Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam review: spinning in circles

The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam is the company’s first camera with an integrated pan-tilt base. Unlike the Stick Up Cam Plug-In, which is compatible with the optional pan-tilt mount, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam is built from the ground up to offer a 360-degree view of your home. It’s built to Ring’s high standards and is easy on the eyes — but it doesn’t do much to separate itself from the pack.

Despite offering plenty of customization options, easy access to panning and tilting, and crisp 1080p footage, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam leaves out several key features available on other devices in the category. If you’ve already bought into the Ring ecosystem or just need the basics, the drawbacks aren’t the end of the world. But when you consider its price and the current state of the market, there might be better options out there for most shoppers.

A simple Ring setup

If there’s one thing Ring has down to a science, it’s the installation process. From unboxing the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam to getting it set up and recording, I spent maybe five minutes. That might inch up to 15 minutes if you need to adjust motion zones and sensitivity settings, but overall the process remains one of the best of any security camera I’ve tested. You can also quickly link the Pan-Tilt with other Ring and Alexa devices in a matter of seconds.

Of course, if you’d like to mount the camera to a wall or ceiling, your installation process will be lengthier than someone plopping it down on the counter. I’ve found that a centrally located counter offers the best coverage for my home, though having the option to bolt it to a wall or ceiling gives it added versatility for all floorplans.

360-degree protection

The big selling point of the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam is its panning and tilting prowess, allowing you to scan all corners of your room with a single device. In my case, it effectively replaced three cameras — when situated in the right spot in my kitchen, it can cover the entire kitchen, the adjacent living space, and even peek through the door into the next room. So while it’s a bit pricey at $80, it’s a good alternative to filling your home with multiple cameras.

Panning and tilting are easy to control via the mobile app. After selecting the Pan-Tilt tile and accessing its Live View, you’ll find a menu that lets you rotate the camera left and right or up and down. I did notice a bit of a fisheye distortion with the footage, but it’s nothing that detracts from the overall viewing experience — which is impressive with its 1080p footage and color night vision.

Just the basics

While the 360-degree viewing ability is nice, it’s not quite as compelling as some of the competition. The Wyze Cam Pan v3, for example, will automatically rotate to track motion until it’s out of range. That’s not the case with the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam, which can only be controlled manually. It’s even more frustrating that the Ring Pan-Tilt is twice as expensive as the Wyze Cam Pan v3.

There’s also no option to remotely close the privacy shutter. The screen must be closed manually by physically locking it into place in front of the camera. That means forgetting to open it when you go on vacation leaves you without a way to check in on your property. Conversely, this means no one else can remotely open the privacy shutter, which might be a nice tradeoff for some users.

Both of these features can already be found on existing pan-tilt cameras, so it’s a bit disappointing to see them unavailable on the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam. Toss in a lack of weatherproofing, restricting it to just indoor use, and there are some clear limitations with the latest Ring product. Still, the camera looks great and captures clear footage, so some users may be willing to overlook these omissions.

Verdict

The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam isn’t as feature-rich as the competition. Instead, it sets out to perfect the basics. Adding the camera to your home gets you a slim, stylish security camera that can do the job of multiple stationary cams. Setting up the device is a breeze, and its companion mobile app gives you dozens of ways to customize its performance. Ring has also established itself as a trusted and reliable brand for home security, so while the Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam isn’t as fancy as other options, it’s all but guaranteed to last you years without any complaints.

However, shoppers seeking innovative features like motion tracking or a remote-controlled privacy shutter will need to look elsewhere for their security needs. The same goes if you’d like to use the camera outdoors, as the Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam is (unsurprisingly) only rated for indoor use.

To get the most out of the Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam, signing up for a Ring Protect Basic Plan is a necessity. The plan costs $5 per month and unlocks 180-day video history, person alerts, snapshot capture, and rich notifications, among other features. You’ll also get advanced pre-roll, allowing it to capture footage up to six seconds early to better capture motion events.

Combined with its $80 price tag, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam is rather expensive. But if you’re looking for a pan-tilt indoor camera that does a great job with the basics and plays nice with other Ring products, you might find it to be a worthwhile purchase. Everything the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam does, it does well — but you may end up wishing it did just a bit more.