Ring Stick Up Cam Pro Review

Editors’ Note: This is the most recent version of the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro. Read our review from October 25, 2023 below.

The Ring Stick Up Cam ($99.99) scored high marks for its versatile indoor/outdoor design, sharp 1080p video, and third-party integrations, including support for Amazon Alexa voice control. The Ring Stick Up Cam Pro is more expensive at $179.99 but offers a lot more bang for your buck with features such as HDR video, color pre-roll, 3D Motion Detection, and dual-band Wi-Fi. As with all other Ring devices, it doesn’t include native support for Apple HomeKit or Google Assistant, but the Stick Up Cam Pro’s excellent performance, ease of use, and robust feature set earn it our Editors’ Choice award.

More Features for Better Surveillance

The weatherproof Stick Up Cam Pro maintains the same cylindrical shape as the Stick Up Cam but is much larger, measuring 6.0 inches tall by 2.7 inches wide (compared with 4.9 by 2.3 inches). The camera comes in black or white and sits atop a round base with a hinge that offers 45 degrees of backward tilt maneuverability. The base can be used as a desktop stand or mounted on a wall, outdoor soffit, or ceiling using the included mounting hardware. The rear of the camera holds a USB-C power port for use with an optional AC power adapter.

(Credit: Ring)

We reviewed the wire-free battery version of the Stick Up Cam Pro, but it is also available as a plug-in camera that uses AC power. Both versions cost the same $179.99 and offer dual-power capabilities with dynamic switching: You can purchase an optional Indoor/Outdoor Power Adapter ($39.99) for the battery-powered camera or purchase a battery pack ($34.99) for the plug-in camera. To access the battery, simply twist off the bottom part of the camera and press the silver tab.

Ring doesn’t provide battery life specs for this camera, but the standard Stick Up Cam is rated to last six to twelve months between charges, depending on usage, and we expect similar runtimes for the Pro model. As a more environment-friendly alternative, you can power the camera with a small 1.9-watt solar panel ($39.99) or a larger and more powerful 4-watt solar panel ($59.99).

The front of the Stick Up Cam Pro contains the camera assembly, a motion sensor, a speaker, and a microphone. New to this model is Ring’s Audio+ technology, which offers advanced noise cancellation for cleaner two-way talk. The 1080p camera uses HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology to deliver enhanced contrast with more detail in dark shadows and bright highlights. It has a 155-degree diagonal field of view and uses two infrared LEDS for black-and-white night vision. With enough ambient light, it can also capture color night video. Under the hood is a dual-band Wi-Fi radio and an 85dB siren.

The Stick Up Cam Pro doesn’t have an integrated light, which might be a drawback if you plan to use it outdoors. The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera costs a bit more at $199.99, but it casts a bright light on whatever is moving around on your property and captures it in detailed 2K, making it our top pick for floodlight cameras.

(Credit: Ring)

The Stick Up Cam Pro offers the 3D Motion Detection and Bird’s Eye View features that debuted on the Video Doorbell 2 Pro and that are also available on the Floodlight Cam Pro. 3D Motion Detection uses radar to detect the distance of an object for improved accuracy and fewer false alerts compared with the standard camera. This technology also powers the Bird’s Eye aerial view feature, which lets you see where visitors to your home have traveled while on your property. Bird’s Eye events appear as dots tracking the visitor’s path traveled on an aerial map that is presented in a picture-in-picture format.

The camera records video when it detects motion and it supports color pre-roll, which captures the six seconds of video prior to a triggered event. It doesn’t support local video storage, which means you have to subscribe to a Ring Protect plan to access your recordings. For $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year, the Basic plan covers one camera and provides access to 180 days of recorded video history. It also gives you video saving and sharing capabilities, person alerts, snapshot capture, rich notifications (that include a photo preview so you don’t have to open the app), and support for automations with a Ring Alarm system. With the $10.99 per month/$100 per year Plus plan, you get everything from the Basic plan with coverage and extended warranties for all of your Ring devices. Ring also offers a $20 per month/$200 per year Pro plan, which adds 24/7 professional monitoring, cellular backup, and other Ring Alarm Pro services.

The Stick Up Cam Pro works with Alexa voice commands and lots of third-party smart devices via IFTTT applets, but it doesn’t offer native support for Apple HomeKit or Google Assistant, integrations that are available on the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight. It uses the same Android and iOS mobile app as every other Ring device and appears on the dashboard screen in its own panel with the name of the camera and a still image of the latest motion event.

(Credit: Ring)

Tapping into the camera’s section of the app takes you to a screen with a video panel and a timeline of recorded motion events. If enabled, the Birds’ Eye view will appear in a smaller box within the video. Below the video panel are buttons for two-way talk, muting the speaker, ending the stream, activating the siren, and launching a Quick Controls panel that lets you turn other Ring devices on and off.

To access camera settings, tap the gear icon in the upper right corner. Here you’ll find buttons to enable or disable motion detection and motion alerts, activate the siren, and launch a live view. On the bottom of this screen are tiles to view an Event History list with thumbnails for each recorded event, edit Mode Settings (for Home, Away, or Disarmed modes), link other Ring devices to the camera, and check Device Health stats (including signal strength, network status, and MAC address).

A Device Settings tile lets you configure Video Settings (including color night vision and recording length), Notification Settings (rich notifications, linked chimes, alert tones), Privacy Settings, and Snapshot Capture (which captures still images at regular intervals so you can see what’s going on between motion events). The Motion Settings tile lets you configure Bird’s Eye View, set up motion zones, enable smart alerts, and create motion schedules. Finally, the Accessories tile offers other Ring products available for purchase, such as solar panels, chimes, and power adapters.

Quality Video and Accurate Alerts

I already had the Ring app installed, so I scrolled to the bottom of the dashboard screen, tapped Set Up a Device > Security Cameras, then used my phone’s camera to scan the QR code on the back of the device. For some reason, my phone was unable to scan the tiny QR code on the camera itself, but it had no trouble capturing the one on the box. I then selected my home location (which I provided when initially setting up my account), specified whether the camera would be indoors or outdoors, and selected its source of power (battery). I had already charged the battery, so I installed it in the camera, confirmed that the camera was powered on, and gave it a name in the app. I verified that the LED was flashing blue (indicating the camera was in setup mode), selected my Wi-Fi SSID, and entered my Wi-Fi password. After a few seconds, the camera connected to my home network.

(Credit: John R. Delaney)

Next, it asked whether I wanted to enable Ring Sidewalk, set up device sharing, and add linked devices, but I skipped these steps, as well as the tutorial for installing the camera. I also skipped the options to optimize motion performance and create Bird’s Eye detection zones, both of which can be done later. After waiting a couple of seconds for a firmware update to finish installing, I took the camera outside and placed it on my deck railing overlooking my pool area to complete the installation.

The Stick Up Cam Pro provided quality video in testing. Daytime colors were well defined with sharp image detail, and black-and-white night video was also highly detailed and showed excellent contrast. Color night vision worked as intended, but the colors appeared dark and slightly dull. If color night vision is your main priority, you’ll get much better quality with the TP-Link Tapo ColorPro C325WB ($119.99), albeit with a narrower 127-degree field of view.

Motion alerts were accurate and arrived instantly. The Bird’s Eye View and color pre-roll features worked flawlessly, although you can’t have both enabled at the same time. Two-way audio was crisp and free of background noise, and the camera had no trouble responding to Alexa voice commands to stream video to an Echo Show smart display.

The Best Stick Up Cam

Ring’s Pro series of doorbells and security cameras typically offer more robust features than their non-Pro counterparts and the Stick Up Cam Pro follows suit. It’s not cheap, but it packs a lot of features you don’t get with the standard camera including HDR video and dual-band Wi-Fi. And with Ring’s color pre-roll and Bird’s Eye View features, you’re able to see what happened prior to a motion event and track visitors’ movements on your property. If you want a light-up camera for outside, we recommend the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, which also offers 2K video capture and support for both Google Assistant and Siri voice commands. But the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro is more versatile and slightly more affordable, earning it our Editors’ Choice award for indoor and outdoor security cameras.

About John R. Delaney

Contributing Editor

I’ve been working with computers for ages, starting with a multi-year stint in purchasing for a major IBM reseller in New York City before eventually landing at PCMag (back when it was still in print as PC Magazine). I spent more than 14 years on staff, most recently as the director of operations for PC Labs, before hitting the freelance circuit as a contributing editor. 

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