Looking at home security systems, your thoughts?

Then all any security system is going to do is give the cops a picture of the shit bags that stole from me, to put in their report and then not investigate any further. Why do I need that?

 

We went through the same search a year ago and went with the ring system too. Bought the 10 piece system during prime days for $300 (ish). I liked the variety of available products more than simplisafe. The second generation ring stuff recently released looks better and we may upgrade the keypad to the new one. I also think the Nest security stuff is worth looking at. Their door and motion sensors have a nicer form factor IMO.

The outdoor cameras are nice to have. The doorbell cam caught a hawk picking off 3 chipmunks from our driveway last week. We have a ring spotlight cam on the side as well that picks up from a pretty far distance for the light which is nice when taking the garbage out in the dark

 

Ooh! Something I can help with!

I did a comparison a few months ago. I've owned Abode and Ring security systems - Abode in my first house, and Ring in my last one. I went with Ring because I liked the "whole package" idea - Ring offered a security system that tied in with video monitoring all in one app.

Just two days ago, I returned the entire Ring system.

I'm going to go with Abode and Arlo put together for my next one. I haven't played with SimpliSafe, because it never won out against Abode feature-wise.

Abode wins on two things:

1. Auto-home/auto-away: You can hook up your phone(s) to the system and it will auto-arm or auto-disarm your system whenever certain phones (or the last/first phone etc) enters or leaves your "house area" which is basically about a 100yd radius around the unit. Lack of this feature ended up being my chief complaint about the Ring system - neither me nor my girlfriend would ever remember to actually set the alarm.
2. Z-Wave integration: Using Z-Wave there are a zillion devices out there that can integrate with Abode. I had smart locks and a smart light, and there are tons of third-party sensors as well. Abode can act as a simple home automation system with Z-Wave - although it's definitely not its forte. Abode does integrate with IFTTT however which makes all that a lot better.
   

Ring had neither of those, which really ended up bothering me. Abode does not have very good (read: any, realistically) live camera support. BUT, if you want that, Arlo's camera system I think is better than Ring's. So, go with the best offering in each of Security and Camera, and put together a system that's better than Ring (or SimpliSafe) on their own.

 

Lots of good info here. Thx guys.

 

My airhead wife went on a business trip last week and didn't lock her car at the airport parking. In her defense, she has a new car with the proximity key fob and it may have unlocked itself, but I'm going with the airhead theory. Anyway, it was a weird ransacking. They went through every part of her car and only took the gate opener to our neighborhood. She had a $20 bill in her center console that they had to see and didn't take it, nor did they take the garage door opener. Also her registration was sitting on the seat.

Anyway, now she's freaked out that they are stalking her and coming to our house and she wants me to look into security systems. Has anything changed since the last post here a year ago?

 

They very nature of wireless signals is every reason to not go with a wireless system. I can overwhelm the control module with a stronger signal on the same frequency and the controller will have no idea that the low power trigger on the front door was tripped. It is vulnerable to signal interruption as are all wireless systems.

 

Sounds like she just gave you a new reason to get another new gun. It is for her protection.

 

An alarm will wake you when bad guys enter your home. It did its job...now what ?

Good locks...remain vigilant..

I think a throaty dog bark is a better deterrent personally. Also I know quite a few people with orphaned alarm systems because they either false alarm too much, require too frequent battery swaps or the sensors start to fail.

 

Ring has added geofencing alarming and also recently added schedules to arm/disarm which is nice in case you forget to arm it at night it will do it automatically. Also has features that allow all cameras to activate if the alarm goes off.

 

whatever alarm company you have put a different alarm company sticker on your windows/door. Don't advertise which system you use but letting them see you do have a system can be enough of a deterrent.

 

Blink works perfectly and you can view from your phone.