Alarm systems...
 

Who here has an alarm system on their home and what were the costs (equipment, install and ongoing maintenance)? Is it a pain to keep the system active (setting it at night, when you leave, etc.) and are you glad you have it?

If you love your system, any recommendations on the best products out there?

The best alarm system I've ever had was a dog, which is why we're looking to get another dog this week.

I have an alarm system. Unfortunately, this choice came after the home burglary.

There were several bidders, and the install/equipment costs varied quite a bit among security companies. And they all had a different pitch/ different ideas about ways to cover the house. The equipment/install is where most of the cost is, monthly service fees are minimal for all. It basically depends on how many doors/windows you have.

What's also nice is that it's rigged to the smoke detectors so it will also call for fire help if needed, so even if you're not home when the fire breaks out, you've got that protection. And there are homeowners insurance savings.

It is a pain to set it sometimes, but I wouldn't do without it now.

I have an alarm system, a friend of mine works for APX alarm. The system didnt cost me anything because I promised to advertise for them by keeping a sign in my yard, however if you want monitoring it is $30 a month. We dont have the monitoring because I dont want to pay for it and if you open a window or door when the alarm is set it is extremely loud and nobody is going to stay in your house with that going off.

Ours is not hard to set we actually have remotes on our car keys. You hit "away" when you leave the house and that will activate the motion sensors on the doors and windows as well as the ones that criss cross the rooms. At night you set it to "stay" and that activates just the sensors on the doors and windows.

UteStar, with my job where I go to a hundred homes every month, I've found the two most common systems are ADT and Brinks. I don't know about prices, but assume those are the most affordable all-around.

Maybe they have the best marketing -- those $99 systems that you end up paying for with a 3-year contract.

We have a wired NAPCO system that was installed by the previous owner. Its pretty easy to turn off-on, though I might have selected another location (or additional) for the keypad had I spec'ed it myself. Just a habit to get into when you leave and re-enter. You can shop around for monitoring and beat ADT and Brinks, if you choose. I believe the greatest deterrence is having some sound go off inside (not necessarily ultra loud), plus lights outside and stickers. Our town requires a registration sticker that is renewed annually. This is good, too, so the police/fire have your cell, etc, in case something should happen while you're away from home.

One other thing if your smoke alarm goes off and you don't know why (not an obvious false alarm from steam or cooking or somesuch), don't assume its an alarm glitch. This happened recently to my sister. Turns out there was a fire inside a wall of her house. Another 10 mins went by before more detectors went off and she could then see herself some smoke coming out of vents.

I have ADT. love it. both me and my wife have remotes on our key chain so we can set the alarm when we are pulling out of the driveway and disarm it before we get in the house. i think we pay around 50 bucks a month. the set up depends on how many censors you get. i think it's 50 for each censor and 50 for each remote.