They told him there had been a couple of burglaries in the neighbourhood. In the morning Luke contacted the police, who sent round a forensics team. But by the time he got there, the man had scarpered. “And to be honest he looked really old.” So Luke went downstairs. Was he scared? “I’m quite a big bloke – I know that sounds a bit knobbish,” he laughs. “I looked at it, and I saw a man was trying to get into our porch,” he tells me. Based on the subscription level you choose, you’ll have access to up to 60 days of event footage (video taken when the motion sensor is active) and 10 days of 24/7 continuous coverage.Photo manipulation: Peter Crowther. He also notes that the camera’s vertical orientation and high resolution provide excellent quality video, and that Google offers exceptional support for its products.Īnother benefit of the Nest Hello is that it streams video continuously (as opposed to most others, which are activated on when they sense motion), so you can check in on your front door at any time. “Because of Google’s artificial intelligence and the data they’ve gathered over the years from people using their search engine, they have the only system that works consistently for facial recognition and delivery notification,” says Mark Steinberg, senior technologist at B&H Photo, who tells us the Nest Hello is B&H’s best-selling video doorbell.

“It can actually tell people apart from other moving objects,” says Aliza Vigderman, content manager at, “so you only get alerted when it recognizes a person, versus other doorbells that alert you whenever there’s movement, resulting in a lot of unnecessary notifications.” Tech writer and Strategist contributor Kyle Schurman points out that, with a Nest Aware subscription (starting at $6 per month), the Nest Hello can also recognize familiar faces to let you know whether the person at your door is a stranger or the babysitter, announcing the person’s name through your connected Google speaker. While most video doorbells have similar features, all three experts we spoke with say the Google Nest Hello stands out from the rest of the pack, primarily because of its superior artificial intelligence and face-recognition function. Below, four security and tech experts break down the differences among some popular models and share their picks for everyone from budget shoppers to apartment dwellers.

If you already use other smart home devices, it makes sense to choose a video doorbell that will integrate within that ecosystem, like a Google Nest Hello for Google Hub users or a Ring if you have an Amazon Echo.

Most companies offer a subscription service for storing and accessing past video, and some provide additional features like facial recognition.

Following its success, a flock of similar devices have popped up on the market, which is great for competitive reasons, but makes choosing the right one for you a little harder.īarak Ron, owner of Vertex Security, says, compared to traditional security systems that require expensive professional installation, these devices are appealing because they’re “very easy to operate, very easy to use, and give you eyes on your front door.” They’re useful for deterring intruders or “porch pirates” ( package theft tends to spike during the holiday season it also increased last year with more people relying on online shopping due to the pandemic, a trend that looks like it’ll stay even after things go back to normal), or monitoring the comings and goings of dog walkers, house cleaners, and anyone else passing through your door. The first big name in the industry was Ring, a once-rejected pitch on Shark Tank that was acquired by Amazon in 2018 for over $1 billion. If you’re unfamiliar, a video doorbell is essentially a camera that turns on when it senses nearby motion, paired with a two-way speaker and microphone that lets you communicate with the person at your door through an app on your phone.

Doorbell security camera