Scored on 26 verified owner verdicts, from 880 comments read across 3 communities
TL;DR
Owners are frustrated with this doorbell, and the complaints are remarkably consistent. The single biggest headache is the indoor chime that simply won't ring after install, sending people down a long rabbit hole of transformer swaps, puck rewiring, and hours with support; on top of that, many report blurry or choppy video, missing notifications, and units that die or go offline. It looks clean and ties into Google Home well, but most of its useful features sit behind a Nest Aware subscription, leaving a lot of buyers feeling it wasn't worth the money.
15% of 26 verified owners recommend the Google Nest Doorbell (Wired, 2nd Gen), based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
880 comments reviewed · scored on the 26 clearest verdicts
15%
Recommend
4 owners
0%
Neutral
0 owners
85%
Don't recommend
22 owners
Source
Breakdown
Score
N
Counted in the score
Reddit
15%
26
Reviewed, but not counted — and why
YouTubeiOrdinary owner comments (not the reviewer), but here they sit too far from the owner consensus on Reddit and forums — channel comment sections can skew heavily positive or negative by trend — so they're shown for perspective and kept out of the score.owner comments
32%
19
Affiliate blogsiThese blogs earn a commission when you buy. Across our data they rate products ~35 points more positively than actual owners — shown for transparency, never counted in the score.paid commission
100%
2
No clear verdictiGood-to-know notes — setup, tips, and things to watch for. We use them for the pros, cons, and who it's for, but they don't reflect a definitive opinion on the product, so they're never counted in the score. See the 'Good to know' section below the quotes.Setup, tips & quirks
—
68
Affiliate blogs here say 100% recommend, while the owner-based score is 15%. They earn a commission on every sale — so we show them for transparency but never let them move the score.
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. YouTube and Affiliate blogs are shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
What owners like
Solid and reliable once it's finally working, with fast notifications · 6 · 23%
Hardwired with no battery to charge, so it stays always-on · 4 · 15%
Fits neatly into a Google/Nest smart-home setup · 4 · 15%
Night vision works surprisingly well for some owners · 2 · 8%
What owners flag
Indoor chime won't ring after install; owners only fix it with transformer swaps, puck rewiring, or pulling the chime connector · 50 · 192%
Choppy, laggy or delayed live video that factory resets don't fix · 5 · 19%
Blurry, soft image with artifacts on quick movement and a narrow portrait view · 5 · 19%
Units die or drop offline, sometimes just a blinking white light · 4 · 15%
Crippled without a paid Nest Aware subscription, which feels steep for the price · 4 · 15%
Who it's for
A great fit if
Existing Google/Nest ecosystem owners wanting a wired doorbell
DIY installers able to upgrade a weak doorbell transformer
HomeKit users pairing it with a Starling hub
Homeowners wanting an always-wired, no-battery camera
Look elsewhere if
Buyers unwilling to pay for a Nest Aware subscription
People upgrading from Nest Hello who expect equal video
Homes with low-VA transformers that can't be upgraded
Synthesized from what Google Nest Doorbell (Wired, 2nd Gen) owners say — not a spec sheet.
Retailers' own star averages, for comparison — separate from our vetted owner-verdict score above.
Top quotes, sourced
880 reviewed · 47 shown
Sentiment
Community
Sort
YouTube▲ recommend
“The audio and the picture quality is great”
YouTube▼ don’t recommend
“It's almost to the point that I'm going to get a different doorbell”
YouTube— neutral
“The side door one continues to work as usual but the Nest one doesn’t activate my doorbell chime”
YouTube▲ recommend
“Wow that doorbell speaker is really good”
YouTube▼ don’t recommend
“i'm disappointed that this really isn't much (if any) of an upgrade from the Hello doorbell”
YouTube▼ don’t recommend
“Id like to have wider angle on the new doorbell.”
YouTube▲ recommend
“used the old wiring and it works”
Reddit▲ recommend
“the nest wired 2nd gen doorbell and the nest floodlight and or outdoor cams are pretty nice. Now the downside is they are not “HomeKit” compatible out of the box but with the starling hub these things are incredible in the Homekit environment.”
YouTube▼ don’t recommend
“Wow Gen 1 is better for me I like the wider view”
Reddit▲ recommend
“Switched to the Google Nest Doorbell wired 2nd Gen + Starling hub and it's rock solid. I don't know what it is about their design that everyone else can't seem to replicate, but it just simply doesn't overheat.”
YouTube▼ don’t recommend
“gen2 doesn't seem like much of an upgrade”
Reddit▲ recommend
“I have 2 Google Nest doorbell wired 2nd Gen wired and 2 outside cams wired and they work well. My notifications come in on 2 or 3 seconds.”
YouTube▼ don’t recommend
“the chime was grinding so disconnected it”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“With this new doorbell, the video is taller and more narrow. I get notifications immediately, but when I look at the "photo", it's a short video clip and doesn't even show me the person or thing that it saw.”
Reddit▲ recommend
“Based on my experience thus far, I can recommend that you consider upgrading if you have the funds to do so.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“Camera is much lower resolution and doesn't handle shade/ silhouettes very well. We stream our doorbell to a Nest Home Max most all day and the gen 2 is very narrow on the display (both in FOV and actual screen size).”
YouTube▲ recommend
“Gen 2 is definitely better infrared at night. Much better than the hello also can see more of the steps etc with the gen 2.”
MESH Smart Home (affiliate)▲ recommend
“After using it continuously for over a year, I'm happy to report that it has been a reliable piece of hardware.”
YouTube▼ don’t recommend
“we prefer to buy the older wider view one to the new model with a lesser camera in it”
YouTube▲ recommend
“Everything now works exactly as it should — crisp video, responsive chime, and rock-solid performance.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“The doorbell is pretty much useless without the subscription which is the biggest drawback given the cost of it. Without a subscription it only stores video for 3 hours, so if anything happens overnight your video is gone by the morning.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I "upgraded" from the original Nest Hello wired doorbell to the wired, 2nd gen, and have had NOTHING but issues. Live video is choppy / constantly drops and even after a few factory resets (as suggested by the Google support team) it doesn't fix it.”
the5krunner (affiliate)▲ recommend
“The video is clear and the night vision feature works surprisingly well.”
Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.
Redditⓘ good to know
“eventually we started getting fake/ghost chiming inside the house (caused by fluctuating voltage). Finally upgraded the transformer to 24V/40VA (~$20 from HD) and everything works now.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“reach out to Google first and ask them to send me a replacement puck as I suspected mine was defective. The replacement puck came the next day, I installed it, and it worked!”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I wired the chime connector in series - between the output of the doorbell and the chime, and everything seems to work perfectly. I never got any hum in any configuration.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Google screwed up the firmware a while ago and still hasn't fixed it. Toggling the "indoor chime" off and on and sometimes "electronic chime" fixes it for almost everyone.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I connected the puck instead to “front” and “back” (back was unoccupied since we have no back doorbell). This resulted in no plunger vibration or buzz, and the chime work”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I ended up replacing the transformer to a 30v and doorbell itself. The puck is required otherwise the mechanical bell plunger bounces around. It works correctly now.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Ever since upgrading to the 2nd gen nest doorbell, the chime stopped working. Thanks to your suggestion, I removed the chime connector and now the chime works.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I found a setting asking whether we had an electronic chime or not. It was set to “yes” - I changed it to “no” and immediately the chime was working properly.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Mine was 16v/10A which Google said would work. Had enough juice to power the cameras but not the chime. Ordered a 24V/40A of Amazon and problem solved.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I went to Home Depot and bought another transformer for about US$20 that was 30VA and replaced the older one. The inside chime now works perfectly.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I installed my nest doorbell on the 8VAC side and the chime worked for awhile then stopped. I switched wiring on transformer to 16VAC and solved it”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I had bought a 24v transformer and that was incompatible with my existing chime. I replaced the chime with a 24v chime and it works properly now”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I had the same issue and playing with different settings worked. My original 12V Transformer had to be changed to a 24V one for it to work”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Mine has worked to -40C but it’s only rated to -20C. I have it set to max resolution and there is some pixel dropping but it still works.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Trick #4 worked for me... turning electronic doorbell on (regardless of my doorbell being mechanical, not electronic) changing the duration settings a bit (and hearing the doorbell ring at this point) and then turning electronic off”
Redditⓘ good to know
“The only config that worked with the Nest Doorbell (Wired, 2nd) where the doorbell would ring was without the chime connector.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“my door chime started working after I turned the chime length to 5, turned off the electronic chime, then restarted the app.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Mine looks like this and didn't work until I set the chime to electric and the timer to 1 second. Now it chimes strong.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I had to just remove our chime connector, seems to work fine without it. When it was installed, chime would not ring”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I also removed one of the puck wires and left the other one connected and mine has also been working ever since!”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Connecting the chime puck to front and rear mostly eliminated plunger wobble and reduced buzzing to inaudible.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“My fixed was replacing my c905 nutome transformer which was 16 V and 10 VA to a zenith transformer 16V 30VA.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“After set up my mechanical chime wasn't working. I tried changing the doorbell theme and that worked for me.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I fixed the issue by completely removing the puck. I have no buzzing or issues from chimes without it.”
