Ring Battery Doorbell Plus vs Arlo Video Doorbell 2K
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Ring Battery Doorbell Plus
Power: Removable battery of AC/DC wired
Storage: Cloud only (180 days)
Subscription: Required for recording and smart features
Best For
- General front yard surveillance
- Fast alerting of activity
- Good clear video recording
Arlo Video Doorbell 2K
Power: Internal battery or AC wired
Storage: Cloud only (30 days)
Subscription: Required for recording and smart features
Best For
- Accurate object identification
- Greeting visitors and taking messages
- Animated rich notifications for quick checks
The Verdict
Both Arlo and Ring have built compelling, high quality doorbell products here. Motion detection is reliable and fast on both models and both have excellent audio quality in both two-way talk mode and on recorded videos. Arlo fared slightly better than Ring in several testing criteria, but where it fell short the differences were significant, and these were in critical performance categories for a doorbell.
Both doorbells support both wired or battery power, but Ring has an advantage here as the removable, easy-access battery can be quickly swapped out for a spare without removing the doorbell from the wall and minimizing downtime. Ring also supports DC plug-in power supplies if you don’t have a doorbell transformer and sells one with a long cable as an optional accessory.
Arlo touts a full 2K camera, but actually delivers lower image clarity than the Battery Doorbell Plus during the day. At night Arlo excels with far brighter IR illumination allowing for clear video further out from the camera. Even so, the Ring doorbell makes better use of this by detecting motion reliably over a longer distance, making it more suitable for wider area surveillance.
Both smartphone apps are polished and offer a range of privacy and security features, as well as effective two-way talk, quick responses and message taking ability. Ring provides a larger range of recorded messages, and updates these with seasonal variations through the year. Meanwhile, Arlo offers a full range of smart object detection types over Ring’s simple Human detection.
What do these scores mean? Learn about our data-driven scoring system.
The Quick Version
Camera: The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus has a slightly lower resolution (1536x1536) than the Arlo Video Doorbell (1944x1944), but seems to use less agressive compression. This actually gives Ring the better video quality due to less compression artifacts. Dynamic range is similar between both models, giving adequate contrast in mixed lighting conditions.Audio: Both Ring and Arlo deliver excellent audio quality under all use cases. There is little to no noise or distortion and conversdations can be easily held at considerable diatance from the doorbell. Arlo manages to peform at slightly longer range than the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus.
Notifications: Notifications are reliably delivered with rich content for both models, but Ring's backend systems manage to deliver them significantly faster than Arlo's. Both models would miss the triggering event in the thumbnail occassionally, with Ring not sending a thumbnail slightly more often.
Motion Detection: Both doorbells demonstrated excellent motion detection accuracy with minimal missed events. For close range triggers Ring performed considerably better thanks to a wider field of view and a faster camera wake time, ensuring objects crossing the camera were captured in full.
Smart Features: Smart object detection was extremely reliable for both brands, with Arlo correctly identifying people, vehicles and animals, and ring correctly identifying people with no false positives. Package detection with mixed for both doorbells. While both use a head-to-toe camera aspect, they were still only able to detect a package around two thirds of the time.
Battery: The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus lives up to it's name by lasting an impressive 102 days on a charge during heavy load. Arlo came in at a much more typical 75 days.
App Experience: Ring and Arlo both have polished apps loaded with features. Ring provides more in the way of privacy controls than Arlo, with a better video retrieval experience and overall polish. Arlo provides more control over device behaviour with customisable modes.
Compare The Models
Each doorbell I review is put through a series of repeated test cycles over a 30-day period. These tests give me 32 data points that make up the 7 overall category scores. These scores rate key performance requirements for doorbells like video and audio quality, motion capture performance, smart detection accuracy and the overall user experience.
Here’s how these two models compare in each category:
| Category | ||
|---|---|---|
| Camera | 6.1 | 6.3 |
| Audio | 9.8 | 10.0 |
| Notifications | 8.7 | 8.8 |
| Motion Detection | 9.2 | 6.4 |
| Smart Features | 6.5 | 6.8 |
| Battery | 6.3 | 6.4 |
| App Experience | 9.2 | 7.8 |
The specific measurements that make up these category scores are shown in the next table:
| Data Point | ||
|---|---|---|
| Video Quality | 8.0 | 6.9 |
| Night Vision Quality | 5.6 | 7.1 |
| Dynamic Range | 4.2 | 5.0 |
| Two-Way Talk | 9.6 | 10.0 |
| App Audibility | ||
| Outdoor Audibility | ||
| Recorded Audio | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Notification Delay | 10.0 | 8.7 |
| Thumbnail Average | ||
| Doorbell Average | ||
| Text-only Average | ||
| Thumbnail Effectiveness | 7.3 | 9.0 |
| Day Success | ||
| Night Success | ||
| Missed Events | 9.4 | 9.3 |
| Day Misses | ||
| Night Misses | ||
| Camera Wake Delay | 9.7 | 5.4 |
| Frame Remaining Day | ||
| Frame Remaining Night | ||
| Event Capture | 8.0 | 3.9 |
| Record Start Day | ||
| Record Start Night | ||
| Package Monitoring | 6.0 | 5.8 |
| Package Features | ||
| Detection Success | ||
| Smart Detection | 7.0 | 7.8 |
| Smart Features | ||
| Day Accuracy | ||
| Night Accuracy | ||
| Live View Response | 8.5 | 6.6 |
| Live View Time | ||
| Doorbell Ring Response | ||
| Privacy Features | 10.0 | 8.3 |
| App Usability | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| Battery Performance | 6.3 | 6.4 |
| After 30 days | ||
| Time To Dead |
Performance Results
I test video doorbells across 7 key performance categories comprised of 16 specific scores. Each overall category can contain several scoring criteria. The 16 criteria are:
Video quality
Nightvision quality
Dynamic range
Two-way talk quality
Recorded audio quality
Notification delay
Thumbnail effectiveness
Missed events
Camera wake delay
Event capture performance
Package monitoring
Smart object detection
Live response time
Battery performance
Privacy and security
App usability
Camera Performance
Ring and Arlo have both opted for a 1:1 aspect ratio on these doorbells in order to provide a better head-to-toe view. This view better captures people of different heights and allows for more package drop-zone coverage than a conventional 16:9 camera. The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus uses a 1544x1544 resolutions, where Arlo touts a full 2K 1944x1944 camera.
In-spite of the higher resolution, Arlo disappoints with an aggressive compression scheme resulting is less clarity overall. Where the test chart could be read clearly at 6.4m (21ft) through the Ring doorbell, I could only get a maximum of 5.5m (19ft) from the higher resolution Arlo. Arlo made up for this in the night vision tests thanks to brighter infra-red illumination, allowing for visibility out to 5m (16ft) which outranged Ring by 25%.
Dynamic range came in very close between the two models with Arlo defining the light tones slightly better, but with only a 1 swatch difference between them overall. This produces adequate constrast to clearly make out faces when in the shade against a sunlit background.
| Camera Performance | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 8.0 | 5.6 | 4.2 |
| Arlo Video Doorbell 2K | 6.9 | 7.1 | 5.0 |
Day Score - A weighted score based on the maximum distance a Landolt C vision test chart can be read through the live view of the doorbell.
Night Score - the same test repeated under night vision conditions. The weighting here is more favorable as this range is typically shorter than during the day.
Dynamic Range - The number of swatches on an OECF 36 test chart that can be clearly or partially defined by software selection on a captured screenshot.
Ring Battery Doorbell Plus Dynamic Range
Arlo Video Doorbell 2K Dynamic Range
Audio Performance
Both Ring and Arlo deliver excellent audio hardware in these devices, with both microphone pickup and speaker quality being very high. This results in a superb audio experience in both two-way talk and recorded video clips.
In both cases there was little to no observable audio artifacting in either use case, and voices could be heard clearly both in the app and outside the door by both parties on the call. Arlo achieves a slightly higher score here thanks to the microphone being able to pick up a normal speaking volume from outside slightly further out than Ring.
| Audio Performance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 9.6 | 10.0 | ||
| Arlo Video Doorbell 2K | 10.0 | 10.0 |
Two-way Talk - A combined score which rates two-way talk quality based on the presence of distortion, encoding artifacts, dropouts and audible range.
Recorded - A combined score which rates recorded audio quality based on the presence of distortion, encoding artifacts, dropouts and audible range.
Indoor Range - The maximum distance from the doorbell an outside visitor could be understood when using the app (max tested range 10m).
Outdoor Range - The maximum distance from the doorbell an outside visitor could clearly hear the app user speaking (max tested range 10m).
Notification Performance
Getting notifications out quickly is an area where Ring has always been industry leading. Even though they are an entirely cloud-based service, Ring doorbells still manage to exceed the performance of even locally processed models, usually be a significant margin. The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is no exception here, and actually comes in faster than my best-case scenario of 3 seconds. What’s more impressive is that Ring can do this with rich notifications just as well as with only text.
Arlo is a more typical scenario, with rich notification times pushing towards 10 seconds. This means a significant delay after something triggers the motion sensor before you even know about it, making it possible to get a doorbell ring notification before you even know someone is approaching the door. Text-only notifications are about twice as fast, but still come in slower than Ring’s rich notifications.
Arlo’s saving grace here is that they manage to get a usable thumbnail more frequently. This doesn’t mean that Ring didn’t send a thumbnail, but that the thumbnail didn’t clearly show what triggered the event in around 25% of tests. Arlo managed clear thumbnails in 90% of tests, so at least you’ll be able to see what caused the notification when it does eventually arrive.
| Notification Performance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 10.0 | 7.3 | ||
| Arlo Video Doorbell 2K | 8.7 | 9.0 |
Speed - A weighted score grading the delivery delay of notifications combining times for thumbnails, text, and doorbell rings.
Thumbnails - The percentage of tests in which a usable thumbnail was included in the notification.
Text-only Speed - The average delivery time of notifications using text-only.
Thumbnail Speed - The average delivery time of notifications including a rich media component, usually a still image of the triggering object.
Motion Detection Performance
Both video doorbells perform well in detecting relevant motion, achieving an impressive detection accuracy of around 99%. Ring continued to impress me with a very fast camera wake time, which was aided by a much wider field of view allowing detection of movement well off to the side. Ring was also much better at detecting an approaching person, capturing the event from an average of 5.5m (18ft) away.
While the Arlo Video Doorbell is capable of detecting motion out to a similar distance, in practice it only managed to capture an approaching person from a measly average of 2.9m (9.5ft) in my tests. This was a bit better during night conditions, but still fell well short of Ring’s performance at any time of day. Event capture is a key requirement of any video doorbell, so this result is a significant negative for Arlo if it’s to be used in any significant security role.
| Motion Detection | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 9.8 | 9.7 | 8.0 | |
| Arlo Video Doorbell 2K | 9.9 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
Missed Events - Based on the percentage of test events that were not detected or recorded by the doorbell.
Camera Wake - A measure of how quickly the camera can begin recording when motion is detected.
Event Capture - A weighted score based on the average distance an approaching person is recorded (how much of an event is captured).
Detection Range - The average distance motion was detected and recorded by the doorbell during morning, afternoon, and night lighting conditions.
Smart Detection Performance
Ring and Arlo both offer package detection alerts on these models, and both use a 1:1 aspect ‘head-to-toe’ camera to help with this by giving a better view of the ground. The aspect ratio still doesn’t completely cover the area in front of the doorbell, so it’s possible for packages to be placed too close to be seen. I avoided this scenario in my tests in order to determine how well the detection algorithm actually works, so used various placements in the cameras view to determine accuracy.
Each doorbell came in with similarly mixed results, with Ring performing slightly better at 60% accuracy over Arlo’s 55%. Ring’s misses were spread evenly across boxes and padded bags, where Arlo had great trouble with padded bags while managing to detect most of the boxes.
For smart object detection, both performed exceptionally well with near perfect scores, with Arlo picking up more points due to being able to detect other object types than just people. Minimal false positives were detected by either doorbell.
| Smart Detection | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 6.0 | 7.0 | ||
| Model 2 | 5.8 | 7.8 |
Packages - the percentage of packages correctly detected in various placements and lighting conditions.
Object Type - The number of smart detection features combined with the accuracy of object detection within the types supported by the doorbell.
Package Success - The raw accuracy of package detection.
Object Success - The raw accuracy of other smart detection types
Battery Performance
When running on battery power alone, both doorbells perform quite well under heavy load. During my testing this load is significntly higher than most typical households would subject them to and is done on higher settings for sensitivity and features in order to accurately determine performance in a number of areas.
The battery score is based on reported consumption under this controlled testing configuration and generally provides a good indication of comparative battery use between models. In the case of the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus, however, the initial 30 day score did not represent total battery life at all well. While the run down during the testing period was fairly typical, after this the battery usage tapered out and actually continued to deliver maximum performance for a stunning 102 days.
The Arlo Video Doorbell, on the other hand, demonstrated a far more linear run-down rate, shutting down at 75 days. Even though both models were almost neck and neck at the 30-day mark, reflected in the scoring, the Ring doorbell actually went a lot further after this.
| Battery Performance | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 6.2 | ||
| Arlo Video Doorbell 2K | 6.4 |
Ring Battery Run Down
Arlo Battery Run Down
App Experience
Overall, the Ring app offers a more polished, bug free, and easier to use experience than Arlo’s ‘new app experience’. That’s not to say Arlo’s app is bad, and actually still scores quite well compared to many other brands, but Ring has put in the work to deliver an excellent app with superior video retrieval, better navigation, and more security and privacy features.
Ring also manages to delivery excellent live stream performance, with a very fast and consistent start time averaging only 3.5 seconds. Arlo’s app takes considerably longer to kick in, averaging 8.1 second in my tests, and on several occasions wouldn’t start at all. Some of Arlo’s useful features, such as smart object detection settings, are located in unintuitive locations, without any contextual cross linking to make it easier to find, and I experienced a few minor bugs over the testing period that were frustrating, but not deal breakers.
| App Experience | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 8.5 | 10.0 | 9.3 | |
| Arlo Video Doorbell 2K | 6.1 | 8.1 | 8.6 |
Live Response - A weighted score based on how long the in-app live view takes to start on average.
Average Time - The raw average time to being a live stream in the first-party app.
Security - An aggregate score based on clearly defined scoring criteria around app authentication, security and privacy features.
Usability - An aggregate score based on clearly defined criteria around navigation, bugs, and recorded video access.
Ring Battery Doorbell Plus vs Arlo Video Doorbell 2K
| Doorbell | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus | 8.1 | Wider security coverage of an area in front of your door and greeting callers. | |
| Arlo Video Doorbell 2K | 7.5 | Filtered detection of different types of objects and greeting callers. |
Should you buy the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus?
I would recommend Ring if you’re looking for:
A doorbell that will form an effective part of a security surveillance solution.
Wider area coverage of movement outside, both width and distance.
Fast alerts and the ability to jump into live view quickly to see what up.
Longer recorded clip retention for your subscription money.
Should you buy the Arlo?
I would recommend Arlo if you’re looking for:
Monitoring box deliveries on your porch.
Clear video and audio communication with callers at your door.
Detection of cars or animals as well as people without junk alerts for other motion types.
Want to avoid the controversy around Ring’s Neighbors program.
See my video doorbell guides to learn more about other models, features, and options.
