Not sure how much you have "played" with yours, if you have and have any words of wisdom, I'm all ears.
I'd love to hear what you both installed (or will install) and what your experience is.
I feel like I could write a book on alarm systems. Alarms and I have a long history together.
Back in something like 1975 or so, we were burglarized in broad daylight while we were at work. The crooks kicked in the back door. The next door neighbour was a policeman and came home for lunch during the breakin but didn't even know they were there. Unknowingly, he scared them away.
When we got home, we called the police who said it was a standard breakin just like the ones they see all the time. The crooks came to the house pretending to ask for directions. When nobody answered the door, they knocked louder. When nobody answered, they kicked the door in. He also said that they were unsuccessful and therefore, they would be back in 6 weeks or 6 months. 6 months later they were back again and kicked the door in again! But this time I had an alarm and it scared them away right away.
The 70s and 80s were back in the height of my electronics career. So I designed and built my own system. Everything was custom. I even put fishing line in the curtains with pull trip sensors, and weight sensors on the floor joists and under the hall carpeting. IR and ultrasound were not very reliable back then but line of sight beams worked fine so I used them too like trip wires.
I have always believed that a custom (or highly customized) alarm is better than an off the shelf system because a crook cannot predict how the system works. Although I bought a radio shack self-installed alarm for my next two homes and a DSC for my current home, they are still highly customized.
I also believe in multiple layers of protection. Outdoor surveillance, signage, and obvious features discourage thieves from even trying. Thieves are lazy. The idea behind this level is to show them that there are lots of easier targets than me.
But if they do try despite the warnings, I have hidden cameras too. All my cameras alert me with notifications on my phone so I can assess the situation and act appropriately.
The outside perimeter of my house and barn are secured with hard wired sensors on all the doors. Only the barn windows are monitored. In the house I have motion sensors instead of window sensors. I want to replace or perhaps augment the barn window sensors with motion sensors.
My system is monitored by a monitoring service. The cost of the service is less than the insurance deduction so I am happy. But I also get my own notifications when anything goes wrong.
I understand that one of the common ways that thieves break into monitored homes is to cut the phone wire before entering, then make a mad dash for the panel and pull the power there to 110 and battery. This kills the siren. Therefore, I have 3 levels of calling the monitoring service. Call by phone, call by internet, and call by a cellular modem. It's virtually impossible to reach the panel without notifying the monitoring service and myself.
The next level is interior video surveillance in the house and shop. These are not monitored and most of them are hidden, but I do get notifications and I can check the footage remotely. The footage is stored on the cloud and on hidden network storage drives.
I also have smoke, CO, electrical outage, and flooding sensors that are both monitored and send me notifications.
I can arm, disarm, and check absolutely everything remotely even though they are often separate systems that don't know about each other.
I like the redundancy. I also like the fact that I couldn't break in myself even though I know how everything works. I believe this must be a goal in any alarm design. If you can defeat it yourself, it isn't good enough.
I sleep better as a result, and I can enjoy myself when we are away.
I confess that I am a bit of a freak in terms of the extent and complexity of my system. I don't think most people need that.
In my eyes, the minimum system cannot be defeated from outside the house and is immune from power failures. It also includes exterior warnings and alerts as well as a fail-safe perimeter and interior intrusion system.
Although WiFi systems exist and are convenient to install, I don't trust them. At a minimum, I believe that a hardwired door circuit is required. Even if a crook comes in through a window, they will still carry their loot out through a door. Motion sensors are not reliable enough to be trusted on their own but are reasonable devices to augment a wired sensor system.
Affordable indoor/outdoor video systems exist and provide great peace of mind. I have battery powered Arlo & Toucan indoor outdoor wireless cameras that can literally be put anywhere. Even camouflaged in a tree. Spiders and birds are a nuisance but I set mine to recognize people. In my opinion, they are both excellent once they are tuned up.
@Dabbler - I am not changing or replacing my system. Just repairing/replacing the window sensors and installing a few motion sensors.
Edit - might be changing my mind on that, see posts below.
@slow-poke - Sorry, I standardized on Google Compatible smart home devices several years ago because of the size of the user base and the rather staggering number of compatible devices. I don't have any Zwave devices in the house or the shop. So I can't speak to how well they work or don't. Google devices all seem to work fantastic and I have a VERY LARGE network of installed devices that all like each other. YMMV.
