A home alarm is to tell you to prepare to defend yourself with whatever means necessary, preferably firearms.
This coming from someone that’s lived in NYC most of their lives. Over here, an alarm tripped by a few humans means you’re about to die.
Not sure why your still there...
When crime went up in my last homes area I didn’t buy an alarm.
I put up a for sale sign and moved.
I remember reading a survey of crooks a long time ago. When asked what was the #1 deterrent to them robbing a home, they responded with a wide range of answers. But a closer look at the results showed that almost to a survey, the crooks listed having dogs as a deterrence.
I recommend two dogs and if possible, a small noisy one along with a big mean one.
never used um myself. the dog is a great doorbell (if you want me to know your here or not) but their system looks impressive.
Be sure to do your own homework on who ever you chose.
I’d still move.
I set it off a few times a year so they know it's here.
We never stopped using ours. It’s a matter of self-discipline.
Make sure you get one that has a monster back-up battery that will last for a week or so if there’s a major power outage. Also, if your system is going to work through a phone landline, make sure the installer thoroughly buries or hardens the lines so they can’t be sabotaged from outside. Personally, I prefer the landline to wifi-mediated systems. In my area wifi goes out from time to time, and it’s hackable.
I also liked the feature that detects the sound of breaking glass or wood. In a large house you might not notice someone fooling around pretty far away.
When I first got my system, the actual alarm was in a central location in the house. One night the alarm went off, and since I was asleep in my bedroom upstairs with the door closed, the air-conditioner on, and a pillow over my head, I didn’t hear it. After that I got a supplemental alarm for my bedroom.
A final word of warning: if you have young male children or grandchildren, do not ever ever ever say, “Now, sweetie, don’t touch this button here, because if you do the police and firetrucks will come.” Ever ever ever. Ever. Ask me how I know!
Wireless all the way. We’re on an ADT monitored system and it’s worked well for us. Very reliable with exactly zero false alarms in 6 years. We’ve the system by accident, but when the central station calls up within about 10 seconds we give them our passphrase and that’s as far as it goes. No PD/FD calls dispatched.
Only downside to a wireless system is batteries fail after about 3-4 years. Get a bunch off eBay and replace ‘em youself when the original ones fail.
The best accessory you can buy is/are remote controls for your key ring. You can arm/disarm the system without touching the keypad. Great when you’re coming home with an armful of groceries!
Dogs and guns are good, too, of course, but I can’t stress how much peace of mind we have with a good alarm installed (and regularly tested). Alarm systems can’t be bribed with steaks or doggie treats. If you’re in a really crappy crime-ridden area, pay the extra amount for wireless radio backup (basically a cellphone connected to the panel, in case the vermin cut your phone line).
GSD or Doberman. But a little yapper would work too.
Instead a of a siren, how about a PA system that plays the sound of a 12 gauge racking a round into the chamber, with a Biden giggle voice-over...
I just put up some signs from an alarm company (I don’t actually have an alarm) and a “Beware of Dog” sign (I have a cat) and I park my truck that has an NRA sticker in the back window in the driveway.
So far the only intruder I’ve encountered was a raccoon who came in the cat door.
I don’t think the raccoon could read. He left before I could shoot him.
Either a 45, 357 or 9mm!!! Large dog to warn you!
Very interesting timing. The house next door was burgled yesterday. My 88 year-old Mom got between the perp and his exit; he just jumped around her instead of bulling her over.
There is now a video system around the house.
We use ADT and have been very happy with the service and security. I highly recommend them.
When you get a system, make sure that the crooks know it. Stickers everywhere and some goods in sight. Deterrence is a good thing. You may notice that many people prefer confrontation. You have 50/50 odds should that happen.
A chihuahua and a pump mossberg 20 ga. The dynamic duo.
Just a little tip a friend of mine learned the hard way.
His alarm system notified him via cell phone that someone had entered his home without invite.
He made sure that his 9mm was ready to run and headed home to confront the intruders. They entered his home (2 of them) with only a knife, but by the time he arrived and rushed through the door, they had found his Colt 1911 and his Mossberg 500, making them much better armed than he was. He did survive the incident, but learned a valuable lesson about locking up the guns you don’t take with you in a secure safe before leaving the house.
A large percentage of criminals do not enter a home with a gun. No sense handing them your own firepower to use against you if you beat the cops there when the alarm goes off. :-)
I have 2 dogs, a security front door, lighting around the house, and of course, accessible firearms.
The only time I'll call police is to remove a body. I prefer as little contact as possible with public employee union members of any type.
check with your local PD re: annual/bi-annual permit costs -around here a false alarm with no permit means a fine; with a permit the locals allow two false alarms per year before the fines fly. cost of permit is minimal-your mileage may vary.
I don’t pay a monitoring service but I do spend a small fortune on goodies for my 4-legged monitors. My neighbors down the valley can hear the (more than one) sirens and they all carry long guns anyway for rabid coyotes, bigfoot and other such varmits. In town, tho, I’d definitely have monitoring - and a safe room, if at all possible.
I’m not a fan of wi-fi systems but they’re useful for gates/outbuildings. I prefer hardwired interior walls/windowframes, motion detectors, break sensors, electronic interior/exterior door locking, and cameras - with redundant battery backups and more than one control point.
!
(AWW! just realized I didn’t get a Never Mind The Dog, Beware of Wife sign for our anniversary :-/)
Have you considered the travel kind? Several people on 2 other forums I belong to have recommended them in the past. My experiences with alarms & security companies have been less than stellar. My experience with car alarms in the 80s was a nightmare. Although 2 of my boys & one of my girls are dangerous, uncrated, to anyone who came in unexpectedly (or otherwise), I actually got armed to protect the dogs.
I’m assuming you want an alarm for the warning value, rather than a help-is-on-the-way.
The whole idea is to make your house look more difficult than the neighbors. Alarms work as do dogs but it depends on local conditions the dogs and you.
We’ve had an alarm for 14 years and recently had a breakin. We think its because the bushes had overgrown the sign. They weren’t in the house long probably due to the alarm. Internal measures also help by making it difficult to find valuables. They did take the $20 I left in a top drawer as a distraction but left the .45 sitting next to it. They also dropped my brand new HDTV in the driveway.
Cops responded quickly and cleared the house then left fingerprint powder everywhere. Then there’s the “how many guns do you have sir?” questions.