Monitored house alarm: how to choose Verisure vs Pyronix, Texecom, Risco etc? How are they different? (not DIY)

VforViennetta

Slightly off-topic, but how do you people feel about the front door? What's the right balance between a wooden door, a composite door like Rockdoor or Solidor, a level 2 steel door like Hormann https://www.hormann.co.uk/fileadmin/_country/kataloge/pdf/85828-Thermo65-Thermo46_Haus-und_Eingangstueren_EN.pdf
and a level 3 steel door like Security doors ?
Don't think about the looks as they can be made to look like a bog-standard Victorian door from the outside.

Level 2 and Level 3 are European certifications; in some European countries most residential doors are level 3, and are a world apart from the toughest wooden door you can find in the UK

I don't want a door that a child can kick down, but neither do I want to spend £6k on a front door (unless I also spend many £££ on secure windows etc etc)

Fabien

I would say a door that ‘anchors’ into the frame (some upvc do) or that has passive anchors at the hinge as well

Fabien

mushii

Most solid, hardwood front doors are pretty robust, whether they are a composite or a solid mortised and tenoned door. It is often the frame that gives way before the door itself. I would be looking at a self latching multi-point locking mechanism (it spreads any brute force load over a much larger area) and hinge bolts (dynamic entry teams, using Hatton rounds will always take out hinges over locks as they are much weaker) and a hardwood frame as being more important from a security stance. Lets be honest, their are more likely to be much 'softer' points of access than just the front door. I think that a security door is pretty much overkill unless you are worried about kidnap / home invasion. If we are into that realm then you really do need much more professional advice that you will get here. Again a video doorbell comes into its own as you do not have to actually open the front door to speak to the person on the other side and you can see who they are. Plus you can see who has been to your house whilst you were not there.

VforViennetta

Wrt the original topic, does any one have any suggestions on how to compare alarms, what makes them different, etc? Other than price? Thanks!

Fabien

1) Wired or Wireless (if wireless does it support Mesh)
2) App Support (local or Cloud)
3) HA capability (use sensors for HA functions)
4) Established brand or New Kid on the Block
5) Professional Installation or DIY

Fabien

VforViennetta

Texecom is, AFAIK, the only one which supports mesh, but it shouldn't make a huge difference as the property isn't enormous so mesh is probably not needed.

Texecom, Pyronix and Risco all do hybrid wired and wireless systems.

All have some kind of cloud and app support.

Verisure and Risco both give you detectors which can take pictures, but only with Verisure are those pictures accessible by the monitoring centre (which has the advantage of reducing false alarms but can open a can of worms privacy-wise).

By HA you mean home automation? Texecom has smart plugs. The others I don't know. Risco has picture of smart home stuff on its website, but in other languages, so maybe that's not available in the UK yet. I'm not too keen on it, to be honest.

AFAIK Verisure Texecom Pyronix and Risco are all established brands. Verisure more expensive over the long run.

In terms of installers, Banham installs Pyronix kit and is a very reputable brand in the London area.
Risco: very few installers, maybe this alone might be a dealbreaker.
Pyronix and Texecom: plenty of installers, including locally.

Mmm, so I should probably narrow it down to Texecom and Pyronix.

Fabien

I only have experience of installing Texecom and judging from the increase in backlit bell boxes I see everywhere, quite a lot of people have it too.

They have just revised their HA com module which is good.

Fabien

mushii

I have installed Pyronix without any problems. My installer, installs Honeywell Galaxy and Flex - which are commercial grade alarms.

I think if you are looking for decent alarm then you need to ensure that it meets

EN 50131, and PD6662:2010

Texecom Ricochet or Pyronix will both meet these standards

VforViennetta

@Fabien, do you have experience with Texecom's android app? Is it any good? Most review rubbish it for sending too many notifications (even user x logging into the app) but Texecom's tech support says this can be changed in the control panel.

I can't even contact Pyronix as they don't reply to end users, only to installers. But according to their site Pyronix releases update to ProControl  |  Pyronix UK & ROI notifications should be selectable from the Pyronix cloud.

@mushii, do you have experience with the Pyronix android app?
Do you happen to know if Pyronix supports any kind of home automation, smart plugs etc?

Thanks a lot!

Fabien

Ref Texecom - The old com WiFi module was rubbish but did work for the system I installed. The new module is meant to be more stable but I have yet to play with it.

I tend to separate my Security and HA for this very reason.
My HA sends the alert to my phone if my alarm has triggered (by ingesting the log events from the alarm). This has been bullet proof.
By the time I receive this alert, other HA processes have indicated if this is in fact a confirmed activation

However I am digressing. Both systems mentioned are fit for your purpose and expandable to include further layers of security.

Fabien