Comparing doorbells to door peephole cameras is like comparing a pea shooter to a fully automated machine gun. A lot of people would say that there is really no comparison. Some people might even argue that it would be completely ridiculous and downright stupid to even compare.
It’s easy to conclude that doorbells are so yesterday. It’s like comparing the telephone used by Alexander Graham Bell to an Iphone. You might as well be on two totally different planets, right? Well, not so fast. You have to understand that as awesome as door peephole cameras may be, they’re not without drawbacks.
For example, if you’re using a purely manual doorbell. What I mean by that is that this doorbell just uses a regular mechanical non-battery based operating system to create the sound. The person just basically pushes a button, which hits a lever, which triggers a hammer that hits a bell. In such a system, no batteries are needed, nor are you dependent on a power line.
This type of setup will create sound, whether there is a blackout or not. In fact, this type of system will probably continue creating sounds even if there’s some sort of zombie apocalypse going on. I don’t mean to sound alarmist, I don’t mean to sound drastic or anything, but there is a lot to recommend in purely mechanical systems because it’s anybody’s guess how well purely automated electric based systems would hold up when it comes to certain types of emergencies.
If you think that this is just far fetched or plain crazy, I want to direct your attention to hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Few Americans saw that coming. Few Americans would believe that certain parts of the United States, given certain disasters, would completely fall apart. That is exactly what happened. No power, no drinkable water, total chaos.
I need you to keep this in mind when comparing the best door peephole cameras to doorbells. Again, it may seem like a slam dunk. It may seem like you’re basically using a flame thrower to kill an ant, but there’s a lot to recommend doorbells compared to door peephole cameras when it comes to one main drawback: power.
Make no mistake about it, as awesome as the footage that you get from door peephole cameras may be, these devices require either batteries or direct power or both. It’s crazy. You are basically looking to take control over your security, but at the same time, you end up giving up too much control because it’s anybody’s guess how well your local power grid would withstand a shock to the system.
If you think about it, the situations that would trigger blackouts or power failures are exactly the kinds of situations that involve the most amount of danger. For example, if the power grid fails, do you think criminals would be so scared that the town or city they are in has gone completely dark that they would be frozen in their tracks. Not in a million years! Indeed, criminals would love the power system to go out so they can attack and take advantage of buildings that normally have systems that detect what they are doing and prevent their criminal shenanigans. In a blackout, they basically can feel they can go on a home invasion spree and the local cops would be powerless to stop them. And they, for the most part, would probably be correct!
Make no mistake about it, whether that shock takes the form of a riot, a flood, an earthquake, fire, a hailstorm, a blizzard, or something else, there will be shocks to the system. And unfortunately, considering how complicated and how power hungry many door peephole camera models can be, you really can’t rely on back up batteries.
You can prepare by buying lots of rechargeable batteries that you’re constantly charging just in case, but once that battery life goes out, you’re back to where you started. So I would suggest that you become fully aware of this main drawback of door peephole cameras.
Once you have become fully aware of it, I would suggest that you adopt a hybrid system. By hybrid, I’m talking about mixing purely mechanical security devices like old school doorbells with door peephole cameras. This way, you get the best of both worlds.
In normal times, you are able to check the security footage and gain some protection that way. In extraordinary times or times of emergency, you can then use the mechanical doorbells to provide you and your loved ones some measure of protection.