I was initially looking at another brand because they had a wireless video doorbell that came with its own chime. My home was built in 1897 and I don't have existing doorbell wiring or chime in the house. So wireless doorbell that came with a chime was the way I wanted to go. Only problem, this other brand didn't offer all the options and/or configurations I was hoping for.Then I was introduced to Blink. It had all the options I needed. Granted it doesn't have its own chime, BUT....you can use the mini or Alexa as your indoor chime. Perfect! Had the corner mount so I could point the video doorbell camera towards the entrance to the porch. Again, old home on a corner with a wrap around porch where the entrance to the porch was on the corner and the door was at the end of one side. Does me no good to have the camera pointing straight ahead into the front yard. You can mix and match all of the devices to get the optimum setup for your needs, and they all connect seamlessly.Then I started doing my research on Blink. Reading the reviews from customers really made me question if I should buy. Too difficult to install. Too difficult to set up. Can't connect to Alexa. Battery life a fraction of what they claim. Cameras always disconnecting. I'm glad I ignored the reviews, chalking up the technology issues to people just not being tech savvy. I was right.Installation was extremely simple. Not a fan of the online instructions instead of a booklet, but I managed.Sync Module, video doorbell, 3 outdoor cameras and 1 mini indoor camera connected to the Blink system with no issues.Connecting to Alexa was equally as flawless. Set up the Blink skill in Alexa and "she" immediately found all the Blink devices. Our Echo in the living room, Echo Dot in the bedroom and the indoor mini will all serve as chimes wherever we are in the house. The Echo devices will also announce any motion detection. We can arm and disarm the system by voice command with Alexa. Disarm does require a voice pin code which you have to set up in the Alexa app.Setting up and managing the devices in the blink app is fairly intuitive and straight forward. You can adjust the motion sensitivity, set up privacy and no detection zones. After setting up the doorbell out of the box, we would get random motion detection notifications. After checking the clips, it had to be either vehicles passing in the street facing the door, or a flag flapping in the wind at the end of the porch where the steps are. I shut off motion detection in the street, lowered the sensitivity slightly, but left the flag area on, and no more false detection's. So it was definitely not the flag tripping it. Camera still picks up people as they come to the top of the steps and alerts us.Video quality is pretty decent. I'm please so far. Haven't been able to test what the night video looks like, or the two way voice at the doorbell yet. Once I am able to and if there are any real issues, I will edit my review.As far as battery life, it's too early to tell. All the documentation I have read indicates that with the sync module and turning off settings or features you don't really need will extend the battery life to the 2 years claimed. Time will tell.If I had a complaint so far, it's the fact that the time it takes from notification until a live view of the camera finally comes up in the app, the person tripping the motion detection has dropped off the package and left. That timing needs reduced greatly.
USA Store
