ADT?

[Pro2A]

My wife and I were talking about getting an ADT home security system in addition to our arsenal of guns does anyone have one? Pros and cons?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[SIXTO]

They can be useful, but the certainly dont work as well as they lead you to believe. There is a lot more lag time between the alarm going off and the LEO's arrival.
Alarm goes off, ADT recieves call from your alarm box. ADT looks up your account, and calls your home to see if everything is OK. There is a couple of minutes right there. ADT then calls your local dispatch gives them all the info... another couple of minutes. Dispatch radios LEO's out on the street, LEO drives over to your house in no particular hurry, as this is 10th alarm drop of the day... at least another 3-5 minutes.

So, it doesnt happen as fast as ADT would lead you to believe, but with all that said, I still think its a good product and can be an asset.



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[P95Carry]

My son has it and reckons it cuts his homeowner's insurance enough to be good. I am glad tho he has his snubby!!

That said and as sixto mentions - IMO it is no miracle cure at all - no way could it ever replace an individual being armed and able to deal fast with a severe threat.

Much marketing to sell the product - and maybe it it is of most use when out of the house.

[Pro2A]

Much marketing to sell the product - and maybe it it is of most use when out of the house.

I think thats what I was aiming for.

[joleary223]

http://www.safetouch.com/ I use these guys. They talk you you over a speaker in the house so you don't have to get to a phone if you are in trouble. Still not perfect but seemed to make more sense to me. I have never had a fine for false alarms with this company. Down here the police will bill you for too many false alarms.

[B52]

I have ADT and am very please with them so far (2years). Make sure you get the wireless box incase the perps cut your phone lines. I also can arm my house with a keychain very nice option. Last make sure the key pads are in a good location, I just had ADT put another one by my bed side table and it really makes things a lot easier.

[Shelby500KR]

First don't believe the commercials. It will take them 15-20 minutes to call. In my area if it's a slow night the deputy arrives about 10 minutes or so after that. A busy night it could be an hour or more. So when you're home it buys you time to put your home defense plan into action. When you're away it hopefully keeps the BGs from hanging around and stealing to much stuff.

Second change the master code after the installer is done. They can and should show you how. Most people don't know that most of the panels used have a master code and they never change it.

Third, don't put the sign out front. That tells people who know the master codes which panel you have. They also know to go to your NIU and disconnect your phone lines. Especially in new construction like my house, it is so easy it isn't funny. Literally open a panel on the outside of the house, and slide a switch and you have no phone. So a cell dialer is a good choice for me.

I had three panels on my system. It was built into the house as the house was built. It was a good system for a consumer deal. The only panel not hidden in a closet was the master bedroom panel. I disabled all panel beeps except the MBR as well. Less reaction time for a BG. I wanted the first time they knew there was alarm to be when the siren went off. ADT also has you set up a password with them. If you are under duress you don't give them the word and they act like everything is good on the phone, but call the police immediately and let them know. I doubt that happens very often though. It did happen at my office once when I didn't know the word and the deputy was there very quickly.

Motion sensors covered everywhere but the bedroom areas, so that you could have everything armed and still use the bathroom. However, if the kids decided to sneak out when they came downstairs they were caught.

I added another sensor in the garage and had them install a zone just for that (love my cars). That way when I was home, garage intrusion could be detected as well. When away it was off, but the house was alarmed. On vacation I alarmed everything and entered and exited out the front door. I also had it set up so I could alarm the perimeter and leave the motion sensors off so when I was home it was armed as well.

Now this obviously wasn't the $99 deal on TV. I forget what the installation beyond the house sensors and wiring was, but it wasn't cheap. I think the builder dinged me $1500-2000 for their part. However, as I said, it was good for home use.

Kids and pets complicate things. What I liked was that the kids/visitors/housesitters could have their own codes. You can do motion sensors with "pet alleys" that are supposed to be good for dogs. No pets in my house, so no pet alleys for me.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but it was a good system and I liked it. I've since moved out, but someone has a good alarm system.

[Supertac45]

My step son is a great believer in them. After a couple of hours of showing him more problem areas with it that can be easily defeated, he wasn't so sure. A few nights later, a huge limb fell onto his deck breaking out most of the glass in the sliding door and the alarm failed to respond.

[friesepferd]

i hate home alarm systems like that.
just my opinion

[B52]

The best alarm system is a dog, in my opinion. But I hope with my two dogs and my alarm, I should be able to get my Glock or Mossy ready for action. Nothing is ever 100%, but $25 bucks a month for the alarm doesn't hurt me too bad. Also with a dog you get a truely dedicated friend...

[rathos]

I would go with a local company vs ADT. ADT puts all of the houses they have in a neighborhood on one circuit. So what happens is the circuit is constantly looking for breaks, but depending on how many houses are on your circuit it could be 10-15 min before ADT even knows someone opened the door. Now if it takes them another 10-15 min to notify police, you can be looking at 30 min before police are notified and possibly another 5-20 before police get there depending on how busy they are. All in all, most of the local companies are a lot better, their response times are shorter making getting you help a lot quicker. Just some food for thought. (P.S. I don't work for any alarm companies but this info I got from a friend that is LEO and actually used to install alarms when I was searching for a home system)

[Rob99VMI04]

My wife and I were talking about getting an ADT home security system in addition to our arsenal of guns does anyone have one? Pros and cons?

Honestly, I think just haveing the ADT sign does about as much as having the system....

If I was thinking about a alarm system I would say. Instead of brinks/ADT--> go with --> FIDO---> You can also pick your color size, and pressure of bite. I would say Great Dane Or Rhodessian Ridgeback (didn't those things hunt lines in Africa) I would back the dog with either a 12 Gauge, or an M4 with minimal electrical connections, maybe a wire for a flash light.

Plus FIDO has the ability to fight and save your life. Brinks might produce a very annoying hi-pitch noise but that is about it. Also FIDO will tell you when somebody is outside and might be THINKING about breaking into your house.

[ree]

I would go with a local company vs ADT. ADT puts all of the houses they have in a neighborhood on one circuit. So what happens is the circuit is constantly looking for breaks, but depending on how many houses are on your circuit it could be 10-15 min before ADT even knows someone opened the door. Now if it takes them another 10-15 min to notify police, you can be looking at 30 min before police are notified and possibly another 5-20 before police get there depending on how busy they are. All in all, most of the local companies are a lot better, their response times are shorter making getting you help a lot quicker. Just some food for thought. (P.S. I don't work for any alarm companies but this info I got from a friend that is LEO and actually used to install alarms when I was searching for a home system)

I'll second this. Ours is a local install using a lot of common, well recognized name brand products. They were very thorough during their install, making sure that all sensors functioned properly, spending a lot of time double checking that glass breaks worked right. They also let us test the system a lot before going live to practice the interaction with the monitoring service.

Since it's been installed, we've accidentally set it off a few times and even had the glass breaks respond appropriately to dropped items and even very-close lightning strikes. Every time, the monitoring service called the first number in the calldown list within 30 seconds.

I can't speak for ADT, but it sounds like they have quality issues in both their installs and their service. I know there was a woman murdered in a suburb of St. Paul a couple years ago whose family is suing ADT because their system never reacted (let's not drift off about that one). But I know our system seems to work quite well.

As with all things, choose quality, and make it yet another layer in your defense.

[tns0038]

If I did not have a dog I would have some kind of security system.

[Pro2A]

Third, don't put the sign out front. That tells people who know the master codes which panel you have. They also know to go to your NIU and disconnect your phone lines. Especially in new construction like my house, it is so easy it isn't funny. Literally open a panel on the outside of the house, and slide a switch and you have no phone. So a cell dialer is a good choice for me.

Don't have a LAN line. I use a digital phone service, thru my cable modem.