SimpliSafe 9 Piece Wireless Home Security System w/HD Camera - Optional 24/7 Professional Monitoring - No Contract - Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant

Guessing that a lot of these purchases are event driven and mine certainly is. We have a cabin and a barn on a 6 acre piece of property. The barn is where we park the tractor and store the supporting tools and supplies. The barn was recently broken into and everything of value was taken. While that is deeply disheartening, it really only affects me. If the cabin were to be robbed and ransacked like the barn was, I have several young children that would likely never want to go/stay there again.I do consider myself handy when it comes to mechanical and electronic projects. I also believe that I am a good researcher and analyst. I found that there are a lot of great alarm systems available at very affordable prices today including DIY professional systems. Several of the professional systems now have videos on installation and configuration—configuration used to be the tough part of installing one of those.In my case, I was looking for a balance of price, ease installation and options for monitoring. Given the recent break-in, I also wanted to get this project started and completed quickly as the cabin is just as vulnerable as the barn.This next statement may make you question my research, or at least, reading abilities. While I did plan to have the system monitored, I didn’t realize until after I purchased my SimpliSafe system that you can’t monitor the system remotely at all with the app without one of the SimpliSafe plans, and, at the time of this writing, March, 2021, you have to have the $25/mo. plan to do any serious monitoring. I would have putt off having the system monitored for a while if that were not the case. Perhaps it is better that I was forced into a plan earlier than I wanted. As an aside, SimpliSafe gives you 3 days of ‘practice’ use after you activate your system. This means they won’t contact local law enforcement if the system detects and alarm. On the one hand I wanted my system monitoring to start immediately but, do understand the logic of giving me time to learn to use the system without causing false alarms.The installation was truly easy. Once you plug in the basestation and pull the battery tab on the keypad, you are off to a great start. Installing any of the sensors is as easy as removing a paper battery tab, using the keypad to tell the basestation that you are installing a new device and naming it from a list once the basestation announces that a new device has been detected. The preinstalled double sided tape makes mounting the sensors easy. Our cabin has numerous unfinished roughhewn wood surfaces and I decided to mount sensors that had to be on those surfaces with the included screws. I didn’t try the included self-adhesive on the roughhewn wood which, may have worked perfectly.SimpliSafe tells you how far away you can mount sensors like the glass break and motion sensors but it was less clear about how high to mount them given the space I was working in or, for the glass break in particular, the angular range that it could work with. For example, if you have windows on opposite sides of a room with no option to mount the sensor in the middle, can it detect glass breaking behind it or beside it?SimpliSafe sensors are relatively inexpensive, and, as such, perhaps an extra sensor or two isn’t a bad thing.The App is easy to set up and use and definitely slanted to the easy side rather than the comprehensive side. That said, if a sensor were to drop off the app will alert you to that. I am not looking forward to changing batteries but would rather that to running wires through an older structure.SimpliSafe has done a great job making system purchase, installation and operation easy and straightforward. They even sent me an e-mail letting me know that the county where my cabin is located requires a form and payment to be completed and sent to authorize monitoring and, more specifically, response. Not only did they tell me about it, they sent me the exact link to the form. They also let me know that no paperwork or fee was required for the fire monitor.The cabin can be a relatively harsh environment with high humidity in the summer and relatively cold nights. I am hoping the sensors, base station and keypad are rugged enough to function for years to come.If you are looking at one of these systems, read all you can to understand what you can and can’t do with and without SimpliSafe’s monitoring options. Watch or read about sensor placement and plan your own install. I don’t think you have to become an alarm expert but each install has its own challenges. I found plenty of good information available from a lot of sources on the Internet to address those challenges. I have not interacted with SimpliSafe’s customer service at this point and can’t comment on that aspect of the product.Overall, I believe I made a good decision for my family and have only positive things to say about the installation and operation of my SimpliSafe system.

Super easy to set up and get up and running quickly. Works great - notifies me of power and internet outages when we’re not home. Easy to set and disarm from the keypad and the app.

Very easy to install. Brings me peace of mind knowing that my house is secured when I am not at home. I like that I can control all the alarms and camera through my app. If I forget to arm my house before I leave, I can do it from my app which is so convenient! Comes with door/window sensors, camera, and motion sensors.

In Australia,*US to AU plug adapter required for home base* power it up!At the time of writing this review I was able to download the Simplisafe app on Google play (android) only upon checking the apple store I couldn't see this app in Australia. So on my android device I signed up as a user entered my Australian mobile and had the ability to verify to my Australian Mobile and gain access to my account.When you access the app and signed in you'll be asked about the monitored plan, in my case first time I got a blank screen tried again and nothing, so then I connected to my VPN under USA and was able to decline the monitoring plan and was able to get to the main page to set up all the devices as part of the package.Once the app was installed I followed the simple instructions to add the homebase, connect to WiFi and update the base stations, this took a couple of attempts but second time the base station had LED colour coming from the base station and updated the base station.Then I followed the extremely easy steps given on the app to add each device, motion sensors and door sensors, simplicam & keypad in my case, note the tape on the sensors wasn't very sticky, may I suggest that you buy 10mm double sided tape to stick to surfaces. Simplicam took a minute or two to update but not too long.The app works on 5G Telstra Home internet, so I can only assume this would work on the likes of NBN.Once all devices were set up I was able to mess around with the setting to suit my needs. I had the ability disarm and arm my purchased alarm and pleasantly happy with the small size of the sensors and the quickness to set these up and add multiple PIN numbers.***Important Note***In Australia at the time of this review you CAN'T link this system to your Google home as it's a paid monitored subscription in the USA & UK only, so access to keypad or app required for use.If you want more than one user you'll both need to both sign in to the same username and password "not biometrics" use the password and on other devices and add other devices, you can do it by the mobile number is is gives you USA, Canada & UK, but signing in on one device only at a time, when away from home will allow you to arm, disarm, view camera but not to record only view in LIVE time.This system is focused around the monitoring packages for being able to record, link to google home etc, but those looking for a smart home alarm in Australia for basic additional security the may deter an intruder then this system would be perfect for you, basic alarm needs, I'm not expecting miracles but the system is fantastic value for the money asked and looks and performs great, could be a little louder on the chime but you can buy accessories for this purpose and like the battery back up on the home base as all the sensors as battery so in the event of a power cut you have security noise, not camera's, and it's quite easy for someone to turn your power off from the power meter outside your house.I hope this detailed synopsis helps you make your decision and it's been a great purchase for me.

Just set it up, and I was so pleased to find a set of directions that were accurate and understandable!! It was a breeze, except I had trouble with the indoor camera for some reason. But now set up and working well!!

It doesn’t get any easier than this to install. This is the fourth system I’ve purchased for four different homes. I love the peace of mind that comes with 24/7 monitoring service. Plus, I get a discount on my homeowners/renters insurance because I have a 24/7 monitoring service—an added bonus!