A smart video doorbell may be the most important home security device you own, as it lets you see whoever is at your door before you open it. As with most video doorbells, the Zmodo Greet Pro With Beam ($199) lets you use your phone to observe and communicate with visitors, and it has a motion sensor that will trigger an alert and a video recording that's stored in the cloud. It also comes with a Beam Wi-Fi extender to make sure you have a solid connection with your router. Day and night video quality appeared sharp in our tests and installation was relatively easy, but the Greet Pro lacks a few of the features that you get with the similarly priced SkyBell HD.

Design and Features

The Greet Pro is similar in shape to the Ring Video Doorbell 2, but at 4.4 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches (HWD) it is a bit smaller, although not as small as the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. The IP51-rated weatherproof enclosure has a gunmetal gray and glossy black finish, a round doorbell button surrounded by an LED light ring, and a 1080p camera with a 180-degree field of view. The camera streams video at 25fps and has a 4x digital zoom, and uses four infrared LEDs to provide up to 16 feet of black-and-white night vision. The LED ring flashes green during setup, glows solid red when there is a connectivity problem, and glows solid blue when everything is working correctly.

The camera enclosure contains a motion sensor and uses two speakers and a microphone for two-way audio and to emit a doorbell chime when the button is pressed (a chime also sounds on your phone and on your existing mechanical chime box). It supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, and comes with a Zmodo Beam Alert Wi-Fi extender that ensures a solid network connection with your router (you can order a Greet Pro without the Beam for $179). The Beam Alert measures 4.0 by 2.0 by 1.6 inches and should be plugged into an indoor outlet that is close to where the doorbell will be installed.

The Greet Pro uses the same mobile app for Android and iOS devices that is used for the Torch Pro light bulb camera, though the home screen has been updated since we last reviewed it and now includes a list of all installed Zmodo devices, Mode buttons (for use with Zmodo security cameras), the local weather, and four buttons along the bottom labeled Home, Events, Discovery, and Me.

Tap the Doorbell tab to view a live stream or to display a timeline of recorded events. Since the camera is always recording, you can go back in time to see what happened prior to and after a triggered event. The live stream can be viewed in portrait mode or full-screen landscape mode, and has buttons along the bottom for manual recording, taking a snapshot, push-to-talk communication, muting the speaker, and accessing the timeline. You can pan the 180-degree view using finger swipes or use the Gyro control feature to pan by tilting the phone in either direction. While in the live view you can tap the gear icon in the upper right corner to adjust night vision settings, create an alert schedule, adjust volume settings and motion detection areas, and record up to five voice messages that you can play when the doorbell button is pressed.

The Events button takes you to a screen that lists all motion, doorbell ring, and missed call events, and includes time stamps and video thumbnails for each event. The Discovery button provides links to sites that offer live streams from establishments such as restaurants, shops, and parks that are using Zmodo cameras, and the Me button takes you to a screen where you can adjust system settings, view a gallery of snapshots, share access to the doorbell, and access Zmodo support.

Zmodo offers free cloud storage for the past 36 hours of recorded video, but if you want to access older video you'll have to subscribe to one of the cloud storage plans. The 7-Day Plan goes for $4.99 per month or $49.90 per year and gives you access to the past seven days of video, and the 30-Day Plan goes for $9.99 per month or $99.90 per year. Both plans are per camera, but provide a 50 percent discount for additional plans if you own other Zmodo cameras.

As is the case with the Torch Pro, the Greet Pro does not work with other smart home devices and lacks support for Amazon Alexa voice commands. With the SkyBell HD and Ring Video Doorbell Pro, you can view live video on an Amazon Echo Show device using Alexa voice commands, and they both support IFTTT, which lets them work with other devices using internet-based applets. Similarly, the Nest Hello doorbell works with Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands and IFTTT applets, and it will also interact with other smart devices that are part of the Works with Nest initiative.

Installation and Performance

Installing the Greet Pro is relatively easy, but if you're not comfortable messing with electrical breakers and low-voltage wiring, you should hire a professional to do the job. I started by turning off the breaker that supplies power to my existing doorbell and removed it. I attached the Zmodo mounting plate to the wood siding, connected the two wires to the terminals, and snapped the doorbell into place. The light ring immediately began flashing green.

I plugged the Beam extender into an outlet near the front door, downloaded the app, created a Zmodo account, and tapped the plus button in the upper right corner of the home screen to open the Add Device menu. I selected Automatic from the list (per the written instructions) and connected to the Beam's SSID using my phone's Wi-Fi settings. I returned to the app and selected my home Wi-Fi SSID, entered the password, reconnected my phone to my home network, and waited several seconds for the app to connect to the Beam. I gave it a name and returned to the home screen to add the doorbell using the same method. The doorbell's light ring began blinking blue and a connection was made within 30 seconds. I named the doorbell, gave it a password, and installation was complete.

The Greet Pro delivered sharp 1080p video in my tests. Day video was crisp, with rich color quality, and night video showed excellent contrast. There was a touch of barrel distortion, but this is not uncommon with doorbell cameras. Two-way audio was clean and very easy to understand, and motion detection worked well, with very few false alerts. Push notifications arrived immediately when the doorbell was pressed and when motion was detected, and recorded video appeared just as sharp as the live feed.

Conclusions

Sharp 1080p video and clear night vision make the Zmodo Greet Pro With Beam Alert a solid choice for anyone looking to add an extra level of security to their home. It offers clean two-way audio and accurate motion detection, and you get free cloud storage for video recorded within the past 36 hours. It's easy enough to install as long as you don't mind working with low-voltage electrical wiring, but it doesn't interact with other smart home devices and lacks support for IFTTT and Alexa Voice commands.

If working with wires has you spooked, consider the Ring Video Doorbell 2. It uses rechargeable batteries and plays nice with other smart devices, but you'll have to pay for cloud storage. For a full-featured wired doorbell solution, the SkyBell HD is our reigning Editors' Choice. It works with plenty of other smart devices, offers free cloud storage, and uses multi-colored LEDs to deliver full color night vision video.

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