What type alarm system for home?

[dmccarty]

Old Paths,

If you are going to put in posts you might as well hang pipe gates. The gates are cheap and look/work better than a cable plus remove the liability of someone hitting the cable.

When we bought our place I put up a cable and some metal posts. Cheap, quick and it worked but it was a stop gap measure. It kept some poachers out according to the neighbor who saw them standing at the cable trying to figure out what to do. They smoked a couple cigs while they pondered.

Someone tried to drive over the cable as well. It was low enough that you could pretty easily step over it so someone tried to drive over it. This messed up the cheap posts I used, maybe a couple of dollars, but from the pieces of plastic left on the road it costs them a few hundred dollars.

I put florescent orange flagging all over the cable so it was visible night and day but I still worried about the liability. As soon as I could I put up a proper gate. A landowner in a nearby county was having problems with ATV trespass so he put up a cable. They went zooming down his posted private road and hit the cable which killed one of them. The Sheriff said no charges since they were trespassing. Never heard if he was sued or not.

Regarding the Ladysmith. Make sure the wifey has the strength to work the slide. Some people have trouble.

When we built our house we planned to put in a security system and a sprinkler system. I called up the insurance company to find out how much money the systems would save us on the premium. The answer was not much. Which told me there was not much chance of me being robbed or the house burning down. Given we have a finished concrete floor, electric appliances, dont fry in the house, and don't smoke the chance of a house fire was slight. Being robbed not much higher.

If we get robbed it stinks but that is why we have insurance. However being safe in the house is the primary concern which the gate is a great help. The driveway alarm would be a great addition for us but until the earlier link to the MUR products with long wireless range just not practical.

Alarm systems can have quite a few false alarms. In some jurisdictions if you have N number of alarm calls to the local law enforcement they start charging you. If you have a system the alerts law enforcement make sure this will not bite you. Departments are doing this since the vast majority of alarm calls are false alarms and waste quite a bit of officer time.

Later,
Dan

 

[beenthere]

And, don't put up night-time lights that remain on all the time. That just gives the intruders a way to see their way around, and lurk in the shadows.
Use motion detectors to turn lights on and surprise them while they move about . IMO

 

[/pine]

I have had excellent service from a Radio Shack Reporter Wireless Alert system

I agree...with a few additional sensors (and some motion sensor flood lights) this is really all you need...it will alert you to anyone on the property...you can call 911 as easy as any security service could if it was available...

The batteries on my driveway sensor last well over a year and that sensor is the most often activated (daily)

I think basic systems (one receiver, one sensor) is about $70 with additional sensors about $40...

 

[brin]

When we built our house 5 yrs. ago we had an Alarm system installed...it is not wireless our local Electric Membership Corp ( Power Company ) has a security devision and they put it in and it is hard wired..all the doors are wired and we have motion detectors inside. We also have a driveway sensor that lets us know when someone drives or walks up our driveway. Think about this....If someone wants in..they are going to come in...when you have a sensor on a window and the burglar decides to break in he is just seconds away from you in your bedroom...so it is my feeling even if you put sensors on every single opening all you gain is a few seconds...so what you want is a way to known when someone is breaking in...and more importantly you want to discourage them from breaking in and that is why we have the motion sensor exterior lights and the motion sensors inside. We sleep with our bedroom door closed and locked so when we are alerted we have the time we need to grab the guns and dispatch the intruders to their great reward. The bottom line is ..be ready to defend yourself but understand no matter how much you spend on an alarm ( burglars know how to defeat these alarms ).....if they want in and are on drugs..they are coming in and that is why you have to be armed and ready to use it.

One more thing...here in Georgia lately on some home invasions the perps....shout out POLICE as they break in the house so beware..just because someone yells Police does not mean they are. I can only say what I am inclined to do and that is shoot anybody as many times as I can if they break in to my house in the middle of the night...I don't have time to verify if they are cops or not...if they are not then my wife and I are dead..I will let a jury decide but that's just me.

 

[Redneck in training]

Here is a funny story about burglary. Old folks went to Florida for the winter and their son came to check on the house and move the lawn for the last time the season. Just as he approached the house he sees a guy carrying his parents TV out of the house. He stops the truck reaches behind the seat for the shut gun and orders the guy to put the TV nicely back to the house. Then he commanded him to the garage to get the lawnmower. Only after that he called cops and asked them not to hurry because the burglar will be busy mowing about an acre of lawn with a push mower.

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Typically the wireless sensors are placed in a position on a window (double hung) that it would be virtually impossible for them to to get wet. After 18 years of being around alarm systems with a mix of both hard wired and wireless sensors I have enough faith in the modern wireless technologies that I wouldn't hesitate to use them where necessary. Most of the systems I deal wit are DSC.
As far as the ADT and similar alarm companys. Personally, I think your smart to stay as far away from them as possible. To the best of my knowledge, you never own the equipment that they install in your home and if you ever chose to discontinue their monitoring service. you will have to pay ALOT of money to buy the installed equipment or they will come and rip it all from your house leaving all kinds of holes etc. Atleast this has been my personally experience.

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Regarding the Ladysmith. Make sure the wifey has the strength to work the slide. Some people have trouble.Dan

Unless S & W has something new on the market and they may well have. I believe you will find that the Ladysmith is a revolver.

 

[Old Paths]

Model 3913LS Pistol
Smith & Wesson, the first and most respected manufacturer for womens' handguns, has designed a line featuring small frame revolvers as well as a compact 9mm pistol. We believe that women should have the power to defend themselves...and that power is best found in a Smith & Wesson.

She looked, she likes...

Great ideas guys, just shows the power of all these great minds on the forums.

I guess I am a bit of a throwback, I grew up without locks on the doors, no one but jewelry stores and banks had alarms, you could know your neighbors and not be frightened by what you knew about them...

Pipe gates are pretty cheap, you'd have to be blind to run into one of them vs a cable.

Seems to me you almost need a moat nowadays...
I recently read something about moats and castles, it went something like this...
Besides being an obstacle an enemy had to cross, water-filled moats also served as a castle痴 sewer. Castles had rooms called garderobes which were small wardrobes for undressing, and relieving oneself. Garderobes were either built out from the castle wall, suspended over the moat, or built within the wall, and sluices sent the waste cascading into the moat. (At the Beaumaris castle in Wales, waste was discharged through the mouths of grimacing stone faces, like in the picture at left.) So, you could say a castle moat did double duty. While a wide moat was defensive, a stinky putrid moat was offensive too.

 

[Mgrove]

Fence in your yard, and buy a half dozen geese. They won't stop a burglar, but they will make enough noise that will give you time to lock and load!
Max

 

[MossRoad]

If you want an alarm system after this, go ahead and get one, but I don't really see the need. Alarm company guys will differ with me, but I just don't see what an alarm can do for you if you are warned and prepared for intruders.

If someone breaks in while you are not home, that is the purpose of insurance.

Dave,
If you are not home and the alarm goes off really loud most if not every thief will find an easier target and leave as fast as they can. The alarms really do work to help deter all but the very most determined thief.