Burglar Alarm

[fluffhead]

We've had a rash of break-ins in our neighborhood, so I called around and got some estimates for alarm systems. They were all pretty high, and monitoring was very expensive.
I looked into DIY systems, and they all seemed unwieldly.
I found this system - SimpliSafe - which I bought. It's completely customizable, super easy to install, and monitoring is pretty reasonable. It's also cellular based, so they can't cut your phone line and cut off the alarm. Fire and CO monitors aren't yet available - they expect to have them in October. I've had it for a week so far, no complaints yet. All controllable through your computer, too.
If you're interested, I'll email you a link, then I get a month free and you get 5% off.

[bokelley]

Email me a link. Dh and I just talked about this

[SuzySunshine]

Me too please we have also been talking about this and this looks very reasonable!

[fluffhead]

yes, well what I neglected to mention is I'll need your email - PM me.

[Deebs]

Remember to talk to your homeowners once it's up and running. Ours pretty much pays for itself in savings. Also, for those of you who are 1099 employees, if you need to have patient info at home, you may be able to deduct the cost of installation and monitoring.

[fluffhead]

Our homeowner's is deducting $3 a year for the system. amazing, huh?
Once we get the smoke alarm, it will go up to $45 a year.

[Vanquisher]

Me.

heidi (at) midfloridaortho (dot) com.

Thanks!

[bokelley]

How is the alarm system working out? Dh was asking about it, we still have not gotten one yet.

[Meenah]

Me too! Sending you my email.

[fluffhead]

It was working great! Until we got a cat. I hate the cat for lots of reasons, but the motion detectors need to be flipped over to accomodate him, and I haven't done that yet. Anyway, we never turn on the alarm now, and I'm thinking of stopping monitoring service. (the really nice thing about simplisafe is there's no minimum period to subscribe to their monitoring).
DW turned it on once when she left the house and the cat triggered the motion detector, and the cops came. So at least we know it works.
They do say that for pets over a certain weight you can turn the detectors over and it's supposed to be OK...who knows.

[Deebs]

Do you have any perimeter alarms (like on doors, windows, etc)? We only set the parameter alarms so that pets can't trigger them. That's also what I set at night so that the kids don't set it off if they get up to go potty.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Growing up we had an alarm system - motion sensors were turned "off" when the house was armed at night. The dog stayed in the basement when we were gone, so he didn't trip the sensors during the day. We had door but not window alarms (except on the basement windows - those were armed)

[fluffhead]

Yeah, we have sensors on the doors, and I guess I should turn them on at night.
I've also thought about locking the cat in the basement while we're out so I can use the motion detectors - I just don't have the heart - he really likes basking in the sun on the windowsills (yeah I hate him but I don't want to be mean to him...)
The system is really cool - you turn on and off the components online.