Ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera (wired) review: A premium porch watcher

If you’re already using one of Ecobee’s smart home thermostats or security systems—or you’re thinking about installing one—you’ll want to consider the company’s first video doorbell. The Ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera (wired) doesn’t just compete with category leaders Ring, Nest, and Arlo, it also brings a few smart ideas of its own—and it plays especially well within Ecobee’s larger smart home/home security ecosystem.

There is no battery-powered version of this product, but its $160 price tag puts it in the sweet spot for high-end video doorbells. The unit records in 1080p resolution with HDR, capturing a tall (175 degrees vertical, 115 degrees horizontal) field of view with no fisheye distortion. That framing gives you a head-to-toe view of visitors and lets you see packages dropped flush against the door. The doorbell delivers a clear, bright image, day or night.

The upside of being entirely reliant on hardwired power means no downtime when a battery needs to be recharged. On the other hand, you can’t install this doorbell unless you either already have the infrastructure in place or you’re willing to run wire to the location you want to install it. If you don’t want to do that yourself, Ecobee offers professional installation for a reasonable $150 (not including the power transformer, if needed).

Specifications

Ecobee

The Ecobee Smart Doorbell boasts IP65 weatherization, which means it’ll stand up to dust, rain, and snow, which—as TechHive’s IP code decoder tells us—means it’s impervious to dust and that it can withstand water jets projected from any direction. What’s more, it can operate in temperatures from ranging from a frigid -13 degrees Fahrenheit to a broiling 113 F (-25 to 45 C).

In other words, it’s built to last without the remove-recharge-reinstall routine a solely battery-powered doorbell requires. That said, a hybrid wired/battery solution would keep the camera operational during a power outage. Being a division of Generac, perhaps Ecobee would suggest homeowners invest in a backup generator to keep your home security system powered up.

In any event, I’d been using a Ring Battery Doorbell connected to a Ring Alarm base station, and I never liked the synthesized electronic ring it delivered when a visitor rang. It was loud enough to be heard throughout the house, but I really preferred my old-school analog chimes, and the Ecobee made it possible to return those to use. Ring has other wired models that can do this as well, but the one I have doesn’t.

Installation and setup

James Barber/Foundry

The Ecobee Smart Doorbell can be installed flat, with its camera lens facing straight out, or attached to a wedge that angles its lens by 15 degrees to better capture a view of a person standing at your door. At my home, there’s a very narrow gap between the front door frame and the brick surrounding it. The Ring doorbell I’d been using wouldn’t fit in the space, and while the Ecobee and its wedge did fit, the angled camera stuck out so that my storm door wouldn’t fully close. I ended up removing the wedge and the reinstalling Ecobee’s doorbell, and it worked perfectly in that very cramped space.

That wasn’t the end of my challenges, however; Ecobee’s app displayed a “low power” warning when I connected it to my existing doorbell transformer, so Ecobee recommended that I upgrade to a 24 Volt, 40 VA AC model. The low-power warning continued to show up for a few days after I upgraded the transformer, but it eventually disappeared.

Despite the low-power warning, Ecobee’s doorbell operated as expected during my entire review period. I’ve since replaced the outlet the original transformer was plugged into because it showed some wear-and-tear. In retrospect, I suspect the old outlet was the true cause of the low-power warnings, and buying a new transformer was probably unnecessary.

James Barber/Foundry

The wiring for the original doorbell button was cut to an exact length, so there was no extra wire tucked into the wall. That makes sense. An electrician in 1967 couldn’t have dreamed that a homeowner would want to replace a doorbell button with a magic camera more than 50 years down the road. Anyway, I needed to use the extension wires and wire nuts that Ecobee included in the box to make my connection. The cavity in the wall behind the doorbell was a bit tight with the extra wire and wire nuts stuffed inside, but everything worked as expected.

Ecobee’s receiver unit can connect to your home’s previously installed doorbell chime. My mid-century chime box is built like a tank and has a wonderfully musical tone when the hammer strikes the tone bar. There’s no way I could buy a unit of this quality today at any price, and it’s a welcome contrast to all the other electronic sounds generated by the modern TV, audio, and smart home gear in my home.

You can also configure the doorbell to ring a chime on an Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium or an Ecobee SmartCamera. Like Ecobee’s higher-end smart thermostats, the Ecobee Smart Doorbell sports a dual-band (2.4-/5GHz) Wi-Fi adapter.

Performance

Ecobee’s approach to visitor detection is another feature that differentiates this doorbell from the competition. The unit’s camera has a radar sensor that cuts down on false alerts. That means fewer notifications triggered by wind-blown leaves or passing cars. Smart Focus automatically pans and zooms to keep people centered in the frame, a feature that’s usually only seen on more expensive models.

As with many video doorbells and security cameras, you’ll need a subscription to get the full value from an Ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera. But even without a sub, Ecobee delivers more features than most manufacturers do when you don’t pay up, including person detection, two-way talk (between the doorbell and the Ecobee app on your smartphone or an Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium), live video viewing on your smartphone or that thermostat, and 30 days of video snapshots (not video clips) from a single Ecobee camera.

Stepping up to Ecobee’s Smart Security Standard subscription ($5 per month or $50 per year) adds package detection, 30 days of video recordings, and rich push notifications (all three of those features are for a single Ecobee camera). You can also pair the doorbell camera with a Yale or August smart lock and gain the ability to lock and unlock those locks from within the Ecobee app, making it easy to open your door for a visitor you see on the camera.

James Barber

The Ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera can also be integrated into a comprehensive, self-installed, professionally monitored home security system in which the fabulous Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium serves as the central hub. Ecobee makes excellent door/window sensors ($80 for a 2-pack) and occupancy/temperature sensors ($100 for a 2-pack), and the indoor Ecobee SmartCamera is very good as well. Currently missing from Ecobee’s home security portfolio: an outdoor security camera—apart from this doorbell camera, that is.

The top-tier Ecobee Complete subscription is one of the least expensive professional monitoring plans on the market at just $10 per month or $100 per year. You’ll also get 30 days of video storage for an unlimited number of Ecobee cameras and doorbell cameras. With professional monitoring, an agent can dispatch the police in the event of a break-in or the fire department if your Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium or Ecobee SmartCamera detects the sound of a smoke alarm sounding off. Ecobee’s top-tier plan is a rare bargain for that level of service. After a recent price increase, Ring charges at least $20 a month—$30 a month if you want to enable all the features of its Ring Alarm Pro security system.

The Ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera can be integrated with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings smart home ecosystems. When a visitor rings the doorbell, you’ll get an alert on your Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, or Google smart speaker. Unlike Ecobee’s SmartCamera, however, this doorbell camera does not support Apple’s excellent HomeKit Secure Video, which stores encrypted video recordings to an Apple user’s iCloud account.

Should you buy the Ecobee Smart Doorbell (wired)?

The Ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera (wired) doesn’t capture 2K or 4K video like some competitors, but its image quality is solid, and the radar-assisted motion detection is ahead of the curve. The Ecobee app is easy to understand and its connections to the doorbell camera have proved reliable during my testing. Two-way communication with visitors at the door was clear with almost zero lag.

The Ring doorbell I replaced touts is hi-res (1536 x 1536 pixels) resolution, but I haven’t noticed a significant downgrade in video quality with the Ecobee’s 1080p resolution. That seems more than adequate for this camera’s purposes, but some users may want a unit that offers a sharper image.

It’s an unfortunate fact of life that in today’s smart home security environment, you generally need to pick an ecosystem and stay in it. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself juggling apps on your phone to get a complete picture of what’s going on.

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