Simplisafe?

[Ghost River Retrievers]

Like many on this forum, I live miles from town in a county with few residents, so there's no police presence and most like a response time of at least 20 minutes, maybe more. We have a typical farm gate with an electric opener at the entrance from the road; our gravel driveway is roughly 3/8 mile and leads only to our house; the house is not visible from the road (well, the roof is visible). Only my bride and I live at the house, along with 4 dogs.
We have sort of relied on the dogs to alert us to folks entering the property ... even though the dogs cannot see the gate, they can somehow tell when someone turns into the driveway.
My primary concern is for safety, mainly my wife, but I don't want to wake up with a bad guy at the foot of the bed, and I like some of the stuff we have so I'd like to keep or at least recover it if possible.
So I'm thinking about a driveway alarm (obviously, this would only work when someone approaches via the driveway), as well as a motion detector in the house and a loud outdoor siren (I have a couple neighbors who live about 1/4 mile behind the house with separate entrances to their properties). Also considering a camera in the house and a few outdoor cameras with a couple directed at the house from different angles and a couple directed at the sheds which house a bunch of my "stuff." Notably, the sheds are around 400 yards form the house and, therefore, 400 yards from our wi-fi.
I don't plan on having it monitored because with the likely response time, the cops would not be there in time to even see the crooks' taillights.
I've looked at Simplisafe, which seems okay and popular, but I'd like some opinions of folks who have a situation similar to mine.
Thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated, whether about Simplisafe or another type of system!
Thanks!

 

[TnAndy]

Simplisafe seems to be a monitored system. You can set your own up with some internet shopping.

Best driveway alarm I've found is Dakota Alert MURS unit. You can have up to four zones, covering not only drive, but other areas as well, all reporting to one base unit in the house. Range good for miles and miles.

 

[tcreeley]

The state police barracks is 30 minutes away and the county sheriff is 40 minutes away. No local cops closer than a half hour. I like it that way.
Everything is unlocked, keys are in the vehicles. There is crime but not much. 33 years ago we had a bicycle stolen that we left on its side close to the road. Nothing since.
I feel bad for all of you folks who have to deal with crime and security issues. Having adult toys visible will attract attention. I put things out of sight of the road.
I don't think I would ever call the cops after you read about folks getting shot when they show up. Maine must just be a good state to live in.

A dog would be useful if there was a problem, but I'm not really interested in one.

 

[/pine]

One of the best natural burglar alarms (loose term)...are guineas...nobody will get even close to your habitat without them raising holy heck...but they will pull up your plants...

 

[RNeumann]

We have Simplisafe at the wife’s office. It has been a good product and provides some piece of mind. It has a camera as well. It uses a cellular signal and they work with most carriers depending on the area.

On the property we had an evaluation done and one of the recommended products was this-
Dakota Alert MURS Wireless Motion Detection Kit, can be purchased at: 1. Amazon.com Page Not Found
Station/dp/B00104QGXA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432911488&sr=8‐
1&keywords=dakota+monitor

It is nice in that any HAM radio will pick up the beeps- ie you can wear a little portable radio and or have a base station as mentioned above. Setup two on the driveway and you will know how fast they are coming. They can be set in such a way to minimize false signals- but nothing will eliminate all false signals.

Other basics like gates, clear lines if site and the dogs will help.

 

[kthompson]

Without a doubt crime does vary across this county and even within local areas. However not aware there is any state that can report no major crimes for even one week and if there were only one and it was your or your loved one the victim that is all that matters. With illegal drugs and some other issues there is potential out there I did not grow up with and can understand anyone having concern.

Would say good out door dogs along with in house dog to warn you the outside dog(s) are upset or alarmed. Find out how to identify your property for the law in your state as yours so if found can be traced. Pictures can help but video of you giving the serial numbers and description of the item is better. Do not think any alarm system will get law there fast enough to be real help. Had business 15 miles from my house I bet the law to more than once even when broken into. On cameras doubt you can set up too many. I used wired ones to recorder. No experience with wireless cameras. But if you go with cameras do get them of quality for poor video is not much value.

The advice of keeping items hidden or locked up of course helps. If you need decent secure storage checkout the ocean shipping containers. Not costly and you can even park small tractors and such in them. Of course locks and all this is only a help. Oh have good insurance. If you have the mind set to have and use guns then do have and train with them. Be sure your wife is comfortable with them and can use quickly. My wife is decent shot and have no doubt she is willing to if needed. But to get her there it has taken some trial of getting guns she can handle well. You may need to get expert help on this. Do test the guns and ammo on more than paper. I know people who count on bird shot to protect them, well bird shot may not penetrate a winter coat much less stop a person. Then pray all your preparation is never needed.

 

[RNeumann]

I’ll add most of the WiFi cameras, like simplisafe (I have had good luck with iSmartAlarm too) store any motion or sound detected remotely.

 

[tomplum]

The Dakota driveway alert is what we have. No surprises. They are simple to install and you are running no cables for power in addition, I have a strobe light that flashes for a minute (the way I have it calibrated) so if there was ever a thought, did I hear something? I can verify if I would have been asleep when the chime goes off.

 

[EddieWalker]

Simplisafe seems to be a monitored system. You can set your own up with some internet shopping.

Best driveway alarm I've found is Dakota Alert MURS unit. You can have up to four zones, covering not only drive, but other areas as well, all reporting to one base unit in the house. Range good for miles and miles.

Thanks, I've learned that you are one of those posters on here that I trust a lot. Your recommendation for a product goes a long way with me. I've been wanting some sort of driveway alarm for awhile, and this one just went to the top of my list to research.

 

[TnAndy]

Thanks, I've learned that you are one of those posters on here that I trust a lot. Your recommendation for a product goes a long way with me. I've been wanting some sort of driveway alarm for awhile, and this one just went to the top of my list to research.

Well thank you Eddie.....I certainly enjoy your posts and experience with things. That gazebo of yours is a true work of art.

On driveway alerts, like I said....I tried several over the years, and the Dakota MURS unit, while not perfect, is the best I've found. The range is way superior to most, literally miles, you have the choice of magnetic in-the-road probes or motion detector, or combination of them up to 4 per base unit. Each transmitter has a separate frequency, and the base picks it up as a voice alert "Alert Zone 1 (or 2,3,4) so you know which zone was tripped.

I have the magnetic probe right at my gate for the first alert. It runs off 12v (comes set up for 8 AA batteries), and I've got it connected to a 12v battery on a trickle charger as I've got 120cAC at that location. My other sensors are the motion detector type, they use 6 AA's (roughly 6mo/set), two of them are line of sight from the house because the dogs/deer/crows will set them off.

Base unit comes with a 'wall wart', or can be run directly off 12vDC. It also has a set of NO contacts you can wire other things like siren/light/etc. You can also set up 2 base units, say one at the house, one at the shop/barn, and have a wireless intercom system on your place if you want, plus the second base will pick up the sensors as well...or 4 more different ones if you want...frequencies are field setable.

They also sell a hand walkie talkie that picks up the transmitters, AND you can use it as a 2 way radio between it and the base unit....so that has handy uses when momma has lunch ready

LOT of features with these units.

I've had individual transmitter units fail over the years, sent back to Dakota, they repair/replace for a fair fee (way less than new unit), good technical advice if you need it, overall, I've have to say they are good to deal with.