Blink Video Doorbell: Amazon’s latest battery-powered security camera costs £50
The Blink Video Doorbell is nice and cheap, with a 1080p camera and two-year battery life
Amazon has unveiled the latest product in its budget Blink range of security cameras: the rather unimaginatively named Blink Video Doorbell.
The Blink Video Doorbell comes with a 1080p camera, two-way audio so you can speak with whoever is at the door and infrared night vision so it can pick up motion in the dark as well as during daylight hours.
It can be battery-powered or connected to existing doorbell wires and costs a mere £50. That’s impressively low for a smart doorbell, especially one that can be powered by a battery. The similarly wire-free Eufy Video Doorbell, for instance, costs £179.
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And although the battery isn’t rechargeable, battery life is pretty impressive: Amazon is quoting up to two years of use on a single charge. As usual with such claims, however, it very much depends on how many video recordings are triggered per day. If you live in a Victorian terrace with a door facing directly onto the street, with people walking by constantly, it’s likely to run out a lot sooner than two years.
Amazon was light on specifics when it comes to protection against the elements, with the accompanying press release simply stating that the Blink Video Doorbell can “weather the storm”. The Blink Video Doorbell pairs well with Alexa-enabled devices, including Amazon’s Fire tablets and the newly announced Echo Show 15. You’re able to monitor your home using voice commands, as well as receive notifications when motion is detected in front of the camera.
As is always the case with Amazon’s Blink security cameras, you have to pay a monthly or annual subscription to save clips to the cloud. The “Basic” Blink Subscription Plan costs £25 a year, or £2.50 a month, per camera and there’s also a “Plus” subscription with support for unlimited cameras. This costs £80 a year or £8 a month.
At the event, Amazon also announced a pair of new Blink accessories in the form of floodlight and solar panel mounts for the existing Blink Outdoor security camera. Both of these cost an additional £35.
As for the Blink Video Doorbell’s release date, Amazon hasn’t mentioned anything just yet, although there is a signup page where you can register your interest and be notified when it goes on sale.