Eufy Video Doorbell Review

The Eufy Video Doorbell ($159.99) is a Wi-Fi-enabled smart doorbell that offers a high-resolution HDR (high dynamic range) camera, intelligent motion detection, and enough internal memory to store up to 30 days of motion-triggered recorded video for free. It also supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, and delivered sharp color and black-and-white video in our tests. That said, it lacks the ability to interact with other smart home devices that you get with our less expensive Editors' Choice, the $99 RemoBell S.

Design and Features

The Eufy Video Doorbell comes with the doorbell unit itself, a plug-in chime box, two mounting plates (straight and wedge), a quick start guide, and mounting screws and anchors. At 4.8 by 1.7 by 0.9 inches (HWD), the Eufy doorbell is a just bit larger than the Ring Doorbell Pro (4.5 by 1.8 by 0.8 inches). Its glossy black face contains a camera assembly, a microphone, a light sensor, and a 1.2-inch round doorbell button. A speaker grill is located on the bottom of the enclosure and there are two wiring terminals around back.

The doorbell button is surrounded by an LED ring that is solid red when the supplied voltage is inadequate and pulses red and white when motion is detected at night. A pulsing yellow light means the doorbell is in setup mode, and a cyan light indicates a call is in progress.

The chime box has a two-prong plug for a wall outlet and measures 3.8 by 1.9 by 1.4 inches. It has a Sync button on top, a volume button on the right side, and a music button on the left that lets you choose one of eight chimes.

The doorbell camera has an impressive 2,560-by-1,920-pixel (2K) resolution and uses HDR technology to deliver crisp highlight and shadow detail. It has a 160-degree field of view and uses 12 tiny infrared LEDs for night vision, and it has a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio to connect to your home network. The doorbell supports two-way audio and motion detection with pre-buffered recording that will catch the first few seconds of activity that occurred before a motion trigger, and it uses 4GB of eMMC memory to store recorded video locally. According to Eufy, that's more than enough to give you 30 days of storage before it begins overwriting older clips.

You can use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands to view live footage on compatible devices, but the doorbell doesn't interact with other Eufy devices such as the EufyCam. Moreover, it lacks support for IFTTT applets that allow it to work with devices such as door locks, sirens, and lighting systems.

The doorbell uses the same Eufy Security mobile app as the EufyCam that I reviewed earlier this year. The home screen displays panels with still images from all installed Eufy cameras. Tap the Play arrow to launch a live feed that can be viewed in full-screen mode by turning your phone sideways. You can also tap the two arrows in the top right corner to see a zoomed image. At the bottom of the screen are buttons for capturing video and still image photos, a microphone button for two-way talk, a voice response button that allows you to use a pre-recorded or customized response when somebody rings the doorbell, and a speaker mute button.

Back at the home screen, tap the gear icon to access the doorbell's settings menu where you can turn the camera on or off, disable the chime, configure motion detection settings, create a custom quick response, and choose a video quality setting. Here you can also configure notifications, adjust doorbell audio settings, sync the doorbell to the chime box, configure Wi-Fi settings, and check the status of the embedded video storage memory.

Installation and Performance

Installing the Eufy Video Doorbell is easy, but if you're not comfortable dealing with electrical wiring (even low-voltage wiring), find someone who is or consider hiring a qualified installer. If this is your first Eufy device, download the Eufy Security mobile app and create an account. I shut down power to my existing doorbell before removing it, then attached the Eufy mounting plate using the included mounting screws. I connected the wire leads to the two terminals on the back of the doorbell, attached the leads to the house doorbell wire using the included wire nuts, and attached the doorbell to the mounting plate.

With the doorbell snapped into place, I restored power to the circuit, tapped Add Device in the app, and selected the doorbell from the list of devices. I used my phone's camera to scan the QR code included in the box (also on the back of the doorbell), at which point I was given the option to follow detailed installation instructions. Following them, I verified that the LED ring was pulsing yellow and pressed the ringer button for five seconds until I heard a chime. I selected my Wi-Fi network SSID, entered my Wi-Fi password, and was connected within seconds. Next, I plugged in the chime, verified that its LED was blue, pressed the Sync button for two seconds until the LED flashed blue, and pressed Next. The chime was instantly paired with the doorbell and the LED turned solid blue. After a three-minute firmware update, the installation was complete.

The Eufy Doorbell delivered outstanding high-res video in our tests. Daytime video provided rich colors and excellent contrast, and while there was a touch of barrel distortion at first, enabling Distortion Correction took care of it. Black-and-white night video was also very sharp and nicely lit.

Motion detection worked well once I set the sensitivity to the second-lowest setting in order to reduce false alerts from moving trees and other windblown objects. I also used the Activity Zone setting to eliminate alerts from passing cars. The doorbell did good job of identifying human motion in alerts and video clips, and motion alerts arrived instantly. Recorded video was ready to view within a few seconds of each alert, and appeared just as sharp as the live feed, and two-way audio was adequately loud and clear. I had no trouble using Alexa voice commands and an Amazon Fire TV Stick to view live video on my TV.

Conclusions

A high-resolution camera and HDR imagery make the Eufy Video Doorbell a solid choice for anyone looking to beef up security around the outside of their home. It's relatively easy to install and configure, delivers sharp video, does a good job of differentiating between human motion and objects, and supports voice commands. That said, it doesn't integrate with other Eufy products or any third-party smart devices for that matter, nor does it offer support for IFTTT applets. Our Editors' Choice, the RemoBell S, doesn't give you 2K video, but it does deliver sharp 1080p video and offers free storage and support for Alexa and Google voice commands. Moreover, it works with other smart devices via IFTTT applets and is around $60 less expensive.

Eufy Video Doorbell Specs

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