Although it is best known for its video doorbells, Ring also makes a wide range of home security cameras. These include cameras designed for indoor or outdoor use, plus some models that have integrated floodlights, and others that pan and tilt for a 360-degree view.
For this review I’m looking at the Ring Outdoor Camera Pro Battery, which is also known as the Stick Up Cam Pro. This is a wireless, weatherproof security camera designed to work outdoors, and because it comes from Ring’s Pro line-up it benefits from radar tech for better motion detection.
Other features include HDR video, improved audio compared to Ring’s none-pro models, a bird's-eye view function, weather resistance and colour pre-roll, which saves a few seconds of footage taken before motion is detected.
As with all other Ring products, a subscription is practically a necessity. Without it, the camera will still alert you to movement, and you can use the Ring smartphone app to see what’s going on. But footage is not saved anywhere, so can’t be viewed afterwards. Called Ring Home, the subscription service saves recordings online for 180 days, plus other features, and starts at £4.99 per month or £49.99 per year.
How I tested
I installed the Ring Outdoor Camera Pro Battery outside my home and used it for a couple of weeks. During that time, I experimented with the 3D motion detection system, adjusted various settings to suit my security cameras requirements, then brought it indoors to see how it performs in different environments.
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Ring Outdoor Camera Pro Battery
This cylindrical security camera is designed for DIY installation. It comes with a mount that can be fitted to a wall, fence, shelf or other flat surface with the included screws and wall plugs. All you’ll need is a drill and a screwdriver to complete the installation.
The mount attaches to the camera with a twist, and is held securely in place with a screw. A thief could potentially remove the camera, as it’s just a regular screw, but since Ring cameras immediately upload recordings to the cloud, and do not hold the footage locally, this would be a pointless exercise. The adjustable stand can also be secured to its base plate with another concealed screw, further adding to the robustness of the installation.
The stand offers some vertical and horizontal adjustability, thanks to a ball-and-socket connection holding the camera in place. More adjustability would be nice, but if you plan ahead and make sure you’ve found the perfect position before reaching for the powertools, you’ll be able to secure the camera in a way that gives it the correct view.
One slight annoyance – and one inherently shared with all wireless security cameras – is that the battery needs charging every few weeks or months, depending on how it’s used. Naturally, this means accessing the camera, taking it apart to get to the battery, disabling the camera while the battery is charged (via the included USB cable), and reinserting the battery a few hours later. This limits the camera’s location, since you might not want to climb a ladder every time it needs charging. I would advise installing it within easy reach of an upstairs window or consider Ring’s solar panel, which is wall-mountable and keeps the camera battery topped-up.
Lastly, the Ring Outdoor Camera Pro Battery has a weather-resistant design, so it can survive being out in the rain, and it can operate in temperatures ranging from -20C to 48.5C.
Camera
The camera records 1080p Full HD video with HDR. Standing for High Dynamic Range, this technology aims to boost shadows and lower highlights, helping to retain more detail in both the darker and lighter areas of its view.
In testing I found the Ring produced good-quality video that is sharp, clear, and with a nicely balanced exposure that creates plenty of detail. Colours looked accurate and, while the 155-degree lens is fairly wide, it isn’t a match for the 180-degree lenses of some video doorbells. That said, security cameras like this one tend to be mounted higher than a doorbell, so are less impacted by a narrow field of view.
Night vision is automatically enabled when ambient light levels fall. You can pick to use either the typical greyscale night vision, or use Ring’s colour version. The latter can work well, and would be useful for identifying the colour of a car involved in a late-night collision outside your home, for example. But if there’s a nearby streetlight, or you live in a city with obvious light pollution, the colour of that tends to make most of the Ring’s footage either green or yellow. I prefer using standard grey night vision to avoid this.
Features and connectivity
Since this is one of Ring’s Pro models, the big feature is how the camera uses radar for creating a bird’s eye view with 3D motion detection. The takes a bit of setting up – including some trial and error – but once complete, the result is a top-down view of your property, created using a satellite image, and an animation showing the route a person has taken.
So instead of just seeing a regular recording of a trespasser looking at your car, or peering through the shed window, the Ring app also shows the route they took to get there. This could, for example, show how the person loitered around your car, or approached the house to get a better look through the kitchen window. Or, less menacingly, it’ll simply show how the courier stomped across your lawn instead of using the path.
Ring says the radar helps this camera spot movement up to nine metres away, which is a 50 per cent increase on the six metre limit of most other security cameras. In testing I found it was more reliable at alerting me to movement at greater distances than other cameras I’ve used.
The Pro moniker also gives this camera dual-band Wi-Fi, which means it works with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless networks, with the latter offering higher data transfer speeds.
As with other smart security cameras, you can set this Ring to only alert and record when movement is spotted in certain areas. That way, you can configure the camera to ignore movement on the pavement and road, but record and alert you when movement is spotted on the drive or in your garden. Similarly, custom privacy zones can be created to block the camera’s view of certain areas, such as your neighbour’s door and windows.
Storage and subscription
Just like other Ring products, this security camera only functions at its best when paired with a Ring Home subscription. This starts at £4.99 a month, but to unlock full functionality you’ll need to spend £7.99, and if you want 24/7 recording that costs £15.99.
The Basic £4.99 package includes 180 days of cloud storage for video recordings. This means you can view recordings via the Ring app and download them to your phone for up to 180 days after the footage was recorded. Since Ring cameras do not have any internal storage of their own, there is no other way to save the footage they capture.
Subscribing to Ring Home Basic also unlocks package alerts, where the camera will tell you if a delivery has been left on the doorstep (providing it’s in view, of course). You’ll also be notified of movement alerts caused specifically by people, while the movement of passing traffic and tree branches blowing in the wind will be ignored.
The Basic package only works with a single Ring product. However, if you want to install two security cameras, or a camera and a video doorbell, you’ll need to subscribe to the £7.99 Standard package, which allows for multiple devices at the same address. Ring increased its subscription prices in 2024 and may do so again in the future, so this is worth bearing in mind before committing to a Ring system. Some rival security cameras store their footage locally, negating the need for a cloud storage subscription.
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The verdict: Ring Outdoor Camera Pro Battery
This is a top-notch outdoor security camera that gets a lot right. It is weatherproof, of course, and being battery-powered makes installation easy. Video quality is good, with HDR and optional colour night vision, and radar tech enables 3D motion detection and a clever bird’s-eye view function that shows the route visitors (and trespassers) have taken across your path, garden or driveway.
It integrates neatly into the rest of the Ring ecosystem, including Alexa smart speakers and display, and the app works well, with instant notifications when movement is detected, and a good interface for viewing footage saved on Ring’s cloud storage service.
However, as with all other Ring products, you need to factor in the ongoing cost of a Ring Home subscription. The camera still works without this, but no footage is saved and video can only be viewed live through the app. Some alternatives offer local storage and no subscription, but if you are happy to pay for Ring Home (or already do so), this camera is a great addition to your smart security system. If you don’t need the 3D motion tracking and birds-eye view, consider the cheaper Ring Outdoor Camera Battery instead and save yourself £70.
