Ring Stick Up Cam Battery review: one of the most versatile security cameras around

When it comes to keeping an eye on your home, the Ring security camera range offers up some of the best-known options, not least because Ring was acquired by Amazon back in 2018. Here we're looking at one of Ring's flagship cameras: the Stick Up Cam Battery.

That "Battery" part of the name tells you that this security camera doesn't need a power cable: you can stick it anywhere you like, indoors or outdoors (it's "designed to withstand the elements", Ring says). A wired version that connects to the mains is also available.

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Besides that versatility in terms of where you can place it, the camera also brings with it an impressive feature list: a 1080 HD video feed, two-way audio (so you can challenge burglars or quieten down pets), night vision, and a siren you can turn on from your phone.

That's a specs list that's hard to top if you look around the other smart security cameras on the market, and of course you get the peace of mind of the Ring brand – but is the Stick Up Cam Battery actually any good? We've been trying it out for a few days to find out.

Ring Stick Up Cam Battery review: set up and design

Setting up the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery is, thankfully, very straightforward. You charge up the battery (with a microUSB cable, supplied), slot it inside the device, fire up the app, and you're ready to go in minutes. Via the app you can configure how sensitive the motion detection is and even focus the motion detection on the centre, the left, or the right of the camera's field of view.

The app also lets you turn off motion notifications for certain times of the day or night, which can be a help in terms of conserving battery life, or reducing the number of times your phone buzzes and rings during the day. If you like you can snooze notifications manually for a certain period of time too, and it's all very easy to configure.

You get screws and even a small screwdriver included with the camera, so the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery definitely gets a thumbs up in terms of bundled accessories. The mount underneath the camera allows for all kinds of use case scenarios, whether you want to stand it on the mantelpiece in the living room or fasten it to a brick wall in the back garden.

Points for versatility then but not so many for style – this is a dull-looking, chunky security camera compared to rival products from the likes of Nest and Arlo. You probably don't care what your security camera looks like, but it's worth noting, and the stand does feel fairly flimsy too (though not to the extent that we ever thought it would break). Black and white versions of the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery are available.

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Ring Stick Up Cam Battery review: features and performance

Motion detection from the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery was, on the whole, very good – it seemed to strike a good balance between ignoring slight movement and spotting larger areas of motion (at least based on our walks around the back garden, anyway). Remember you can tweak these settings if you need to.

We did occasionally find ourselves unable to connect to the live feed of the camera, or find we were met with a black screen, but this didn't happen often – and may well be down to the flaky Wi-Fi at our property as much as anything else. If you want to be able to keep recordings of detected events, rather than seeing them as they happen, you'll need to pay £2.50 a month (or £25 a year) for the Ring Protect service.

Alexa control is included too, although it doesn't let you do much that's useful except view a live feed on a Fire TV device through the power of a voice command. We were more impressed with the video quality, which is sharp and crisp during the day and during the night. On the downside, the 115-degree field of view is narrower than some competing cameras, though it was enough to take in a whole room.

In terms of battery life we were seeing drops of between 5-10 percent a week, so you shouldn't have to recharge the battery all that often. If you invest in a spare battery (they're about £20 online) then you can keep one ready to go, as soon as the one installed inside the camera has run out of juice.

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Ring Stick Up Cam Battery review: verdict

From the ease-of-use of the app to the flexibility of the mounting options you've got, the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery is easily one of the best security cameras on the market at the moment. Is it the best though? It doesn't quite have the polish (on either the software and hardware side) of cameras from the likes or Arlo or Nest, in our experience.

If you already have Ring cameras or video doorbells installed, or a lot of works-with-Alexa equipment, then it makes sense to have this near the top of your shortlist if you're investing in a new security camera. If you're starting from scratch we'd weigh up all the other options carefully first.

It lacks some of the more advanced features you can find elsewhere, such as rules that can kick into action when you leave the house or get back home, and the ability to tell the difference between strangers and family members (though these extra features do come with a premium price attached, and you might not need them).

As always, you've got to account for the price when weighing up the appeal of any gadget (see the widgets on this page for the latest deals on the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery), and you get some really good value for money here – a few drawbacks, but overall it's a solid, reliable, versatile security camera that just about anyone can set up and use.

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