What would the community advise (for / against and why) for the scenario I describe below:
Proud owner of a new home in a mostly empty new construction phase of an otherwise established community. Many homes being built. Barely any residents to look out for each other.
My home came standard with the following:
* Ring Video Doorbell Pro ($200 model)
* Liftmaster MyQ WiFi garage door opener
* Around 3 Leviton Decora WiFi enabled *interior* smart lights
* Kwikset Kēvo touch-to-open smart lock (2nd Generation)
All of the above are supposedly compatible with Alexa. Wife and I already have 3 older generation echo dots (wish those suckers could communicate with each other—would love whole-home wireless audio as we’re Amazon Prime members.
Anyhow, at minimum, I want to purchase two super bright PIR motion sensing floodlights for the front and back—evidently simply flooding the place with light is enough to make a thief look elsewhere. Ones with built-in wireless IR cameras would be worth the $. Anyone have experience with the Ring models of smart floodlights?
Anything else is... this is where I’m open to suggestion re: cost / value proposition. Don’t want to Step Over Dollars To Pick Up Pennies. And neither me or my wife own firearms—yet. Open, but not really interested at this time. I want to Secure The Perimeter.
I’ve noticed that Rampart Security systems predominate in my phase. Perhaps the builder has a relationship with them. They themselves protect their office and models using Rampart.
Second in number of installed security systems is ADT.
Here’s what I’ve read about ADT (mostly bad). That with ADT:
A. Nearly all the equipment and sensors are proprietary. Don’t like the service? Good luck switching. Sounds cost-prohibitive. I hate vendor lock-in.
B. Biz model seems to be like the old skool 2 year cell phone contract—hard to get out of. Don’t people often ending up paying around $1500 to $2000 on two year contracts that offer a “free” iPhone? I’m a Buy the iPhone myself (refurbished and unlocked) and use a no-contract player like TracFone. Since TracFone rents network space from multiple providers: I think some combo of Verizon, AT & T, etc, I get better coverage than my wife (T-Mobile personal and Verizon work phone).
C. One person I spoke with said her mom has had ADT for 15+ years and loves them. So I guess if you love the service, then there's no concern about switching. But ADT monitoring seems a bit costly. And again, I do not like vendor lock-in most of the time.
Heard SimpliSafe was worth checking out. But interested in seeing what else Ring has to offer.
I have around 25 days to use the 25% off Amazon security system package coupon I got via my USPS change of address packet. And it’s the 4th of July—probably lots of sales going on. And I've got a 10% off any Lowes purchase I'm itching to use. Seems they used to offer their own very affordable system called IRIS--but that some time in 2019, the monitoring service got shut down. Any good security bundles at Lowe's worth checking out?
I need to select specific models and placement by Tuesday so I can get my ARB form to the HOA for this month’s review. They want a copy of my survey / plot plan with Xs marked where the devices will go, as well as spec sheets for each device.
Thanks in advance.
Proud owner of a new home in a mostly empty new construction phase of an otherwise established community. Many homes being built. Barely any residents to look out for each other.
My home came standard with the following:
* Ring Video Doorbell Pro ($200 model)
* Liftmaster MyQ WiFi garage door opener
* Around 3 Leviton Decora WiFi enabled *interior* smart lights
* Kwikset Kēvo touch-to-open smart lock (2nd Generation)
All of the above are supposedly compatible with Alexa. Wife and I already have 3 older generation echo dots (wish those suckers could communicate with each other—would love whole-home wireless audio as we’re Amazon Prime members.
Anyhow, at minimum, I want to purchase two super bright PIR motion sensing floodlights for the front and back—evidently simply flooding the place with light is enough to make a thief look elsewhere. Ones with built-in wireless IR cameras would be worth the $. Anyone have experience with the Ring models of smart floodlights?
Anything else is... this is where I’m open to suggestion re: cost / value proposition. Don’t want to Step Over Dollars To Pick Up Pennies. And neither me or my wife own firearms—yet. Open, but not really interested at this time. I want to Secure The Perimeter.
I’ve noticed that Rampart Security systems predominate in my phase. Perhaps the builder has a relationship with them. They themselves protect their office and models using Rampart.
Second in number of installed security systems is ADT.
Here’s what I’ve read about ADT (mostly bad). That with ADT:
A. Nearly all the equipment and sensors are proprietary. Don’t like the service? Good luck switching. Sounds cost-prohibitive. I hate vendor lock-in.
B. Biz model seems to be like the old skool 2 year cell phone contract—hard to get out of. Don’t people often ending up paying around $1500 to $2000 on two year contracts that offer a “free” iPhone? I’m a Buy the iPhone myself (refurbished and unlocked) and use a no-contract player like TracFone. Since TracFone rents network space from multiple providers: I think some combo of Verizon, AT & T, etc, I get better coverage than my wife (T-Mobile personal and Verizon work phone).
C. One person I spoke with said her mom has had ADT for 15+ years and loves them. So I guess if you love the service, then there's no concern about switching. But ADT monitoring seems a bit costly. And again, I do not like vendor lock-in most of the time.
Heard SimpliSafe was worth checking out. But interested in seeing what else Ring has to offer.
I have around 25 days to use the 25% off Amazon security system package coupon I got via my USPS change of address packet. And it’s the 4th of July—probably lots of sales going on. And I've got a 10% off any Lowes purchase I'm itching to use. Seems they used to offer their own very affordable system called IRIS--but that some time in 2019, the monitoring service got shut down. Any good security bundles at Lowe's worth checking out?
I need to select specific models and placement by Tuesday so I can get my ARB form to the HOA for this month’s review. They want a copy of my survey / plot plan with Xs marked where the devices will go, as well as spec sheets for each device.
Thanks in advance.
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