WiFi extender covers up to 656 feet for complete house coverage
Built-in battery
Dimensions: 2.75" L x 1.41" W x 5.2" H
Weatherproof supports temperature range from 14°F to 122°F
System Requirements:
Zmodo app setup
Password-protected 2.4GHz WiFi network with WPA/WPA2 encryption
Wirings connected to a mechanical doorbell chime and a transformer with a low-voltage of 10VAC-36VAC. DO NOT directly attach the doorbell to primary power (110/120 VAC and 220/230/240 VAC)
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A WIRED DOORBELL, THIS WILL NOT WORK
If you do not have a mechanical chime, you MUST use a 20 ohm/10 watt resistor between the smart doorbell and one wire from the power source. Resistor not included in the packaging.
What’s in the Box?
1x Zmodo Greet WiFi Video Doorbell
1x Zmodo Beam WiFi Extender and Smart Hub
1x Noise Corrector
1x Quick Guide
@wew Leo recommends Ring brand video doorbells and not this off-brand, likely-to-be hacked or likely to leave your network vulnerable piece of junk. I wouldn’t touch these with a 10 foot pole. OTOH, I seem to be one of the few folks that are actually concerned about my network security.
@squishybrain@wew I had a original Ring (720p) for a few weeks, returned it to upgrade to the Ring Pro (1080p). When the Ring Pro failed within 3 months, I upgraded to the SkyBell HD. I love my SkyBell and wouldn’t choose to go back to Ring if they sent me one for free.
Ring’s cloud infrastructure just hasn’t grown at the same pace as their customer base. The cloud performance was horrible. Frequently it would take over a minute to connect to get a live stream. Sometimes there was up to 45 or 50 seconds delay between button press or motion events before the push notification arrived. 45 seconds is plenty of time for the visitor to decide nobody’s home and leave (or start to look for burglary access to the house).
Also, SkyBell doesn’t charge for cloud access/storage and Ring does. Or at least did when I bailed out on them.
Finally, my SkyBell provides full color, full resolution night images whereas Ring is low-res black and white night imaging. The attached pic was taken by my SkyBell at 10:40 PM tonight, in the dark, without any illumination from porch lights.
Here’s one with the porch light on for comparison.
@ruouttaurmind Thanks for the tip about the SkyBell, I too have the Ring 720p one and for a year it worked flawlessly now everytime I take it off the dock to charge it it de-syncs and I have to delete it and then resync it and 2 out of 3 times it takes more then one try to get it to re-sync without issues
@cinoclav I don’t know why, but paint won’t stick to the ceiling in the alcove for more than a few months. So I usually repaint every spring, then by the fall it’s peeling off again.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@AiraCobra I had a similar problem with the Ring Pro. Ir would randomly lose connectivity and I’d have to reset everything. I suspect it’s something about how Ring manages saved settings in nonvolatile memory in the device.
@15fwheeler@narfcake, Over the years I’ve tried every iteration of solutions. I’ve even stripped off the knockdown texture to the bare drywall, retextured, primed and repainted. I’ve had “professionals” do it twice (at no small expense). I’ve used every premium brand of paint, but still no success (although the Valspar Reserve at nearly $50/gal. lasted around 18 mos.).
I’ve considered it might be an issue with the heat. The section of roof covering the alcove has western exposure. Since it’s not a living area, there’s no insulation in the crawl space below the roof there. This spring I’m going to try some insulation, above the ceiling and a heat barrier stapled to the underside of the roof joists.
@graftyman Thanks for the suggestion. I did a few layers of Kilz Premium three or four years ago, followed by Behr Ultra exterior latex. About the only difference: Behr seems to peel off in smaller chunks.
@TheMonkeyKing I do not have the painting expertise to confirm or deny this, but I live in central Arizona where our average humidity is somewhere around ash, with an occasional high of somewhere around dust.
With very low average humidity, and annual rainfall of 8 inches spread among 35 days per year, moisture is usually not an issue around here.
I’m not seeing what video resolution this captures… could be great, could be you see a bunch of pixelated visitors. (edit: amazon says 720P).
I have a Skybell HD which works similarly. Note that this unit requires a cloud subscription to access video events over 36 hours old (unless you save them to your device, which I assume is possible).
@rmeden It should still work as a doorbell, but you won’t get any alerts to your phone. The good thing is ZModo has been around for a long time so they’re a safe-ish bet. The bad thing is they’re Chinese so no telling what data you’re sending to their cloud.
@djslack@rmeden Thanks for this useful information, I make a point of not buying anything that depends on a cloud service to remain useful (with exceptions for occasional games). Tempted though I was by the antisocial description of the product.
@ruouttaurmind Thanks. Having noticed TWO warnings, bolded even, about this in the description, I was being snarky. Maybe so much so that the snark part got lost.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A WIRED DOORBELL, THIS WILL NOT WORK
If you do not have a mechanical chime, you MUST use a 20 ohm/10 watt resistor between the smart doorbell and one wire from the power source. Resistor not included in the packaging.
I wonder what percentage of buyers will miss this information.
@dj004 that is surprising. You’d think they’d want to unload as many of these as possible and quickly to avoid the possibility of “I bought these last time and…”
@aristan My house doen’t have the wiring for it either nor did I feel like putting it in so what I did was I bought the Ring Wireless one and just mounted it with some sticky stuff to the small strip next to the door and it’s stayed in place for the two years I’ve had it.
@gr8whiteninja
“SkyBell HD video doorbell rugged design works between -40 and 122 degrees F. to insure functionality and durability in all weather conditions.“
I went theough 2 of these before I switched to Ring Pro. No good. It used set my door bell off in the middle of the night and periodically throughout the day. It was something with the electrcal current. Both units did it. Ring does not.
Is there any possibility that these products would work with the amcrest DVR cameras I bought last year here? Documentation hinted that the DVR could record additional cameras it could find on the network.
@fastharry@RedOak@Seeds
Same reason I conceal carry vs open carry: keep the element of surprise on my side. If they know I have a gun, it may invite the wrong kind of attention.
I have a Ring Pro and really like it. It was terribly handy when we were in Puerto Rico earlier this month - I could show waiters the snow filling my driveway back home in Wisconsin in real time.
Oddly, people in Puerto Rico are really hard to shock with weather that solely entails white fluffy stuff drifting out of the sky.
I’ve got one it works quite well. Got one for my in-laws for Christmas and they are happy with it as well. I like that it doesn’t have a monthly charge associated with it.
My current wired and mechanical doorbell is approximately 2" tall, 3/4" wide and 1/2" deep and the button is lit up. It also has two small diameter 2" screws that attach it with little plugs to cover the heads.
Whould I be correct that this is about the size of a 3" by 5" notecard and as deep as two decks of card, doesn’t have a light up button and by looking at the bracket it is just slid down on it without any real prevention from it being stolen?
Once the thief has the main unit, getting the final two parts are relatively cost free and me calling the police and filling out a police report while the police not laughing and not rolling their eyes or spending time hunting down the thief is probably remote.
Does this only work with cloud access? I do not have internet access in my shop but would love to utilize my WiFi connection for this. It would let me see when someone rings the bell when I am working and unning loud equipment. My ring.com doorbell is completely useless in this respect and would love to change it out
Why? Why? Why? You buy something that needlessly connects to the Internet at the mercy of a vendor to relay the image - 25 feet, give or take, away from you.
@TheMonkeyKing If the bad guy breaks in, and steals the camera (SD card) and/or follows the wires inside your house to find the local recording storage device, you’re screwed.
@medz Seriously? Like a B&E guy is going to spend time tracing wires in the walls to find your server? This is not Mission Impossible. A person breaks in and estimates they have 15 minutes tops before either neighbors or police arrive.
@TheMonkeyKing Yup. If I were to break into a place then notice a camera, I will certainly try to cover my tracks by stealing or destroying anything that may have recordings of me.
I THOUGHT that I’d placed an order for this item last President’s Day. It looked like I checked out OK, but the charge never appeared on our Cr Card website and i didn’t get a deliver date like a friend did who ordered the same day.
I’m trying to figure out if this will work with my Honeywell premium portable wireless door chime. I had to replace the old doorbell because the chime on the wall didn’t work. I’m afraid to even start, for fear of messing it up. Any advise???
@andistarbuck Wireless? Probably not, especially since it was written in the specs, in BOLD AND ALL CAPS that:
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A WIRED DOORBELL, THIS WILL NOT WORK
If you do not have a mechanical chime, you MUST use a 20 ohm/10 watt resistor between the smart doorbell and one wire from the power source. Resistor not included in the packaging.
I hate to sound dumb but…would the resister go inside the wall outside??I do have a wired doorbell too, but I had to get the new one because the box inside on the wall doesn’t ring loud enough. You’re talking to a very old woman that has the warewithall but not the brains…lol please have pity.
I would’ve been happier to have spent the extra few bucks to have bought the ring doorbell. Zmodo customer service is awful!!! and doorbell sucks.
MEH…please let me know what I need to do to return this because it’s defective. Ive sent you guys 2 emails already.
The pictures show the Zmodo mounted on the door frame, where most door bells are located. But in that location, if the visitor is centered with the door, camera misses him. I don’t know what the focal length of the lens is, but it’s too high for this application. The Ring has a wide-angle of 160 degrees. Much better. Also, if the doorway is shaded and the street is a brightly lit, it makes the visitor so dark, his detail are obscured.
I didn’t realize Meh does not accept returns except for defective items. I wish I could return it.
Specs
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A WIRED DOORBELL, THIS WILL NOT WORK
If you do not have a mechanical chime, you MUST use a 20 ohm/10 watt resistor between the smart doorbell and one wire from the power source. Resistor not included in the packaging.
What’s in the Box?
1x Zmodo Greet WiFi Video Doorbell
1x Zmodo Beam WiFi Extender and Smart Hub
1x Noise Corrector
1x Quick Guide
Pictures
Included
Wireless technology!
Oops you broke it
A house
Who dare disturb my home?
Nice door
Phone
Why is half of the background white you ask? Uh… snow…
Alien
Price Comparison
$79.99 at Amazon
Warranty
3 Year Zmodo
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
Ding dong!
@yakkoTDI Ring ding!
@yakkoTDI The witch is dead.
@JT954 @yakkoTDI
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead?ref=meh_com
@yakkoTDI - i already have a Ding Dong!!
@decoratedwarvet @yakkoTDI
Ohhhhhhh. Are these the ones Leo Laporte is raving about on TWIT? He loves his, and said he spent like $250 on his.
@wew Leo recommends Ring brand video doorbells and not this off-brand, likely-to-be hacked or likely to leave your network vulnerable piece of junk. I wouldn’t touch these with a 10 foot pole. OTOH, I seem to be one of the few folks that are actually concerned about my network security.
@wew Leo Laporte is still around? Wasn’t he the arrogant one with about 25% less actual tech knowledge than would yield confidence?
@squishybrain @wew I had a original Ring (720p) for a few weeks, returned it to upgrade to the Ring Pro (1080p). When the Ring Pro failed within 3 months, I upgraded to the SkyBell HD. I love my SkyBell and wouldn’t choose to go back to Ring if they sent me one for free.
Ring’s cloud infrastructure just hasn’t grown at the same pace as their customer base. The cloud performance was horrible. Frequently it would take over a minute to connect to get a live stream. Sometimes there was up to 45 or 50 seconds delay between button press or motion events before the push notification arrived. 45 seconds is plenty of time for the visitor to decide nobody’s home and leave (or start to look for burglary access to the house).
Also, SkyBell doesn’t charge for cloud access/storage and Ring does. Or at least did when I bailed out on them.
Finally, my SkyBell provides full color, full resolution night images whereas Ring is low-res black and white night imaging. The attached pic was taken by my SkyBell at 10:40 PM tonight, in the dark, without any illumination from porch lights.
Here’s one with the porch light on for comparison.
And typical night vision for further comparison.
@ruouttaurmind
@ruouttaurmind Thanks for the tip about the SkyBell, I too have the Ring 720p one and for a year it worked flawlessly now everytime I take it off the dock to charge it it de-syncs and I have to delete it and then resync it and 2 out of 3 times it takes more then one try to get it to re-sync without issues
@cinoclav I don’t know why, but paint won’t stick to the ceiling in the alcove for more than a few months. So I usually repaint every spring, then by the fall it’s peeling off again.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@AiraCobra I had a similar problem with the Ring Pro. Ir would randomly lose connectivity and I’d have to reset everything. I suspect it’s something about how Ring manages saved settings in nonvolatile memory in the device.
@ruouttaurmind Pressure wash, let it dry, primer, then paint. Don’t count on the “primer+paint” stuff; it’s better, but it’s not a full substitute.
Are you putting latex base over oil base or vice versa?
@15fwheeler @narfcake, Over the years I’ve tried every iteration of solutions. I’ve even stripped off the knockdown texture to the bare drywall, retextured, primed and repainted. I’ve had “professionals” do it twice (at no small expense). I’ve used every premium brand of paint, but still no success (although the Valspar Reserve at nearly $50/gal. lasted around 18 mos.).
I’ve considered it might be an issue with the heat. The section of roof covering the alcove has western exposure. Since it’s not a living area, there’s no insulation in the crawl space below the roof there. This spring I’m going to try some insulation, above the ceiling and a heat barrier stapled to the underside of the roof joists.
@15fwheeler @narfcake @ruouttaurmind Strip it all off, put 2 to 3 coats of Kilz then a good premium exterior paint such from Sherman Williams.
@graftyman Thanks for the suggestion. I did a few layers of Kilz Premium three or four years ago, followed by Behr Ultra exterior latex. About the only difference: Behr seems to peel off in smaller chunks.
@cinoclav @ruouttaurmind You’ve got too much moisture in the ceiling. You’ll need the mold resistant exterior base paint.
@TheMonkeyKing I do not have the painting expertise to confirm or deny this, but I live in central Arizona where our average humidity is somewhere around ash, with an occasional high of somewhere around dust.
With very low average humidity, and annual rainfall of 8 inches spread among 35 days per year, moisture is usually not an issue around here.
@ruouttaurmind I never thanked you for the extra effort. thanks.
@wew
I wonder what these video doorbells are doing to the peephole industry…
/giphy deep thoughts
Zmodo = Zcrapo
I’m not seeing what video resolution this captures… could be great, could be you see a bunch of pixelated visitors. (edit: amazon says 720P).
I have a Skybell HD which works similarly. Note that this unit requires a cloud subscription to access video events over 36 hours old (unless you save them to your device, which I assume is possible).
@djslack It also says that in the first image
@ZADMan I saw that later. But one becomes accustomed to looking for specs in the specs part of the offer, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@djslack Yeah, I thought that was odd too
"IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A WIRED DOORBELL, THIS WILL NOT WORK"
Fuck.
@mfladd Are wireless doorbells a thing??
@Hanky Yes.
@Hanky @mfladd yes, but only on the outside. Inside the doorbell there are still wires.
I was going to ask what the monthly charge is… looks like it’s free for 36 hours of storage. You can pay for more storage.
If the company goes out of business, will it still work as a doorbell?
They don’t mention the resolution.
And WTF? They couldn’t throw in a 2 cent resistor?
@rmeden It should still work as a doorbell, but you won’t get any alerts to your phone. The good thing is ZModo has been around for a long time so they’re a safe-ish bet. The bad thing is they’re Chinese so no telling what data you’re sending to their cloud.
@djslack @rmeden Thanks for this useful information, I make a point of not buying anything that depends on a cloud service to remain useful (with exceptions for occasional games). Tempted though I was by the antisocial description of the product.
@rmeden Regarding resolution, did you miss looking at the first image?
Gee. Do you think this requires hardwired installation?
@gertiestn It does. If you don’t have a wired doorbell now, it won’t work for you unless you run wiring.
@ruouttaurmind Thanks. Having noticed TWO warnings, bolded even, about this in the description, I was being snarky. Maybe so much so that the snark part got lost.
@gertiestn @ruouttaurmind gotcha factor feeling pretty high about now
I wonder what percentage of buyers will miss this information.
@awk this is probably important too. Any idea what an Ohm is, or a resister? And this has a 10 watt light?
@awk @hchavers
Ohm: Ancient Hindu meditation technique
Resister: Someone who does not understand anything about politics, but thinks s/h/xhe does because s/h/xhe watches TV and/or has a Facebook account
10 watt light: Just like 10 watt, but with fewer calories
Is this what those speakers are talking about when they say “Bluetooth zmodo active”?
Can only buy one? Got 3 doors
@dj004 that is surprising. You’d think they’d want to unload as many of these as possible and quickly to avoid the possibility of “I bought these last time and…”
@dj004 @RedOak you put “please use other door sign” on other two
I’d prolly use it without wiring as somewhat of a deterrent to make it appear that sophisticated online security system is up…
/giphy occupied-noticeable-fang
Our current doorbell is broken, and possibly zapping people, so I’m going to consider this a gift to the neighborhood.
@ivymae I wish my doorbell zapped people. I’d consider that a desirable feature
@ivymae
Taking offers on the one that zaps people??
I can finally see whoever is leaving that awful smelling burning bag. And I get a doorbell that works too.
My house doesn’t even have a doorbell. Like not even the wiring for one. Or a place to put it. My neighbors don’t have them either.
We rely on shouting. “Hey, you home?”
@aristan My house doen’t have the wiring for it either nor did I feel like putting it in so what I did was I bought the Ring Wireless one and just mounted it with some sticky stuff to the small strip next to the door and it’s stayed in place for the two years I’ve had it.
Amazon description says:
The operating temperature of this camera is from 14 °F - 122°F
Welp no good in Wisconsin winters, but then again, are any consumer outdoor cameras good to -20°F?
@gr8whiteninja
“SkyBell HD video doorbell rugged design works between -40 and 122 degrees F. to insure functionality and durability in all weather conditions.“
Now where did I put that $170…
Aw, bastards. 0* this weekend in near-Canada Washington. No one rings my doorbell in the winter anyway.
@gr8whiteninja should be $10 less for saying “insure” instead of the appropriate “ensure.”
@gr8whiteninja Is the -40 F or C?
@gr8whiteninja @rpstrong It is actually both.
I went theough 2 of these before I switched to Ring Pro. No good. It used set my door bell off in the middle of the night and periodically throughout the day. It was something with the electrcal current. Both units did it. Ring does not.
@mejacobson nobody likes a rogue doorbell.
Did you check the video to be sure it wasn’t that bratty neighborhood adolescent kid ringing it at all hours?
Rogue insect occasionally sets off my Skybell. We’ve named him Edgar.
Is there any possibility that these products would work with the amcrest DVR cameras I bought last year here? Documentation hinted that the DVR could record additional cameras it could find on the network.
@CrossEyedAtNite No, These products use their own cloud servers, If you do plan on buying a Doorbell Camera look at Ring or Skybell HD.
Edit: With Ring you can add extra camera’s but only the Ring Brand so it might only work if it’s the same brand as the doorbell
Funny part is, I don’t have a doorbell living in an older house, but no one ever knocks for some reason, so it’s all good…
@fastharry for some bold thieves that sign would be an invitation to watch you leave home and steal your guns. Hopefully you have a heavy gun safe.
@RedOak i do…also fully alarmed…and a car always in driveway…plus a dog on premises…
@fastharry @RedOak “I have something lightweight in the house that you can sell for more when it’s stolen than it would be worth in a store”
@fastharry @RedOak so when someone breaks in do you ask them to wait while you unlock your safe to fetch your gun?
@fastharry @RedOak @Seeds
Same reason I conceal carry vs open carry: keep the element of surprise on my side. If they know I have a gun, it may invite the wrong kind of attention.
@fastharry @ooglek that’s what conceal carry and open carry inside your home is for.
The safe is for your collection, not your personal defense.
@fastharry dogs are good. Guns are good when you’re home. I simply wouldn’t broadcast the guns.
@ooglek @RedOak my Glock is always next to me…even in the house…
I have a Ring Pro and really like it. It was terribly handy when we were in Puerto Rico earlier this month - I could show waiters the snow filling my driveway back home in Wisconsin in real time.
Oddly, people in Puerto Rico are really hard to shock with weather that solely entails white fluffy stuff drifting out of the sky.
I’ve got one it works quite well. Got one for my in-laws for Christmas and they are happy with it as well. I like that it doesn’t have a monthly charge associated with it.
I’m in:
fragrant-stingy-parent
@aetris My condolences, Do let us know when you return it for a decent one
My current wired and mechanical doorbell is approximately 2" tall, 3/4" wide and 1/2" deep and the button is lit up. It also has two small diameter 2" screws that attach it with little plugs to cover the heads.
Whould I be correct that this is about the size of a 3" by 5" notecard and as deep as two decks of card, doesn’t have a light up button and by looking at the bracket it is just slid down on it without any real prevention from it being stolen?
Once the thief has the main unit, getting the final two parts are relatively cost free and me calling the police and filling out a police report while the police not laughing and not rolling their eyes or spending time hunting down the thief is probably remote.
Could someone else register it?
I wonder how close up this will focus? Thinking of using it as a remote monitor for a 3d printer.
@Quantumcat This isn’t a battery or plug in type door bell, This system requires you to hardwire it into your current door bell wiring system.
If you just want something to watch the 3D printer then just get a cheap wi-fi camera
Does this only work with cloud access? I do not have internet access in my shop but would love to utilize my WiFi connection for this. It would let me see when someone rings the bell when I am working and unning loud equipment. My ring.com doorbell is completely useless in this respect and would love to change it out
@zsudas The Doorbell is connected via Wi-Fi, The videos is what is stored in the cloud which you can access via your Phone not your computer.
Can you explain why you said the Ring.com Doorbell is useless in that respect?
I have the Ring Doorbell and whenever someone rings the door bell I get an alert on my phone letting me know someone is at the door.
Are you sure you have the settings on the Ring App set to alert you via Notifcation and Chimes not just relying on hearing the doorbell itself?
Why? Why? Why? You buy something that needlessly connects to the Internet at the mercy of a vendor to relay the image - 25 feet, give or take, away from you.
/giphy mutha hard no meh
@TheMonkeyKing If the bad guy breaks in, and steals the camera (SD card) and/or follows the wires inside your house to find the local recording storage device, you’re screwed.
@medz Seriously? Like a B&E guy is going to spend time tracing wires in the walls to find your server? This is not Mission Impossible. A person breaks in and estimates they have 15 minutes tops before either neighbors or police arrive.
/giphy silly thoughts
@TheMonkeyKing Yup. If I were to break into a place then notice a camera, I will certainly try to cover my tracks by stealing or destroying anything that may have recordings of me.
I noticed the linked Amazon comparison deal has woot as the seller. Ha!
I have tried to place an order all evening, let’s go do it
I THOUGHT that I’d placed an order for this item last President’s Day. It looked like I checked out OK, but the charge never appeared on our Cr Card website and i didn’t get a deliver date like a friend did who ordered the same day.
@eops Your profile says 0 orders placed. I guess it didn’t go through.
@eops The good news is Morningsave still has some: https://morningsave.com/deals/zmodo-greet-wifi-video-doorbell-with-zmodo-beam-hub-and-wifi-extender
I’m trying to figure out if this will work with my Honeywell premium portable wireless door chime. I had to replace the old doorbell because the chime on the wall didn’t work. I’m afraid to even start, for fear of messing it up. Any advise???
@andistarbuck Wireless? Probably not, especially since it was written in the specs, in BOLD AND ALL CAPS that:
I hate to sound dumb but…would the resister go inside the wall outside??I do have a wired doorbell too, but I had to get the new one because the box inside on the wall doesn’t ring loud enough. You’re talking to a very old woman that has the warewithall but not the brains…lol please have pity.
@andistarbuck A resistor is necessary if the existing doorbell is electronic. If it’s a mechanical (coil) type, then no resistor is necessary.
I would’ve been happier to have spent the extra few bucks to have bought the ring doorbell. Zmodo customer service is awful!!! and doorbell sucks.
MEH…please let me know what I need to do to return this because it’s defective. Ive sent you guys 2 emails already.
@paolagade Over double the price for the unit ($120) + monthly, so it’s more than a few bucks …
C/S isn’t 24/7 here, so be patient with a response, 'k?
The pictures show the Zmodo mounted on the door frame, where most door bells are located. But in that location, if the visitor is centered with the door, camera misses him. I don’t know what the focal length of the lens is, but it’s too high for this application. The Ring has a wide-angle of 160 degrees. Much better. Also, if the doorway is shaded and the street is a brightly lit, it makes the visitor so dark, his detail are obscured.
I didn’t realize Meh does not accept returns except for defective items. I wish I could return it.