Think back to the time before caller ID and recall the frustration of not knowing who was on the other end of the receiver before you answered. Well, that same issue carried on a few more decades for your front door until the SkyBell (www.SkyBell.com) team decided to fix that problem. Unfortunately, the first generation of the SkyBell didn't do it so well. The product had issue after issue -- from delayed shipments, to product features that weren't actually available, to just plain old functionality problems. It wasn't great.

SkyBell wasn't alone, its chief competitor, DoorBot (www.doorbot.com), also made many promises that it failed to deliver on. Both of these product teams made a fatal error: they came to market at least a year too soon. DoorBot's team even went so far as to completely rebrand under a new name (Ring) for their second generation product due to the damage their first generation product did to their reputation.

Upon learning of the new SkyBell 2.0, I ran online to read the reviews. To my surprise, these reviews were... good! On Amazon, the product had a nearly four star rating, view it here. Now, that isn't a stellar rating, but when compared to the 1.0 product's two-star (or lower) rating, it was a marked improvement. I read industry reviews and customer feedback on the product, and it seemed to warrant a purchase. The upgrades and positive comments were enough for me to overcome my apprehension. 

Two days later, I had my new SkyBell in hand and went to install the device that evening. At first glance, it's a small product  -- much smaller than my existing doorbell and base plate. And that presented my first issue, the SkyBell didn't cover the hole in the wall. Its base plate also didn't line up with the existing gang box on my wall. Now, I live in your typical tract home development. My house was built in the late 1990's and just about every person I know has a similar doorbell design at their front door. I would imagine that my doorbell setup is far and away the most prevalent in the country for newer built home. Yet, the SkyBell folks don't have a way to make their product work in this setup with a larger base plate option. My solution, that I had to come up with myself as SkyBell support basically said, "Sorry we have no solution for that," was to find a replacement doorbell plate online made of wood, then screw the SkyBell base plate into that, then install. In essence, I had to install a base plate on a base plate to make this work, and it's not the most elegant solution.

Other installation issues occurred with the 45+ minutes it took to screw their "security screw" in the device and device's base plate. This is the screw that essentially makes the product stick to the wall and prevents theft. For such an important piece that is so small and difficult to install, I'd have expected them to include two or three for customers. I dropped the screw three times while trying to screw it in, it took me upwards of 20 minutes find it each time. When trying to screw something in, while looking at the device upside down, while sitting on the ground, while outside in the elements, this step in the installation is a maddening experience I do not wish on anyone.

Once the device was installed, setup began. Now, the videos online for installation do not actually apply to the 2.0 product. I wasted nearly an hour due to the instructions provided by the video. Setting up the WiFi connection wasn't all that difficult once I knew what to do in the correct instructions. That said, there is one major flaw as far as I'm concerned. When attempting to change the WiFi connection after your initial setup, you must uninstall the device from your mobile app and go through the entire process again. This requires that you hold onto the device manual/box where the device ID is listed, otherwise you'll be unable to set it up again.

Now, here is where we get down to the dirt on the product itself. These are my three chief complaints and one positive note:

1. The video quality is, in a word, abysmal. It reminds me of those terrible web cameras we all had in the 1990's with their glare and muddy resolution. There is also an issue with the frame rate. It will be nearly impossible to make out someone's facial features. The only aspect that I was impressed by was the night vision -- but even this is plagued by the underlying video quality problems.
2. Motion detection is slow, if it works at all. The concept is great, but it doesn't pick up people half the time, and when it does work it takes nearly a minute for it to detect the person, then nearly another minute to alert your mobile device that you have a visitor.
3. Connection to mobile devices moves at a glacial pace. As I mentioned above, it takes forever to get a call alert on your phone. If a person presses the doorbell, it takes about 50 seconds. If they knock, you'll have to wait for the motion detector to first register (about a minute), then wait another 50 seconds for it to alert to your phone. By that time, the person waiting will surely have left.
4. The on-demand feature is great. Yes, you still have the above issues, but no other product on the market will allow you to view the video footage without motion or calls first.

I know, some folks might think these issues are due to slow connection speeds. But, rest assured, my internet speed is more than sufficient. I'm on a high speed broadband connection with 23mb/sec download and 4-5mb/sec upload speeds. I was worried that perhaps my speed was too slow during this process, so I confirmed from two other sources that this wasn't the case as they only require a 1.5mb/sec upload speed. 

Needless to say, I'm not thrilled with this product. It has a great concept but needs refinement. Perhaps the third generation will resolve these ongoing problems. Sadly, I'm returning my SkyBell (www.SkyBell.com) today and will be giving the Ring (www.Ring.com) product a shot. Check back for a review of that product in the coming weeks