Reolink 2K Battery Doorbell Camera Wireless, Video Doorbell with 1:1 Head-to-Foot View, People/Vehicle/Package Detection, 2.4/5GHz WiFi, Video Call, No Monthly Fee, Local Storage (Chime not included)

I’ve had this Reolink battery-powered doorbell installed for just over three weeks now, and I honestly can’t fault it. It’s been rock solid from day one. Setup was smooth—took about 15 minutes from opening the box to seeing live video on my phone. The Reolink app guided me through the whole process without any head-scratching.The video quality is superb. That 2K resolution really makes a difference—faces are clear, text on parcels is readable, and the 1:1 vertical view is surprisingly useful. You get a full-body shot of visitors and a clear view of packages left at the door. Night vision also works really well, even when dark.Smart detection is spot on. It correctly distinguishes between people, vehicles, and packages, and doesn’t constantly bombard me with notifications for every leaf blowing by. I’ve had quite a bit of foot traffic and deliveries lately, and it’s performed beautifully every time.Now, let’s talk battery life—I’m seriously impressed. With frequent use over three weeks (plenty of motion alerts and testing the live feed), it’s only dropped 7%. That’s far better than I expected, and suggests it’ll last several months between charges, even with regular activity.I also love the local storage option. I slotted in a 256GB microSD card (formatted in the PC (quicker and easier then in the camera), and that’s it—no cloud subscriptions, no hidden costs, just secure footage saved locally. Also works very well in my Synology NAS, alongside other Reolink cameras. Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) also helps with connection reliability; I’ve had zero dropouts or buffering.Build quality feels solid, weather resistance has been tested by classic British rain, and it hasn’t flinched.If I had to nitpick: the live feed does take a few seconds to load when the camera’s in battery-saving mode, and the app UI could use a bit of polish—but these are minor issues in an otherwise excellent package.Final Verdict:This is a feature-packed, high-quality smart doorbell that does exactly what you need it to do—without pushing you into a monthly subscription. The battery performance alone is worth shouting about. Absolutely worth every penny.

Updated review (4 stars) 02/06/2025:Sadly I returned the Video Doorbell 2K in the end as while Reolink support acknowledged the problem they unfortunately couldn't provide a timeframe when the issue would be fixed.That said, Reolink were great in arranging the return for refund / credit even though it was outside the return window as I'd bought it last year in the BF sale.I updated my review to 4 stars on that basis as it's great that a manufacturer stands behind their products and genuinely wants to ensure that the customer is happy.I'm going to keep an eye on the Video Doorbell 2K reviews and keep checking the forums to see if the problem is resolved in the future,Original review (3 stars) 14/03/2025:I bought this in the BF sale last year and only recently got round to install it to replace my old Ring Video Doorbell 2 (was waiting for the subscription to expire).While this is a somewhat negative review, I'll start by saying that I love Reolink gear, I've got an RLN36 NVR and 15 of their cameras in total, various models and in general they can't be beaten for features, quality and price point.The new Video Doorbell 2K is also a great device in principle, good quality and loads of features. I'm using it on a 24V AC power supply (the original mechanical chime has been removed) to keep the battery trickle charged and via 5GHz WiFi. All good so far.Since installing the doorbell though I've found the battery drain is terrible. I understand that generally speaking battery life is always a compromise between settings on the device, so tweaking the PIR sensitivity and other adjustments can help.However, there's IMO two problems with the doorbell as it stands.The first is that when it's awake, it no longer charges the battery from the wired PSU. The reasoning for this is that IF you have a mechanical chime installed (i.e. the mechanical chime is providing power to the doorbell) then keeping the doorbell being charged from the PSU while the doorbell is awake *might* activate the chime, which would obviously be unwanted behaviour.That's fine, but I don't have a mechanical chime installed, just the PSU, so there's no reason why the doorbell shouldn't *still* be charged in my particular install scenario.The second is that while the doorbell obviously has to wake up when you intentionally view the live stream via the App, desktop client or in my case the NVR monitor screen, it also wakes up even when not *intentionally* viewing the live stream.By that I mean that if you view a different camera on the App, desktop client or NVR monitor screen, when you return back to the matrix / grid view of all the cameras, the doorbell is "refreshed" along with all the other cameras, forcing it to wake up, even though you do not intentionally wish to view it.The result is that in the space of a few days, the battery is entirely flat because the doorbell spends far too much time being awake (when it won't be charged) and not enough time being asleep (when it would be charged).Currently I'm waiting for Reolink to confirm that these are indeed bugs and that they intend to fix them, else I guess I'll be looking at raising a return for the doorbell.As a side note, the old Ring Video Doorbell 2 operated fine in exactly the same setup for many, many years - I only decided to replace it so I could ditch the yearly subscription and move to a local NVR integrated doorbell.

Brilliant bit of kit. We first bought a similar Eufy doorbell and were intensely disappointed with the poor battery life, poor app with limited zoning features, and either constant false motion notifications or failure to detect relevant events.We chose to return the Eufy doorbell and try this Reolink one and it’s now like night and day.The Reolink doorbell has been consistently good. No more false alarms, better detection, better picture quality, better battery life (ours has been in use for almost a month and still has over 50% battery on a single charge!), and a much more intuitive and customisable app as well. The only downside is that you will need to purchase a separate chime for the doorbell if you don’t already have a compatible one, which will increase the overall price, but I’d say the quality you get is absolutely worth it.