Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free Review: Alternative to Ring

When it comes to video doorbells, there is a lot of choice today. You can go for a product from Ring, opt for the variant that Google has put on the market, but you also have the option of going for the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free. As the name suggests, this is a variant that works without having to connect wires to it.

Moreover, we were able to test it in combination with the Chime 2. You can plug it directly into a wall socket and it works as a kind of speaker. You can then set it to play when someone presses the bell. But it is also possible to have it go off every time it detects movement. That might be a bit too much of a good thing. You can still receive that notification on your iPhone.

Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free

Installing the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free is very easy. That’s definitely the case with most Arlo products. Because it works on a battery, you only have to hang the plate on which you attach it to the wall. That was done fairly quickly. Then grab your iPhone and connect it to your app. When that’s all done, hang it up and use it.

From the app you can then see what is happening in front of your door. When there is movement and you have set it up, you will receive a notification. However, it is more interesting if someone really wants something from you and rings the bell. Instead of a notification in the app, you will be called immediately. That way you have faster contact and you can communicate more directly. If you are just at home and you are using the Chime 2, you will hear the bell in a traditional way and you can walk to the door. That way you are sometimes just a little faster.

Good picture

If you are not at home and therefore connect to the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free via your iPhone, the image is very good. It uses an HD resolution with a 180 degree diagonal viewing angle. That way you would be able to see if there is a package on the floor and you should respond to it.

Finally, it is still possible to make adjustments to the activity zones via the app. In this way you will not receive a notification when a car drives through the street or you can decide whether or not you want a notification when an animal walks through the garden. The battery of the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free also lasts quite some time and charging is a matter of a few hours and then you can go on for months.

Now available with a discount

The Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free is now available and can be scored here, among other things. Want to read more about the other Arlo products we recently tested? Then visit our overview page here.