Nest Hello
The Good Nest's $229 Hello video doorbell looks great and works consistently well. Its optional facial recognition feature and advanced integrations with the Nest Cam IQ Indoor and Google Home speakers set this smart buzzer above the rest.
The Bad A seemingly unnecessary "chime connector" accessory comes with your purchase and is a required part of the installation for "power management" purposes whether you have a manual or a digital doorbell chime. There's no free video clip storage.
The Bottom Line The Nest Hello is the smartest video doorbell available today, and a really solid choice for anyone -- but it's especially appealing if you're sold on a broader Google/Nest smart home.
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| Price | $229 B&H Photo-Video | $138 Amazon.com | — | $359 Walmart | $216 Amazon.com |
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Review
Nest Hello is the smartest video doorbell around
I really, really like the $229 Nest Hello video doorbell (roughly £165/AU$290 converted) and believe it deserves your strong consideration alongside Ring, August and SkyBell.
At first glance, the Nest Hello is an HD live streaming camera-buzzer combination like any other smart doorbell. View the video feed from your phone or computer, receive push alerts and emails when the camera detects motion, sees a person or hears a loud sound -- and review three hours of saved images for free. There's other neat stuff, like scheduling and geofencing if you want to control when the camera is on and off.
But my favorite thing about the Nest Hello is its ability to scan faces and tell you who is at your front door from images of friends and family members you ID in the app. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to the Nest Aware service to create your own face-scanning database, which starts at $5 a month. No other video doorbell I've tested offers facial recognition, though, and I liked it more than I expected. The fact that Nest now offers such a comprehensive lineup of smart home and home security products doesn't hurt either because many of the devices work together fairly seamlessly. You can also ask Alexa or Google Assistant to pull up your Hello doorbell's live feed on a screen-compatible device.
Specs / Prices
- Brand Nest
- Smart Home Platform Google Assistant, Nest
- Compliant Standards IP65, REACH, RoHS
- Color Category black
- Features built-in microphone, built-in speaker, weatherproof
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Latest News
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2days ago
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Seven years in, Nest is finally hitting its smart home stride
Nest started out slow, but Google's smart home company is quickly picking up the pace -- and surprising us with a connected device for nearly every situation.
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2days ago
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Nest's Hello doorbell, other new devices, won’t be sold on Amazon
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2days ago
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A Nest temperature sensor is here at last, folks
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2days ago
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Nest Hello doorbell and Nest x Yale lock go on sale today
Months after they were first announced, the video doorbell and smart lock are finally available to buy online.
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9days ago
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Your August doorbell just got free video clip storage
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10days ago
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14days ago
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Amazon may stop selling Google's Nest products
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17days ago
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Amazon bought Ring because of course it did
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18days ago
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Amazon brings Ring under its purview as it seeks smart home dominance
Amazon now owns the maker of the Ring Video Doorbell.
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24days ago
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Say, "Hey, Google" and your Nest Cam IQ Indoor will respond
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37days ago
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Google, Nest rejoin forces: Is Amazon a third wheel? (The 3:59 Ep. 353)
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37days ago
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