Eufy Dual Video Doorbell review: double the cameras, double the safety

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Innovations in video doorbells are on the rise. Each new product has a way to keep an eye on your front porch. Keeping an eye on that precious cargo is a top priority, with everything from dog food to diapers being dropped at our doorsteps.

Eufy has come up with one of the best solutions so far with its newest battery-powered video doorbell, the Eufy dual, which is $250 with a HomeBase 2 or $199 as an add-on to an existing Eufy camera system.

The dual has two cameras, one to keep an eye on the floor, where packages often land, and one in the more traditional role up top. Most doorbells give you a tall, skinny view so you can see packages and people, but not much context outside that. You can get a wider view that offers more side-to-side context but misses out on a lot of the doorstep.

The dual is not the first doorbell to try this trick, but it is the best. The downward-facing camera has a 120-degree field of view, while the 2K camera up top can see as wide as 160 degrees. You get two video feeds that give you a blind-spot-free view of your porch. It uses passive IR to detect people and radar for angle and distance. Machine learning can tell you if there is a person or package out there and deploy innovative tricks to keep an eye on you.

The best part? There are no recurring fees. You can get free local storage of video on the included HomeBase 2, as well as free smart alert, and free artificial intelligence features. If you choose not to pay, you don't lose any other features, unlike almost every other video doorbell, which is why there is an option for cloud storage.

There is a blind spot while the camera wakes up because it is a battery-powered doorbell. The camera caught people as they got to the porch. This is fine for a visitor, but not useful for a package delivery or someone with bad intentions, as the camera will only catch them walking away. A lot of battery-powered buzzers have a back-of-the-head problem. Eufy says that adjusting the detection distance can help, but I still missed the beginning of most events.

The 4 times digital zoom of the dual isn't going to help you find that license plate, and the 2K video is a little dull and muddy. You have to hardwire the Eufy HomeBase to a router to have the doorbell camera work.

The facial recognition didn't work for me, I wear glasses, so I was disappointed in some of the features. When someone approaches your package or hangs around your porch too long, the doorbell can say things such as "Excuse me, can I help you?" You can choose from canned messages such as "please leave it at the door" or create your own in the Eufy app.

The package live check assistance frames any package in a blue box and collects recent events around the delivery for quick viewing. It worked well and was useful for managing deliveries. If you forget to pick up your package at a certain time, the Uncollected Package alert can be useful.

These are nice-to-have features for a doorbell. More important are video and audio quality, speed of notifications, and accurate motion detection.

The Eufy dual does well in most of these areas. In my testing, the time from tapping the notification to viewing the live feed was between 3 and 5 seconds. I did not get a false person alert in testing. It couldn't spot smaller packages such as ones in flat envelopes because it mistook my porch chair for a package.

The view of the door was great. The black bar separated the two camera feeds, but the stacked camera view gave a better overall picture. I could see my entire porch as well as the view of the approach to my door and the road beyond.

Concerns about how the data they collect is protected are brought about by bringing connected devices into your home. The company whose smart home products we review has safeguards in place for your data.

There are live and recorded videos in the primary home data. When motion is detected by your device, Eufy records and stores videos locally on the Eufy HomeBase. Videos can be deleted at any time if you subscribe to Eufy's cloud storage service. The storage period on your plan determines if they are deleted permanently or not. Local video is being recorded. The data between Eufy devices and the cloud is protected using theSecure Real Time Protocol.

Eufy's employees can't view live streams at any time, and can't give recordings to law enforcement without user consent if there is an emergency involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to a person.

The audio is very good, it uses full-duplex, meaning I could easily chat with a visitor without lag or stepping over each other. The video quality is not as good as I was hoping from a 2K camera. The Ring Video Doorbell 4 has more colorful and vibrant video.

The night vision made it easy to see faces. The bottom camera doesn't use night vision, but it does have two small lights on motion. I liked this feature because it provided some light at night.

There are a lot of options for video, including adjusting the length of recording and how long it will take the camera to start recording again after a motion event. There are no animal or vehicle options when it comes to motion detection and sensitivity. Each camera has an activity zone that can alert you to events in that area. In testing, the option of a thumbnail snapshot with the notification only came through twice.

There are a lot of settings in the Eufy app. Some of them take a bit of digging to find, and the app suffers from poor English translations. You have to click on a separate tab to see event videos when viewing the camera feed. Eufy has a web portal for accessing video.

Installation is easy as a battery-powered doorbell. After you pair it to the app and Eufy HomeBase, you can attach the mounting brackets. It is possible to wire it to your doorbell wiring, without the need to charge the battery, and add the option of a doorbell chime. Eufy's unique video options are good enough for me to ignore the advice to get a wired doorbell if it appeals to you.

The giant Wyze Video Doorbell Pro I reviewed recently is 4.5 inches tall, but this doorbell is 6.5 inches tall. The sloped edges and rose gold ringed camera lens make this feel less hulking. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 is the best option if you want something more discreet and you have doorbell wiring.

Eufy says the large battery lasts 3 to 6 months. This will hold up, based on my experience with Eufy cameras. I had it on a battery for four days and it lost less than 5 percent.

The HomeBase can act as a chime, use an existing chime if you wire the Eufy, or pair it with Amazon's Echo speakers to announce when someone is at the door. When pressed, the Eufy makes a noise. I used motion or a doorbell press as a Trigger for a Routine when there was someone at the door, and it worked reliably. In testing, it was slow and unreliable with the Echo Shows, but worked well with the Nest Hub displays.

The Eufy is a strong contender. The Ring Video Doorbell 4 doesn't give you as good a view of your porch as the Ring Video Doorbell, but it doesn't require a hub. The Ring has a pre-roll feature that uses a second camera to catch more of your visitors as they approach, as well as aremovable battery. The battery life of Eufy is better. I had to replenish the Ring once a month. There are no monthly fees for the Eufy. You will have to pay $3 a month to view recorded footage.

The Wyze Video Doorbell Pro is $90 and includes free video storage, but there is a monthly fee for smart alert and restrictions.

The Eufy dual does a good job of solving a problem. Some of the features need work, but the key ones are impressive. There is no solution for the back of the head problem.

The photos were taken by Tuohy.

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it. It is impossible for us to read and analyze all of these agreements. We started counting how many times you have to agree to use devices when we review them.

To use the Eufy dual doorbell, you need to register for a Eufy account in the Eufy app and provide your email address and region. You have to agree to the following.

Eufy Security has terms of service.

Eufy security terms are used.

The security privacy policy of Eufy.

Eufy security data policy.

There are Terms of Use for the Facial Recognition feature if you choose to enable it.

There are four mandatory agreements and one optional agreement.