Home alarm systems?

[yardhippie 0]

Anyone got anything good, bad or ugly? Now that were further in the the ATL and we've finally got some nicer things, I dont want to have to go thought getting all my shit ripped off again (not to mention the insurance nightmares).
Were taking all the first step measures: all door hinge, door latch and dead bolt latch screws are being exchanged with 3" ones. Changed all the locks, 1" dead bolts, secured fence for the back yard, etc.
but and alarm would at least make any intruders keep their time in the house short, even if they got away with some stuff, plus the reduction in our homeowners insurance.
Anywhoo...
any suggestions? reccommendations?
thanks!

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[Rebecca 0]

I suggest a big dog with a big bark.

(Daisy would pee on herself if push came to shove, but she barks like she'll sick balls)

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[namgrunt 0]

pm me
I have 65 alarm systems I am responsible for

there are good..bad..expensive and cheap

if you are going to the Dublin boogie look me up at the dzmemories booth
I can give you a name that will save you $$

..

59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT
LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI)
www.dzmemories.com

[yardhippie 0]

Quote

I suggest a big dog with a big bark.

(Daisy would pee on herself if push came to shove, but she barks like she'll sick balls)

We have a rottie in the house and Hotty says that when Im gone she is restless and barks at noises (she's not like that when Im home).
if I had to guess, she'd help em carry the stuff out if they gave here a treat and scratched her neck.

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

she'd help em carry the stuff out if they gave here a treat and scratched her neck

Great "watch" dog, huh?

Actually, she might surprise you - my German Shepherd was everyone's friend if we were around...but turned into Franken-pup if we weren't.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[wildblue 7]

I sold them years ago, so if you have any questions I can probably answer them.

Better locks, replace basement windows with glassblock, trim back 'hiding places' near windows/doors - all a good start.

First suggestion is to at least get 2 companies in to give you a free quote, and don't be afraid to tell them you've got another person or two coming in. There's massive markup in the equipment. They really just want to get you on a monitoring contract, that's where they make most of their money. For the majority of people, the 'free' system (usually 2-3 doors & motion sensor) is plenty. Depends on what you want to do (protect property, protect life, deter would-be theives) and the layout of the house. As far as companies go, most of the small local ones sell the monitoring contract to a bigger company, so it really doesn't matter. Just make sure the equipment looks solid to you (they should have demo gear on them) and their installers are insured.

nam - did you install or sell them?

it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

[popsjumper 2]

Booby Traps work well but on the other hand...

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0206/306387.html

Kinda sad, isn't it?

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[yardhippie 0]

We've just had the locks changed and used what the locksmith recommended.
There is only one entry point im concerned with. we have french doors at the rear of the house and most of them is glass. They're recently replaced double paned glass. on locks top and bottom and the other locks at the knob and a dead bolt.

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[JohnMitchell 16]

Quote

Booby Traps work well but on the other hand...

Booby traps are bad. Some people forget that deadly force is to be used to protect your life, not static property.

The best defenses are layered. We have the locks, the lights, the burglar alarm, and the Smith & Wessons.

Oh yeah, and 9-1-1 for getting the paperwork done later.

[Remster 30]

Quote

I sold them years ago, so if you have any questions I can probably answer them.

Better locks, replace basement windows with glassblock, trim back 'hiding places' near windows/doors - all a good start.

First suggestion is to at least get 2 companies in to give you a free quote, and don't be afraid to tell them you've got another person or two coming in. There's massive markup in the equipment. They really just want to get you on a monitoring contract, that's where they make most of their money. For the majority of people, the 'free' system (usually 2-3 doors & motion sensor) is plenty. Depends on what you want to do (protect property, protect life, deter would-be theives) and the layout of the house. As far as companies go, most of the small local ones sell the monitoring contract to a bigger company, so it really doesn't matter. Just make sure the equipment looks solid to you (they should have demo gear on them) and their installers are insured.

nam - did you install or sell them?

Look online too. There are places that sell all the HW (wireless, and some easy to install sensors) and will provide inexpensive monitoring. Some even provide monitoring over the internet.

Remster

[lawrocket 3]

We just had a system installed a month ago. The main purpose we wanted was an alarm that chimed us to the opening or closing of doors (a 19 month old boy is just too capable of getting out). So we have all exterior doors rigged to sound off with a message (i.e., "DING DING - FRONT DOOR" when the front door is opened.)

A week later we had the security system turned on. A week after that, we had a rude awakening at 11:00 at night. . It was nice that we were even told "SIDE GARAGE DOOR". I got outta bed to go see what was up and the door looked like it just blew open. No signs of anyone.

I came back in to shut off the alarm and I see my wife standing (and shaking) in the hall with a shotgun. Damn. She looked hot with that thing. Then we got some calls from the security company and everything seemed fine.

This last weekend, I read in the paper about a series of garage burglaries occuriing in my part of town, which got me wondering... Did the alarm do its job?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[skymama 37]

Clark Howard has a few pointers.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[squirrel 0]

we have an 80lb and 50lb boxers, backed up by a border collie, backed up by 12guage pump, and 40cal glocks...however, we still have ADT. mostly for the fire monitering. at least if there was a fire, and we were gone, the firefighters might get there in time for the doggies. our monitering costs about $20/month, which just about matches the discount we get on inurance.

video tape or take pictures of all your valuables (your rig esspecially!) and burn it onto a DVD, and send it off to a fiends house, or moms house for safe keeping...that way you have very very clear proof of items stolen or lost in fire.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[yardhippie 0]

The plan is (as soon as we get everything unboxed) to video tape everything. down to the underwear. the we'll mail it to ourselvs and not open the package until there is a problem and were in the company of the insurance agent. That way there is no dispute about when the tape was sent (postmark) and since its unopened they cant dispute that anytimes were claimed after the fact or ficticous.
We'll keep said tape in a security deposit box or fire/water proof safe.

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865