SimpliSafe - Whole Home Security System 9-piece - White

Very affordable and easy to set up yourself in less than one hour. .

We have some construction going on and a need for security. This system, with its indoor camera, its outdoor camera, its motion detector, and its entry sensors meets the need. Setting it up was easy, but it wasn't without its challenges. The box came well packed and with a "Let's Do This" printed on the main box. Setting up the base station was super easy and, as a science fiction fan, I love the rotating light ring. Hearing the station speak to me was a bit unexpected, but useful. It connected to our wireless network without a hitch (the router and the base station are in the same room) and with it we were able to connect the rest of the devices very easily (they all have buttons...they connect....super easy). Our problems came up with the cameras. The one interior camera that came with the system was defective. I talked with one of SimpliSafe's phone agents (a woman named Justin) who was fantastic and deserves a medal for working with me. She went through all the good problem solving steps and then sent in a request for a second camera to be sent to me. Oddly, the request was held up until I made another call asking for a delivery update. At that point, the new camera was sent and it was as easily set up as all of the other devices. The one outdoor camera that came with the system is a bit more of a problem. This issue doesn't have much to do with the system, but more to do with our wireless router. It is something to be aware of if you're interested in buying this system. We set the camera up by our back door, about 20 feet away from the base station. It's a small house, but a cement stucco house. The wireless signal has no problem reaching all the areas within the house, but the outdoor camera isn't so lucky. The signal is intermittent at best. We hadn't given much thought to getting a wifi extender before getting the SimpliSafe system, but now it looks like we're going to need to give that a try if we're going to get consistent use out of the outdoor camera. Other things that I worry about are the battery charge. Both the back yard and the inside cameras are set up to depend on their batteries. The inside camera can be set up to take advantage of electrical outlets, but not really at a useful spot in our house (it's an old house with bad outlet placement). I worry that both cameras will run out of juice before we're back from any extended vacations. I also wasn't quite sure what to make of the keypad as most of the functionality offered by the keypad was also offered by the phone app. It's a cool device, though, and having back up functionality isn't a bad thing. The biggest thing that bothered me about the system is that it doesn't provide a way to save video clips or pictures. Instead, they have a subscription service that does that. It might be more secure than flash memory, but I really hate keeping track of all my subscriptions and figuring out where all our money is going. I'll likely take advantage of the service during any extended trips, but, otherwise, I'll depend on my phone alerts. TL/DR: Easy to set up multilayered protection system. Great customer service. You need a solid wireless network and an understanding for how long the batteries will last. I'd recommend the system with those reservations.

This was a nice setup. A lot of expandable products contain just enough to get you hooked, but not enough to really be useful. This kit could do with a couple more accessories, but it is very usable out of the box. The packaging was well thought-out. (picture 1) One odd thing - one of the four <door sensors> didn’t have a place in the box, so it was just bouncing around in an open space. (picture 2) A smartphone app is required to program the system. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. Other home and security apps were more colorful and had icons and such to lead your eye quickly and intuitively to the operation you’re after. This one is largely just text. There were a couple firmware updates to do right away. One took a couple minutes; the other took an hour. Seemed like an awfully long time for that. There is a lot to setting up an alarm system, and that takes time. But the SimpliSafe components added quickly and easily. The setup steps are in a logical order and the settings can be changed later on if necessary.