Lorex 2K WiFi Doorbell vs Ring Doorbells – How They Compare
Although Ring is still the world’s most famous in terms of smart video doorbells, you now have more options on the market. With a 2K resolution, the Lorex WiFi doorbell is a great competitor.
For people who are looking for a new smart doorbell, the Lorex WiFi doorbell actually is better than Ring in some aspects. There’s a lot to talk about here, so let’s waste no time in comparing Lorex 2K WiFi Doorbell vs Ring Doorbells.
Lorex 2K WiFi Doorbell vs Ring Doorbell 3 & Ring Doorbell 4
Installation – Wired vs. Wireless
The biggest difference between the Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell and Ring doorbells is that you don’t necessarily need to have existing wires to use a Ring doorbell.
Except for a few wired models, most Ring doorbells allow you to use the built-in battery as the power source and Ring offers a wireless chime that only requires an outlet to work with Ring wireless doorbells. This is a great solution for those who don’t want to embed wires. Meanwhile, you can wire the Ring doorbell with your old doorbell chime as well to work as a traditional doorbell button.
The Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell ditches the wireless feature and requires existing doorbell wires.
This is a double-edged sword: One of the biggest benefits of using doorbell wires and the included Lorex chime kit, is that the Lorex doorbell can activate the chime immediately and reliably without signal lags and you don’t have to worry about the internet connection to ring the chime box.
But the bad thing is that wired installation takes more time and work (Here is how to hardwire a doorbell), and your doorbell won’t work when there’s a an electric outage.
Industry Design
Their specs say the dimension of the Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell is 5.0 x1.8 x 0.7 inches while the Ring 3 and Ring 4 are 5.1 x 2.4 x 1.1 inches. However, even though the Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell is slightly thinner, smaller, and slimmer, I still prefer Ring’s classic look.
Although all the Ring doorbells are almost identical, it is still one of the aesthetic smart doorbells in the market. The flashing blue ring on the front panel still looks cool even in 2022 and they put the camera on a black component, which makes the camera less obvious.
For the Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell, this doorbell is compact and has a beautiful white finish. But I personally don’t like the small doorbell icon on the button. I feel like I have seen this icon on many cheap doorbells.
Camera Resolution
Even a cursory glance at the specs of the Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell shows that it’s has upgraded resolution. Unlike Ring doorbell 3 and Ring doorbell 4 that have 1080p camera resolution, the Lorex 2k doorbell is much clearer and provides more details in the daytime and nighttime mode theoretically.
But I have to point out that although Lorex has improved the resolution of their doorbells, it does not significantly change the user experiences due to mobile phones’ limited screen sizes. For me, a 1080p doorbell is quite enough for identifying visitors and family members since I have security cameras installed, so a 2k resolution doorbell does not give me extra benefits.
Smart Features Comparison
We know Lorex doorbell and Ring doorbells both require WiFi to offer video streams and notifications — and both of them will offer some common security features including two-way talk, built-in motion detection.
What is different is that Lorex got a more advanced night mode, which allows you to turn on/off the LED light at the bottom of the doorbell at a selected time and there’re optional low light capabilities to use for your doorstep.
Although Ring doorbells and Lorex 2K doorbell both have quick replies function for you to respond to your visitor conveniently, the Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell allows you to record your own voice as a custom message while you can’t do this with Ring doorbells.
What is special about Ring doorbell 3 and Ring doorbell 4 is that they have a pre-roll feature, which can capture 4 seconds video clips before a motion event. And the Ring doorbell 4 supports color pre-roll video previews while the Ring 3 only has black & white previews. (This feature may reduce the battery life if the doorbell records footage frequently)
Smart Home Integrity
Because of the Amazon vs Google thing going on, Ring doorbells’ support for google assistant is limited and there are many commands are missing when working with Google devices. But Ring can be used with some other certified devices, and you can see the lists here. Besides, the good news is that some Ring doorbells are officially compatible with third-party smart home hub Samsung Smartthings recently.
According to the specs, the Lorex 2K doorbell is seamlessly compatible with Hey Google (Google Assistant) and Amazon Alexa. But the problem is that the Lorex 2K WiFi doorbell does not come with direct integration with third-party hubs like SmartThings, and it does not use the Zigbee or Z-wave protocols for connecting other devices.
SD Card Storage or Cloud Service
Well, it’s easy and convenient to store video in a cloud memory by purchasing a Ring protect and you don’t need to back up your footage manually. But the problem is that using a ring protect plan is quite pricey and not ideal for people who need to save videos locally to ensure their safety. And the worst thing is that these Ring doorbells don’t have any SD slots, this makes a subscription is almost mandatory
On the contrary, the Lorex 2K doorbell supports MicroSD card sizes up to 256GB, which means you don’t need to pay a monthly fee at all. But they don’t have their own cloud service, and you might lose the data if the doorbell or SD card experienced physical damage.
Price – Lorex 2K doorbell is more affordable
In comparison, The Lorex 2K video WiFi doorbell is the cheapest at just $149 while the Ring doorbell 3 is $179.99 and the Ring doorbell 4 is $199.99. However, as I mentioned above, you need to pay the monthly fee starts at $3 for one doorbell. If you have multiple Ring devices or need premium features, the price would be much higher. So the Lorex 2K video WiFi doorbell has definitely a price advantage over the Ring doorbells.
