SkyBell Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals

Tech items are usually the most discounted items on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And, as home security experts, there’s one particular item we’re always on the lookout for: Doorbell cameras. Thanks to Ring being under Amazon’s umbrella, we see a lot of doorbell deals during special shopping days. But this time, we’re taking a look at a brand that’s not as popular as Ring, but has been around for about as long. We’re talking about SkyBell.

Will there be Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for SkyBell in November? It’s too early to tell, but we can look back to previous years to help us set our expectations.

Deals, Deals, Deals

SkyBell doorbells are already affordable, but the brand occasionally throws in special deals. And that did happen during last year’s Black Friday sale, which was the same year the new Chime accessory came out. During the sale, doorbell camera and Chime combo bundles were offered with huge discounts up to 35-percent. Additionally, SkyBell’s Amazon page included a few dollar-off discounts going as high as $60. 

Of course, Black Friday deals change up every year. We’ll have to wait until November 29 – the date for Black Friday 2023 – to find out exactly what SkyBell will offer. For now, let’s look at SkyBell’s current offering of products.

What Does SkyBell Have To Offer?

If you visit SkyBell’s website, you’ll see only two products available – the SkyBell Slim and SkyBell Trim. But the thing is, SkyBell offers a slightly bigger product line than that. It just doesn’t sell directly to consumers. Rather, its products are offered through third-party smart home and home security systems such as Frontpoint and Alarm.com.

Below is a table approximating how much each SkyBell product and accessory costs from different suppliers.

More on SkyBell

SkyBell is a fairly young company, originally launched in 2013 via an Indiegogo campaign. In the next few years, the company forged partnerships with Apple HomeKit, Xfinity Home, Nest, iControl, Honeywell, Alarm.com, Amazon, IFTTT, Monitronics (now Brinks), and even Tesla,1 if you can believe it, integrating their video doorbells into larger smart home ecosystems. To learn more about how SkyBell worked with our smart home, read our SkyBell pricing article.

Upon doing some further research into SkyBell as a company, we found that it’s no stranger to the courtroom. After suing Ring for allegedly infringing on their patents, California’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board asked the company to cancel their claims.2 While this loss was by no means the end of SkyBell, Ring has certainly emerged as a winner above and beyond the courtroom. With investors like Goldman Sachs, Richard Branson and Shaquille O’Neal and an acquisition by tech giant Amazon, Ring is a big fish in a relatively small pond, while SkyBell is more like a guppy. But life is not a popularity contest, so we let the doorbell cameras speak for themselves.

SkyBell Slim Line vs. SkyBell HD: The Key Differences

Okay, so you’ve decided that you’re going to get a video doorbell from SkyBell this Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but maybe you’re not sure exactly which one is right for you. Well, between the Slim Line and the hD doorbell cameras, here are the main differences:

• Power: While the Slim Line is wireless, which made for a super simple installation, the HD is hardwired with a small backup battery.
• Video quality: The HD has better video resolution than the Slim Line, 1080p HD as opposed to 720p HD.
• Field of view: That being said, the Slim Line showed us more of our front stoop, with an 180 degree field of view compared to 120 degrees with the HD.
• Field of zoom: On the other hand, we could zoom in five times with the HD, while we couldn’t zoom in at all with the Slim Line. Despite its smaller field o view, the HD wins in terms of video overall.
• Storage: Now, storage was where things get a bit confusing. Depending on whether you buy a Slim Line Doorbell Camera from Honeywell or Alarm.com, your storage options will be different. With the HD, however, we got a week of cloud storage on the house, so we recommend the HD if you want to avoid monthly fees.
• App: Again, depending on if you get the Slim Line from Honeywell or Alarm.com, you will use either the Honeywell Home or the Alarm.com app. With the SkyBell HD, things are a bit more simple with the SkyBell HD app for iOS or Android.
  Prices: The HD costs about $20 more than the Slim Line, but we think it’s worth it for the 1080p HD video and free cloud storage alone.

That being said, if you want a wireless doorbell, go with the Slim Line. This is also a good option if you don’t have an existing doorbell setup, as the HD requires you to drill into an existing doorbell setup. Both doorbells require the SkyBell Digital Doorbell Adapter, which costs $17.95 currently. Sure, SkyBell may not have the most elegant or advanced devices, but they certainly get the job done of letting us see and talk to guests.

Summary

SkyBell may not have the name recognition of the Ring video doorbells, but they offer solid devices for pretty affordable prices, especially if you save on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.