Eufy Security Video Doorbell review - The private option (1-day sale - $163.99) - Android

Eufy Security has an entirely different pitch for its video doorbell: privacy. If you’re a bit less trusting and would rather not share an unending stream of video from your front porch with a faceless corporation, the Eufy Video Doorbell might be your best bet.

Find out why in Android Authority‘s Eufy Security Video Doorbell review.

Editor’s note: Today, July 6, Amazon is discounting the Eufy Security Wireless Video Doorbell down to $163.99. Check out the deal right here.

Eufy Security Video Doorbell review: A ‘Eu’-nique angle

Security for our homes is the primary reason we might buy a video doorbell. We use them to keep tabs on visitors, deliveries, and sometimes strangers lurking through the neighborhood late at night. But privacy is also part of the equation. We expect at least some degree of privacy with everything we do in the connected world. Some corporations are better at delivering on that promise than others. Ring, for example, got tripped up last year when ne’er-do-wells hijacked a little girl’s bedroom camera.

Eufy’s notion of privacy has to do with the ownership of video generated by the doorbell. Rather than upload and store everything in the cloud, Eufy’s video doorbell stores everything on a hard drive in your home. You quite literally maintain ownership of the video, as it never leaves your house. This may be appealing to those who would rather not send all that personal data to a random server where it might be analyzed.

Is that enough to sell a video doorbell? Here’s the scoop.

See also: What is a smart home?

How hard is the Eufy doorbell to set up?

One of the biggest advantages of battery-powered video doorbells is that you can stick them anywhere. You’re not beholden to using an existing perch next to the door where a wired doorbell might already be. The Eufy doorbell, thankfully, has both wired and battery options. Similar to the Arlo and the Ring, you need only a modicum of handyman skills to get the Eufy attached to the wall and streaming live video.

Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus review: Pushing all the right buttons

Arlo Video Doorbell review: Higher quality video on the cheap

There is a curveball. That hard drive mentioned above? It’s included in the doorbell kit. It’s a combined hard drive/chime and is where all the video archives are kept.

Why is this a curveball? You need to plug it into an ethernet port on your home network. Many people rely 100% on Wi-Fi to keep things in their home connected. Not everyone has access to a spare ethernet hookup. I literally had one left in my house. If you don’t have access to ethernet, that’s a dealbreaker right there. Why this thing can’t use Wi-Fi is beyond me.