Abode Video Doorbell review: A low-cost, simple doorbell camera

Price When Reviewed

$99.99

Best Prices Today: Abode Video Doorbell

Just about every smart home ecosystem has a doorbell camera available these days, and for good reason. For many homeowners, the ability to see who’s knocking at the front door is the catalyst for investing in smart home technology to begin with.

Abode’s affordably priced Video Doorbell rounds out the company’s smart home product collection by offering an essential piece of the puzzle, even if the doorbell itself offers only basic functionality.

Design and setup

The 5 x 2 x 1.3-inch (HxWxD) device offers a familiar design, with two mounting plates available (one straight-on, one angled) for attaching it to the wall outside your door.

The unit carries an IP65 weatherproof rating (meaning it’s dust-proof and can withstand powerful jets of water sprayed from any angle) and is completely battery-powered; the battery is sealed and non-removable.

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best video doorbells.

A rubberized cover on the reverse of the unit allows for charging directly via USB-C cable. (The cable is included, but not a power adapter.) Once attached to the mounting plate, a pinhole ejector tool (also included) must be used to remove it from the plate for recharging. The company says a full charge will last about three months, depending on the level of use.

The doorbell includes a mandatory second component, a chime which you situate inside your house so you can hear the doorbell ring–and which also handles the camera’s Wi-Fi connection.

Although the device integrates with the Abode ecosystem, it can be used without an Abode hub. Nevertheless, it’s a bit strange that the speaker on the Abode hub does not sound its own chime when the doorbell is rung, or that the doorbell can’t connect to the hub directly without the chime.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Christopher Null/Foundry

Christopher Null/Foundry

Much like Abode’s hub, the chime must initially set up by connecting it to your router via an ethernet cable. Once configured, it can be bridged to your Wi-Fi network and relocated elsewhere in the house, though note that the chime and camera need to be within Wi-Fi range of each other–and, based on my testing, the closer the better.

Setup of the two components isn’t difficult, but there are some quirks in the process. For example, the app doesn’t search for Wi-Fi networks (2.4 GHz only) but rather requires you to type in your SSID manually. If you have a complex network name, you’ll want to plan ahead for that.

Features and functionality

In use, the Abode Video Doorbell offers few surprises, drawing most of its inspiration from Abode’s security cameras. The camera captures 1080p video–fairly low-resolution by modern standards–with a wide 160 degree viewing angle.

Color night vision is included, but in the absence of any ambient light, the camera defaults to a standard black-and-white infrared image. Two-way audio is supported, which is always helpful for a video doorbell, as is motion detection, which automatically kicks in when activity is detected.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Christopher Null/Foundry

Christopher Null/Foundry

Performance

Video quality is acceptable but not great, but it’s fine when your subject is up close and personal. At night, image quality is best in IR mode, which is typical, but there’s no way to turn color night vision off.

In my testing, I found that recordings loaded quickly and push notifications arrived nearly immediately. I didn’t encounter any connectivity issues until I moved the camera well over 150 feet away from the chime unit, and even then, the unit still managed a sporadic connection.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Christopher Null/Foundry

Christopher Null/Foundry

Subscription plans

Note that without a subscription, the camera doesn’t record at all; instead, it will only provide a live, real-time view. You’ll need one of Abode’s two plans to record anything.

The Standard Plan runs $7 a month or $70/year, while the Pro Plan ($25/month or $230/year) provides a 24/7 professional monitoring option designed for security-focused users. Both plans offer 10 days of video storage for an unlimited number of cameras.

Even with the subscription, the system is still hampered by a strict limit on clip length, user-configurable from 1 second to 30 seconds (triggered by motion detection). If you’ve ever had to deal with a solicitor at the door that refused to leave–and wanted footage of the encounter–you know that 30 seconds just won’t cut it. And I don’t have any idea what value a 1-second long video would offer.

The subscription does at least enable Abode’s Smart Detect feature, which can pick out people, packages, and pets and tag them accordingly in the thumbnail feeds and in push notifications. I guess if a pet is ringing your doorbell, you’ll want to know about it. The Abode Video Doorbell integrates with Alexa and Google Assistant video devices, but not Apple’s HomeKit platform.

Should you buy the Abode Video Doorbell?

Attractive price tag aside, the Abode Video Doorbell won’t do much to dissuade users from the more robust offerings on the market.

If you already have an Abode security system and a paid plan, the doorbell does offer some level of integration with the platform that can let you, say, start a video recording when the door is opened. Users of the Abode platform may well want to give this offering a look if for no other reason than to take further advantage of the subscription they’re probably already paying for.