Customer Reviews

Mechanical Twist Doorbell Brass

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In our area the fogs are so dense that any wireless electric doorbell I have tried has always stopped working within a couple of weeks. The front door is of hollow construction, so a mechanical knocker is not loud enough to be heard above a radio or TV. The rotating mechanical bell ringer was the solution, since the bell is located on the inside of the door. It was reasonably easy to install, although a paper template for locating the drill holes would have been a nice inclusion. The only problem now is that some people aren't old enough to recognize what the twist knob is for....

I would have rated it with five stars, except that I feel it was overpriced.

We received this as a wedding present, and it is solid. I mean it's quite heavy and sturdy feeling. The only problem is that our current front door is too frail looking to handle such a regal looking door ringer. I may have to build a thicker, more appropriate door. The look of the ringer brought me back to my time living in Britain, where they are much more common than here in the States. Highly recommended.

I like the product's sound and the look is ok, but for the price I would expect it to last longer than one year.
For that year it sounded loud and great and got lots of props from impressed neophytes.
Then the crucial weld connecting the bell's internal hammer to the main cranking axle broke.

Since then I revived it about a dozen times using various glues and "liquid weld" type products.
I am now ordering the other cheaper unit listed on Amazon and hoping it has a stronger design.
I hope I am saving money on plain undecorative looks rather than even weaker design. Let's hope.

If you're plagued by too many 100 dollar bills in your wallet and you're looking to unload quickly due to some Brewster's millions type scenario, then there are a few better options to choose from, but if you have less money than Google's Brin, Apple's Jobs and Microsoft's Gates combined, you've only got two choices.

Mechanical doorbells rule, weak welds don't rule.

After searching several sources to replace a twist doorbell that my "mechanical-engineer-to-be" son disassembled and discarded what seemed to be superfluous parts, I found this doorbell through the Amazon site. At less than half the price of many other options, I decided to order one.

What I received is certainly an acceptable item for what I paid. Because it was shipped by a separate vendor, I wasn't able to take advantage of my AmazonPrime shipping, but I knew that ahead of time. Also, the shaft from the turn-key to the bell housing is fairly short. I'm sure it's long enough to go through a wooden door, but since my glass screen door is locked, preventing access to the door, I had to make a rod long enough to go through the brick wall. Not a problem, since I had to do this for the last one I had as well.

My only disappointment was in the finish of the bell, itself. While the image on the website appeared to have a deep, polished brass finish, what I received, although it may very well be brass, looks more like satin finish, gold-colored aluminum. It's acceptable, but doesn't come close to matching the rest of the brass hardware on the door itself or the brass lamps near the door like the previous doorbell did. It certainly doesn't catch highlights or reflect anything the way it appears in the online image. I tried to mount the bell from the original piece onto the new mechanism, but it wouldn't work.

In summary, if you like the novelty of a twist doorbell but don't want to spend $100 or more, this is an acceptable unit that rings loud and clearly. If you want a more traditional brass finish that will match other polished brass accessories you may have, look further.