SECURITY SYSTEM STANDOFF SIMPLISAFE VS. ABODE

When you invest in a home security system, you’re not only investing money, you’re also entrusting the safety of your house to this technology.

- SARAH KINGSBURY

It’s important to choose a system that you can both trust and has the functionality your specific situation needs. I put two major home security systems to the test and here is what I found.

SIMPLISAFE

The Starter security kit includes everything you need to set up a basic system in your home that you can easily expand on as needed: A base station, camera, motion sensor, three entry sensors, and a keypad. Also included are window stickers and a yard sign to act as an extra deterrent for criminals.

Setting up the system was simple and intuitive. Once I downloaded the SimpliSafe app and connected the base station to my home’s WiFi, the rest of the devices in the kit practically set themselves up. The app’s Learning Center has articles explaining how the different SimpliSafe features work and setup guides for each device, which was very helpful for determining the best locations for the motion sensor and camera.

My husband was anxious about possibly setting off false alarms while learning how to use the system, but SimpliSafe has thought of that; when you sign up for your monitoring plan, you have a 72-hour practice period to learn how to use the system. The company even sent emails explaining how to practice setting off and turning off alarms and how to handle other security situations. And as it happened, the system is so easy to use that we never felt in danger of setting off an unwanted alarm.

Other pros of using SimpliSafe: We were concerned about privacy with indoor cameras, but the camera shutter closes when the system is set to Home, the keypad is easy to use, and the motion detector has no issues with ignoring my dogs.