Eufy proves that two cameras are better than one.
Pros
- Two cameras – one pointing forwards, one down to the floor
- Impressive motion detection capabilities
- Excellent image quality, both day and night
- No monthly cloud storage fee
Cons
- Need to remove the doorbell to charge
- Occasional lag when using two-way talk
Our Verdict
- The Eufy Video Doorbell Dual is an impressive top-end smart doorbell with great features and functionality. The accurate motion detection is a huge benefit, as is the secondary camera that keeps an eye out for missed packages. Charging the whole doorbell isn’t ideal, but it’s not a dealbreaker either.
While once a niche proposition, smart video doorbells are all the rage in 2022. The market was initially dominated by Amazon-owned Ring, but other manufacturers have been dabbling with the smart home tech over the past few years.
One of the more impressive competitors is the Eufy Video Doorbell Dual, offering the core smart doorbell experience and then some, with a secondary floor-facing camera for package detection, AI smarts and crucially, the lack of monthly storage costs.
Is the Eufy Video Doorbell Dual one of few smart doorbells to truly take on Ring and win? It might just be…
Design & Installation
- Easy to install and set up
- Tall but slimline design
- Looks and feels premium
- Have to remove the doorbell to charge it
Sporting two cameras instead of the usual one, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Eufy Video Doorbell Dual is taller than most alternatives. But, while it’s admittedly tall at 165mm, it makes up for it by being a particularly slender 53mm – more so than the Ring Video Doorbell 4, anyway.
The relatively svelte dimensions of the doorbell meant it could fit onto my rather narrow door frame – something I always wanted to do with other smart doorbells, but none would fit. There’s also a corner wedge in the box if you need to adjust the angle, depending on where you install it.
The doorbell can either be wired to a transformer (the ideal option if you’ve got a traditional wired doorbell) or it can operate via battery power. The downside is that the battery experience isn’t quite as convenient as it could be.
Installation is fairly straightforward, simply screwing a base plate into place and slotting the Doorbell onto it without the need for screws – though you’ll want to keep the release key safe, as it’s the only way to detach the doorbell from the frame for charging.
The Eufy Video Doorbell Dual is a two-part system; you’ve got the doorbell itself, and the accompanying HomeBase. Instead of connecting to your home Wi-Fi network, the doorbell connects directly to the small white box, which is connected to the internet via Ethernet.
Features
- Incredibly accurate motion detection
- Advanced AI detection features
- Package detection/monitoring is very handy
Once installed and set up on your smartphone, the Eufy Video Doorbell Dual works pretty much as you’d expect; when someone rings the doorbell, you’ll be alerted both via smartphone notification and by a chime played by the paired HomeBase.
Tapping the notification, or opening the app, will take you to a live view so you can see what’s going on. The view is split into two, providing a good look at what’s directly in front of the door and what’s going on at the floor level too.
You can communicate with whoever’s at the door in real-time, though I did notice a slight delay in testing. There’s also the option to take screenshots, record videos and even an option to send quick automated responses if you can’t (or don’t want to) communicate yourself.
That’s all well and good, but where Eufy’s doorbell truly separates itself from the competition is its motion detection capabilities. Yes, it might have the same radar and PIR (that detects heat) systems as Ring doorbells to detect motion, but the performance is on another level.
For context, my front garden is about 3ft wide, leading onto a (fairly) busy street in London.
Even with the Ring Video Doorbell 4’s motion zones set to the minimum level, I would get 10s of false alerts every day, either from passers-by or cars driving past. Not only did that mean I had to disable motion detection alerts, reducing the security outside of my home, but it had an effect on battery life too.
But, with a minimum detection zone of 3ft on offer from the Eufy Video Doorbell Dual, that simply isn’t an issue. Though there is still the occasional false positive, alerting me when someone walks past my house, it only happens once or twice a day. That’s a day-and-night change compared to Ring, and means I can actually leave my motion notifications on.
With a camera facing the floor, it should come as no surprise that the Eufy doorbell excels at package detection, going way further than simply notifying you that there’s a package (though it does that very well too!).
The secret sauce is AI, with Eufy using artificial intelligence to serve up both immediate alerts that a package has been dropped and Uncollected Package Alerts that alert you at a predetermined time of day – like the evening.
What’s most impressive is Package Live Check, which highlights packages in a bright blue box in the live camera feed. Tapping on the package will display when it was delivered (along with a video of the delivery) and show you clips of anyone that approached it while you were gone.
Package Guarding also aims to keep your unprotected packages safe by playing automated messages when people get too close. It’s very similar in functionality to a Loitering function, though in both cases, the idea is much better than the execution.
After all, if someone’s ready to steal my parcel or loiter outside my front door, an automated message from my video doorbell will do little to deter them.
That AI is also used for its facial recognition technology, which will not only tell you there’s motion caused by a human – rather than trees or a car driving by – but it’ll tell you who specifically is at your door.
The tech requires some setup of course, adding profiles for those who visit you most often (with a maximum of 10), but the payoff is worth it; it works reliably well both during the day and at night.
Unlike most alternatives where you buy the hardware and then have to pay a monthly fee to get cloud storage (and sometimes access to key features), that’s not the case with Eufy’s doorbell. Simply pay the upfront cost and you’re good to go, with Eufy claiming the 16GB of storage within the HomeBase is good enough to store 90 days of footage.
There is an optional cloud backup available for $2.99 per month, but I’ve not felt it necessary during testing.
Video Quality
- Impressive video quality, both during the day and night
- Decent IR range
The Eufy Video Doorbell Dual has, as the name suggests, two cameras. The main camera offers a 160-degree FOV and boasts a crisp 2K resolution, while the bottom 90-degree camera shoots at a downgraded – but still clear – 1080p. That makes sense, after all; you’d want higher resolution video of someone approaching your doorbell than when keeping an eye out for missed parcels.
When it comes to night, there are two options available; colour and IR. The doorbell defaults to the more vivid colour recording if there’s enough ambient light, but it’ll switch to a black and white IR view if it’s too dark.
Battery Life
- Up to 6 months of battery life
- Efficient motion detection extends battery life
When it comes to battery life, Eufy says that you should expect around 6 months on a single charge, though that’ll depend on how often it’s activated.
That’s in line with the claims from Ring, but with Eufy’s superior (in my experience, anyway) detection technology, I’m confident that the Video Doorbell Dual will outperform the Ring Video Doorbell 4 in most scenarios.
Price
The Eufy Video Doorbell Dual is one of the more expensive doorbells around, coming in at £229/$259.99, making it comfortably more expensive than the competing £179/$179 Ring Video Doorbell 4 and Nest Doorbell (battery).
However, with no monthly cloud storage fees or any features hidden behind paywalls, and the benefit of an additional camera, the extra upfront cost will be worth it for some.
If you’re tempted, you can buy the Eufy Video Doorbell Dual from Eufy directly, as well as online storefronts including Amazon.
Verdict
The Eufy Video Doorbell Dual is one of few genuine competitors to the Ring Video Doorbell, offering great video quality, responsive notifications, AI-driven features and, crucially, the lack of monthly fees for storage and additional functionality.
The use of a floor-facing camera is a great innovation, allowing you to keep track of packages and providing a better view of your front door.
The motion detection is superb, with a minimum range of 3ft ideal for narrow gardens, and the AI functionality is impressive too – particularly the package detection.
There are a few areas for improvement, with a rather inconvenient recharge process and occasional lag with two-way talk, but for me, the pros far outweigh the cons.
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