I Upgraded to Ring’s NEW 4K PRO Doorbell… Was It Worth It?

[music] >> So, if you have a 2020 Ring Video Doorbell 3, then I'm going to show you my experience in upgrading to the latest 2026 Ring Video Doorbell 4K Retinal Pro. And answer the ultimate question, is it worth it? Let's find out. But first, let's take a quick look at a comparison of these two models. Of course, the video resolution is the biggest change and the reason why you'd upgrade. But you'll notice that there is an enhanced zoom capability of up to 10x, which I'll test. And within the Ring app, the most noticeable difference when you go into live view is that it is now a square aspect ratio with more of a fish eye lens with the idea being it is able to capture more of the full body and even parcels or packages left at your doorstep rather than the traditional 16 by 9 aspect ratio. Now, currently I've been using my Ring 3 with a solar panel charger, but ultimately the most obvious question would be, can I just remove and add the new 4K Pro doorbell to the same mounts? The answer? Unfortunately, no. So, let me explain. Starting with the batteries, the traditional one is the smaller micro USB rechargeable lower capacity battery. The 4K Pro one is larger, USB-C rechargeable, and higher capacity. So, with that, the size of the doorbell itself would clearly be different right off the bat. So, bear in mind, if you were thinking about using your existing batteries, you won't be able to. So, if you wanted to keep a second spare battery on hand, you'll have to purchase a new one. Next, the mounting bracket. As you can see, the mounting plate itself is quite thin and has just two holes that require drilling. So, potentially you could use one existing hole from your current setup and one new hole that will have to be drilled. But like I've shown, I have an existing solar panel, which I'd like to continue using as the charging method, but the current one won't work with the new doorbell. So, I've purchased a new solar charger panel, which is compatible. Now, it has a USB-C connector at the back because there's some Ring doorbells that have a USB-C charging port in that specific position, but this doorbell doesn't. So, I'll have to unscrew the type-C housing from this and use the fork to connect to the two screws on the back of the doorbell in the same way I have with my current Ring 3. It comes with the screws and wall plugs, so you don't need to worry about using your existing ones. And here, you can see the size difference clearly with the solar panels. So, you'll have to be ready to drill some new holes for this, too. Okay, so I've taken my existing doorbell off now, and the old solar panel had four screws required in a square type position. But I'm going to use the bottom right hole for the one of the holes, and then just drill one more hole just slightly higher than the existing top right hole. Okay, that's done. Screwed in place and ready to put my thin mounting bracket on top of the solar panel. So, I've screwed the mounting bracket on top now. I've pulled the fork connector out, and now I'm ready to place the new doorbell on top. And there we go, it's as simple as that. The new doorbell is ready to use. Just remember to add it and pair it with the app before you do the mounting because you'll have to scan the QR code at the back of the doorbell as part of the pairing process. So, now let me show you a side-by-side comparison of the footage from my old Ring Doorbell compared to this new one in both day and night time. Looking at the daytime comparison, the jump from the Ring Doorbell 3 to the new Ring Doorbell Retina 4K Pro is immediately noticeable. The older Doorbell 3 has that classic 16 by 9 wide angle view, so it captures a broad scene, but the image looks softer, darker in the shaded areas, and there's less detail on the person's face, clothing, cars, and background. The new 4K Pro has a much brighter and cleaner image with noticeably better sharpness, improved color, and far better exposure balance between the shaded driveway and the bright sky. The biggest practical upgrade though is the one-to-one head-to-toe aspect ratio. You can see much more vertically including the ground area near the door, which is ideal for parcels and full body visitor detection. So, while the doorbell 3 still does the basics, the 4K Pro gives a more detailed, more useful, and more modern-looking image overall. Now, let's listen to an audio comparison between the two. >> So, this is an audio test of the Ring Video Doorbell 3 from 2020. Okay, so now we are doing an audio test of the Ring 4K Retinal Pro. So, let me know in the comments down below, is the audio quite significantly better or does it just seem, you know, generally the same? This is going to be heard via the Ring app exactly like how you're hearing it right now. And if you feel like that is a good enough upgrade on the audio, especially now I have a busy road behind me and there's a lot of noises from cars going by, is this clear enough to have that two-way communication? One final thing I wanted to show you via this app is the zoom capability. They specify that it goes up to 10 times enhanced the zoom. So, I'm going to go all the way further back, zoom in so you can see the quality of how that zoom works. >> For a battery-powered doorbell, it's genuinely useful, but it's not magic. From far away, you can clearly zoom right across the driveway and identify the person's body position, clothing colors, and general movement, which is a huge step up compared to a standard 1080p doorbell. As the person gets closer, the image still gives you a much tighter view of the face and upper body, but you can see the limits. The face details become softer, especially in shadow, and the stream bit rate here is only around 2.5 to 3 megabits per second, so there's some compression. Overall, I'd say the 10x zoom is best for checking what's happening at distance, spotting people near your gate or driveway, and reviewing the movement. But for crisp facial detail, the best results still come when the person is closer to the doorbell. Looking at the nighttime comparison, the difference between these two doorbells is really clear. The doorbell 3 relies on traditional black and white infrared night vision, which still gives you a usable image, but it looks flatter, harsher, and loses a lot of detail in faces, clothing, and the surrounding driveway. By comparison, the 4K Pro delivers full color night vision, and that makes the scene feel far more natural and informative. You can better distinguish the visitor's clothes, the color of the cars, the driveway surface, and the overall environment. The 4K Pro also appears brighter and more balanced with better clarity across both the subject and the background, while still giving you that taller one-to-one view for head-to-toe coverage. So in low light, the Ring 3 still captures the event, but the 4K Pro gives you a much more useful, more modern, and easier to interpret image overall. And finally, you can pair the new doorbell to any Ring chime, old or new. So at least that's a positive. So that's the comparison. Overall, is it worth it? I would say yes, it's a huge difference in quality, but the doorbell plus solar charger costs around £260, which has to be one of the most expensive purchases for a video doorbell, on top of requiring a monthly Ring Plus subscription plan. So it might not be for everyone from an expense point of view, but if you can afford it, then I'd say it's worth it. Any questions, drop them down below, and thanks for watching. I'll see you next time. >> Mhm.