Better than Ring? This video doorbell has no subscription fees and is $130 after Prime Day

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

What's the deal?

The Lorex 2K Wi-Fi video doorbell is still on sale after Prime Day with $50 off, bringing the price down to $130.

Also: The best Prime Day deals still live

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ZDNET's key takeaways

The Lorex 2K Wi-Fi video doorbell retails for $180, but a lingering Prime Day deal brings the price down to $130.With 2K resolution, the doorbell is available for wired or wireless installations; it communicates reliably and includes a preinstalled 32GB microSD card for local storage so you can bypass subscription fees. Though it has a 2K resolution, the image is so wide angle that objects look distorted. 

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A video doorbell is one of the best ways to start your smart home journey. They are easy to use, often easy to install, and will surely provide much-needed surveillance. Though they may seem intimidating to set up for beginners, there's a video doorbell option for just about everyone, whether you're looking for a budget-friendly option or one that's easy to install. 

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Having tested several video doorbell options, I've enjoyed having the latest Lorex 2K Wi-Fi video doorbell. I prefer a battery video doorbell for easy installation, so I got the battery-operated option. But more importantly, Lorex ditches the typical paid subscription model in favor of a flat hardware fee. Is it worth it? Let's find out.

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Having your phone tell you who's at the door in real-time and being able to talk to them when you can't answer the door is life-changing, I tell you. The Lorex 2K video doorbell does this and more, as it boasts a 2K video resolution with HDR, no monthly subscription fees, and the battery option features an easy-to-install set of brackets to give you the viewing angle you desire.

Setting up the Lorex 2K video doorbell was straightforward, as I opted for the battery-powered model (there's a wired option, too). It took a few hours to charge, pair it to the Lorex mobile app, and install the bracket where I wanted the doorbell. I already have a Eufy Battery video doorbell, so I set up the Lorex next to it to compare the images captured by both. 

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Once the doorbell is installed, there's not much else for you to worry about. One of my favorite things about this video doorbell is the lack of monthly fees. You can store your video recordings in the 32GB MicroSD card included and offload them whenever you need to bring your doorbell in to charge. If you're using a wired installation, I'd keep an extra MicroSD card to swap out now and to keep your video doorbell recording the events that matter to you. 

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

The Lorex app is also easy to use and navigate. It allows you to check your notifications, look at the live feed, change your doorbell settings, and check your event history. Lorex is a renowned security camera maker, and the app lets you access other Lorex cameras you may have at home in one place. 

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The doorbell also features Person Detection, making it easy to avoid false alarms. You won't be notified when a spider crawls over your video camera or the trees in your yard sway in the wind. 

The biggest problem with this Lorex video doorbell is that the image, though good quality at 2560 x 1920 resolution, looks distorted due to the 164-degree field of view. This is common with Ring video doorbells and it's not a big deal for most buyers.

People can look distorted in the images, which isn't a big deal if you're using the doorbell to see who's at the door, but it does bother me when I rewatch the recordings. As you can see in the comparison above, my Lorex doorbell shows a stretched image compared to the screenshot from the Eufy doorbell, as evidenced by the elongated UPS truck.

It also doesn't include a chime kit, meaning you'd have to buy it separately or forgo the battery feature and use it with your home's existing wiring to use your current chime box. The Lorex Chimebox is available for an extra $50 as a small, plug-in device that works with Wi-Fi. 

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That said, the Lorex 2K video doorbell excels at daily use. It's reliably on time with real-time alerts when someone is spotted at the door and integrates seamlessly with Alexa. Hence, we get notifications from our Echo devices when someone rings the doorbell, and it has a small LED light that comes on in the dark when you approach it.

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

The built-in LED is an underrated feature and one of my favorites. It is helpful when you arrive home in the dark and can use some brightness to find your keys. I also like that it could deter would-be intruders, as the light turns on when the camera detects movement. 

ZDNET's buying advice

Even if I'm not a huge fan of the wide-angle image captured by it, there are quite a few things I like about the Lorex 2K Battery Video Doorbell. The battery has outlasted my Eufy Battery Doorbell for the past few months and needs charging every other month. 

The Lorex 2K Battery Doorbell is available for $180 (currently discounted to $130) and is the perfect video doorbell for anyone with a Lorex camera system in their home. But it's also an excellent substitute for a Ring video doorbell, as you can enjoy many of the same benefits without paying for a subscription. The fact that you can also opt for wired installation to use your existing chime and expand the internal storage with a microSD card (up to 256GB) takes it to the next level.