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The rise and rise of subscription services over the last decade or so is lamentable although predictable. Once we consumers demonstrated how willing we were to pay a monthly fee for access to music, TV and movies, it was only a matter of time before there was a subscription on offer for almost any aspect of modern life.

These days we ask, why cook when your meal can be delivered? - either as just the ingredients or the finished product, piping hot.

Be it petfood, contact lenses or coffee, if it's something we "need" regularly, let's set up a subscription so it'll arrive at our door before it runs out.

Fine. We were going to buy those things anyway.

But when you purchase a car with electric seat warmers, wouldn't you expect to be able to use them without having to fork out each month for the privilege?

Personally, I'd rather pay a higher up-front cost to keep my bum warm than an ongoing fee.

That'd be like paying someone else to store your security footage for you.

The Ring Outdoor Cam Plus is another in a long line of top-quality home security products. We'll get to all its features and benefits shortly but I'm going to get my usual Ring whinge out of the way first this time.

You can't record using the Outdoor Cam Plus unless you sign up to one of Ring's subscriptions. That annoys me. Especially when there are other cameras out there that allow you to store your recordings for free. Perhaps you can insert an SD card into the camera itself or the camera might save recordings to a storage drive of some kind attached to a central hub. In fact, some camera manufacturers let you link to the cloud storage service of your choice. Imagine that.

Not Ring.

And it's not just storing your videos. Most of the features I'm about to describe are only fully usable for a 30-day trial period and then you'll have to pay. Admittedly, from as little as NZ$49.95 a year, a Ring Home plan probably won't break the bank and maybe I should just get over it like I did when TV streaming services came along.

I guess that depends on just what a device like the Outdoor Cam Plus has to offer, and whether it really is the Netflix or Apple TV+ of the home security world.

Previously I've discussed how confusing Ring's naming policy is. I mean, can you tell me the difference between the Video Doorbell Elite and the Wired Video Doorbell Pro Plug-in off the top of your head? Me neither.

So whatever you do, don't get the Outdoor Cam Plus confused with the Stick Up Cam Elite or the Spotlight Cam Pro.

The Outdoor Cam Plus I've been sent to review is the battery version. There's a plug-in model too, which comes with an Indoor/Outdoor power adapter instead of a Quick Release Battery Pack, although you can purchase the power adapter separately and plug it into the battery version if you want. Alternatively, Ring also sells a Solar Panel which can power the Outdoor Cam Plus too.

See? Told you it's confusing.

So let's stick with what I've got. A camera, a battery and an extremely versatile mount - which can attach at the base to act as a stand or screw in at the rear for wall or even ceiling installations. As usual, Ring has included all the screws you'll need and attaching the Outdoor Cam Plus is very easy, it just slides on and off the mounting plate and can be locked into place with a screw.

The advantage of running a camera like this on battery is that you can install it anywhere within Wi-Fi range. No cable means you can position it on a fence or high on a wall, without having to worry if a power outlet is close by.

Although the rechargeable Quick Release Battery pack looks the same as all the others I've come across when reviewing Ring doorbells and cameras in the past, it's got a new model number so I'm hoping that means its charge will last longer than the couple of weeks I usually get. The base of the camera just unscrews to access the battery which is nice and easy although disappointingly, it still uses a microUSB to charge.

Hardly anything charges via microUSB anymore and sure, there's a cable in the box but it's quite short so isn't necessarily a particularly convenient option. What's really weird is you can remove a waterproof lug from the back of the camera to run it off the aforementioned power adapter or solar panel - both of which connect via the much more common USB-C. In fact, if you leave the battery in the camera you can just plug in a USB-C charger and juice it up that way. More confusion.

What's less confusing is the improvement in picture quality. The Outdoor Cam Plus is one of Ring's new range of 2K cameras which is a step up from HD, although not a full jump to 4K as we've seen from other manufacturers.

More impressively, the viewing angles have been widened out to 140° horizontal and 80° vertical and Ring has introduced a new feature called Low-Light Sight. This enables the Outdoor Cam Plus to shoot in crystal clear colour, even at night without having to rely on a built-in floodlight, as long as there's enough ambient light - perhaps from nearby streetlights. This works very well indeed and I have to say the nighttime footage I'm getting is quite impressive.

As with other Ring devices, you can set up multiple detection zones and adjust the sensitivity so you're only monitoring the exact areas you need to and there's the option of two-way communication via the camera's mic and speaker. You'll also get preview gif notifications on your phone which can be helpful when it comes to deciding whether you need to respond or not.

The new feature I'm most excited about is the AI-Powered Smart Video Search. If you've used a home security camera like this before, you'll know how tiresome it can be sifting through recorded footage to find out exactly what time those unexpected visitors arrived or when that package was delivered. Now the Ring App has a browser-like search bar at the top of your saved videos and this is where you can type specific phrases like "red car" or "delivery man" to filter out non-related content. Every time I've used it I've been amazed by the results. This could be one of the only truly useful things I've seen AI do to date.

But...

As I said at the beginning, all this comes at a cost. An ongoing cost. At NZ$179.00, the Outdoor Cam Plus is not outrageously expensive but after the first month, unless you subscribe, the only thing this camera will do is send you motion notifications and provide a live feed.

Because subscriptions are just what we do now.