Vivint Doorbell Camera vs. Nest Hello Video Doorbell: Which is Best?

There are simply a lot of video doorbell products out there that you can choose from for your peace of mind. Two of the best are the Vivint Doorbell Camera and the Nest Hello Video Doorbell.

Nest Hello

The Nest Hello Video Doorbell replaces your existing doorbell, allowing you to see who is at your door without having to open it. You do not even have to be home!

Design

The Nest Hello Video Doorbell is rather well-designed, taking on a rectangular form with rounded ends. Nest opted to have it look symmetrical with the camera sensor at the top and the ring button at the bottom, both having the same size and the same circular shape. The ring button is lit by a light ring, making it easier to see at night.

The Nest Hello Video Doorbell measures 1.7 inches wide by 4.6 inches high. It is also 1.0 inches thick. It comes with a black face, but the body is white and the back panel is gray.

Features

• High definition. Nest Hello gives you crisp and clear images and high-definition videos.
• Night vision. You can see things clearly even at night with the camera’s night vision capability.
• Wide field of view. The camera on the Nest Hello has a field of view of 160 degrees. This means that it can capture anything that moves in front of it and there would be almost no space for potential intruders to hide!
• Quiet time. This allows you to take a breather from the notifications.
• 24/7 live streaming. You can use your mobile phone to check on things at home. With the Nest Hello seeing everything in front of it, you can be at peace no matter where you are.
• HDR. HDR allows the Nest Hello to adjust to changes in lighting. With HDR, Nest Hello can take multiple photos and then blend them all together to give you brighter, more crisp images with sharper details, no matter what the lighting conditions outside are.
• Two-way communication. The Nest Hello gives you crisp and clear audio using built-in speakers and microphones that have noise reduction and echo cancellation technologies. You can also answer easily with pre-recorded messages.

What you would like about Nest Hello

If you have a Nest Aware subscription, you can enjoy 24/7 streaming and continuous video recording. This gives you more security, unlike other video doorbells that only starts recording when it detects sound or movement. The Nest Hello also records with a 4:3 HD aspect ratio, allowing you to see people standing outside your door from head to toe, unlike others that use a 16:9 aspect ratio, which does not quite capture everything vertically.

Nest Hello is also able to detect people, on top of monitoring for movements and sound. And if you have Nest Aware, Hello can also get to know your family and friends so that it can send you a special alert letting you know if they’ve come home. This way, you can get alerted when a stranger shows up.

Nest Hello also makes it easier for you to respond to people who visit you. You can also record your responses ahead of time, such as letting delivery people know where to leave your package, or giving your cleaning lady the door codes.

What’s in the box

The Nest Hello Video Doorbell comes with everything you need to install the doorbell, including:

• Nest Hello Video Doorbell
• Chime connector
• 15° wedge
• Release tool
• Masonry drill bit
• Window decal
• Wall plate
• Extension wires
• Wall anchors
• Screws
• Quick Start Guide

Vivint Doorbell Camera

Another entry in the video doorbell category is the Vivint Doorbell Camera. The Vivint Doorbell Camera also allows you to see who is at the front door from anywhere in the world. It has night vision capabilities and two-way communication, and it can recognize people, as well. This way, you only get notified when there is actually somebody there, instead of getting needlessly alerted when a car passes by or a dog is playing right outside your front door.

Vivint offers smart clips or snippets that last for 30 seconds, which is activated when the camera detects a person moving outside of your front door. These clips are saved for 45 days.

Design

One of the first things that you would notice about the Vivint Doorbell Camera is how beautiful it looks. This doorbell has a silver color with a black face in what is generally a rectangular form with deeply rounded edges. It measures 4.45 inches high by 1.50 inches wide and 1.18 inches thick. It certainly is small enough to fit anywhere on your front door and conspicuous enough so as not to alarm your visitors.

What you would like about the Vivint Doorbell Camera

Vivint Doorbell Camera gives you HD videos and images at all times of the day. Thanks to the night vision that works incredibly well, you can see things even in the dark.

The doorbell camera alerts you once it detects movements or sees a face. It will not alert you unless it determines that the movement was made by a person.

What could be better

Vivint needs to be professionally installed and the company will send technicians out to help you. If you are looking for a DIY camera system, then this might not be the right choice for you.

Side-by-side comparison

There is not much difference between the Nest Hello and the Vivint Doorbell Camera when it comes to features and functionalities. Both are great-looking doorbell cameras that are roughly the same size, with the Nest Hello being slightly heavier, wider, taller, and slimmer than the Vivint Doorbell Camera. Both doorbell cameras allow you to see who is outside your front door, distinguish between a moving object and a person, and alert you when it senses human movements.

Both doorbell cameras also have night vision, so they can see things even in the dark. They also allow you to talk to your visitors before you even open the door. The Nest Hello and Vivint Doorbell Camera can be safely placed outside as they can withstand anywhere from -10 degree Celsius to as hot as 40 degrees Celsius. Both are water and weather-proof, too.

However, when it comes to the camera sensor itself, Nest Hello has a better camera. For one, the Nest Hello’s 1/3-inch camera gives you images with resolutions of up to 3 megapixels, as opposed to only 1.3 megapixels for Vivint. Nest Hello also has an 8x digital zoom that you can further enhance, allowing you to see details that would otherwise have been too far away for you to see. When it comes to videos, Vivint Doorbell Camera only gives you up to 720 pixels of resolution, while the Nest Hello can record H.246 videos that are as clear as 1600 pixels by 1200 pixels, with a maximum possible frame rate of 30 frames per second.

What	Nest Hello	Vivint Doorbell Camera
Price	(Check out the latest price here!)	(Check out the latest price here!)
Dimensions (inches, w x h x d)	1.7 x 4.6 x 1.0	1.50 x 4.45 x 1.18
Weight (grams)	121.6	107.8
Camera resolution	3-megapixel (2K)	1.3 megapixel
Color sensor	Yes	Yes
Video resolution	HD UXGA 1600 x 1200	720p
Field of view	160° diagonal	180°
Two-way communication	Yes	Yes
Night Vision	850 nm infrared LEDs	850 nm infrared LEDs
Operating temperature (°C)	–10 to 40	-10 to 40
Water resistant	Yes	Yes

However, the biggest drawback for Vivint Doorbell Camera is the fact that it only works with the Vivint Home Security System. You cannot buy it on its own and use it on its own. Meanwhile, you can use the Nest Hello even if you do not have other Nest devices.

Meanwhile, for those who want continuous video recording, Nest offers its Nest Aware service. Aside from giving you continuous recordings of video feeds, availing of the Nest Aware service also unlocks the facial recognition capabilities of Nest Hello. It also gives you activity zones, clips and time-lapse, and intelligent alerts.

Nest offers three plans for its Aware service. The price ranges from as low as $5 a month to $30 a month. You can get 5-, 10-, or 30-day video history, and a 20% discount off the monthly rates if you opt to pay for the entire year.

Vivint, on the other hand, has the Vivint Playback service that relies on the Vivint Smart Drive to work. You can buy the smart drive for a good price, then sign up for the Vivint Playback service. Here’s where it gets murky, Vivint does not disclose how much you need to pay for the Vivint Playback, except to say that it costs less than the other services offered by their competitors. But seeing that the Playback service is supported by Space Monkey, the costs could be based on the storage that you use. In 2014, Space Monkey charged $50 a year for 1 terabyte of storage space.

Considering that Nest requires a separate Aware subscription for each camera, while the Vivint Playback is good for up to four cameras, then the Vivint Playback is a much better deal.

Final say

The Vivint Doorbell Camera is a great choice for those who want continuous video recording on top of having a video doorbell that doubles as an outdoor security camera. If you already have a Vivint home security system, or looking to get one, then you should really consider this doorbell camera.

However, if you are one of those people who is yet starting out with their smart homes, or if you do not have the Vivint system, then you should get Nest Hello, which works as a standalone video doorbell that you can use without relying on other devices. What’s more, the Nest Hello also has a better camera, as well as more features that would help make your home more secure.