This $80 device is probably the only indoor security camera you'll need

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam is available for $80 in five colors: Black, Blush, Charcoal, Starlight, and White.
• This indoor camera pans 360 degrees and tilts up and down to cover the entire area it’s set up in, letting you watch over your home, business, or pets.
• The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam has a manual privacy cover, and it cannot be closed remotely. The camera doesn’t follow/track movement in real-time.

Testing security cameras can be a fun endeavor, especially when you get to document humorous situations during the review process. That said, my desire to keep our family life private has made me wary of having Wi-Fi-connected indoor security cameras.

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When looking for a Wi-Fi indoor security camera, I prefer those with physical covers. The Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam checks most of the boxes for what I like in a great indoor security camera, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a surveillance system for their homes.

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As its name suggests, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam can pan 360 degrees and tilt up and down at a 169-degree angle. It’s a great option for watching pets, kids, your home, or your business. It captures full HD video with 1080p resolution, but while it’s not a 2K+ camera, the image still looks crisp enough to discern details and faces.

I originally set up the camera in my office to watch over my dog and check if anything was out of the norm. I moved it about a month later to the entryway on a night when our garage opened unexpectedly, and my husband and I decided to add more layers of security for peace of mind.

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It turned out that a box that fell on the controller on the wall opened the garage, so we could at least get a good night’s rest. Nevertheless, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam has remained to guard our entryway.

The camera is tall and noticeable. It looks like a thin Stick Up Cam or the Ring Indoor Cam on a pan/tilt stand. Ring introduced new colors with this camera that at least helped make it more attractive: Black, Blush, Charcoal, Starlight, and White.

I quickly realized I could confidently rely on this Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam to alert me of any movements in the foyer, as this Ring Cam doesn’t miss anything. Also, the app allows me to move the camera around to check where my dog is or to see into the living room or up into the second floor, which is a great bonus.

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It moves smoothly to view your home without cutting up the image or stuttering in its movement. Unfortunately, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam doesn’t track movement. You can only control the camera via the Ring app.

This camera has never given me a false alert, which is a pretty big compliment for a security camera. 

I’ve been testing the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam for a couple of months because I wanted to test it with and without a Ring Protect Plan. I can recommend this camera to anyone looking for an indoor surveillance option, whether you want to pay for a Ring subscription or not.

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The Ring Protect Plan lets you save videos to the cloud, review stored videos for up to 180 days, and share videos with others. Without the subscription, you still get real-time notifications and can view the camera’s live feed, which is all I need in an indoor camera. While saved video clips would be nice, this is more of a requirement for my outdoor cameras.

ZDNET’s buying advice

The bottom line is that if someone is in the entryway, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam will detect them and let you know. You can count on it to do so each time. This kind of piece of mind is priceless, but, in this case, is attainable for $80.