Ring Spotlight Cam Pro

I recently replaced an older Ring outdoor camera due to the lens being foggy and uncleanable. This is the upgrade and it works flawlessly. It’s a slightly larger unit by a solid ½ inch sideways and by height, has a USB-C connection for solar power on the back (you will need the new dongle to connect to older Ring solar panels), the speaker is now on the bottom of the unit in a piece that separates from the main housing (much better than the swing-away light on the previous model) and it accepts two Ring batteries + solar so this beauty is never, ever offline. The bottom pairs and seals up safely and I feel confident it will handle bad weather….of course, this is SoCal and we don’t get real weather.

I want to personally thank the angry Karen who took a picture of my previous camera and sent it to our HOA. I wouldn’t have known that I needed a replacement until she emailed them and I was informed I was in violation for it being attached to our balcony. Thanks to this interaction, not only did I upgrade the camera but I was able to purchase a Karen Stick (link below) which made me HOA complaint. As she screams and stomps out front, I joyfully video her activities and post them to Instagram. Thanks again to Ring for making a great product and to Amazon for having it to me in hours and the nonstop enjoyment of producing rage in people who simply can’t mind their own business. Perhaps Ring would like to sponsor me some day….I’ll be more than happy to setup additional cams for the enjoyment of the intelligent public.

Karen Stick: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM8SKB9P?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

USB-C Dongle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3Y9553X?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

We bundled this with the gutter guard for a garage installation. It's been up for several months now and the solar panel is keeping the unit charged. It's not failed, even in cloudy weather. If you can't hardwire a unit, this is your solution.

I have a 1st gen Ring spotlight cam and I wanted to upgrade. This is a great value and it works great. Was easy to setup and install and the video clarity and recording are very good.

Quality is better than expected. Battery life with the solar charger is really impressive. I put a battery in that was only charged 34%. Within 4 days of mostly cloudy weather, it was 100% and maintains in the 90% range. Night performance is good. We will be buying another with the solar power!

Spotlight Cam Pro is, so far, a good camera with some nice features. Installing it was rather simple. When you setup the camera, you just scan the QR label with your phone and follow the steps.

The spotlight feature is pretty useful for smaller areas, but it won't light up a large area. You'd probably need the Floodlight Cam Pro if you need to add light to a larger area, but those need to be hardwired to function. The audio recording is pretty good, it picks up voices and footsteps from 20ft away. The video quality is nice too, it's not 4k but the 1080p is still good. The birdseye view works, although I don't quite understand the full scope of what it could be used for. Also, the Pre Roll function is strange. It pre records motion, but the quality is like that of a Playstation 1. Super grainy and pixilated. And once the "Pre Roll" ends, the quality clears up. But at that time, the person or vehicle or whatever caused the recording to begin is too far away to be recorded in good quality. So, again, I don't quite understand what the "Pre Roll" function is useful for.

These cameras also come with Enhanced Colored Nightvision and HDR. I can't say I'm super thrilled with the way these cameras handle the light. It's dusk at this very moment, and there's still some light in the sky, but the Pro cameras are already in Nightvision mode while a couple other Camera Plus cameras I own still show a colored Live View. I included pictures of the Pro Cam and my Video Doorbell Plus, at the same in the evening, and you'll see what I'm referring to.

You can set schedules for camera motion and the cameras lights, and you can also create light groups if you want to turn on certain lights on certain cameras. So I have 2 Cam Pros on the front of my house in a group, so I can turn on those cams lights independently of the other cameras I have installed in the back of my house. Then I have the rear house cams in a group to turn them on at the same time if necessary.

You can talk to people through the camera as well, just like with the Ring Doorbells. There is also an alarm you can activate if you ever need. There is also an Emergency Services function in which you can call police or the fire department through the Ring app, in case you witness anything on your property that requires an emergency response.

One thing I noticed, which may or may not mean much, is the boxes in which the Spotlight Cam Pros came in. One of the boxes is fancier. All the lettering is silver, and raised, the blue background used for text is darker, and it has the signature of the inventor on the side of the box while the others don't. So I don't really know if that means anything. I don't know if the cameras have anything different going on internally in terms of the quality of hardware used or if it means one camera is older and/or newer than the others or what.

Overall I'm very pleased with the purchase of all these cameras along with the Ring Doorbell Plus. They're all functioning the way they were meant to and I would recommend them to anyone trying to add some protection to their homes.