Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro adds radar for less annoying motion alerts

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Ring has a new addition to its camera-toting security light line-up, with the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro promising smarter detection and more useful alerts. Like the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2, launched back in February, this new floodlight camera borrows tech more familiar from modern cars, with a radar sensor to power 3D Motion Detection.

With that radar, the system can gather much more precise distance information for anything that might move in range. Not only can it understand that movement, but the distance at which it's doing so, allowing for more granular control over what threshold homeowners get notifications.

So, you can choose not to have an alert if someone passes past your driveway, but to be notified if they walk up to the front door. Ring offers customizable motion zones to trigger recordings, and conversely privacy zones which can be established where motion won't trigger those recordings. Video is secured as part of Ring's ongoing end-to-end encryption preview.

The 3D Motion Detection allows for Bird's Eye View, which is a top-down perspective of the area in front of the camera. It can show the path people take, including what movements were made before an alert might have been triggered. So, if you get that notification, you can also see where the person was walking beforehand.

As you'd expect, there's HD video support, along with color night vision. The LED floodlight can be triggered when motion is spotted, along with a 110 dB siren. Ring Audio+ promises better two-way audio quality, with the company now using a microphone array for better pick-up as well as echo cancellation.

Just as the name suggests, the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro needs to be hard-wired for power. If you've already got a security light, you can most likely use the existing wiring for that. While that may be a relative annoyance in contrast to battery-powered security cameras and lights, the fact is that mains-powered versions typically react faster and can record more information, since they don't have to come out of a low-power mode first.

As for data, that's handled via WiFi. You can access the recordings, and the Bird's Eye View captures, through the Ring app, as well as summon a live video on Alexa-powered smart displays like the new Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen).

The Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is available for preorder now, priced at $249.99. It'll ship from May 6, 2021. The original Ring Floodlight Cam will remain on sale, meanwhile, with the price dropping to $199.99.