It’s such a thing with the smart doorbells on the front door: either the built-in camera only films a small section of the hallway or front yard, or there is a risk of distorted video images with a strange “fish-eye effect”. For a complete perspective, Eufy has given its new Video Doorbell Dual two lenses that are supposed to capture everything. In this test, COMPUTER BILD clarifies how well this works and what else the smart bouncer has to offer.
Quickly assembled and ready to go
The Eufy doorbell catches the eye of the postman or visitor as a black plastic latch on the outside of the front door. It’s chic, but not exactly slim. The device can replace the existing doorbell, using its wiring and the existing doorbell. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of wiring, you’ll be happy about the built-in rechargeable battery. This means that operation works without any cable clutter and the doorbell can be placed anywhere.
Everything included: bell plus USB-C charging cable, smart hub, bell wires, screws, mounting plate and angle attachment.
It is tolerable that the landlord then has to keep an eye on the battery charge. If the juice runs out, the bell remains silent. According to the manufacturer, the rechargeable, permanently installed battery lasts at least half a year. In addition to electricity, the bell needs connection to the home WLAN. It also rings “offline”, but only with an Internet connection is there a message on the user’s cell phone. The Eufy bell does not transmit in the fast 5 GHz WLAN, but only knows the often overloaded 2.4 GHz frequency.
In the test, the Eufy Doorbell replaced the “dumb” bell (pictured below). The front-facing main camera is at the top of the device, and the downward-facing package camera is at the bottom.
Two cameras see everything!
The large bell button is located at the bottom of the case, and the main camera is above it with a decent 2K video resolution (2560×1920 pixels). So that everything that happens in front of the door is captured, Eufy includes an angle attachment for mounting next to the wall bracket. This allows the bell and camera to be tilted slightly towards the door. Advantage: The doorbell is easily accessible in narrow entrance areas and the lens is better aligned to what is happening. What is not yet in view is captured by the second camera, which offers HD resolution (1600 x 1200 pixels) and is hidden at the bottom of the doorbell. She films the area right in front of the front door – perfect for passionate online shoppers, where packages regularly end up on the doormat.
Good video quality: The two cameras capture a lot and display it sharply and well-lit on the right in the Eufy app – even at night.
The phone rings
If a visitor rings at the door, the bell diligently sends notifications to the smartphone. A ring of light that lights up on the doorbell button informs the guest that the area in front of the front door is being filmed. If the message and preview image aren’t enough for you, you can create “visual contact” via live video in a matter of seconds with a tap of your finger.
The Eufy app shows the images from the cameras in a split view: the main lens can be seen at the top, showing the stairwell or front yard, and the second cam below, which has an eye on the doormat and provides information about packages discovered there. If you have a smart display at home, you can use Alexa or Google Assistant to bring the video image onto the screen. Eufy has also built in motion and person detection. The relies on a combination of proven infrared technology and radar detection. Known faces registered by the camera can be marked as family members, friends or neighbors. This saved annoying false alarms in the test and noticeably reduced the flood of unwanted notifications.
Activity Zones: The field of view can be restricted so that the camera does not catch the neighbors.
Look, listen and speak well
High-resolution recordings, night vision and sound transmission for hearing and speaking – these talents are a must for a video doorbell. But the Eufy bell sets new standards: In the test, the two cameras provided a good view of people, packages and the environment. They scored with a generous viewing angle without annoying curved edges (“fish-eye effect”). During the day, the recordings appeared colourfast, rich in contrast and provided many details. If the lenses caught movements, there were only rarely rough edges or jerks. In the evening, thanks to infrared LEDs and a night light, the cams provided well-illuminated black-and-white images that were only marred by a slight noise. People and even faces were still easy to recognize. On top of that, it’s easy to ask who’s at the door: Thanks to the intercom function, homeowners can communicate with the other person via smartphone. Voices came across as a bit dull in the test, but easy to understand.
For 249 euros, there is a smart hub for the doorbell, which rings as a gong in the apartment and stores the videos locally.
No cloud, no subscription costs
The Eufy doorbell is only moderately secured against theft. A paper clip is enough – the bell is gone. It does not play a shrill alarm tone as a deterrent. The only evidence of the fact: recorded videos. In the Eufy app, scenes can be subsequently located, viewed, downloaded to the smartphone and sent. Of course, the small films also help when the host just misses a welcome visitor. Praiseworthy: Eufy does not save the clips in the cloud, but on the supplied smart hub in the house. It also serves as a gong: It rings audibly in addition to the notification on the cell phone. The internal memory of the Smart Hub is generously dimensioned at 16 gigabytes and is sufficient for several weeks of video material. This solution also saves money: Other providers often only offer storage in the cloud, but charge monthly subscription fees of between 3 and 10 euros for this. Sometimes they even pack important functions behind the payment barrier. With Eufy, on the other hand, everything is included and there are no running costs.