hopefully the wifi one will arrive tomorrow so i return the battery one. I saw the wifi one works out of the box with home assistant. Cant wait!

I've got the Reolink. Love it.

Not sure if it’s worth mentioning that if you add your Reolink doorbell camera to the nvr you lose the doorbell features.

[Reolink doorbell](https://reolink.com/us/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/). No subscription, 24/7 recording, phone notifications, can identify and alert to people, pets, cars and doorbell press, activity zones, 2k video quality with IR night vision, smart home integration and available in both PoE and WiFi versions. I have the PoE version and it works great! Available on Amazon as well.

Home Assistant is the way to go. I setup my Reolink doorbell feed to have a door lock toggle via the lock icon on the bottom left corner. It will lock/unlock my deadbolt (Kwikset) by just tapping the icon. The icon changes to indicate the current lock status. This is a screenshot of my custom dashboard on my phone. This will work for any doorbell video feed and smart lock that you have integrated into Home Assistant. That's the beauty of Home Assistant, as you can pretty much customize any device to display and control however you like. https://preview.redd.it/jlvr5bs3ua5d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52dd347136a53853dcb1e77ae7ce1149a1a0610f

Another +1 here. Just installed the PoE version this past weekend. It does the thing completely locally without any fuss. My wife likes the app so I haven't blocked it off on the firewall but I could and wouldn't lose much.

Nice.

I use reolink with scrypted. I've had it running for about a month and it's fantastic. It's worth noting that I already had all the hardware for this solution (dedicated unraid server). So, I was able to just spin up a scrypted docker container on an always on system. Obviously, this would be an investment if didn't already have dedicated hardware and wanted to go this route.

I just have the reolink wifi doorbell

I just got the wifi doorbell even though I have a mostly poe system because of better notifications from the wifi model including phone calls when someone pushes the button. Note the Wi-Fi doorbell does have an ethernet jack, so you can hardwire it, but you have to supply power separate from ethernet.  (I assume you could run POE and then do a splitter to split out the power and ethernet and then run power and ethernet separately to the Wi-Fi doorbell, but depending upon your available in-wall space by the doorbell that may or may not be a very clean aesthetically.) Also note that while it’s free, the ability for it to do some things like ring your phone does depend on Reolink Cloud, so if you’re someone who is not willing to use Reolink cloud at all, even just for the P2P capabilities to easily access video when you’re not at home, then you would not get some of these features. You might need to do a deeper dive as to exactly what the differences are, but generally, the Wi-Fi model offers a little more capability.  As previously pointed out, you can integrate these with things like Home Assistant, which I have also done. I don’t know if you’d be able to do the rich notifications you want or not with Home Assistant. I use Home Assistant primarily for geofencing and convenience of switching between home and away modes for notification management, which to my great surprise Reolink cameras in general don’t really do.  If you wanna be able to easily or automatically change how you get notified when you’re home and not home then you will want something like Home Assistant to make this possible.  I had no plans to purchase or use Home Assistant with my new Reolink camera system, but then I found out about the lack of geofencing and the lack of even a convenient way to shift what notifications are off and on, so I ended up having to get Home Assistant to help do this. I don’t know why Reolink does not support more features in this regard. I would think most people would want geofencing or at least a one button press home and away concept, but apparently Reolink does not think so. (BTW, I relied a lot on AI to help tell me how to set this up in Home Assistant but overall it’s actually fairly easy as Home Assistant as well structured to help with this, but you would have at least $100 cost to buy something like Home Assistant Green - which has worked well for me for this purpose.). 

I have a very new setup with RLN36 NVR. My wifi doorbell is connected to my normal home wifi, which is on the same network as my nvr (at least for now). The NVR does not care how any camera is connected to it, so long as it is reachable somewhere on the network that is fine. You don't have to have a Wifi NVR. If you want dedicated Wifi, you can connect a wifi router directly to the NVR - essentially converting it to a wifi+ NVR. For my needs I wanted the RLN36 because I planned on buying a larger disk anyway, and I also preferred a separate POE switch rather than needing to have all the PoE camera ethernet cables go directly into the NVR (as is intended with the other Reolink NVRs). (Where I live electricity is very expensive, and each drive, no matter what its capacity, costs about $30/yr in power, so I did not want to just add a drive, I wanted only one very large drive (14TB).) With a RLN36 and a separate PoE switch, my NVR can be anywhere on the network (assuming a good GB hardwired connection), and, if the PoE switch is also connected to my home network I can also connect to the same camera both as a camera attached to the NVR as well as directly to the camera as a standalone camera - which you cannot do if only connected directly to the NVR - which can have some benefits - such as more direct access to some camera features that are not available via the NVR. (The Reolink PoE switch - with two non-PoE uplink ports is well designed for this type of configuration while still having 8 PoE ports that you can dedicate to cameras.) The RLN36 NVR has four 1gb ethernet ports intended for connection to up to four PoE switches - whereas the ethernet ports on the other NVRs are slower because they expect you to only connect one camera to each. The RLN36 also has relays and siren outputs on the back, which the other NVRs do not, and home automation can use those relay to trigger detection notations (alarms), similar to "person", or "vehicle" alerts on your recordings for your cameras. To be honest, I have trouble understanding why anyone would want any NVR other than the RLN36 - unless perhaps they knew they were only ever going to have wifi cameras and they trust that the wifi from the wifi NVR would reach all corners of their property. (I think I would be more likely to trust a mesh wifi for this - preferably with a hardwired backhaul if I had many wifi cameras.) One downside, the RLN36 does not at the moment yet support export and import of a backup of its configuration (unlike some other Reolink NVRs) - so that is concerning. I don't know what features the UK version of the wifi doorbell has. I do know that when someone presses the doorbell button I get a notification with a video clip in it - for my camera instance that is connected to the NVR. If I recall, it will also call me like a real phone call and let me talk to whoever is at the door when someone presses the button, but I have not played much with that. I had expected to need to hardwire ethernet to it as I had read that its wifi connectivity was unreliable - but for me it has been perfect so far for about 2 weeks. If I later find that I need to hardwire it I will. We did find that, for our porch, the wifi doorbell did not capture some of the corners nearest the door to see packages as perfectly as we wanted. We did not want to miss an inch. So we added an additional camera up high above the door pointing down to get 100% of the area and not miss seeing a package. On a side note, I bought mostly all CX810 cameras for the exterior. Even the dimmest light gives these cameras enough light to look like daylight. They are amazing. Better than I expected. A touch of partial moonlight, or a street light down the street, or city lights reflected off of cloud cover is enough. Or of course your own low powered 2-4 actual watt LED lights are ok also. But, unlike IR cameras with IR LEDs, if it is truly totally dark you won't see anything. They do have build in white lights you can choose to keep on, but I am not clear yet how well those would work for my situation, and I don't know how long their life would be if used all night every night. They might be ok, but you need to make sure that you not getting reflected light from eaves a few inches away, and of course they use more power, and draw more attention to the cameras.

Yeah I also had this experience. God awful connection quality, but I did buy it super early. I also wonder if the PoE one is better.

I have REOLINK stuffs, what do you use for NVR?

Yeah I’m not a big fan of the Reolink detection, especially if there are bugs/fog. I have a minisforum ms-01 running proxmox, and a NAS with 16TB - planning to add more. I have Frigate as an open tab in my browser, I know it works with HA but it’s a little more work if I do it via proxmox. Frigate prefers bare metal.

Wifi is hit or miss. I have the wifi version. It is unreliable even with the router on the other side of the wall. Recently did a remodel so I ran cat6 to it. Since it's physically connected, it's been super solid. No issues with viewing recordings. Since it is the wifi version and not POE, I still need to keep it hooked to the transformer.

I did some research and it seems like POE, power on Ethernet, means you do have to run the cable. That’s not an option for me, but Reo does have a WiFi version that can power off existing wiring. Just got it last night and am going to install later today and see how it is.

Reolink. Just swapped out Ring and not looking back. Great night vision with some moonlight and entry lights off

I went with WiFi because wiring was there from current button and running cable super difficult. Black model wi-fi. If you can run Ethernet, go with PoE as first choice. Love the clarity, night vision and tracking.

If you can support wired, just get the first one. If you can use PoE, get that one instead.

Running the wifi / mains power version on a U.K. house (brick walls not the best for wifi signal). It’s a solid performer and has been significantly better than the ring it replaced, integrated into HA and frigate

When the tech i had run ethernet for me for cameras (he does that commercially), I saw the setup and then planned to switch from Ring to Riolink, I think that says something about the company. I have internet blocked on the cameras, only needed it for initial setup of wireless, before getting an NVR.

got two Reolink WiFi doorbell installed few backs using the existing wired doorbell power, installation was straight forward and was able to add them to Frigate. Everything was done in few hours time.

I have been running the WiFi doorbell (powered through old doorbell transformer) for a couple of weeks. I have two way audio working in HA through Frigate but it was a bit of a nightmare to get working. The developer of the HA Reolink integration says they’re planning to make two-way audio work natively through the integration at some point in the future.

+1 for Reolink I have the WiFi doorbell cam (and a few others from Reolink) and it has worked just dandy in the Midwest. Bidirectional audio is pretty good. As others mentioned, there’s no subscription fee and they play nice with other ecosystems. I use a micro SD card for recording and it works quite well locally on my LAN or remotely while traveling to play clips. One of the best features is the ability to use the existing doorbell wiring to power the doorbell cam. No goofing around with batteries or fishing a separate power wire.

The poe and plug-in wifi models come with a chime whilst the battery model does not. Part of the reason for that is the battery model is likely to be used with an existing chime mechanism, however you can purchase a chime if required.

It depends which powered wifi model you purchased. The black model is 4x3 aspect ratio and the white is 3x4. The white supports package detection but not the black. Both support people or vehicle detection when running the latest firmware level (i.e. the one recently withdrawn due to "problems") plus of course "visitor" which is someone pressing the button. The battery model has a 1x1 aspect ratio but does not support timed recording. However it does work with your existing chime if you have one. As you can see there are many variables in deciding which is better for your circumstances. The battery model is 160x48mm (height/width) whilst the wifi/poe are 133x48 and I believe all are 29 depth. The battery looks slimmer but is just that bit taller

*so with my basic understanding my existing mechanical chime is not going to work with the newer transformer and needs replacing anyway even with the battery version.* Not exactly - with the powered model your existing chime is bypassed whatever you do. With the battery model you would be ok as your current transformer is 10V which is in the 8-24V range allowed for. *I have a Synology NAS for RTSP recording, so continuous recording is important to me. I don't have other cameras installed.* Then battery model does not meet your requirements. And yes, probably best to stick with the powered white model.

It depends which powered wifi model you purchased. The black model is 4x3 aspect ratio and the white is 3x4. The white supports package detection but not the black. Both support people or vehicle detection when running the latest firmware level (i.e. the one recently withdrawn due to "problems") plus of course "visitor" which is someone pressing the button. The battery model has a 1x1 aspect ratio but does not support timed recording. However it does work with your existing chime if you have one. As you can see there are many variables in deciding which is better for your circumstances. The battery model is 160x48mm (height/width) whilst the wifi/poe are 133x48 and I believe all are 29 depth. The battery looks slimmer but is just that bit taller

Reolink is great! They can do rtsp feeds also,I send that to blue iris.

I use strictly Reolink product for cameras. Wifi doorbell is a breeze to install. If doable go with the POE one, but wifi is veeeery good.

Among the options currently available, Reolink paired with the Home Hub (NVR) is a standout choice. Ideally, Power over Ethernet (PoE) is the preferred solution, as it provides both a reliable power source and protection against WiFi jamming. That said, the WiFi model performs decently as well. Personally, I powered my setup by repurposing the wiring from a traditional door lock button, making a few adjustments with the transformer to ensure everything operates smoothly

I've been using two of these doorbells with an NVR. They work great. They don't have quite the same notification functionality as a ring doorbell, though if you're savvy enough you can use Home Assistant to create a rich notification with a snapshot.

Another +1, even better if you can get POE to power it...

I really like my reolink Wifi Doorbell. Every setting in the app is available in home assistant. RTSP streams can be accessed without using the app. Video quality is pretty good too.

Very quick! I got rid of my Arlo doorbell cam for Reolink and haven’t regretted it

I have the Reolink WiFi doorbell. Never gotten 2-way audio working no matter how much I tinker (even on previous firmware versions). I’m fine with only having that access in the Reolink app - I find the lag for the audio unbearable anyways… If 2-way audio is a must have in Homeassistant, I’d suggest looking elsewhere. Everything else about this doorbell has been great though!

LOVE my reolink Wi-Fi hard wired doorbell. I did have to set it up with home assistant but it’s bulletproof now.

Unifi is great but bring your wallet. I went with a reolink wifi hard wired for a fraction of the price and its been super super reliable with home assistant poping it into homekit went from aquara, belkin and ring. Reolink is the best for me.

You can monitor live, watch recordings of triggered events and get push notifications of events via the phone app with no subscription. All you have to do is install and register it. I have 2, a battery and a doorbell wiring powered one. Love them both. The view from the doorbell powered one is better but the other is not bad. Top is battery powered. https://preview.redd.it/h5xajerkafwe1.jpeg?width=1063&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78ca628a28be088f966d3d4334f465f46604084b

Totally agree, but for anyone who wants to use Blueiris NVR, Reolink often integrates poorly into it, from personal experience.

I have them both and I recommend you to go for the white wired WIFI model. The battery doorbell needs a recharge every month (average 8min usage daily)  and being a battery cam it takes time to get to the live view. I would say a delay of 7 to 12s by that time the visitor might have left. Sometimes I have to click twice to log on the camera despite it is 3m away from the WIFI extender. It seems to be a protocol issue. Camera doesn't recognise the preamble message immediately.  Note that this cam can be connected to existing chime. In this setup, the doorbell is charged from the transformer feeding the solenoid of old chime.  But again it depends on your taste and requirements. So ensure what you require and read carefully the specs of each.

\> Does anybody have experience with the wifi model and integration with HA? Yes, has HA integration, local access \> Is it stable? No issues on my side \> Are the notifications coming in fast(HA app), or does it also take up 30 seconds? Instant \> Do i need the Reolink Hub for integration in HA? No, HA connect locally with the bell \> Reolink is not cloud based, but how do you receive notifications if you are gone? You need to install the HA app on your mobile so notifications are received from the HA app. Of course the app should have access to your HA server even if you're not at home. \> Can I stream the live feed to a google home hub? Don't know, not using. \> Do you use the reolink app or HA to send notifications and view the stream? HA. I only use Reolink app for configuration, live stream or 2 way audio \> Do you use the 2-way audio with HA, does it work? I believe you can make it work, you'll need web2rtc but I haven't bothered. Currently I am triggering playing a recording on the bell from HA (when the door is open). I also do this: \- when the doorbell button is pressed, take a screenshot, use doubletake/deepstack (running in a docker) to face recognize people, send mqtt message if they are recognised. Then HA can take action like opening the door.

Reolink wifi doorbell - but connect it w network cable. NEVER USE A DOORBELL CONNECTED VIA WIFI.

Another vote for the Reolink wifi doorbell - but connected via ethernet not WiFi. Superb picture quality and integrates extremely well with Home Assistant - if that's what you want.

Then just carry on with wifi by itself, which works perfectly - I'm just of the mind that hardwired connections are always better.

Yep, Reolink is great!

I have the Reolink wired WIFI one and it's been great. Previously had Nest but without their Nest Aware it was crap. You can either hook the Reolink up to their NVR/Hub or use a SD Card. I've been extremely happy with it. It has a decent phone app and also a desktop client (Windows) that you can access/download.. also runs on either 2.4 GHZ or 5 GHz.

HA integration is a pain though, no? I have three Reolink devices and battery/solar powered cameras either need some tinkering, which I think leads to poor battery life, or an expensive Home Hub to integrate with HA? I’m happy with my Reolink doorbell, but I got the wired one.

1 uovote here. Just grabbed one a few months ago and linked it to HA. Each event is sent to my gmail so all of my videos are saved there and then I have a script to delete the videos every 30 days so it wont clog up storage.

Every time someome walks by, it records a 30 second clip and I have it sent to my gmail. Then I wrote a script to run daily and delete a specific subject line from my gmail for anything over 30 days so I dont run out of space.

I just picked up 2 of the Black Wifi versions for $45 a piece at a liquidation store. The wedge is only 15-degree angle. One of my mesh nodes is pretty close so i get a good wifi connection so my notifications are pretty good as far as I can tell. It's only been a day though. The FOV to me could be better and there is no package detection which I did love from my ring doorbell pro 2. My DUO 2 got the FOV covered. I just wanted a better integration with the rest of my Reolink cameras. I'll be looking on ebay to see if I can get better wedges.

The [Reolink Doorbell](https://reolink.com/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/) includes all of that. I do have it, and I love it; it also has one of the best integrations with Home Assistant.

Point of clarification: Are you looking for a doorbell camera (local alternative to Ring) or a camera to mount above/near the front door just for the video? Reolink has both types and I have had good luck with 2 variations of their cameras. I had a problem with one of them and got a few-questions-asked quick replacement. So plus for good support/service. The ones I got: [https://www.amazon.com/REOLINK-Detection-Weatherproof-Recording-RLC-820A/dp/B08135WDZW](https://www.amazon.com/REOLINK-Detection-Weatherproof-Recording-RLC-820A/dp/B08135WDZW) [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K74GWX5?ie=UTF8](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K74GWX5?ie=UTF8) Doorbell camera: [https://www.amazon.com/REOLINK-Doorbell-Detection-Storage-Assistant/dp/B0B7S3JSG7](https://www.amazon.com/REOLINK-Doorbell-Detection-Storage-Assistant/dp/B0B7S3JSG7)

Reolink offer 3 different versions of their doorbell camera depending on your needs. There's a PoE version, a WiFi version that requires wired power, and a battery WiFi version. They all come with an included wireless chime, and allow local storage in several different formats. Reolink's Home Assistant integration is best in class, and the phone app is also really good.

Yes, I find that the phone notification, and chimes using Home Assistant speakers, are far more reliable and much faster than Google Home

>I was set on the G4 Pro but seems like Reolink is heavily preferred here. Not only is the Reolink doorbell less than 1/3rd of the price of the G4 Pro, but in side-by-side comparison the Reolink also has better picture quality in every scenario. The only sensible reason for choosing the Unifi doorbell is if you already have a bunch of Unifi cameras.

Took your advice and couldn’t be happier with the Reolink/Scrypted setup. Thanks!

yes same here, even my wife likes it!

Reolink Cameras are POE or WiFi, and you can choose to connect them to the internet or not. All data is stored locally on the device itself with an SD card. You can also get a NVR if you want multiple and want to store footage for longer periods of time. Check out r/reolinkcam or take a look at their doorbell offerings on their site here: [https://reolink.com/us/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/](https://reolink.com/us/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/) Good on you for not buying a ring camera, if you didn't know, police can get access to those without even notifying you, which is pretty creepy/big brother esque. \-not affiliated with them or anything, I just like their products and use them in my home.

Just installed mine a couple weeks ago and couldn't be happier about it.

Same. My Reolink wifi has been soldi since day 1.

End of story. Reolink. If poor, then wyze. But get reolink.

I can’t tell if you have a hardwire doorbell. If you do, just use some silicon based glue to affix a Reolink WiFi doorbell. I could not use screws due to the brick wall, and it worked perfectly. The power comes from the 24v of the old wired doorbell.

Reolink. Works on a no internet network. And has an integration with home assistant. Have a poe port.

I like the reolink wifi doorbell. It has an SD card so you can record data without a subscription, can use doorbell power, and the camera is good quality.

If you have an existing doorbell, this Reolink WiFi works well with HA. https://amzn.to/4idmysH It uses the existing old school doorbell wiring to power itself. I've used the WiFi version but recently upgraded to the PoE version (https://amzn.to/41sNL4Z) and it's awesome. Almost instant video feed locally. Running Ethernet to the doorbell was a pain but worth it. Both have package detection so you can set automations from packages being delivered. Mine notifies me and turns my front door light green. Reolink also has one that is battery and wifi, https://amzn.to/3QCaaqu Never tried this one but it seems like the one you're looking for.

White PoE for the win! I've tried the black wifi, white wifi and nest. The Reolink white with PoE is the best one out of all of them. The only black one I tried was wifi and it didn't have package detection, not sure if all the black ones are like that. I use it with home assistant and it loads almost instantly.

I can answer some of this. I use the white wifi model (wired to existing doorbell wiring so no batteries) the white has a more vertical orientation of view (at least here in UK) I originally used the reolink app for notifications etc but the integration into home assistant is great and stable. It exposes doorbell press / motion / package / person / pet and vehicle detections as well as a host of the settings for the doorbell, it also exposes the chime. Notifications are generally quick, in my experience 1 or 2 seconds max. I also came from Google home doorbell which was awful and had similar delays in notifications. You don’t need the reolink hub to integrate with HA. However, if you want to record footage you’ll either need SD cards in the camera, or use the reolink NVR (not sure if it works with WiFi cameras) or an alternative like frigate or scrypted (which I use) Hope that helps.

I got one of these .. [https://reolink.com/gb/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/#compare](https://reolink.com/gb/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/#compare) You will need to upgrade the transformer to 12-24V AC 50/60Hz, DC 24V, but can use the existing wires to the old bell push button as the supply to the wifi doorbell. It also integrates into Home Assistant nicely :) https://preview.redd.it/jst357or8ukd1.png?width=2804&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e7115add27836850dc2487e19f56789c7c7a5cc

Get a Replink wifi doorbell and replace chime with a 24V transformer and use cable between old chime and doorbell pushbutton as the new supply cables to power the Reolink

I did away with my chime and mounted a 24V 2 module bell transformer in its place. I use the included plug in wireless chime that came with the Reolink doorbell instead

I have the white wifi Reolink but only use it through the app. It's fine but the app is slow and it can take a long time to access recordings on the SD card. Some day I'll get around to figuring that out.

Also look at Reolink. I have three of them.

I’m using a Reolink WiFi doorbell and amcrest cameras. I have the Reolink set up so I can do automatic responses if someone comes to the door (just the canned responses unfortunately) from the iOS app, and HA alerts me if someone presses the doorbell. I also get frigate’s recognition alerts and it’s pretty good at detecting people. All of this on the JA iOS app. As others have said, frigate doesn’t do facial recognition.

Have one of these. It's been great and integrates with HA fairly flawlessly. Cloud optional but not required which is a +1

A few other drawbacks inherent to battery powered doorbells are slower load/buffering times when accessing the video feed since the device has to wake from sleep and you may occasionally miss the beginning of motion events (again the device has to wake from sleep to conserve battery). Vertical field of view should be the same on the white wired WiFi model as on the battery powered model since it has a 3:4 portrait orientation. You’re correct, the view is not as wide vertically on the black wired WiFi model.

A few other drawbacks inherent to battery powered doorbells are slower load/buffering times when accessing the video feed since the device has to wake from sleep and you may occasionally miss the beginning of motion events (again the device has to wake from sleep to conserve battery). Vertical field of view should be the same on the white wired WiFi model as on the battery powered model since it has a 3:4 portrait orientation. You’re correct, the view is not as wide vertically on the black wired WiFi model.

Reolink WiFi version. Ethernet port in case you want to hard wire it (no Poe though).  Takes a micro SD card for local recordings or connect it to their NVR.  App is pretty good, somewhat regular updates too.  Records 24/7 locally. 

I run frigate with Amcrest cameras and a Reolink wifi doorbell. The doorbell has its own chime that plugs in inside the house and runs even if HA isn’t running. It connects using the existing doorbell wiring for power and uses wifi to connect to HA and frigate. You can communicate with the person at the door using the Reolink app on your phone and I have not yet investigated using other methods to talk back over the doorbell or even if it’s possible. One nice thing is that the cameras and doorbell can use micro sd cards as a backup recorder local to the camera that will work even if frigate and HA are not working. Good luck!

I’m using the reolink doorbell (wifi) through scrypted in HA with good results, so not native…but it works

Really like my Reolink

i have the wifi one. I use tinycam pro on my google tv to show all the cameras. When someone rings the doorbell it shows up on all the google homes. I had a nest doorbell before this and bought the reolink with an nvr to get away from cloud costs. You can run it without the nvr with a microsd card but i'm happy with my setup.

They asked for affordable, Unifi products may be great, but $270 for a doorbell camera is not affordable. Reolink may not be perfect but their products are affordable and better quality cameras than Ring or Nest.

Reolink is a terrific value. Their WiFi doorbell cam does have an Ethernet port on the back. I have 4 of their cameras, the doorbell, and an NVR and it cost me around $700 all in to install all of it.

The use of the existing chime is the usual sticking point, which requires some rewiring. Most door bells are just creating a circuit, which is what the press of the button does, cause the chime to ring. A video door bell requires always on. Drop the existing chime requirement, then it becomes easy. Still a little bit of rewiring to make the circuit always on - presuming the existing chime isn't battery powered. First thing I would do is look to see what you have now. That will give you an idea of what is required. As for the bell itself, I would recommend the Reolink. If you have good wi-fi signal at the door then the wifi version works fine. It comes with a chime you can locate in the house somewhere. No subscription required. The installation instructions are on the Reolink web site so get them before purchase and see whether what you have can be adapted.

Reolink. The easiest way with no existing wiring is to run network cable and use POE to power it.

You need a wired doorbell. Reolink will run off the doorbell wiring, or you can get the POE version. Similarly for cameras, running off a wire is always the best option. Battery ones will let you down when you need them most. However I haven't seen anything combined with a full security system (I presume you mean alarm, PIR etc). The closest I have seen is something like the Pyronix systems (which is what I have for my home alarm), but I don't think that does doorbell as well. Realistically your best option is not try and find a single solution, as when one part fails you have to replace the whole lot., Instead find separate parts that do the job well and then use something like Home Assistant to bring them all together.

Reolink is probably the main one. No subscription, full RTSP support so you can just pull the raw video feed if you want.

How do you quantify garbage? For me, it works fine. I rarely use the app as I have it going in to Frigate and Home Assistant. The app is used for setup and initial configuration, which it does well. Once it is online I can use the built in web server to do a lot of the work. I don't really think anyone can answer that question, because what would seem garbage for you and your needs will be fine for someone else.

Reolink WiFi runs off the doorbell wiring, not sure on Home kit support though.

I've had a reolink WiFi doorbell and it's running smoother than creamed butter! A lot of people's issues I think are their WiFi.

I replaced my existing wired doorbell last month. I had bought reolink wifi doorbell last thanks giving. Was lazy all these months as I was dreading all the setup etc... It took me less than 1 hour for everything. It was actually that easy.

Wired only version has continuous recording unlike the battery doorbell. One benefit of the battery doorbell where you are replacing an existing doorbell is that you can resurrect your old mechanical chime. Here's a recent review on the battery doorbell: [https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/1fkljco/battery\_doorbell\_review/](https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/1fkljco/battery_doorbell_review/)

This. I recently installed a white Wi-Fi doorbell for a relative. It works quite well. It will probably need some tweaking out of the box to get videos to report as desired. Also, if you want to have sole admin access to the device, go into the settings and create a user account you can then share with them when setting up the device. That confused me on my first exposure to the Reolink system. I still need to visit the device and check on fine tuning it even now. Some of the settings aren't very intuitive to me. I should search out a YT video on the Reolink settings and better educate myself.

I'm still pretty new to Reolink. I just downloaded the Windows client and tried to establish remote contact with the doorbell I recently installed for a relative. I have the uid but can't sign into the service for some reason. Doesn't recognize my credentials. I can see the video feed on my phone via the app, but haven't been able to figure out the feed to the PC. Probably should direct the question to support. 🤷‍♂️

I have this one too, it works perfectly with home assistant and Scrypted for HomeKit as well. As far as I can tell *every* hardwired Reolink camera, including the doorbells, directly support RTSP once it’s enabled in the camera settings. As a result they’re much easier to use outside of their own ecosystems and proprietary apps compared to the other options.

Reolink. The integration works very well.

I really like my reolink, though I have the wired one. Super nice to never have fees, and it has all the features you could want.

I use the doorbell with frigate. Just works.

Reolink POE (or Wi-Fi) - either one will work flawlessly with Home Assistant

I've avoided any of the cameras that need a subscription and went with Reolink. They're quite decent and mine has worked well for about 2 years now. This is the one I have [https://reolink.com/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/](https://reolink.com/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/) There's also the r/reolink and r/reolinkcam subs for more information

Yes

Same. I use it with frigate and absolutely love the setup

Reolink, records to an SD card and can upload to an NVR of your choosing, which you should do. Never have only local security footage.

Reolink doorbell camera works great with home assistant. The only downside is having to use a different transformer than your house doorbell. It also will take your mechanical doorbell chime out of the loop. They give you a wireless chime. I used a zigbee relay and used the door visitor to trigger the chime. It also transmits a rtsp feed which I record to blue iris. The camera itself has an SD card and has person detection as a record trigger, which is usually all you need.

Just check the reolink model or search in the Amazon reviews before purchasing. Not all of the camera models support the self hosting options. I use the doorbell and some of the cheaper E1 models and integrate them into my Synology and home assistant.

I can tell you what to avoid: Reolink WiFi doorbell camera. That is, if your front door is facing the south and shadowy by the door, during bright sunny days, when someone is at your front door, you cannot identify who the person is. The bright background and the dark foreground tends to blind the camera. If your front door shadowed by a roof or it is through a tunnel, you need a camera with HDR.

Then, you are okay. I don’t use the Reolink doorbell app for push notification. I harness the doorbell’s sensor entities in HA to send me rich notification with a snippet of the event via Telegram. I also turn on the porch light at night on any event. I don’t use the Reolink app, in fact, I disabled the UID to disable the cloud connection. I'm okay with Reolink cameras but I have these issues: [https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/1gpj4h2/comment/lwwar8d/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/1gpj4h2/comment/lwwar8d/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)

I'm on the Wired doorbell (wifi) not battery. Notifications are extremely quick. The AI detection is as well. The non battery does not need the Hub. Notifications you would handle through HA. I keep the reolink app installed, but I use HA for notifications, personally. I've had it for a few weeks. https://preview.redd.it/52c86212zqwe1.png?width=282&format=png&auto=webp&s=b406abdabba966821b72abe9b5afa7e68aae664f This is the sensors you can access, there's additional configuration as well. Fluent is the live stream, Motion is the motion in the view of the areas you have visible on the reolink app for motion triggering. The rest are AI besides Visitor, which is the doorbell being pressed.

The person detection works pretty well, usually by the time I walk up to the doorbell it's detected. I haven't really tested the other ones. I tend to use motion instead of person detection at night as I noticed it's a bit more iffy at night. But the doorbell is extremely fast as well, I use home assistant instead of the chime. Cool device, very happy so far.

The Reolink WiFi one is garbage. Nothing I could do to make it stable. Got the Unifi one and it has been great. Maybe the Reolink PoE one is ok, but the WiFi one couldn’t get through 10 minutes of recording without losing connection

Another +1 for the Reolink. It’s ONVIF compliant so works with most NVR software. I use Synology Surveillance Station with mine and have the DS Cam app on my phone which supports push notifications for when the doorbell is pressed.

I like Reolink due to the Windows app - none of the others have an app you can run on your PC (pretty sure) - they're all phone based.

I have a relink rln-410 ver n2mb02 with 8 Poe cameras. I just bought a white reolink doorbell camera I added the doorbell as a separate device so now the app shows the nvr with 8 cameras and the doorbell connected by WiFi. I was able to add the doorbell to my nvr but to do this I had to replace one of the Poe cameras. Once I did that I could not get the doorbell to store any footage on the nvr. I read that the app alerts/features won't be as good anyway. My goal is to the most features/alerts and 24/7 recording for about a week. Can I do this with my setup? I assume the biggest compatible sd card will not do this? Would the home hub do what I need?

Thank you. As I mentioned I did add the doorbell camera thia way but I had no open channels so I essentially lose one of my hardwired POE camera's from the nvr. I did read up on this and from what I read my nvr is supposed to be capable of 8 Poe cams and at least wifi cams. Dvr won't record once I replace the camera either. Another issue is I can see the doorbell on the nvr in grid mode but if I select full screen I get a black screen. All wired cameras show full screen without issue When u click on the settings it seems like the main steam and sub stream resolution are not compatible? Main steam only option is D1 and no option for sub stream or any of the other settings on that screen. Wired cameras have plenty of choices here.

Thank you for your quick replies. It's not battery powered. I ended up getting the plug in type. Based on what you stated below I guess it will not work. What are my options if I want 24/7 recording? I have not yet installed a microSD card. But from what I read that will only record when motion/people are detected?

I would love to add it to my nvr but as you said my doorbell must take one of the 8 channels so I would lose a channel. I was thinking of adding the home hub separately for just the doorbell now (and any future wifi cameras) and keeping the nvr for my existing 8 Poe cameras.

So just to confirm, I can buy the 2k wifi version, this can be wired in with my existing wiring that I’m using for the nest hello and then use the SD card for storage?

Perfect thanks We’re getting there So, I’m going to pull the trigger just now on the reolink 2k wifi doorbell. I’ll sort out a 256gb card for it Cameras wise, I could see from my post the other day that there was some negativity towards using a bundled kit. I’ve been hovering around a Costco bundle which is currently a hundred quid off and uses the P334 cameras which (according to Costco) are legit cameras AND have the SD card slots! SO Would I still be able to run the config you’ve suggested with the PoE switch? Is there any limitations cos I’m using Costco reolink bundle? Still not entirely sure if I can rotate the image 90 degrees if I mount those cams on a vertical wall to look down the side of the house. Some say you can, others claim you can’t. Some even say it’s not required, as the whole camera lens itself can turn to point the right way. Never thought this would be so tasking but have to get it right I guess.

FWIW I just made the move from a Gen 1 Nest Hello to the 2K wifi Reolink yesterday. Everything works as it should. I have it linked to my Google Home for notifications via my minis and my hub. I also have it hooked up to Blue Iris recording 24/7 locally in addition to whatever the SD is recording. My 24 hour review of the WiFi doorbell is that it is excellent and presents tremendous value. The internal battery on my Nest was failing after 5 years and the cost of the Reolink was about the same as a 1 year subscription to Nest but I get way more functionality from the Reolink.

Yes. Make sure the one you get comes with the wireless chime, although I think they all do at this point. I didn't have to remove my Nest chime wiring either. I just installed the Reolink and plugged the wireless chime into the wall and it worked.

The clips are indeed 5 mins long, so a bit different than the Nest setup. However you do still get 24/7 recording albeit in the 5 min chunks. You can sort by notification (person, car, button press) to help narrow down which specific clip you are looking for. I don't find the 5 min clips to be a deal breaker at all. I have the doorbell recording 24/7 to my non Reolink NVR so I can go through that if I feel the need to. As long as the notifications work reliably and the video works then I'm more than happy. I've got 3 other cameras near the front door, all with much better resolution than the doorbell.

One disadvantage of this is that you're relying heavily on your smart home for your doorbell That can be fine but can also mean you do sometimes miss a caller I'd personally still install a physical doorbell - I use mine on WiFI (one WiFi camera does no harm, although I wouldn't want 20), but I believe with the Reolink you can use both Ethernet and doorbell wiring, so running both gets you the best of both worlds (and both options in future when changing doorbell) If you're installing one you may as well install the other IMO, adding both won't be much more expensive than just installing one

They *can* come with a chime, but don't always Certainly getting it with a chime is better, but that then limits you to always buying a doorbell that comes with a chime (or relying on your smart home) I just think that for something like a doorbell, there's something to be said for a wired connection to an old school chime - my smart chimes occasionally throw a wobbly, my OH chime works every time I'm not saying everyone HAS to have one, just that if I'm paying someone to pull wires anyway, I'd probably pay them to pull both - most of the cost is just to have the electrician there and drilling holes, fishing for tape etc... the cost to have them pull two wires at that point rather than one is usually gonna be pretty negligible

Yeah our new home did come with one and I really appreciate it - I like a smart doorbell but having it wired AND with ethernet just seems like the best of both worlds. Mine triggers my wired chime by my front door, while also triggering a couple of other chimes around my house where the front door one isn't visible, and then you still get the video etc and power either way A bunch of family members have battery doorbells and honestly they just seem like a PITA. Obviously that's not the comparison here as PoE would still be powered, but I still think I'd rather have both

100% the Reolink Video Doorbell. It is very easy to install, comes with WiFi or PoE versions. The wifi version takes either AC or DC power. And it has seamless local integration with home assistant

I have one and love it. I ran the power cord up the inside of the front door frame, drilled though to the outside, then mounted the Reolink. It works great on Wi-Fi but there is a RJ-45 Jack for wired.

reolink. super easy as seen here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck) can connect to a NVR for 24/7 recordings

reolink. super easy as seen here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck) can connect to a NVR for 24/7 recordings

reolink. super easy as seen here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck) can connect to a NVR for 24/7 recordings. use existing doorbell wiring.

reolink. super easy as seen here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLFyVCi4ck) can connect to a NVR for 24/7 recordings

Dedicated doorbells normally have apps that have notifications that instantly start a two way call when you click on them, so that is the advantage. My Reolink Doorbell supports RTSP which I feed into Frigate. When someone enters my porch it triggers my Apple TV (using homebridge-ffmpegcamera), sends a Telegram message with a photo and if they press the doorbell, I get a notification with the Reolink app. So I’ve got the best of all worlds.

The Reolink Doorbell isn’t PeE. It’s got Ethernet and wireless but not PoE. The app lets you do two way calls when someone rings the bell without a sub and without their official NVR. The Reolink Doorbell also supports RTSP (with two way audio) so there are tons of options for NVR. I personally use an open source project called Frigate NVR which is hands down the best option out there. If you want HomeKit support you can use Scrypted on top of Frigate. Edit: I got this wrong a bit. The Reolink Doorbell WiFi has wireless and Ethernet, but doesn’t support PoE. The non-WiFi model does support PoE.

Reolink with Frigate as the NVR.

I just bought a Reolink 5MP Video Doorbell last week for £76 at More Computers. Reolink do offer subscription services but can also work without subscription with local servers, using popular protocols.

Yeah, not sure why OP said it never gets reviewed. There are tons of reviews for it and any search on this sub or the HA forum it's almost always the first recommended. ???

Recently replaced my Google/Nest for Reolink and I’ve been very happy. I have it integrated with my NVR so I don’t have a monthly fee. I do have two complaints - lack of rich notifications and no animal specific detection. Neither are dealbreakers for me.

Yeah I should have been more specific about the animal notification thing. Only the doorbell doesn’t have that detection. All my other Reolink camera do. It’s unfortunate that it takes a workaround for rich notifications. It’s a pretty common feature among even lower end cameras. BTW I love my CX410s. Just added an E1 Outdoor CX. It’s good but not quite the level of the 410.

I went with the Reolink Video Doorbell. HomeKit Secure Video works great.

Agreed. Reolink bell comes with a wedge so it can point slightly to left and right for optimal positioning.

Replink video doorbell and scrypted. Unless you’re already in the now overpriced Ubiquity ecosystem. Another alternative depending on how you have access to your house a camera and a button combined in scrypted to make a HomeKit doorbell.

While it doesn't work with the existing chime, Reolink has slowly become the doorbell to beat. * Powered off existing wiring and transformer * No subscriptions * 2 way audio * Can work with just a SD card * Compatible with 3rd party network video recorders using standard protocols * Operates just fine when blocking it from the internet(good for privacy and when it no longer receives security patches someday) This also plays well with hubs like Home Assistant. I have mine setup to cast a MP3 as a custom doorbell sound.

Yep. I’ve started ditching all my WiFi devices for Reolink with NVR. WiFi devices are spotty at best and I’m tired of paying subscriptions.

Reolink's documentation confirms that the doorbells don't ring the mechanical chime. They only take power from it, and you need to bypass the chime to do so. I use a Zigbee relay and have HA capture the visitor event to close and open it real quick.

Reolink has the best doorbell for home use currently.

Reolink Video Doorbell. I recommend going PoE, but they have a wireless one as well.

Get a Reolink Video Doorbell. It wont integrate into Protect, but you will be embarrassed by all the money and effort you spent on that terrible Unifi Doorbell after you use the Reolink.

Yes Reolink fully implements ONVIF, Ubiquiti doesn't, that's the problem with protect

You're exactly right. But you're already using 2 apps. I would just ditch protect at that point. There isn't any added benefit.

Definitely +1 for Reolink

We been using reolink for couple of years now and its been great so far!

Only good doorbell for home assistant is the Reolink. its cheap and amazing

instat for me, but im running a i5 nuc with 16gb ram so might be longer for other hardware

Reolink unless you already have a unifi protect console. I swapped from amcrest to unifi, it wasn't really needed but I wanted the finger print reader.

Reolink was already recommended but I’m here to second it. You can do local storage on your own wifi or store video in an sd card in the camera. Got it because I didn’t want a subscription and wanted exclusive access to the video, not stored on someone else’s servers

All Google Assistant doorbells do this. Open Google Home app, go to live view for the doorbell, ‘…’ icon top right, Settings, then turn on Voice Announcements. It explains exactly what what this option does on that page, which is produce visitor announcements on GA speakers which of course includes the Google Home Mini. Not really sure what the point of “proving” this is but here are some screenshots of this setting for the Reolink doorbell. It works exactly as OP wants, ie chime on a Google Home Mini when the doorbell button is pressed. https://preview.redd.it/ljjk8i5ddp8e1.jpeg?width=2358&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7adfd732599ad20e40fb70566a177af3b821aac0 I also have Arlo and Aosu doorbells on other properties which work in exactly the same way, also chiming to one or more Google Home Minis. This has worked for many years.

Home Assistant + Frigate & my Reolink Doorbell do this perfectly.

Home Assistant is a smart home platform which handles the UI of all that stuff. Frigate is the NVR software that the camera connects to. I get doorbell press events, 2 way audio etc. All while the Reolink doorbell only has LAN access and is connected via HTTP FLV and RTSP/ONVIF.

Feels like I'm the lone warrior here recommending Tapo 😅 I have the D235, and it's great. It does cover head to toe, but you need to be strategic with placing it to ensure it covers the toe area you need. I like the ring-to-call feature — instead of just a notification, I get an actual phone call. A doorbell press is important, so I think a call demands immediate attention, unlike a pop-up that you might miss. The lag is mimimal - it was the fastest among the ones i compared (Eufy e340 and Reolink). I did a similar test like you've done - i bought all three and returned the Eufy and Reolink. Reolink seems to have a lot of fans but it performed so poorly compared to the Tapo. It was significantly laggy and the app was bad. Tapo's app is so much more refined and polished. A few reasons I didn't go with Eufy are 1. No 24x7 recording (You'll need it sometimes if you don’t have a dedicated camera in the front) 2. No RTSP support and 3. Eufy has a history of lying about it's encryption. You can read about it online

I have no problem with the reolink app. It works and is pretty straightforward. It usesy Synology as an NVR which is great. I haven't done much with it inside HA so far.

I have the reolink doorbell and cameras. With home assistant I am able to trigger my home speakers with a chime, and don't need the included one

so far they are really good for no subscription, but be aware, compared to some other options, their person detection is a little lack luster.

the reolink camera is poe and wifi. the black one is 16x12 while the white one is tall at 12x16 (i might be wrong and there may be a wifi only option)

I'm just using a third party NVR with my Reolink doorbell and it's working fine. I installed it the other day, I haven't yet found out how to make the notification of the doorbell more prominent on my Android phone.

Worth contacting reolink maybe as you might have a detective unit, I've never noticed our chime fail in the year we've had ours. It's pressed most days.

Reolink has been great. Never tried Ubiquiti. Would love to know what makes Ubiquiti worth the cost difference. I can still return my Reolink.

I'm strongly leaning at getting one of these. I just bought a Reolink two weeks ago and the thing absolutely just will not pair to the plug-in chime. Anyone know how they compare aside from a basic install flaw?

The chime pairing thing was my own dumb fault. I didn’t initialize it through the UI. After that it has been working flawlessly. It’s responsive, great quality, great audio. Haven’t played with motion detection settings yet but overall I’m very satisfied. Also got it and all my other Reolink cams working with Protect through my UDMP using unifi-cam-proxy. Using the UDMP as my NVR now so I was able to eliminate my Reolink nvr from my server closet

I went with the Reolink. I added an SD card and it’s hardwired. I love it. Quick to alert. Super clear. Loads quickly.

So far I really like the reolink we just got. Before this we had the amcrest doorbell because we have their NVR and other cameras. It was never a smooth functioning doorbell and completely gave out after a little over a year. Reolink has been very easy to use and responsive. I just haven't figured out the wiring stuff for the chime but quite frankly I prefer just having it alert my phone anyway.

Reolink cameras do not need a subscription. The function beautifully without it and in fact if you add their NVR or home hub it even makes less sense to get a subscription. The cameras can also record directly to FTP for example if you have an Nas setup pretty much anywhere in the world. Very versatile cameras with great performance. I've had the doorbell for about a year and a half now and it's been excellent. The beautiful thing about it as well is it has Wi-Fi and Poe options built into the same device. Presently using it with Wi-Fi but this summer I'm going to use its Poe capabilities.

Reolink is fantastic

I’ve just got the Reolink (swapped from a gen 1 Nest), it’s hard wired and I have it recording to a SD card 24/7. The notifications are spot on, it sends a picture and the person is always in it (so far!). It doesn’t do the face recognition like the Nest though

Reolink + Scrypted has been great for me

You probably want the wire to be hidden so an electrician might be best. As for the doorbell. If you are going through the trouble of having a wired one, ring is a bad option because it does not support 24/7 recording or have a sd card for local storage. Personally I use reolink which has both and does not require a subscription, but the downside is that you need to use a workout for rich notification since that feature *is* locked behind a subscription. In any case. I would at least avoid Ring. The notifications are either too sensitive, not sensitive enough, and the fact that it isn't always on means it's super prone to lagging out and missing stuff whenever the motion sensing is slow to react or the camera isn't 'on' when you try to view it.

You won’t get notifications on Unifi either. I have a Reolink doorbell and when Unifi came out with ONVIF support, I added it out of curiosity. Works. Records. Nothing else.

The Reolink doorbell is very good. Had mine for two years, I use mine in HKSV through Scrypted

For what it’s worth, the problem is not scrypted. The problem is ring due to its cloud based stream. HomeKit native will obviously be much better but something like Reolink or Amcrest doorbell will work much better with scrypted as they both support ONVIF and RTSP which are local feeds.

\+1 to the Reolink. Has an excellent integration and has been really reliable for me so far.

Same. I've had my up since December and it hasn't skipped a beat plus it has excellent image quality. The only downside for some that it doesn't have the ability to connect up to any existing doorbell chime and you can only use its own plug-in type (which has been working perfectly for me).

Reolink can be stored locally. If you set up your netwerk correctly it’s also safe

Reolink is basically plug and play with an NVR, but if you’re worried about privacy, you need more knowledge to set up VLANs

The only thing that might be needed additionally would be a home hub IF you want to be notified in the home without carrying your phone with you. The home hub functions as a "chime". It also acts as another sd-card expansion.

Interesting. Mine didn't come with a chime.

This isn't directly helpful but I refuse to have any Ring products in my home. The whole using my doorbell to give the police my own footage without my permission really turned me off from ever using ring, despite them ending it at some point.  I use Reolink based on a ton of recommendations and I'm incredibly happy that I went with Reolink. 

This isn't directly helpful but I refuse to have any Ring products in my home. The whole using my doorbell to give the police my own footage without my permission really turned me off from ever using ring, despite them ending it at some point.  I use Reolink based on a ton of recommendations and I'm incredibly happy that I went with Reolink. 

I tried one of the reolink models but decided to return it and wait for this new model that supports mechanical chimes since I have all of that wiring. I did connect it to protect over onvif and it really worked fine. I will said I liked how much more responsive the reolink was to doorbell presses and also usable 2 way conversations.

Reolink. Hands down.

Reolink. Hands down.

Doorbell works perfectly fine with Frigate. I've had mine going for 2+ years. There were some reolink issues historically (and I've had some issues with my Duo 2) but the doorbell is not an issue in Frigate or BI.

Eufy is not intergrated by default, you need to install the eufy addon for intergration. I had a battery doorbell and it can trigger automations (has binairy sensors). The doorbell i had was a bit slow on updating the sensors in HA, and the live stream was not working (p2p). The doorbell i had was supported by the addon. Not all eufy devices are supported by the addon. Look into the addon if your doorbell is supported: https://github.com/fuatakgun/eufy_security. For great intergration with homeassistant i advice to buy reolinks doorbell, got that recently and it has a platinum intergration on HA, and it all works great :-). Good luck on the doorbell journey Edit: I dont recall having any settings for the chime with eufy. Again Here, Reolink can do this in HA intergration.

The only real reason to go with Amcrest over Reolink is that Amcrest can integrate with an existing doorbell chime. It sounds like that isn't a requirement for you so Reolink would be the way to go.

This! Love all my Reolink gear

I've got reolink poe cameras and very happy with them. Whenever my ring doorbell breaks I'm getting the reolink doorbell.

Negative. I have the reolink doorbell and record everything locally to my synology. I don't use their cloud, no subscription, no other Reolink gear. I really like the doorbell. The feature set is nice and it was very easy to set up.

I’ve been super happy with my reolink doorbell. I had an amcrest before that was meh. Which surprised me. My other amcrest cameras have performed really well.

Personally if I had my time again I'd invest in Reolink over Ring. The increases on Ring Protect pricing has been a bastard.

Reolink all day every day. Works great with HA and doesn't require a subscription, and doesn't save to their cloud by default. I don't think I even set up a Reolink account at any point.

I just switched from Nest doorbell (slow, cloud based, contains a non-replaceable battery that fails after a few years, and worst yet is the disaster of Google software…) to Reolink. I think it meets all your requirements … had it for a few weeks and really liking it.

\+1 It has an SD Card slot and can also stream on the popular protocols to a local server/NAS Edit: Oh one thing you may not expect is that it comes with a wireless chime you plug in to an outlet. This is because the low voltage line doesn't have enough power to run the reolink and the traditional bell on your wall. It has a dozen or so "ring tones" to pick from though so that's kinda cool and adjustable volume.

Using reolink with frigate. Works great. 2 cameras and door bell

Get Reolink doorbell. It can use existing chime and reolink’s chime(included) if you like. Works via WiFi or Ethernet. It can record to SD card or you can record stream from computer/server. Works great with HA. Only useful thing for me that is behind paywall are rich notifications (it can send a picture within notification when someone rings a bell), but you can achieve the same with HA.

Reolink for sure

I think the newer cameras are more flexible. I'm using my doorbell and the floodlight duo with frigate to record 24x7 and it's working fine. But I have heard of incompatibilities in some cases

You can do this with Scrypted by itself and a reolink doorbell. Scrypted provides an NVR. https://demo.scrypted.app

Watch Youtube LifeHackster reviews of Reolinnk cams including their doorbell cam models, POE, wired wifi and battery. The wired versions cannot use existing chimes, they use a plug in one that comes with the cam. Also Reolink does not have pics with notifications, just text, but you can buy an app the adds that if you want called Pushover for $5. You can recod to card in the camera, no subscription. For advanced recordings you could buy the Home Hub or an NVR.

My doorbell cam does not have very many false alerts. In top post "welcome to the official..." there's a section how to reduce false alerts, helps a lot to turn off "others" in recording and notification schedules.

Reolink doorbell is solid, been working reliably for about a year no issues. Regularly updated firmware (they just added hdr for example). But I've not tried any others to compare it to.

Reolink is the best one in my opinion. No subscription no account.

The reolink doorbells come with a chime. It's wireless but not hooked into the smart home world per se so i wouldn't say you're relying on your smart home any more than any other non smart wireless doorbell

I agree having an old school chime is the most reliable. I think a lot of new homes don't even come with that wiring, and a lot of old homes have lost it over the years (my 100-year old home had the transformer but everything downstream of that was gone).

And even the reolinks that come with the chime, if you have a front and back door bell, they can't share the chimes, so you have to have two of them. Stupid design imo.

This is why I went with Reolink after everyone else started charging a subscription fee

The best OEM Homekit experience youll get is with an Aqara doorbell, however if you can deal with some tinkering a Reolink or Unifi doorbell combined with scrypted is absolutely rock solid, I've been running the Reolink Doorbell via scrypted for over a year as well as 8 other Reolink cameras and you wouldnt even know they weren't OEM, everything works such as facial detection, onvif , HomePod and Apple TV announcements

Reolink

Nope I bought a 4 pack of their new e330s had to return all 4 , switched to reolink way better

Yes I have my reo link doorbell in frigate. No voice response yet though I just haven’t really worked on it

I have a Reolink one, swapped from Ring about a year ago and never looked back. Like you I refused to pay the subscription and it wouldn't let me hook it up to a nas drive so I binned it. Compared to the Ring camera Reolink is far better response time meaning I can actually answer remotely when someone presses the bell. The app is a little basic compared to the features in ring, but still functional. You can add an SD card to give you playback rather than paying for their cloud, or you can point it at a nas drive locally if you're a bit more tech inclined

Reolink, I also added it to annke nvr to record. Flawless

For what it’s worth, I ended up going for the Reolink + scrypted route. I’ve only had it set up for one day, but so far so good! No drop outs and responds quickly.

Aside from asking for features that don't exist such as your preference in battery (that wouldn't even fit in the device). I like my Reolink. It's available in battery wireless and POE.

My Logitech circle view doorbell just died on me after 2 years. I decided not to purchase another one, I instead got a Reolink doorbell and hooked it up to HomeKit through scrypted. It was free and easy enough for me to do, but I understand not wanting to have to do that! If you’re in direct sunlight like I am, expect your Logitech to overheat and go offline often! Mine also delaminated pretty quickly. Good luck in your search!

Honestly - I ended up doing everything through Reolinks app - I popped in an SD card and called it a day. Scrypted was great but my HomeKit kept going offline and I would go in and fix it and it would work for like 4 days and then go back to being offline. If it helps I really like the Reolink doorbell and app🤷🏽‍♀️

100% agreed. Have a situation where I don’t have regular internet and using a hotspot with limited data but still want cameras. Reolink was pretty much only good option where it only needed the internet when it sensed movement.

It depends on the doorbell and how it is added to Scrypted. Reolink are one of the brands that work really well in Scrypted with everything ported over as you’d expect, and motion detection is done on the doorbell so you won’t have to process all motion locally on your Scryted hardware.

+1 for reolink!

You don’t need a home hub - the Reolink doorbell comes with a wireless chime unit that you plug into any power outlet. If you have a larger home, you can buy additional chime units.

The Reolink doorbell is a great option, just know if you plan on using it with Frigate it'll be a crazy ride. The basics are about normal but if you want two way audio learn from me and just use NGINX to force https. WebRTC which is required for two way needs https in order to capture your mic. I fussed around for hours until I found that bit of info and the corresponding fix. Or you can get the reolink hub and all you're problems will be much simpler but I wanted to save $80.

I have got my 3rd Reolink doorbell, after the first two fogged up within one year. No reolink doorbell anymore for me, next will be a ubiquity. All other reolink camera’s I own work well.

My take is Chinese IOT is fine to use — if it’s on a VLAN and can’t access the Internet. That’s how I use my Reolink doorbell.

Love my Reokink ~ it’s their first attempt at a doorbell and does a good job. I love the local storage and the responsiveness.

FWIW I had a Unifi G4 doorbell since they released it. It died a couple of weeks back. I didn’t feel like I got my money’s worth. It worked fine for a while but eventually I was always fighting signal issues and dropping out. Eventually it stopped being able to activate the chime, so I just bypassed the chime box. It lasted 4 or 5 years, but I felt it should have lasted longer. One day I noticed that it was offline. I tried other transformers and power supplies, it was toast. So, I replaced it with a Reolink and brought it into HomeKit with Scrypted. So far so good. And it was on sale for $80 on Amazon for pre-BF sale. Works every bit was well with motion detection, and seems to perform a lot better in low light vs my old Unifi G4 doorbell. 

Reolink hands down. I have an automation that does exactly what you are looking for.

This is true for cameras but less so for doorbells. An awful lot (almost all) of doorbells are 'smart home' products, that don't just have a basic web interface but rather force you to use some shitty app. Take the amcrest one- it'll work locally with a NVR, but you still have to configure it with an app, and if you cut off its internet connection to Amcrest cloud the LED blinks differently. Cameras there's plenty of options that are happy to work locally. Doorbells, not so much. Ubiquiti UniFi is one, I think Dahua also has one. Reolink too although you may need an app to set it up.

Good point. I actually helped someone set up the POE NVR version with their reolink NVR. Worked great.

Get a reolink imo Nest is good, as long as you have good wifi. But without the nest aware subscription, you are limited to event playback in a 3 hour window. With a reolink you wont be tied to a subscription

Reolink is my first option. I had a google nest doorbell and replaced it with a Reolink. The nest was slow at warning me when someone was at the door and pressed the bell. I would get a notification 30 seconds to 3 minutes late and could not interact with the person at the door. I’m in Europe and I feel the google/nest servers are lagging enormously. With Reolink and its HA integration things are local (no laggy google server) and it works great.

I have a Reolink doorbell that’s isolated from the internet. I can access the doorbell video feed from the Reolink app no problem when I’m connected to my home network. For push notifications I have it set up through home assistant- not sure if the Reolink app itself can send notifications with the camera being isolated from the internet.

Reolink, very decent.

I’d recommend against it personally. I’ve got mine setup with a Reolink doorbell cam and I either lose connection regularly (closing home app seems to get it back for some reason) or lose the ability to scrub recordings and that’ll just randomly reappear. I’m seriously considering swapping to a native doorbell setup.

Cannot stress the affordability and flexibility and reliability of reolink enough