Video doorbell vs Pro 2 camera

[BenDiesel]

Greetings! This question was sort of asked way down in the forum but not really answered for my application.  I have a Pro 2 system and was going to put a camera on my front porch pointing down the sidewalk.  Would I gain anything by going with the video doorbell instead and using the Pro 2 camera for another area?  Has anyone swapped a camera for the video doorbell?  If so, what do you think?  I don't need the doorbell features since my rule is "text me when you're here and I'll open the door".  I'm thinking more along the lines of video quality and field of view and wondering if the video doorbell would be way better than the camera for a front porch application to make the cost worth it.  Thanks for any and all comments!

[StephenB]

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@BenDiesel wrote:

 Has anyone swapped a camera for the video doorbell?  If so, what do you think?  I don't need the doorbell features since my rule is "text me when you're here and I'll open the door".  I'm thinking more along the lines of video quality and field of view and wondering if the video doorbell would be way better than the camera for a front porch application to make the cost worth it.  Thanks for any and all comments!

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I haven't swapped the camera for the doorbell, but I have left the two porch cameras in place when I installed the video doorbell.

If you want the field of view from the doorbell's perspective, then the best way to get that is to use the doorbell - it simply isn't practical to put a camera in that spot.  The video doorbell has noticeably better video quality than the Pro2, and since it is powered there is no need to worry about batteries.

The obvious difference is that you can move the camera, but you can't move the doorbell.  One implication is that if there is a lot of motion picked up by the doorbell, you can't change the position to deal with it - you need to use activity zones.

FWIW, the video camera gives a useful view, but it doesn't cover my entire porch (including the windows).  So I plan to continue using at least one camera there in addition to the doorbell.  I'd like to cross-trigger them, but at the moment you can't set up the doorbell to record when the other cameras detect motion.