Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery review: wireless camera gains radar and a bird's-eye view

One-minute review

An upgrade on Ring's regular Stick Up Cam, the new Pro version packs radar for improved 3D motion detection. It then uses this to plot visitors' (and potential burglars') routes by combining its view with satellite imagery. Called Bird's Eye View, it's a clever trick, but one that doesn't quite justify the price hike over the regular Stick Up Cam.

Elsewhere, the weatherproof Pro shines as brightly as other Ring products. The build quality is good, setup is simple, and there are lots of configuration options. The Ring's Full HD video quality is also good, though not outstanding (rivals offer 2K or even 4K resolution), and the night vision works well.

Streaming live video or viewing recorded footage through the app is quick and reliable, but, as always with Ring products, the footage is not recorded to the cloud without paying a monthly or annual fee, so you'll need to factor the subscription into your budget.

Battery life is good – I'm talking months rather than days or even weeks, providing you turn motion sensitivity down – and extra features like a siren and color night vision are useful additions. I had some issues with the camera not detecting motion from greater distances; mounted two floors up and tasked with protecting the driveway below, the Stick Up Cam Pro was not entirely reliable, which was disappointing. That said, I was pushing the tech to its maximum detection range of about 30 feet.

For closer tasks – spotting motion in a hallway or a door opening – the camera responded quickly. I also found the 5GHz Wi-Fi excellent, with no issues maintaining a connection through two walls.

The regular Stick Up Cam will probably suffice for most needs and wallets. But for those who want a greater understanding of how a trespasser has navigated your property, the Pro's radar-powered Bird's Eye View offers a new view on home surveillance.

Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery review: price and availability

• List price: $179.99 / £159.99 / AU$299
• Available on Amazon, Ring and through other third-party retailers.

Buying a Ring security camera isn’t quite as simple as it used to be. First, you must decide if you want a camera suitable for indoors, outdoors, or both, and then if you want a camera that plugs in or is powered by a rechargeable battery. Next comes the feature set and whether you want a regular camera or one from Ring’s Pro or Elite range. Finally, you can decide whether you want a security camera with integrated spotlights, more powerful floodlights, or no lights at all.

Still with me? Good, because now this new camera’s name starts to make sense. It's called the Stick Up Cam Pro in the US, but, in some markets, it’s also called the Outdoor Camera Pro Battery. This means it's weatherproof, has pro features like the radar-assisted Bird’s Eye View, and is battery-powered, although a plug-in adapter and solar panel are available separately.

As with all Ring products, only very basic features are included with the retail price. You can view a live feed on your phone, but no footage is saved unless you pay for a Ring Protect subscription. These start at $4 / £3.49 / AU$4.95 a month for the Basic plan, or $40 / £34.99 / AU$49.95 per year, with both price options covering a single Ring device. Add a second device (say you have a Ring doorbell and a security camera), and you’ll have to upgrade to the Plus membership, which costs more than twice as much as Basic. Finally, the Pro plan (only available in the US for now) starts at $20 a month or $200 annually.

That’s a lot of money, whichever way you cut it. Essentially, Ring cameras like this Stick Up Cam Pro Battery should only be considered once you factor in the monthly fee since their performance is somewhat curtailed without it.

Value: 3.5/5

Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery review: specifications

Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery review: design

• High build quality
• Adjustable mount with included screws and wall plugs
• Weatherproof

Although larger than the Ring Indoor Cam, the Stick Up Cam Pro is still fairly compact, at 15.4cm (6in) tall and 7cm (2.8in) in diameter. This helps it fit just about anywhere in (or on) your home while still looking like a serious security camera in the eyes of a potential burglar.

Available in black or white, the camera has a mounting base designed to be screwed onto walls, fences, and other flat surfaces. Also included are four screws and wall plugs for securing the base plate, which the mount slides onto. It isn’t possible to lock the camera to its base so a burglar could potentially remove the camera, but at least they will already have been seen (and recorded) as they approached.

As it comes in the box, the mount is fitted to the base of the camera but it can be moved to the rear, where a second screw hole is hidden by a rubber plug. I didn’t realize this at first, so fitted the camera to an external window sill with its mount attached to the base. This worked fine during the day, but at night, the camera’s view down to the driveway was partially blocked by the sill itself, which reflected the Ring’s infrared night vision and overexposed recordings.

This was remedied by relocating the mount to the rear of the camera and then fixing that to the external wall of the property, higher and further away from the sill, which no longer caused an infrared reflection.

The camera has a USB-C port, but, annoyingly, this isn’t used for charging the battery. Instead, this must be removed and plugged into the included micro USB cable. Remember to install the camera in a location that’s convenient enough to reach when the battery needs a charge.

Design: 4/5

Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery review: performance

• Easy to set up
• Most features require a subscription
• Radar works well (after fine-tuning)

Setting up Ring products has always been easy, and the Stick Up Cam Pro is no exception, especially if you already have a Ring account to add it to. The smartphone app is quick to fire up and easy to navigate, with a live view of the camera loading in just a couple of seconds. This being a Pro model, there are a few extra features to set up and parameters to tinker with until you’ll have everything just how you want it.

A major feature of this camera is 3D Motion Detection, which uses radar to more precisely spot and track movement, such as someone walking across your garden or driveway. This ties into a pair of features called Bird’s Eye Zones and Bird’s Eye View. These are set up with the help of satellite imagery and the camera’s own view, onto which you draw the area you want the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro to monitor.

The setup process involves picking your address from a map and then precisely placing the camera’s location on a satellite view. The app lets you compare this with a live view from the camera, ensuring it’s in the right place and pointing in the right direction. You then draw a motion detection area over the satellite image, telling the camera to only alert you if motion is spotted in that specific place. This should prevent false alarms caused by next-door’s car, for example. It also feeds into the Bird’s Eye View function, where the app shows where someone has been, using the camera’s view and its location to plot their route on a satellite image.

The end result is that you can see the route a person has taken across the garden to your front door and if they've loitered around the shed or had a close look at your car.

The plotted route of a potential burglar is shown as a picture-in-picture, alongside the camera’s own feed, when you play back a recording, or even when looking at live footage.

Alternatively, you can use the Ring’s Pre-Roll function. This also appears as a picture-in-picture, showing a few seconds of footage recorded before the camera’s motion sensor was triggered. Only one of these features can be used at a time. It's not possible to see both the pre-roll footage and the route plotted from a bird’s eye view.

With all that set up, you'll likely need to fine-tune the camera’s motion detection sensitivity and the bird’s eye detection zone to strike a happy balance between receiving too many and too few notifications. Given this camera is wireless, higher sensitivity and more recordings will reduce battery life.

As for video quality itself, the Stick Up Cam Pro is good but not great. Maximum resolution is Full HD (1920 x 1080), with HDR available as an option, but one that decreases battery life. I’d like to have seen the option for 2K footage, but appreciate how that would consume more energy. These are simply the inherent compromises you need to make when balancing battery life against the chore of charging it back up again.

The camera offers a decent field of view, measuring 155° diagonally, and there’s a color night-vision mode that combines both the camera and infrared sensor to help colorize low-light footage. The results aren’t spectacular, so I'd suggest sticking to regular greyscale night vision, which can be switched from standard to adaptive if nearby objects (like that pesky window sill from earlier) cause glare.

Ring doesn't provide a battery life figure for this camera, since it will vary significantly depending on how you set it up and where it's positioned. Once you've finished setting everything up and the novelty of checking the live view has worn off, several weeks or even a couple of months should be possible from a charge.

The camera works with both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, and I was pleased to see how well it performed when installed two rooms away from the router. Despite the signal passing through an internal wall, two rooms, and an external wall, the camera never skipped a beat.

Lastly, there’s an 85db siren that can be activated in the app in a bid to scare away a potential burglar.

Performance: 4/5

Should I buy the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery?

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Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery review: Also consider

Decided against the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery? Why not check out these alternatives...

Wyze Cam v3

The Wyze Cam v3 offers great performance for a very low price. Its wired design limits where you can place it, but its full HD camera captures solid footage during both day and night. Local storage is free; cloud storage carries a subscription.

For more information, check out our full Wyze Cam v3 review. 

Arlo Ultra 2

It’s more than twice the price of Ring’s Stick Up Cam Battery, but for that, you get 4K video, a wider field-of-view, an integrated spotlight, and AI smarts. You still need a subscription for the full experience, though.

For more information, check out our full Arlo Ultra 2 review.

How I tested the Ring Indoor Cam (Gen 2)

• I spent one week testing the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery
• I used it to monitor my hall and driveway
• I assessed its video quality, smartphone app and radar system

I first installed the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Battery on an outside window ledge, where it was used to monitor the driveway below for several days and nights. I tested out all of the camera's settings, including the new Bird's Eye View mode, and sounded the siren. I also logged into the camera to view live streams while away from home.

I later installed the camera in a hallway to test its indoor capabilities. Throughout a week of testing, I also tried out the camera's microphone and speaker, switched between the grayscale and color night-vision modes, and kept a watchful eye on the battery life and Wi-Fi signal strength.

Read more about how we test.

Read more about how we test.

First reviewed November 2023