Today is the day we finally compare Nest Secure to Ring Alarm.
Usually I keep my videos short and sweet, but this video is going to unapologetically
long so if you’re looking for something specific, I will create some shortcut links
below so check that out but otherwise we’re going to jump right in here.
Both Nest Secure and Ring Alarm are self-installed home security systems that you can self-monitor
or you can pay to have someone else monitor them.
For $399, Nest includes a Nest Guard, two Nest Detects, and two Nest Tags.
By contrast, Ring Alarm is $199 and includes a Base Station, Keypad, 1 Contact Sensor,
1 Motion Detector, and a Range Extender.
Nest Guard and the Ring Base Station can chime when you open the door and they both have
a siren.
Both base stations include cellular and battery backup.
Ring Alarm promises a 24-hour battery life, but in testing it gave 35 hours.
Nest Guard promises 12 hours, but in testing gave a full 43 hours.
Nest Guard, in addition to being a base station, also acts as a keypad.
It lights up as you approach it and you can use it to arm your system home or away and
you can disarm it.
By default, Guard doesn’t require a passcode to take action, but I suggest you enable this
option using the mobile app.
On the back of Guard you’ll also find a panic button, and on top, there’s an info
button.
Ring’s Base Station clearly shows system status.
The ring is blue when disarmed and red when armed home or away.
It’s important to note that you can only have one Nest Guard per home, which in some
ways makes Ring’s idea of separating the keypad from the base station wise as you can
purchase and add additional keypads.
Like the Base Station, the keypad shows system status.
For some reason, it doesn’t chime, but it does count down for entry and exit delays,
and it will also sound a siren when needed.
Also, if you press and hold the check and x buttons for 3 seconds, a panic alarm will
sound.
The keypad connects to the Ring Base using Z-Wave Plus as do all of the other sensors
including the Ring Alarm Contact Sensor, which uses two magnetic pieces.
When separated, the system assumes a door is opened.
When they’re together, it assumes the door or window its protecting is closed.
If you try to arm the system when a door is opened, it will request that you bypass the
sensor or close the door.
The same is true of the Nest contact sensor.
Overall, I prefer the design of Nest Detect to Ring’s contact sensor, but it’s more
than double the price of Ring’s sensor; however, it is multi-purpose.
Nest Detect is first a contact sensor, but also a pathlight that lights up as you walk
by.
It also has a feature called Quiet Open which allows you to bypass the sensor by touching
it.
If you’re concerned that your kids might bypass the sensor before, say, a big night
out, you can simply turn the feature off using the mobile app.
Finally, Nest Detect can also act as a motion sensor, which is awesome as Nest doesn’t
sell a dedicated motion sensor.
Instead of using the two pieces, you’ll just use one, and designate it as a motion
sensing device when you set it up using the mobile app.
To compare, Ring sells an actual motion detector.
In my opinion, Nest’s discreet design is again vastly superior, but there’s also
a performance difference here that works out in Ring’s favor.
Nest Detect has a 15-foot range and Nest Guard, which also has a built-in motion sensor, has
a 10-foot range.
In testing, I found this to be true.
I’m not sure what Ring’s range is but I tested it at 32 feet and it worked fine.
One word of caution, during testing I noticed that I would arm
Ring away, and yet the motion sensor would not trigger the alarm.
This is because it has a built-in retrigger time.
If it senses you moving around while it’s arming, it will reset the clock by 3 minutes
regardless of your set exit delay.
After three minutes, if it senses movement, it will trigger the alarm.
The final device in the Ring Starter Kit is the Alarm Range Extender which helps boost
the Z-Wave signal an additional 250 feet.
It plugs into an outlet, but also has battery backup.
The Nest Secure Kit does not include a range extender, but you can buy the Nest Connect
for $69.
Connect acts as a signal repeater for the Thread protocol, which is what Nest Secure
uses.
The final piece of equipment included with the Nest Secure kit is the Nest Tag.
The kit ships with two of them which act as RFID tags that you can tap on your Nest Guard
to arm and disarm it.
Nest doesn’t sell any security devices beyond what we’ve discussed nor does Ring, though
Ring does have two coming soon including a Ring Alarm Smoke & Co Listener and an Alarm
Flood and Freeze Sensor.
Of course, both companies also sell cameras and related devices.
Ring sells several cameras and Video Doorbells, but they don't integrate with the Ring Alarm
at this time.
They can’t trigger the alarm, and the alarm can’t trigger the cameras.
The only advantage is that you have one app to control your Ring cameras and your Ring
Alarm.
Nest also sells cameras and a video doorbell.
If your Nest Secure detects an alarm event, it will trigger your camera to take a snapshot
which Nest will keep for three hours unless you pay for additional cloud storage.
Also, if you open the app during an alarm event, you will be able to manage the security
alert while simultaneously viewing a live video feed from your connected cameras.
Nest Secure also with the Works With Nest program allowing it to play with other devices
like Nest Protect, LIFX, and Lutron.
Nest Secure also works with Google Home.
Nest Secure and Ring Alarm both lack IFTTT channels.
Surprisingly, though Ring is owned by Amazon, it also lacks an Alexa skill at this time.
Hopefully, they will launch one soon.
The Ring Base Station can communicate using Z-Wave and Zigbee, but they haven't really
taken advantage of its abilities beyond an integration with the First Alert Z-Wave Smoke
and CO Alarm and the coming soon Dome siren.
On a positive note, if you do add a smoke alarm to Ring, they will monitor it if you
have professional monitoring.
Nest, on the other hand, will not.
And while we’re on the topic of monitoring, I think that’s where we should head next.
Thus far the only thing we’ve discussed that’s not free is cellular backup.
For Free, you’ll have app control, notifications, and the alarm will sound if an event occurs.
The next step up is self-monitoring with cellular backup, which Nest offers for $5 per month.
Ring doesn’t have a cellular only option, but for just $10 per month, they’ll provide
cellular backup, 24/7 monitoring, and 60 days of cloud storage for an unlimited number of
Ring cameras.
Nest charges $29.00 per month for monitoring provided by Brinks or $19.00 if you sign a
three-year contract.
Cloud storage is a separate charge.
If you want to learn more about Brinks, I will link to my Brinks written review below.
And I’m going to swap topics on you real quick, we’re going to move from monitoring
over to apps.
Both Nest Secure and Ring Alarm have a mobile app and they both have a web app.
From the Nest Home Screen, you can swap from Home to Away mode, but further control of
Nest Secure happens from the Nest Secure Screen.
From here, you can change the mode of your system, and quickly view the status of your
devices.
You can also click to see a history of events, and click even further into each day to get
a closer look at things.
From the Ring app, you can also arm and disarm right from the home screen.
The history here, however, is all related to my doorbell camera.
To view your alarm history, you’ll need to click on the settings menu, history, and
then the alarm tab.
From the Nest app, you can also control Home/Away Assist which will remind you to arm the system
if you drive away without doing so, it won’t arm it for you.
Ring doesn’t have a comparable feature.
Nest will also let you do things like include or exclude your motion detector from Home
and Guarding mode or even set the motion sensor to a more pet-friendly setting.
If you have a cat, however, Nest suggests that you turn motion detection off.
Back to the settings menu you can also click in to check on the different devices connected
to your system.
For example, you can decide if your door sensors should trigger a tone sound.
From Ring’s settings menu you can also adjust the different modes.
Like with Nest, you can decide which sensors should be included in different modes.
You can also set an entry and exit delay.
Finally, both devices support multi-user access.
Nest will let you choose between full access and home entry only.
Home entry is best for guests because you can give them a passcode that only works during
a specific set schedule.
For example, if you have a home cleaner, you can give them access to your home
one day a week
with the passcode working between 9 am and 11 am.
Ring also lets you add other users, but the feature isn’t as defined as what Nest offers.
With Ring, there can only be one owner, and then there are users.
Users can arm and disarm your systems using the app or a passcode.
Users can also view a full user history.
In the end, I give both systems a thumbs up; however, abode is going to remain my top self-monitored
alarm choice for now.
Ring takes a very close second place because it’s so inexpensive. Also, it provides
greater protection than Nest Secure because of the additional sensors that it offers including
things like the coming soon flood/freeze sensor, fire monitoring, and also the potential to
expand further using Z-Wave.
As a side note, Ring Alarm is also one of the first products to use Z-Wave Security
2 and Z-Wave SmartStart technology which encrypts the signal sent between the base station and
the cloud as well as the base and the sensors.
Once Ring expands their system to add third-party compatibility and additional sensors like
flood, freeze, glass break, and a key fob, I think there’s a good chance it could replace
abode as my overall favorite.
Nest is also great, but lacks additional sensors, and if you’re going to pay for monitoring,
fire monitoring is an essential element.
Plus, it’s expensive.
So what do you all think?
Let me know which product you are going to pick, or maybe you already have picked by
commenting below.
If you all want to learn more about smart home technology be sure to hit the subscribe
button.
Usually, I’m a little more succinct, but I really wanted to dig into these two products
because so many of you all have asked me to compare them, and I really hope this was helpful.
If you have any questions about Ring Alarm or Nest Secure be sure to let me know, and
I will see you all soon.