tried a search but nothing popped up.. any opinions on quality/value, etc... of simplisafe systems?

We have had Simplisafe since 2011 and it works great.  In those days they were little more than a startup and it was difficult to get direct customer service and technical assistance.  Now they have grown substantially and increased their product offerings and customer servicing.  We have had zero false alarms and great service.  In my opinion good to go.

As I always point out in these threads.
Proprietary communications means that you cannot have anyone but Simply Safe monitor your system.
Wireless user codes and data sent from devices are easily "sniffed" to compromise the system.


   The biggest thing is you can get a DIY product from Honeywell DMP etc.. that will be comparably priced that ANY alarm central station can monitor. They are not that great of a bargain IMHO.

Have a few setups in my smaller offices and they have been quite reliable, false alarm free to date.

All batteries should be changed yearly as good measure.

As with any alarm system - your security should be layered, don't depend on it alone if your securing your home to protect your family and personal belongings etc

thanks for input.. i am not very knowledgable about all the options.  I do not have a local phone wired line anymore so pretty sure wireless is only way to go.  Hear about simplisafe and safetouch advertisements here on radio.  simplisafe seems relatively inexpensive for a minimal set up when i am away from home.   3 entry doors to house (front/back (french door not slider) and entry from attached garage.  about 10 windows downstairs (2 sets of doubles and a cluster of three in kitchen nook).  i try to secure windows best I can with locks and such and a 2x2 wedged between the window top and lower window sash (they are just bottom up-slider aluminum windows) to make it difficult to raise....

unfortunately someone could stand in the back of my house for hours and work on entry and no one would notice.

door entry sensors and maybe back windows (about 3) and motion sensor for the main room might be enuf...  seems like there $15/mo monitoring may be a pretty good deal.  No idea what other charge for that.. btw police are pretty unreliable around here now responding to alarm company notifications, i'm told due to so many false alarms...  I hope I can get a smart phone alert if the alarm system goes off no matter where I am.

thanks

You definitely can get smart phone and email/text alerts with Simplisafe- you'll have to be on their $24.95 monitoring plan however.

We've had a Honeywell systems for a few years. I finally cut off the monitoring service and pulled the power and battery from the thing. Smoke alarm had intermittent false alarms and several of the door alarms were constantly going off. Fire Department even send a letter explaining their false alarm policy and charges after 3 false alarms in a 6 month period. Not worth the hassle.

On the $15 plan they'll call 2 listed phone numbers first before calling the police.  There's a $20 and $25 plan that has more features like text messages and smart phone app and the web interface for setting and monitoring the system.  The cheapest way to get started is to buy a refurbished system and apply a discount code and buy everything at once as the discount for buying a system applies to the added items.  

My biggest annoyance with the system is the remotes don't have a "home" button, so if you leave the house with someone else still at home, and you want to leave it in "home" you have to open your exit door and press "home" on a keypad, then leave and shut the door.  You can't leave and shut the door then press "home" on the remote, as there is no such button.  You could place a keypad outside the door, (picture garage use case) but that's less secure.  Because of this for my use case 2 keypads are needed, one near each common exit, to allow people to leave the system armed in home mode when they leave and other people are still in the house.  You could get around this by paying for the smart phone app plan level and use that, but I try to minimize recurring expenses.

We did have to fiddle with the motion sensor arrangement and sensitivity when we got a pet, but at least we know the motion sensors work, and they called us before the police so no false report issue.

As an earlier poster said, the communication between the keypads and base station are not encrypted, and could therefore be subject to an attack replaying transmissions to disarm your system.  Personally, I'm not worried about it.

They have camera offerings now, which they didn't when I setup my system.  I have a separate camera system, RSC, security through obscurity, locked doors, and property insurance.  Good luck, burglars suck.

Ive had it since Aug of last year.   I did have 2 false alarms shortly after I installed it but I lowered the sensitivity on the motion sensors and have not had any issues since.  I was selected to be a beta tester for their new cameras and purchased one for $60.00.  The camera seems to work ok.  I have the 24.00 interactive plan so I can receive text alerts and they send periodic updates to my smart phone app.  With the camera it adds an additional $5.00 to the monthly price, so my bill is around $30.00 a month.  The most recent update is supposed to turn on the motion activation feature to my camera and also allow for visual alarm verication with the dispatch center.  I have not had a chance to test it.   Set up was easy and only took about an hour.  Its probably not the greatest system in world, but like someone else mentioned you have to have multiple layers of security in your house.  I also have an outdoor security camera (seprate system) but plan on adding more. A solid dead bolt door, glass block basement windows, reinforced back door, shrubs around house cut low and spaced and adequate exterior lighting.

Smoke detectors do require some periodic maintenance. You should from time to time blow them out with compressed air as dust particles can inhibit the photo sensor and cause false alarms. I assume the door switches are wireless? Was the gap between the magnet and switch too far apart?

I put in a Honeywell Lyric. All wireless, self monitor to our phones. Even self monitoring has a cost. I went with Lyric because it's z-wave compatible and I can add to it as I see fit and run home automation thru the Honeywell app.

To date I have 20 zones active including the outdoor shed and it's all been trouble free. Actually had a glass break alarm when a loud thunder clap shook the garage doors.

I got everything thru alarmgrid.com and they walked my thru the activation of the base.

There are a lot of DIY options other than simplisafe.

I have it and honestly don't care for it. We just use it as an internal warning system with no monitoring. 

We are are constantly knocking the window/door sensors off. Broke a few of them. 

Over the Memorial Day holiday, Lowes had a sale on their Iris system, which has pro monitoring for $15, and cellular backup for another $7.00.  I picked it up, but haven't installed it yet.  It's supposedly compatible with Zigbee and Z-wave devices, which is what attracted me (plus the free hub with pack purchase).