Vanity: Any FReepers Use Simplisafe?

[goodwithagun]

When I took my seedlings outside this morning using our basement door, I discovered that somebody tried to break in last night. There is minimal damage; we won't need to replace anything. I think they were just trying random palces for tools to convert to quick pill cash. Percocet, Vicodin, etc. are big here, and junkies will steal metal and tools for them. We have the back yard lit up already, so that's upsetting to me. With three little ones and a husband that works 24 hour shifts, I'm wondering if it's time for an alarm system. Any suggestions?

[goodwithagun]

We have outside lights and guns in hand release safes. We are not ready for a dog yet. If you use Simplisafe or another service, share the pros and cons. Thanks!

[Paladin2]

Video data logging and motion sensors with alarms.

[Scutter]

bmfl

[Mercat]

I’ll watch this thread. During our last long trip we had our our son and daughter in law house sit. They figured out that our phone was hacked (unplug your portable phone) and twice the police were called. We speculate that someone was casing our house to see how long it would take for a response. The cops said it happens more than you would think. They also left the fence gates open until our son chained them shut. They set up a small alarm on our basement door. They turned lights on and off randomly. We’ve had no further problems.

[moovova]

Bkmk

[JRandomFreeper]

Video data logging and motion sensors with alarms.

That might be good for after-the-fact, but I think the OP wants to stop it before it gets that far.

/johnny

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk

[logi_cal869]

You’re going to get a lot of opinion with that question and won’t make you much safer (aside from feeling safer). There are cheaper methods of alerting of a break-in while the family is sleeping.

An alarm is a nice way of alerting a monitoring company that your system has been breached, but won’t stop someone prowling for an easy score that can’t get in a basement door, nor will it result in the magical appearance of police. Lights are a good deterrent; motion-activated is better. CCTV would be a better investment, plus a trip to the pet store for some dog toys and dog dishes to give the appearance you have a dog. Without a good idea what type of environment you live in (urban, etc.), that’s all I’ve got for you.

Good luck.

[moovova]

The “cordless” base was hacked? And, the bad guys dialed 911?

Good gollee...I’m going to live in a cave.

[9thLife]

Think of the hacking possibilities!

[b4its2late]

I have it installed. Easy to do and their support is great. I also have motion lights everywhere and a sign in the front saying it's protected. Of course I have a 12 gauge too. Lol.

I have the door/window sensors, motion sensor, glass breaking sensors and a water sensor all installed in the system. You can add to it easily if you need to but look online at all their stuff then plan before you order. I under ordered the first time. Forgot the sirens and decided to get another key chain control. So they shipped me the additional items with no shipping cost and a 20% discount. I recommend.

[GailA]

There are commercial house alarms available from Amazon that will at least wake you up if you are not ready to invest in a call in alarm system. Quite a few pages and products to choose from.

Idiots like that would not hesitate to kill a dog. Nor you and yours.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=house+alarms

If hubby is gone I don’t hear the mail, I have hearing loss and wear twin hearing aids. But they are worthless in the night as you can’t sleep with them in. Our 2 inside dogs would raise a big ruckus.

I was searching for a loud mail box alarm. Express Scripts just dumps our meds in the mailbox. ES is DOD MANDATED for Ret. Military on Tricare Life (Over 65) if you don’t have a Military base near by and they don’t have your meds.

[trebb]

We have ADT because my wife insists. ADT calls my phone and sends an email if an alarm goes off - cops might be called if they can't reach me (or they might not be) but if we're at home, it would take 5-10 minutes for a cop to arrive - by that time either we nor the intruder would likely be laying in a bloody heap.

I consider the alarm to be a waste because if it goes off when we're not there, a perp will know that time is limited and likely never be caught. if we get broken into while I'm there, it is likely that there will be holes in some stuff and some stains that need to be cleaned up.

With or without the alarm, it will play out as it will play out and police reports will be filed just the same.

Knowing my opinion, and that my wife's "feeling of security" overrides it, I'd say that there is a good chance you will end up with one and if Simply Safe is cost effective, go for it - I really hate the contract and high cost of ADT monitoring.

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

I’m interested in hearing about Simplisafe, too.

I understand the basic system is fairly inexpensive and doesn’t need to be connected to an alarm contract. Apparently it can be used as a system to only alert occupants (and maybe neighbors) with an audible alarm in case of an break-in.

I’m in a rural area where law enforcement response times can sometimes be measured with a sundial. It would be a big help to have a good system to let me know of a burglar/home invader.

Has any Freeper used this system?

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Thanks for that post. You answered my question while I was typing it.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

We used it to alarm my mother’s home. It’s easy to install and their support is great. She has a storage shed about 3/4 of an acre from the main house and I used one of the door/window sensors on the door and it works great with the rest of the system.

The only reason I use another solution in my house is because I want my alarm to be able to interact with Z-Wave devices and Simplisafe doesn’t do that (yet).

I own several rental houses and I’ve also put some renters onto Simplisafe. They like it because they can have the peace of mind of an alarm system and still be able to take it with them when they move.

[YoungCurmudgeon]

We have Simplisafe at our home and both of our places of business. I am very happy with this company. The system is reasonably priced, easy to install, and easy to use. The customer service is excellent. There is no contract, so you aren’t held hostage. We tried Guardian (total jerks and lousy system) and Alarm Force (cheaply made equipment and so so customer service) before finally getting it right. Get the system. Even if you decide not to pay for them to monitor your home you will have something to wake you up if invaded at night.

[justlurking]

I'll make a simple suggestion, until you decide what to do:

Find a friend that has ADT service, and ask them for a spare sign and/or window stickers. If they don't have any, they can call ADT (or login to the website) and request them for free.

Put the sign in the yard, and the stickers on the doors.

You can ask any police officer: the typical low-life will avoid a house if they think it has an alarm system. It won't discourage someone that is determined, but most will simply move on to the next house that doesn't appear to have an alarm.

[Dawn53Fl]

We use Simplisafe...it’s great.

We had a hard wired Security system put in the house years ago, but we had to pay for a phone line to hook it into, so with the cost of the phone line ($25) and the monitoring service ($35) it was costing us quite a bit monthly. I will say the service worked great, and the alarms would go off even if someone rattled the door.

Then we heard about Simplisafe, and the appeal of dropping the phone line and lowering the monitoring service cost was attractive. The unit is easy to install (you can add extra sensors if you like (we added some glass break sensors, etc.)

Their monitoring is about $15 per month, and they are as “on the ball” as the other company. We were just messing with the fob last weekend, and initiated the alarm, then we entered the off code. Almost immediately. after the alarm sounded, we still got a call from the monitoring service.

Pros: it’s easy, and leaving and coming are easier to implement with their command panel (which speaks to you as to what you’ve just initiated.)

Cons: the only thing I don’t like is there is not a backlighted master panel, so at night, if the dog needs to go out, and the system is already armed, I have to turn on a light in order to see the keypad.

They also have a way to keep motion sensors in play, even though if have large pets, and it’ easy to adjust. Our other system’s motion sensor was about useless if you had big dogs...they’d set it off, even though you thought you had adjusted it, we ended up disabling the motion sensor on the old system (in our area you get fined for false alerts that result in police attendance) so we don’t want any false alarms :)

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

It’s easy enough to patch into your outside phone connection to call 911 also.