My wife and I have been using ADT for over ten years.
It seams every year the price goes up.
When I call to complain they drop the price a little but it is still more than it was before the increase.
That sound great that they drop however they still increase the price every year so I have been looking at the Simplysafe system.
Their basic monitoring is 14.99 a month and the 1 year savings would pay for the cost of the system.
So who has any experience or info using, setting up or installing they could help me with to decide if this is the route to go.
Thanks

I've set up a couple SimpliSafe systems. They're ridiculously easy to set up and use, really. I can't complain about that.

Having had the ADT Pulse system elsewhere, I find myself comparing them a lot.

Adding sensors to the SimpliSafe (SS) system is a breeze, and they're reasonably affordable. The remote is a three-button thing, easy to slip into a pocket. I 3D printed a few visor mounts for them, for use in their cars.

SS is very "friendly-sounding," rather than "heavy duty sounding." The built-in voice is pleasant, the countdown beeps are tiny "tinks" (not unlike the countdown on the series, "24"), and the sounds made when a door or window is opened are pleasant and not startling. This is good for several people I know. A parent said, "wow, I wish we'd had that when the kids were young!" I'm sure the kids are glad their mom and dad didn't have such a system then. The phone app is -- like the rest of the system -- easy to use.

What SS doesn't offer is customization, as compared with ADT's Pulse system. With Pulse, a user can set up timers for lights and such, activating them with alarm-on or alarm-off functions. SS doesn't offer this. As the nerdy type, I's miss that kind of customization opportunity. Then again, the point of SS is to be... simple. And it is.

My primary gripe with SS is that there's no quickly-visible indicator of system status. The ADT setup I had a while back had the standard red/green LED on the control panels. With a panel in the garage, I could tell upon entry if someone else had armed (or disarmed) the system as soon as I opened a door. The SS keypad doesn't offer that. The alarm sounds come ONLY from the base station... so if I were to enter the house through the garage and someone else had set the alarm, I might not know about it as quickly, not hearing the noises from the base station until after I've put the car away, grabbed the mail, brought in the dog, and gotten to the kitchen... all too late.

To that end, SS offers a remote horn -- a user could put one of those in the garage and know quickly that the alarm countdown had ended. What I'd really like is for SS to offer a module the size of their motion sensors that simply offers a status light -- red for armed, green for off.

Many users complain that SS support is lacking. They're tough to get in touch with by phone, but they do offer an online chat area. Often a user can find the necessary help in the chats (forum?) more quickly than can get a response from SimpliSafe.

In general, SS is an easy system to install and use. It's not as complex or as customizable as ADT, and that's its intent. Is it cheaper than ADT? Absolutely. Does it work well? Yep. Is it perfect? No, but closer-to-perfect comes at a cost, in terms of both dollars and complexity. Aside from not offering the modules I'd like to see, I really don't have any serious gripes toward SimpliSafe.

Between me and family, I have set up and maintain four SS systems. No complaints.

The wireless keypad (which is the primary control for the base station and system maintenance) DOES beep. The voice indicators “alarm on/off, etc.” are from the base station only, but you can tell your system status in a number of ways - because you’re standing at the keypad, on the smartphone app, online, etc.

It’s really not a problem.

Buy and install with confidence. I believe they have a money back guarantee (but double check me on that).

-Rob

I'm corrected. The keypad does beep.
The alarm siren, I think, comes only from the base station.

I still want an instant, at-a-glance status indicator, though.

I installed SimpliSafe at my mom's house a few years ago. After two false alarms, I discontinued the service.

Before I retired I built a “man cave” for a client that included housing several of his rare Porsches. The building was almost 5000 SF and quite elaborate. When he asked me about an inexpensive security system I suggested he look into a Simply Safe system. He decided to install it and has been very happy with the install and how he is able to monitor his babies…

Between my parents and myself, we have four of them. They work well and we haven’t had any issues. I do wish the siren were louder.

I could be wrong, but I thought the entire bottom of the base station lights up or lights up a different color when the alarm is set.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I could be wrong, but I thought the entire bottom of the base station lights up or lights up a different color when the alarm is set.

You're correct. It does.
My grouch has to do with my own setup, I suppose -- the door I use most isn't near the sensible location of the base station.

That's not the company who runs the commercials with the white guy in a ski mask, is it?

As an security dealer I am of course biased against DIY security as most is junk. The early Simply Safe was junk that to a semi professional or well educated thief could easily defeat. What they don't tell you is why they don't have need of a contract. This is because they use proprietary communications to transmit the alarm signal to their central stations. This means if you buy a $700+ dollar system and are unhappy you have a useless system as no one else can monitor it.
I suggest you find a good local alarm dealer. Find one that sells DMP brand equipment as well. DMP is all US made in Missouri so you are buying American made. On top of that their wireless technology is way better than Honeywell or any other brand.
Just my .02

I bought it after my family got it. Its a simple and pretty awesome system. Not the most secure but in combination with a locked house and my dogs, it does the job well.

My single daughter has a Simplysafe system. It went off at midnight last week when she was out of town. I am the secondary contact and got the call cause she didnt answer her phone. SS asked if they should call police and I said yes. I got there in 5 min and police were already there.

Apparantly a false alarm. When the officers entered they did not ask for the code to disarm it - and Simply Safe called again. So the alert part seemed to work well. One of the officers said false alarms were not unusual (dont know if he was referring to SS or alarms in general) so I wasnt too concerned, but still dont like it.

I’ve had a Simply Safe system for years and never had any issues. It’s very easy to set up & add sensors to, the phone app provides all the notification I need about system status, monitoring is very affordable. For the price I find it hard to beat (just as good as the expensive CPI system I had for years before that).

I trust it enough that I installed it in my patents home and my daughter had one in her apartments in college and my step daughter has one as well. Again never any issues with any of these systems.

I've been using simply safe for years am I'm pleased with it. I use it as just another layer of protection so it works for me, I'm not securing Fort Knox so I'm not going to go with a very expensive system. Any system csn be compromised, this works for my home.

We've now been using Simply Safe for a couple of years. We originally bought it as a heads up for when our oldest was going through some issues and would "run away". Granted being 8 at the time that meant walking down the street before getting scared and running back home.

We would only turn on the monitoring when we went on vacation which was extremely convenient, however we have left it on since returning from our last trip. My only piece of advice is to ensure your sensors are mounted properly. If possible consider using the small screws to mount the sensors for an added layer of protection. The first 2 nights we had the system running it went off in the middle of the night due to a sensor falling off. Granted over 2 years later and we haven't had anymore issues.

I've used Simplisafe at two locations for a couple of years. Overall, my experience has been positive- I would call it good but not great overall. I don't have huge security needs, I primarily like it as a way to keep tabs on the property and animals when I'm not there. My girlfriend likes it because she can see if she locked the doors to the house when she's out. It's incredibly easy to set up and add and remove sensors from. I don't have any experience with other security systems so I can't compare, but here's a few of the things I like and don't like.

The phone app- Works well overall. It makes it easy to view the feed from cameras and check the status of devices on the system. My one gripe is that it seems to log me out more often than I would like, and I have to re-enter my login information to view or turn the system on and off.

Key fob- I really didn't like the fob and stopped using it. It made it really easy to arm and disarm the system, but I never liked the idea that someone could potentially find my keys and have access to the house and the alarm system. What put me over the edge was when I accidentally activated the panic button while the fob was in my pocket. I don't feel like the fob design does much to prevent this, and it's not a great feeling when the police roll into the driveway and make a beeline for you while you're sitting there working on your car. They were really cool about it, but it was an unnecessary waste of their time and mine.

Motion detectors- I don't care what they say, they are not pet safe. One location has a cat, the other location has 2 cats and a dog. I've tried adjusting their height, sensitivity, changed their orientation, and moved them around. The animals continued to set them off. I finally removed them from all rooms that the animals had access to, I couldn't find another solution that worked.

Cameras- they work well at close range indoors day and night. I do wish you could adjust the day/ night mode sensitivity- one kitchen camera stays in night mode all the time because while there is plenty of light to see during the day there isn't enough to make it switch out of night mode. You can get a weather shield for outdoor use, but I don't think the cameras are good enough to provide usable data outside, which is kind of disappointing because they don't seem to offer any other camera options.

Monitoring- I've always gotten a call with the false alarms which is good. The bad is that if you call them back there seems to always be a substantial hold time. One false alarm resulted in a call when I had my hands full and couldn't answer. I called them back immediately- but I was on hold for 10 minutes and the police were at my house before I was able to speak to anyone. They called me out of the blue another time and I couldn't answer, it was an 8 minute wait to speak to anyone when I called back immediately. Luckily there wasn't anything wrong this time (I had replaced the battery in a sensor and the call was related to that), but it was still anxiety inducing wondering if the police were going to end up dispatched again.

Overall I would say it's a great light duty security/ peace of mind solution. Like a door lock, it's really only going to keep honest people honest. If you NEED a security system for whatever reason, I would probably look at a more professional solution.

quote:

Originally posted by p08:
As an security dealer I am of course biased against DIY security as most is junk.

I did fairly extensive research on security systems a few years ago, after our second DSC panel died.

Everything I read, at the time, suggested the best professional products were Honeywell, GE, and DSC.

quote:

Originally posted by p08:
I suggest you find a good local alarm dealer. Find one that sells DMP brand equipment ...

This is the first time I've ever heard of DMP. (Not that that necessarily means anything.)

quote:

Originally posted by p08:
On top of that their wireless technology is way better than Honeywell or any other brand.

Hmmm... I've two wireless sensors on our Honeywell/Ademco system: A tilt sensor on the garage door and a motion in the µBarn. The latter is a good 100 ft. from the keypad. Both have worked flawlessly, so far.

I installed an EyezOn EnvisaLink EVL-4 communications board in Honeywell/Ademco panel. It's worked beautifully.

24x7x52 monitoring costs us $9/mo. It isn't strictly necessary, being as we can see everything, get notifications, etc., anywhere in the world we can get network connectivity, but it turned out to nearly exactly match the insurance discount we get for having the monitoring--so the monitoring is essentially free

All that being said: The installation and configuration of these pro systems isn't for the faint-of-heart. They aren't made to be end-user-installation/-configuration-friendly

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
I've used Simplisafe at two locations for a couple of years.
...
Motion detectors- I don't care what they say, they are not pet safe.

The Honeywell pet-safe motion in our family room has never falsed on the cats in the 25 years or so it's been there.

It did trigger a couple times when a new cat figured out how to get to the top of the bookcase just below the sensor.

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
Monitoring- I've always gotten a call with the false alarms which is good. The bad is that if you call them back there seems to always be a substantial hold time.

I have never been on-hold with our alarm system monitoring company. Not even for a New York Heartbeat.

My parents and BIL both use SimpliSafe and are very happy with it. I'm considering it.

Thanks everyone some great info.
Our house is not that big so the system I designed will only cost around $250.00.
If I go with Simplysafe the cost difference between ADT and Simpltsafe will pay for it self in about 18 months.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

This is the first time I've ever heard of DMP. (Not that that necessarily means anything.)

DMP is smaller company, but with dealers all over the US. Look them up they really are the leaders with technology in the industry. Also the biggest thing is that you are supporting US manufacturing and US jobs!

quote:

Hmmm... I've two wireless sensors on our Honeywell/Ademco system: A tilt sensor on the garage door and a motion in the µBarn. The latter is a good 100 ft. from the keypad. Both have worked flawlessly, so far.

DMP devices have a 1 mile line of sight range. Obviously RF unfriendly buildings will lessen the range. Also one big thing is that they use 2 way communication. Meaning that when tripped they send a signal to the panel for alarm. If they don't receive a kiss off that the signal was received they keep transmitting until it goes through. The Honeywell and most other wireless devices transmit up to 7-8 times. If the panel does not receive the signal the device resets and will only re-send if tripped again.

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
I've used Simplisafe at two locations for a couple of years.
...
Motion detectors- I don't care what they say, they are not pet safe.

Pet friendly devices are not perfect, if you let the cat get within 3-4' or close the larger the heat signature appears. In other words to the sensor the cat looks to be about 100lbs!