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

mushii

So in short the answer is probably no. As I said monitored alarms need to meet pretty tight specifications. I do not know of any that have a smart hub built in that would meet the specification. An alarm engineer may be able to advise you differently. At this point I have little else that I can offer. I would suggest speaking to one of the alarm installers that you mentioned earlier. Best of luck.

mushii

@Fabien I use the digital outputs on a RIO for this very purpose. But I do not think an ARC would allow this kind of integration on a monitored system as it is unlikely to meet their very specific requirements.

Fabien

To be honest if an ARC is just going to pick up the phone call the owner or key holder (or police) then I would much rather the alert came to me and I make that decision. A burglar could be in an out in minutes

Fabien

mushii

^^^^^ Agreed

VforViennetta

Well, of course the advantage of a monitored alarm is that someone is available 24/7 to be notified of an alarm activation, and contact keyholders and/or the police. That's the difference vs a self-monitored alarm; how much this difference, and the extra piece of mind, are worth will depend on each person.


For example, if we never travelled anywhere, I'd be less inclined to spend the money on a monitored alarm   keyholding

Bl4ckGryph0n

Yup with the Visonic Powermaxx you can read the log files, then have say a Homey home automation controller react on that and run workflows.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Almost any alarm can do that. My neightbours, and friends are alerts for when my alarm goes off. They check first, we do that for each other, and will call with a visual the police on 112.

VforViennetta

Let's not turn this into a monitored vs unmonitored debate. That was not the question. They can both make sense, depending on preferences and circumstances.

My neighbours would not do much so in my case a monitored alarm does have an advantage, even though I understand that not for everyone would it be worth the cost.

You'd need reliable neighbours, who are always there, and who can view both the from and the back of your property.
Not much help if you and neighbours are both away for Christmas, or if the reliable neighbour can't see your back garden and it's a mid terrace. What's he going to say when rings 999? "Officer, the alarm went off in the house opposite mine, but I can't see anything and I have no clue if it's a false alarm"?

Bl4ckGryph0n

And likewise when it is monitored and you can’t guarantee it isn’t a false alarm the police aren’t going to come out.

A monitored solution with their own patrol to check it out, he’s sure. No arguments there if you want to pay for that.

Might be cheaper to move to a better area

VforViennetta

Of course! I will, in fact, go for monitored alarm   keyholding and alarm response but I realise it's not for everyone.

Now can we please move back on topic and talk about the various brands of alarms, not the merits of monitored vs unmonitored? Thanks!