Ring Spotlight Cam Pro review

Ring’s Spotlight Cam Pro comes in a compact package that includes the camera itself, a micro-USB charging cable, mounting screws, a screwdriver, and even stickers to alert viewers that your home is Ring-protected.

I tested the battery-powered Spotlight Cam Pro, but it also comes in AC-powered and solar-powered versions. The battery model ships with one battery, but has room to add a second to double the battery life. The USB-C port also means you can always decide to use it as an add-on model later, or extend battery life with additional solar panels.

Ring’s mounting disc makes installing the camera very easy. Simply install the disc to the outside wall first, then add it to the mounting cone, and finally, screw the cam into place. It takes less than 15 minutes.

You’ll need to make sure the camera is positioned low enough to reach it easily for battery replacement and troubleshooting. Fortunately, the camera does not have to be completely removed to charge the battery. You can twist the bottom and take out the battery instead of removing the entire unit.

Once set up, you can loosen the stabilization knob to change camera angles. The more backyard you have, the more level your camera needs to be. I angled it down a bit when using it on my apartment balcony.

The Ring Spotlight Cam Pro is one of the very few cameras that uses radar to detect motion, not just changes in the camera’s image. This technology enables 3D motion detection, which we will discuss below.

Three new features make the Spotlight Cam Pro stand out from its peers: a bird’s-eye view, 3D motion detection, and pre-roll.

Pre-roll is one of my favorite additions. Instead of getting an alert and seeing what happens, you can watch a few seconds of footage before the alert comes. This feature can help you track the path an intruder took to reach your area and help you prevent it from happening again. In my neighborhood I only have people walking their dogs or kids running around, but it was great to see the exes.

The bird’s eye view allows you to see the trajectory of where the target has gone in areas of motion during a time when you are not in live view. Like the pre-roll feature, Bird’s Eye is a great feature that helps you keep track of intruders if needed. The only downside to this feature is that you can’t use it with a pre-roll; You can only enable one or the other.

Another unique feature is 3D motion detection, which relies on new radar technology built into the camera. It’s not something you enable and disable, so much as a feature that turns on and improves all of the camera’s motion detection. In the app, you can adjust all motion features, and you should notice more accuracy in your alerts.

Each environment is unique, and the Ring app allows you to adjust your camera to your property. For example, each motion feature can be set for sensitivity, and if you only want to cover one area, you can use shapes to specify that in the map. Spotlight Cam Pro can tag people, animals, cars, and more, allowing you to choose what you’d like to receive notifications about. Getting notifications about all of them generated spam for me, so I enabled notifications for people and animals only, and only for my porch area.

The camera can also take a snapshot periodically to give you a quick view of your area. This helps you look at what has changed in your area over time in case you don’t want to use notifications.

After setting up a single Ring smart home system, setting up new devices becomes much easier because details like Wi-Fi information will go over automatically during the initial setup. I have a Ring Alarm security system and other Ring cameras, so adding this outdoor camera was easy. You can also link devices, so if one camera detects motion, another camera can start spinning, lights can turn on, or whatever action you set.

The Spotlight Cam Pro retails for $230, just $30 more than the similar Plus model. For this price, the upgrade is a no-brainer. Either model is a great outdoor security camera, but the Pro’s new radar-based motion detection features are some of the most accurate I’ve tested.

Just keep in mind that to properly take advantage of some of the best motion detection features, you will have to pay a subscription of $4 per month or $40 per year. And that price jumps up if you have multiple Ring cameras at home. But the compatibility between other cameras and devices is another strong reason to recommend this camera. Ring has a whole suite of smart home products to connect with each other, and connectivity helps them work better.