Ring Vs Nest Security Systems – Which Brand is Best?

We live in an age where we get the news of crimes happening every day worldwide, like it is a part of our everyday routine. And now, we have become so habituated with the incidents around us that we do not even get surprised anymore. This situation has made us think that we can never be too sure about our security, be it our home or office or any other places. However, the least we can do is to take necessary precautions to secure at least our home so that we can spend some stress-free quality time with our family without thinking about our security.

Here in this article, we are mainly concentrating on two brands, the Ring Inc. and the Nest, which has both equally contributed to developing advanced home security systems.

Since 2018, Google and Amazon are seemed to compete with each other, with their acquisition of Nest and Ring Inc., respectively, since both the brands are involved in various types of security equipment.

Ring Security Systems

Before its acquisition in 2018 by Amazon, Ring, previously known as Doorbot, was founded by Jamie Siminoff in 2013.

They are mainly involved in providing home security products and services like video doorbell, motion-detecting outdoor cameras. There is also a subscription plan available, which gives the users access to all the recorded video footage of the Ring cameras. There are various kinds of subscription plans, and the user can opt for anyone as per their requirement. However, they can also use any Ring products without taking any subscription.

Some of its entitled products and services are:

Neighbors App

After the acquisition in 2018, Ring had first launched a social networking app. This app is a unique feature of this brand. The local people within a specific area can connect through this app and discuss the safety concerns of that area. Users can anonymously share contents from the stored footage of their other Ring products like cameras and video doorbell, to make people aware of any crimes.

Ring Video Doorbell

It is one of the most popular products of this brand. This smart doorbell is equipped with an HD camera and a motion sensor and a microphone and a speaker, which enables a two-way communication process. And by using the Neighbors app, users can see the stored video footage later, and they will also get notifications immediately through this app if anyone rings the bell.

Home Security Systems

This includes some of their main products. Like an IP camera with a motion detector system and the two-way audio system powered by the battery and solar energy. An alarm kit with a keypad, a siren, and motion sensors. Some of their other products are peephole camera and Floodlight Cam, which is equipped with a pair of LED floodlights which gets activated if it detects motion.

Recently in 2020, the brand has announced the launching of Ring Always Home Cam in 2021, which will be specifically concerned about home indoor security. This camera will be lightweight and will be able to fly indoor following a pre-created path, and its alarm sensors will trigger its actions.

In September 2020, they have launched some of its new products like Ring Car Alarm and Ring Car Cam.

Subscription Plans

Having a subscription plan will enable the users to have access to past video footage. Otherwise, without a subscription plan, they can only view the present live footage.

The different subscription plans are:

• Ring Protect Basic plan allows storing footage for 60 days, to view later, and
• Ring Protect Plus gives unlimited storage facility. There are also some other additional benefits like an extended warranty on their Ring products, professional monitoring facility, and LTE cellular backup of the Ring alarm system.

Pros

• First and foremost, the brand deserves a lot of credit to make a constant effort to bring innovativeness in their products.
• Be it making improvements in their existing IP cameras or launching new products like Ring Always Home Cam, which will create a lot of stir in the security camera industry; Ring is always up for experiments.
• Establishing partnerships with the local police stations to solve crimes by using the footage recorded by their Ring products and stored in their Neighbors app has proven to be a fruitful step in solving crimes.
• This app has also allowed sharing of footage of any suspicious incidents with others by simply uploading the footage on its portal; thus, it can alert the residents of that particular area into taking more safety measures.
• Diversifying their product range from home security to car security is also a good step.

Cons

• Though the brand was trying to do something positive by fighting crimes through the Neighbors app, it has been criticized a lot for the same.
• Firstly, many people were against the idea of sharing footage of their private surveillance cameras with the local authorities. So, many people frowned upon this partnership of the brand with the local police.
• The brand had to face more criticism as during late 2019 and early 2020, many reports had come up, which clearly showed that many users’ accounts on this app had been hacked from different IP addresses worldwide. Moreover, there were also allegations that the brand shares users’ private information to other marketing companies.

Nest Security Systems

The brand Nest, which is now popularly known as Google Nest, was actually named Nest Labs in 2010 when it was founded by two engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Roger, who were previously Apple employees.

In 2014, Google acquired Nest Labs. Though until 2018, it operated independently, in 2018, it was merged with the home electronic appliance unit of Google. Since then, all the home electronic products of Google comes under the Google Nest brand.

Various types of smart home products come under this brand, like thermostats, smart speakers, smart displays, smoke detectors, and routers. However, they had launched their first security camera in June 2015.

Some of its products which specially deals with home security are as follows –

Nest Cam Indoor

The Nest Cam, which they had launched in 2015, was an upgraded and modified version of the Dropcam’s security cameras, the company that Nest had acquired the year before in 2014. It was an HD camera with a video resolution of 1080 pixels. This rotating camera had some other features like night vision, a two-way audio system, and sound and motion sensors. By paying an additional fee, users can also get the Nest Aware cloud services.

Nest Cam Outdoor

This came in 2016 with the same features of the indoor camera of Nest but with additional features to make it resistant to any outdoor situations.

Nest Cam IQ

During the middle of 2017, Nest launched an upgraded version of their indoor and outdoor cameras. Instead of HD resolution, these cameras now have 4K resolution and some high-quality features like face recognition and face differentiation features. There were also up-gradation of some of the existing features like better Wi-Fi connectivity, better close up view, brighter infrared LEDs, and powerful speakers in addition to the existing ones.

Nest Secure

The total package of home security system came at the end of 2017, including the Nest Guard, the Nest Detect, and the Nest Tag.

Nest Guard includes an alarm, a keypad, and microphones, whereas Nest Detect includes the motion detectors and window and door sensors, and Nest Tag is a key chain fob, for ensuring a bit of extra security.

Two other security products are Nest Hello, a smart video doorbell with a facial recognition feature. The other one is Nest × Yale, a smart lock that the brand has developed in collaboration with Yale. The company had launched both of these devices in 2018.

Pros

• If consumers opt for Nest Guard, then they will get the whole home security package at one go.
• Another advantage of using Nest products is that they have Google Assistant feature in their security products.
• Also, Nest has a partnership with Brinks Home Security, so if any customer opts for their monthly plan, then their security system will be professionally monitored by the experts.

Cons

• There were reports of several security flaws in the Nest Cam products in 2017. A report said that burglars had hacked the system and stopped recording when they robbed the house.
• Also, in terms of price, people may find it expensive compared to other similar kinds of surveillance cameras.

Comparative Study of Ring and Nest Security Systems

While comparing these two brands, we are not only comparing them, but we are comparing the two of the largest sharks of the business world, Google and Amazon.

Their main aim is to provide all kinds of security products so that they can dominate your home individually.

Now, let’s compare their products based on some of its specifications.

Hardware

Ring alarm system can be used either on removable rechargeable batteries or by using doorbell wiring. Though the user depends on batteries, the system has to be shut down for some time to recharge the batteries.

However, having a low voltage doorbell wiring with a constant power supply is mandatory for using a Nest security system.

Otherwise, the internal hardware is not much different in both cases. They both have wide views with motion-detecting sensors and HD quality camera sensors.

Video Quality

It is one of the most important factors when we are talking about surveillance cameras.

Though both have more or less the same video resolution, there is a major difference in the video recording format.

Nest products record video in a 4:3 format, which gives a complete head-to-toe view of the person standing in front of it.

However, the Ring products record video in a 16:9 format, which gives a rather wider view, and there is always a chance of not getting the full view of the person if he/she is standing too close to the camera.

Installation

The Ring has only a DIY installation feature. Though the installation process is easy and does not create the havoc of setting up an appointment at a suitable time, a little bit of help for those who need it is never unwelcome.

However, the Nest looks into this matter, and there is the option of calling for professional help to set up your equipment properly so that they are ready to use.

So, in this area, Nest is definitely the winner.

Compatibility

It is obvious that both the brands do not want the products of the other brand in your home. So, it is very normal that their compatibility is also restricted.

Nest products are fully compatible with Google Home speakers, but it is not the same with Amazon Echo. Though users can access limited features like checking the real-time videos using Amazon Echo, customers will not operate the Nest Secure system using the same.

In the same way, Ring products are also not fully compatible with Google Home smart speakers. If the user wants to operate a Ring camera using Google Home speakers, they will get even more limited access. So, it is better to have an Amazon Echo for using a Ring product.

Price

A Ring Alarm security kit with five pieces of alarms along with a base station, keypad, motion detector, contact sensor, and range extender costs around $199, and if the user wants to opt for the professional monitoring services, then it will cost $10 per month or $100 annually.

On the other hand, Nest charges $399 for this same package and an additional $19 per month to get the professional monitoring benefit for a three-year contract or $29 per month without any contract.

So, for price-conscious consumers, Ring is definitely the go-to option among the two.

Connectivity

Most of the Ring security kit includes a range extender, which provides better connectivity.

However, considering the doorbells, Nest has a better connectivity range than Ring doorbells.

Overall, we can say that both the brands are in a kind of similar position in terms of connectivity.

Security Features

Based on some of the security features mostly available in the same category of security systems, let’s compare the two brands.

The ring system has –

• Base station
• Motion sensor
• Keypad
• Contact sensor
• Range extender

Nest system has –

• Base station
• Motion sensor
• Key fob

Based on the available features, Ring is a better option.

Verdict

After doing detailed research on both the brands’ products, the first thing that can be concluded is that both are giving a tough competition to each other.

Both the brands believe in their products’ innovativeness and are unwilling to leave even an inch of space to the other.

There is no denying that if the consumer is price conscious and has a restricted budget, then Ring is the solution for them straight away. Also, comparing the number of features available in the products, Ring is the winner.

However, in terms of video quality, installation facility, and connectivity, the Nest has a better edge.

On the other hand, since both the brands’ products have compatibility issues with the smart devices of the other brand, I would advise going for Ring, as Amazon Echo is compatible with several devices than a Google Home speaker. So, if you are buying an Amazon echo, you will gain more.

Overall, I would like to conclude that according to me, Ring has won the race.