Simplisafe for House Use - Works Great

Just wanted to share my positive experience of installing a Simplisafe system in our house.

I recently installed my new Simplisafe system in our 2,300 square foot 2 story home with a half exposed basement (two large ground level windows). The system I bought included 4 motion sensors, 9 entry sensors, 2 panic buttons, aux. siren, and an extra keychain remote. Total cost was about $550, compared to my next best option which would have been about $1,000.

The installation was as simple as everyone says it is, no problems at all. The only minor issue is locating the base station. It should be relatively close to the keypad (front door), close to where the family spends most of their time (family room, kitchen, dining room along back of house) so we can hear the chimes and warnings, and close to a window for cellular connection. Also, it should be not obvious to burglars since it is the “brains” of the system, so an out of the way location would be preferred as well. Not a major issue, I just need to think through where the best location will be.

I have motion and entry sensors located in the basement, with the base station on the first floor, and everything works fine.

The entry sensors cannot (as far as I can tell) be “personalized”. In other words, if a sensor is triggered, the base station can’t tell me “back door open”, all it can say if “entry sensor triggered”. But, to keep the system easy to use and at a reasonable price, this lack of complexity is understood.

The included keychain remote plugs into a home computer to adjust settings on the system, then the keychain is sync-ed to the base station by plugging it into the base station. This works great. The on (computer) screen programming is very easy to use. I have two extra entry sensors that I am not using right now and it was very easy to go in and “disable” those sensors. Can also adjust the volume of voice prompts and alarms, turn the base station light on or off, exit delay times, etc. I like this much better than scrolling through menus on a small keypad.

So, in summary, if you are looking for a home security system for a house, do your research, figure out the best system for you, but don’t be afraid to go with Simplisafe just because they market their system to apartment dwellers primarily. In my opinion, this is a great system for houses as well.