Skylink SC-1000 Complete Wireless Alarm System
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List Price: Our Price: $159.99 You Save: $16.13 (9%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Skylink SC-1000 Complete Wireless Alarm System
Customer Review: Best Value - Nicely Done SkyLink
Summary: 5 Stars
THE PURCHASE
I am VERY pleased with this product. I purchased the SC -1000 with the dialer to avoid the monthly monitoring fees. At $160, this is the best value out there. I also purchased an extra sensor for my third door, the AS-433 Audio Sensor to monitor my smoke alarm system, and two extra remote key faub remotes. One for my wife and one for our neighbor who feeds the cat when we are gone. Maybe I can even get him to let me program his phone into the dialer so he can look out the window and visually monitor my home when it goes off.
THE SETUP
I have a 2000 square foot home and the control panel is on the opposite side of the home from one of the door sensors but it has no problem transmitting through the walls. You can separate the door sensors slightly more than the advertised distance without setting off the alarm which is nice since some doors make it difficult to mount flush.
Setup took me a couple hours for the initial components. I took my time implementing the dialer to make sure the base system worked consistently first. Mounting sensors to metal doors was simplified with the sticky tabs. I also recommend marrying the dialer to the control panel instead of to each sensor independently. Instructions were slightly vague on this choice you have. It would be nice if they had explained the choice and the implications in more detail. I'm sure they get many calls about this.
The last component I installed was the Audio Sensor (AS-433). It really does need to be less than 6 inches from my smoke alarm siren. I tried it a foot and a half away and it did not work. Worked great right next to it. This should help eliminate false alarms though.
I also have several Linksys wireless cameras that allow me to monitor my home from my iPhone while away. So if the dialer calls my cell, I can immediately monitor 4 different camera locations in my home to see what is going on. Very nice.
I put the motion sensor inside my gun safe. This was perfect. No false alarms for any reason unless the safe door is opened. I can disable the system if I want to get my gun silently, or I can let it go off to disorient the intruder while I get my gun. Even with the metal safe being on a different floor of the home, it has no problem communicating with the control panel from inside the heavy duty metal safe. Amazing.
UPGRADES I AM CONSIDERING
I am considering getting a vibration detector or additional motion sensor to put inside one of my vehicles. Even thought this would only work while at home, it would alert me if someone smashed out a window on my SUV which spends most of the time parked in my driveway. Smash and grabs are one of the most common crimes in our area. I don't keep anything in my vehicle but I would be alerted the second of the smash.
I am also going to get additional window sensors for each of the 8 windows on our bottom floor. Even with all these upgrades I will not have spent what one year of monitoring costs with most systems. I have heard there are cheaper monitoring services out there. If I can find one for less than $5 a month, that I can activate or deactivate easily, I might consider purchasing it and programming their number into the dialer.
Customer Review: Big expense solved
Summary: 5 Stars
After checking with nearby alarm installers and hearing their prices, I have to say, I've saved a lot of cash by installing this system. It works great, no false alarms, it's easy to use and install. I wish they sold extra magnet tabs so you can have one above the other so you can crack a window at night without tripping the alarm. I solved that by buying Minnie window alarms at Harbor Freight Tools for .99 and just used the magnets. I don't use the motion detector because it's much too sensitive to light & shadows, unless you use it in a dark hallway or if you have a mud or laundry room between your garage and home interior. My only downfall to this products keypad is, I can't turn off a separate zone unless you delete it. All in all, for this price I highly recommend it!Customer Review: Decent Product, Customer Service lacking
Summary: 2 Stars
I had my SC-100 for about 6 months when the speaker stopped working, the solder joint on the back of the speaker came off. It's made in China, so I wasn't too surprised, but getting it fixed was a hassle. Customer support offers very little assistance even though it was still under warranty. At this point it's easier for me to buy a new speaker and fix it then to send it in a be without a system for who knows how long. Just something to be aware of if you do have a problem.Customer Review: Decent Product, Horrible Instructions
Summary: 3 Stars
THE GOOD NEWS: Once finally installed, everything works well together, and at an affordable price. I even successfully modified some default programming to suit my specific needs.
THE BAD NEWS: Instructions are horrible. Included are a plethora of small slips of paper, manuals, instructions, pamphlets, etc. Clearly a single clear instruction manual is required.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: On calling customer service, I was informed I would receive a call back "right away", which did not happen until the next day. I did however get an email response within 24 hours that directly answered my question by correcting the errors in one of the manuals regarding controller to Dialer sync.
OVERALL: I recommend this system if you are looking for a basic DIY home alarm system and are patient enough to endure horrible instructions.
Customer Review: Decent consumer system
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not a professional-grade alarm system, but armed (sorry) with that information, consumers can choose it and end up with a decent amount of protection for a small-to-medium size home.
The two professional features I would have liked to get (but which may not be available at this price) are a way for the system to store which zone tripped an alarm, and warning when a door or window is open and you try to arm the system.
Ability to know what triggered the alarm is important for troubleshooting, though to be fair this system has not yet given me any trouble with false alarms. An important tip is that the motion sensor ships with its jumpers in the "high" sensitivity mode. Switch to low and test thoroughly to avoid false alarms.
If I leave one of the protected windows or doors open I can still arm the system and leave the house. There is no warning of this and for obvious reasons it would be nice if it blinked or beeped.
Finally, it would be very easy for a burglar to rip the main alarm unit off the wall and smash it into silence, so I ignored the instructions which advise mounting the control unit near the door you usually enter. I'd recommend being much more creative about locating the panel and if that means you have trouble disarming when you enter, use the remote, which works great. You can also re-program individual zones to respond instantly, which is a nice feature and helps guard against this problem.
When our house was burglarized recently, we were advised by the police to get a device that makes plenty of noise, and not to waste money on a fancy system. So we bought this alarm and it does a good job.
The instructions could be better, but they are not bad and the installation went smoothly and rapidly.