shade8

Any advice on if we should have a monitered house alarm or not any advice and whats a good one to use??????????????

sassie

Hi, we've got a "back to base" alarm installed. It cost about $1,800 for the installation and the guy was here for about 4 hours installing it. We have 3 sensors throughout the house, and from the keypad, you can have certain rooms activated. For example if you want the rest of the house armed whilst you are asleep, we can turn the sensor off in the bedroom. It only costs $11.95 a month and for us its more peace of mind more than anything.

We had an incident a couple of months ago when the alarm went off by mistake (silly me forgot to disarm when i came from work), and it goes straight through to the security company who then phone the local Police. Of course i phoned them straight back to let them know it was a false alarm, but they forgot to pass the mesage on to the police, who incidentally phoned about an hour after it happened, so not a great response time, but I guess any would be thieves would have bolted well before then anyway, as the alarm is deafening, believe me you would not want to be in the house anymore than you had to.

youngy73

do you feel that you need an alarm in oz? i can honestly say that i do not know one person who has there house alarmed over here. i did look into them when building my house but everyone thought i was nuts.

andrew63

Reckon if you have the money spare, do it!
Personally, I bought off ebay a few fake security cameras with flashing LEDs that follow you when you go near them. Have them at the front and back. Cost $15 each.
I downloaded logo's from Bona Fide security cameras and stuck them on the cameras too!
Plus lots of BEWARE OF THE DOG stickers

Andrew

Siren & Brian

I reckon a sensor that sets of a dogs bark would be more a deterrent than any alarm going off

sassie

you obviously haven't heard an alarm go off. Believe me they are deafening, and really disorientate you.

Hutch

We bought our house from someone who was clearly obsessed with home security. Not only is there dead-locks, bolts and chains on doors that open onto the street or garden, but a back-to-base alarm with 10!!! sensors. We did pay for a year's monitoring when we moved in. However we have turned the alarm on precisely once, since we moved in last year...

steandleigh

'Beware of the dog' stickers are an admission of liability (If you have the dog and it does bite an intruder) in todays topsy turvy world of suing, A'La America stylee, your burglar will have a field day if bitten / attacked by your pooch.

If you don't have a dog then it's a harmless warning but if you do have a dog, get the signs down and away...let the burglers get a nasty surprise instead.

FluffyTheCampfireSlayer

Forgive me for not reading the whole thread.......your post however, has just hit the nail on the head. If the people monitoring the alarms or the police for that matter, can't be arsed - what is the point? How many burglars do you know that are bothered by a house alarm? OK, realistically, not many of you will know a house burglar, but you get my drift!

Visual deterrent? Pah! Most of the alarms you see on the sides of houses in the UK are dummies (same with CCTV)!

Waste of money! Fit some good door and window locks instead!

Siren & Brian

I actually have one at home and also set them off quite regularly with my work with people forgetting to mention they have an alarm, or setting the alarm and not telling me the code while I have the keys to repair their home.

auspal

Wouldnt bother monitoring with response times by police as has been suggested. A neighbour would probably contact police anyway if the alarm was going beserk.

Vim Fuego

You know one now It's monitored too.

We are out in the sticks a bit and the house did come with it so we figure it will pay for itself in lower insurance premiums.

There is a lot of security out here actually, it's not a particularly rough area but it is semi-rural.

kevinbloomfield

I agree with you, lots of people round here don't even bother locking their doors or maybe forget too sometimes. House theft is low as is car theft and car related crime.
Maybe it's different in Brisbane, Sydney etc but I wouldn't waste money on an alarm etc