Big A Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Found a couple older threads, figured i would start a new one as there seems to be some fairly newer products out there. With that said- what do you have or recommend? I am currently looking at something like Simplisafe or Ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergwheel1647545492 Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) Arlo Pro 2 Edit: I thought you were looking for cameras only. Edited January 7, 2019 by Gergwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Gump 9 Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Arlo Pro 2 /thread Why? Can it contact the authorities? Siren? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Love our Ring systems. Have multiple including the doorbell and some lights. Wire them in for power or use solar and thank me later. Teamed with some ADT cameras, the outside motion is captured nicely in HD and not only captures video but stills too. I've teamed these up with some Blink cameras inside and have been more than pleased. The only add I would have outside is to make sure you have good lighting. It's not mandatory as they all do well but good lighting helps even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmrmnhrm Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Still have my SimpliSafe v1 system active. Just had my first low battery warning in a sensor... the control keypad identified which one was low by serial (made it easy to find), and swapping it was also very simple. The only problems I've had with it in the 2.5 years I've had it are one instance of the base station's cell chip scrambling its brains after an extended power outage (went through an interesting reset procedure with tech support, but it came right back up once we finished), and the key fob took a static shock while in my pocket and doesn't work anymore. The alarm itself is brain-scramblingly loud, even without a second siren (one afternoon the little one confused a glass-break sensor by fishing with a beaded necklace off the couch, onto a wood floor). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big A Posted January 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Love our Ring systems. Have multiple including the doorbell and some lights. Wire them in for power or use solar and thank me later. Teamed with some ADT cameras, the outside motion is captured nicely in HD and not only captures video but stills too. I've teamed these up with some Blink cameras inside and have been more than pleased. The only add I would have outside is to make sure you have good lighting. It's not mandatory as they all do well but good lighting helps even more. This seems like a little more moving parts then i was hoping for. Ring now has a traditional security system. It seems like this is pretty new for them. Is your main security ADT and the various cameras connect to it? Still have my SimpliSafe v1 system active. Just had my first low battery warning in a sensor... the control keypad identified which one was low by serial (made it easy to find), and swapping it was also very simple. The only problems I've had with it in the 2.5 years I've had it are one instance of the base station's cell chip scrambling its brains after an extended power outage (went through an interesting reset procedure with tech support, but it came right back up once we finished), and the key fob took a static shock while in my pocket and doesn't work anymore. The alarm itself is brain-scramblingly loud, even without a second siren (one afternoon the little one confused a glass-break sensor by fishing with a beaded necklace off the couch, onto a wood floor). Thanks for the feedback. I am leaning toward them as they now have the door bell. The tipping point right now is the cellular within the system. The others like the Ring system seem to be run by Wifi. would like something that is still active and sending notifications when the power is out. Arlo Pro 2 /thread Cameras look good, but would like some more of the traditional features like contact/ motion sensors, door chime, fire/ CO2 detectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 This seems like a little more moving parts then i was hoping for. Ring now has a traditional security system. It seems like this is pretty new for them. Is your main security ADT and the various cameras connect to it? ADT who bought Brinks has covered us for 15yrs+ Excellent service and yes, I have some cameras through them. Very stable and reliable. It's all wireless including the connection to their center which runs off their own cell transmitter. Cameras are wired and work off wifi. If power fails the only thing I lose is visuals. All the other transmitters (motion, windows, doors, glass break) all work as they are lithium powered. I have all three because I built onto what we had over time. All very seemless so really not many moving parts. For CO2 and Smoke, I a combo of AC powered and battery powered Nest units in every room including the garage. They are well worth the money too. Power wise, it's not much of an issue for us as I had a natural gas generated that powers the entire house instantly installed once we did our whole home remodel. Wasn't cheap but well worth it when/if the power goes out. Or it will be. Also adds some value to the home down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaronsToy Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Just installed a ring system at my mothers love it really easy to install and works with the ring doorbell and lights only $10 a month to have it monitored Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robochan Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Booby traps and a Rottweiler. Home alone has great ideas. ADT sign out front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 I needed something that is monitored by more than my wife and I. Simplisafe ran a promo at the end of the year, and I went with that. I still have a few things I'm tying in with Samsung Smart Things also. What I can't seem to pull the trigger and justify, is the right video doorbell. The Ring sounds good at first, but pisses me off. I need something not hard wired and able to link with wifi, that has voice and video, with motion and night vision. After spending $200 on one and it running off your wifi and batteries for the next ten or so years, you have to pay at least $3 a month, $30 a year for it to do what you want. With that you get short term cloud storage. But my frustration comes in when Ring says it works fine without being on their plan. It doesn't. Motion detection drops off. When someone rings the doorbell, opening the app and connecting to the unit,nis delayed and often times the person is no longer in front of the camera by the time it connects. Which means you have a $200 pain in the ass not doing what you want it to. Even though a ten year outlook on this would be about $500, I would almost rather pay that up front and have independent full function, than get trickle charged on it. And, these things lasting ten years it unlikely. Hell, I want Elon Musk to make one with a feature that will let you aim and shoot a taser at someone if they try to take a package. I'll pay on that plan. For self monitoring, I would go with Arlo Pro 2. I like some Zmodo stuff too. Don't overlook smoke detectors connected to a system. How these things aren't mandatory to be connected to a network blows my mind. What good is having one go off when no one is home and not notified? Worst case is it goes off, you get notified and call the fire department, and it ends up being a false call. I don't know of any cases of that, but that would seems to be your worse case. Of course, there would be a cost from the fire department for showing up. But it beats your house burning down if they can save it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Joe, check your wifi strength and details around that. I know the delays you speak of with Ring but once I strengthened the wifi at the door it's been fine. Occasionally I'll get a delay in the motion but the difference is maybe 5ft of travel by that person coming up my drive. We have one of each, the newest and previous gen higher end ones and the newer one does prevent more false motion alarms from the flag on our porch than the old one. I re-purposed the old one to the back door where it mainly serves as a motion capturing video camera. Network wise, I went with the Linksys Mesh network. Have had it for 1.5yrs and love it. Super strong full speed even on the patio, in garage or driveway too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Tim, I don't have Ring. I have been back and forth for over a year about getting one. I bought one and returned it before installing. There are thousands of reviews about the non subscription lag with the app. There is something about a company that is set up that way that really frustrates me and is keeping me from going with them. If I were to install, the distance from Ring to router would be less than ten feet. My prior frustrating wifi range extender posts are out to the shop and other garage, over 50 feet and one being a steel building. I still don't have a happy solution on those areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBQdDude Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 If going with wifi setup a separate router with only that traffic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJ Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 My wife fell for the Vivint salesman's pitch when we moved into our new house. Don't use them. They are downright awful. Their equipment is total shit. We are stuck in a 5 year contract with them. Im so embarrassed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big A Posted January 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 I needed something that is monitored by more than my wife and I. Simplisafe ran a promo at the end of the year, and I went with that. I still have a few things I'm tying in with Samsung Smart Things also. What I can't seem to pull the trigger and justify, is the right video doorbell. The Ring sounds good at first, but pisses me off. I need something not hard wired and able to link with wifi, that has voice and video, with motion and night vision. After spending $200 on one and it running off your wifi and batteries for the next ten or so years, you have to pay at least $3 a month, $30 a year for it to do what you want. With that you get short term cloud storage. But my frustration comes in when Ring says it works fine without being on their plan. It doesn't. Motion detection drops off. When someone rings the doorbell, opening the app and connecting to the unit,nis delayed and often times the person is no longer in front of the camera by the time it connects. Which means you have a $200 pain in the ass not doing what you want it to. Even though a ten year outlook on this would be about $500, I would almost rather pay that up front and have independent full function, than get trickle charged on it. And, these things lasting ten years it unlikely. Hell, I want Elon Musk to make one with a feature that will let you aim and shoot a taser at someone if they try to take a package. I'll pay on that plan. For self monitoring, I would go with Arlo Pro 2. I like some Zmodo stuff too. Don't overlook smoke detectors connected to a system. How these things aren't mandatory to be connected to a network blows my mind. What good is having one go off when no one is home and not notified? Worst case is it goes off, you get notified and call the fire department, and it ends up being a false call. I don't know of any cases of that, but that would seems to be your worse case. Of course, there would be a cost from the fire department for showing up. But it beats your house burning down if they can save it. Have you looked at or tried the Simplisafe doorbell? When i first started looking at them i do not recall them having them but they are on there site now. I'm pretty sold on Simplisafe for them having their own Cell chip in the system and not needing internet. Do you have the key fobs? if so, are they worth it? Fire is a must, the one cool thing that Ring has on their site as coming is a smoke/ CO2 listener. so it picks up the existing going off and does not require new. If going with wifi setup a separate router with only that traffic. This seems like a good idea if going with a wifi system. i was curious with all the other "smart" devices and then adding a security system to my existing how it would affect my actual internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Have you looked at or tried the Simplisafe doorbell? When i first started looking at them i do not recall them having them but they are on there site now. I'm pretty sold on Simplisafe for them having their own Cell chip in the system and not needing internet. Do you have the key fobs? if so, are they worth it? Fire is a must, the one cool thing that Ring has on their site as coming is a smoke/ CO2 listener. so it picks up the existing going off and does not require new. This seems like a good idea if going with a wifi system. i was curious with all the other "smart" devices and then adding a security system to my existing how it would affect my actual internet. Have to have an existing doorbell set up. We do not. Installing one is the PITA I'm trying to avoid. Would need to add a breaker and don't have room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmrmnhrm Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Would need to add a breaker and don't have room. Check with your local inspector on this... it's very common (and rather expected, if you have a modern panelboard) to double-up the doorbell's transformer with a regular 120v circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Check with your local inspector on this... it's very common (and rather expected, if you have a modern panelboard) to double-up the doorbell's transformer with a regular 120v circuit. After a little more looking into it, I may be able to go with Simplisafe for the doorbell. Seems like it only needs to get power, per this vid. Please watch it and tell me I'm not misunderstanding this. He talks about it at the 3:10 mark in the vid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmrmnhrm Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 After a little more looking into it, I may be able to go with Simplisafe for the doorbell. Seems like it only needs to get power, per this vid. Please watch it and tell me I'm not misunderstanding this. He talks about it at the 3:10 mark in the vid. I don't think he could have made it any clearer... "This doorbell needs to be wired to your existing doorbell wires." (Of course, if you don't already have a traditional doorbell, you could always hire a sparky to pull what you need) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 Yeah we met with the low voltage people and said we would likely use one of those Ring or other doorbells. He said not to tell that to the electricians and let them install the standard door bell so the wires would all be there and then its a simple retrofit. So yes, it only needs power....but that power is low voltage, hence the transformer, ect. It does appear you can buy a simple plug-in doorbell power supply on Amazon or the like..just need to get it to an outlet somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 I have an outlet nearby, just no hard wired doorbell in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillbot Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 I have an old ADT system that isn't under contract. I modified it myself using off the shelf stuff from amazon/ebay so it texts and emails me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan9381 Posted January 12, 2019 Report Share Posted January 12, 2019 Too lazy to read. Just got Blink XT after 2nd time someone got into my car on the rare instance I forgot to lock the doors. Runs on 2 lithium AAs supposed to last over a year or you can run a power cable. Free cloud storage through Amazon. Couple weeks in and so far pretty good. 1080p video, good night quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big A Posted February 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2019 Quick update, I went with a ring system after learning they have cellular back up. Got it all set up and so far I like it. Simple to link to Alexa.The monthly cost is lower and they have more doorbell and camera options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyG Posted February 9, 2019 Report Share Posted February 9, 2019 Have been looking at the ring system for a minute. Definitely would like any feedback on that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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