Amazon sells the Blink Video Doorbell for the front door. With intercom and alarm function in case of movement. In combination with an Echo Show a simple video doorbell without a smartphone. a test.
Enlarge
Blink Video Doorbell: Affordable video doorbell with lots of extras
©Amazon
the
Blink video doorbell
(130mm x 42mm x 34mm) is available now. It is Blink’s first video doorbell. Along with Ring, Blink is one of the two companies specializing in camera technology that belong to Amazon. Unlike Ring, which has always specialized in video doorbells, Blink didn’t offer a video doorbell before. That changes today.
Buy Blink Video Doorbell on Amazon
(in white or black color)
Test: Blink Video Doorbell with Echo Show 5
©Amazon
Can you get from the combination of Blink Video Doorbell and Echo Show 5 for little money (
Set price on June 13, 2022: around 115 euros
) set up video surveillance for the front door? PC-WELT does the test and orders the set, which Amazon delivers one day after the order thanks to Prime.
The Echo Show 5 is put into operation as usual and without any problems. The Echo Show 5 is not a performance miracle, its touchscreen only reacts to finger inputs with a noticeable delay. However, voice commands to Alexa work perfectly. The Blink Video Doorbell, in turn, is commissioned like any other Blink camera. If a Blink system with a sync module is already running at home, you can integrate and activate the Blink Video Doorbell in no time at all. Video doorbell and echo speaker each work perfectly on their own, but how well does the interaction work?
Here’s a major weakness: you can’t configure the Echo Show 5 home screen to always display the Blink Video Doorbell image all the time. Instead, Amazon wants to constantly display the home screen with the time and weather data. Although you can influence the content displayed on the home screen via the settings menu and remove many annoying notifications from Amazon, it is not possible to permanently display only the image of the Blink Video Doorbell. In the Amazon forum, Amazon customers criticize this obvious deficiency.
It is also not possible to set up a routine that automatically displays the Blink Video Doorbell’s image on the Echo Show 5 when someone presses the Blink Video Doorbell’s bell button. Because the Alexa routines do not support the blink cameras, as you can see from the Alexa app.
Amazon obviously didn’t think the Blink Video Doorbell and Echo Show concept through to the end. Too bad. Because especially older or less technically savvy users don’t want to or can’t wipe around on the – sluggish – touchscreen for a long time until they finally bring the camera image to the foreground.
So there is only one solution: a voice command to Alexa. This is actually easy to set up: After the voice command “Alexa, show door!” It takes about four to five seconds for the current video stream from the Blink Video Doorbell to run on the Echo Show 5.
Conclusion:
If you want to set up a door monitoring system with Blink Video Doorbell and Echo Show 5 especially for the elderly, you are faced with significant hurdles. On the other hand, if you are tech-savvy or would prefer to call up the image of the Blink Video Doorbell in the app on your smartphone anyway, you don’t have this problem and can use the Blink Video Doorbell to monitor your front door quickly, easily and inexpensively.
There is
no theft protection,
the Blink Video Doorbell is relatively easy to steal.
A notice:
Existing Blink customers can also use cloud storage for the Blink Video Doorbell for free.
the
Blink video doorbell
is attached to or next to the front door and then transmits its image to the Alexa app on a smartphone or tablet or to an Echo Show. The combination of Blink Video Doorbell and Echo Show 5 offers a cheap and easy-to-use front door surveillance solution for people who do not use a smartphone. Amazon also offers the Blink Video Doorbell in a package with a matching Echo Show 5. If you already have a Blink system with the corresponding sync module in operation, you can also buy the Blink Video Doorbell separately.
So Amazon sells the Blink Video Doorbell in three variants:
-
The Blink Video Doorbell without Sync-Modul-2 (for integration into an existing blinking system or for use with a limited range of functions)
-
The Blink Video Doorbell with Sync Module-2 (if this is your first Blink camera)
-
The Blink Video Doorbell with Echo Show 5 and Sync Module 2 (this is the ideal solution if you don’t want to see the video doorbell image on your smartphone or tablet, but on a fixed device). See also: Echo Show 5 2021 (2nd generation) in the test – cheap smart speaker for purists
The Blink Video Doorbell can optionally be wired to an existing doorbell. In this case, the Blink Video Doorbell triggers the existing door chime when activated. There is information and a video on installing the Blink Video Doorbell here.
Enlarge
The Blink cameras are not supported by the Alexa Routines.
You connect the Blink Video Doorbell to your home network via WiFi. Like all Amazon devices, the Blink Video Doorbell can also be operated via Alexa. You will receive a notification in the app when it sounds or the camera detects motion.
Amazon explains the following about the Sync Model 2: Without the Sync Module, live video and two-way audio are only available when the doorbell is pressed or a motion event is detected. With a Sync Module or Sync Module 2, these functions are always available on demand.
Blink Video Doorbell specifications
The video doorbell transmits the image with 1080p day and night – an infrared function is available for use at night. You can also use the Blink to speak to the person at the front door, so the camera acts as an intercom. It also has a motion detector that ensures that the camera starts recording when someone moves in front of the camera. The motion detector can be switched off at any time if you do not want continuous surveillance of the area in front of the front door.
Free cloud storage until October 2022
Live video and motion detection notifications as well as the intercom are also available without a cloud service. However, if you want to store the videos in the cloud and access them from anywhere, you need the Blink subscription. This is not permanently included with the Blink Video Doorbell, but can only be used free of charge until October 2022. After that, you have to subscribe to it for a fee or do without the cloud storage of the recordings. However, you can still save videos to a USB stick that is compatible with the
Sync Module 2
connected is.
Loyal Blink customers can permanently integrate the Blink Video Doorbell into their Amazon cloud storage free of charge.
Blink Mini: Affordable security camera with cloud storage from Amazon
