Very good, but not a no-brainer [updated after 24 months]
Replacing an existing obsolete wired-in alarm system with a RING wireless alarm. Ring is very good, but it's Terms & conditions are terrible. The RING system itself does meet my needs, but there are lots of things you should know. AFTER I started to install, I was required to read Terms & Conditions to set up an account. Upon reading them, HOLY SMOKES, that is the MOST one-sided agreement I've ever read. It is so bad, by agreeing, you are at fault for anything you ultimately don't like about RING. [Not that much of an exaggeration]. Blame their lawyers. Why do I continue? After lots of research, it is otherwise a very good real world solution in this wireless age. All the sensors you will install ARE wireless. I am replacing a wired system, and it has wires everywhere. Not fun. Also my OLD system could have the phone line cut. Not with RING. If it generates an alert, it will sound at the house's base station alarm AND connect to your cellphone even if the house's internet/TV/Phone cable were cut, it would bypass the cable and go wirelessly through a cell phone tower. If it's a fire alarm and you sign up for the 24/7 monitoring, it will try to contact you, and/or dispatch the fire department. A false alarm might get you a bill for the nuisance of a false alarm. Not your biggest worry, I'm sure. [ JAN 2024: Just had a prolonged power outage with severe cold. So cold, we drained water and left for warmer circumstance. It reported for 20+ hours by connecting thru cell tower, since house's router was down, and told us when the power came back on! Not Bad! ] [update - you can get more battery backup for longer outages] Compared to my old system, if I forgot to set it before I left, I was out of luck. Now, with RING, I could quickly set it from my cellphone. You can even create a regular schedule for nitetime on and off and/or for working hours away. THIS IS VERY HANDY. This solves the problem of constantly having to remember. Great for peace of mind! Your power goes out? PHONES go out? Unless your cellphone is dead or unavailable, you will be notified. So would the fire dept if need be. Some say a RING doorbell might need a new transformer. All the big box stores stock the transformers. If so, some of you may want an electrician. Alternatively, bribe a friend or family member with a six pack. I'll do mine myself. Motion sensors work well. [update - there are several available ring-tones to use, and after 2 years, they have never bothered us, in fact, they help us locate each other, a real time saver.] Door/Window contacts also work well. On my sliding glass doors, they are well enough hidden. On Entry doors such as the Front door, they stick out big time. I will eventually have to carve out 'pockets' in both the door and the door sill for the contacts. Do-able, but not fun. Two ways to handle FIRE/CO [carbon monoxide]. FIRST, IF your existing alarms are new enuogh, RING sells a 'listener' sensor to stick up next to each fire alarm. That 'listener' will notify the base station of the type and location of any activated alarm in the house. SECOND option, replace the existing fire detectors with battery operated FIRST ALERT fire and CO sensors with Z-WAVE which will talk to the RING base station perfectly. update - these have worked very well] Before you choose, consider this: Most if not all fire sensors have to be replaced with new ones every 7 - 10 years. You might not think that's a big deal, but your insurance company might disagree especially if they are giving you an alarm rebate. Don't know for sure. Check with your insurance about a rebate on your premium. It should be worth it. [update - you might be surprised by the savings.] Kitchen, garages, unfinished basements normally need HEAT sensors. There are heat sensors by others, and hopefully the RING listeners will respond. In my case, [update - haven't bothered to try this yet] I will see if the RING 'listeners' can hear them, and if so, leave my old heat sensors in place. In any event, RING needs to come up with a wireless, battery operated HEAT sensor - my opinion. The basic setup of a new system is easy enough, but takes a few minutes for you to install/activate each device. As far as installing the new devices, it should go easy enough, but it isn't something you can do during the halftime of a football game without pre-planning. My system is the 14 piece system. I needed to use contact cement on several sensors because the self-adhesive strip wasn't where I needed it. Double sticky foam tape might work as well. Also, several door frames needed shims. My windows are crank-out [casement] window, so they aren't getting contact sensors. My motion sensors work well enough - the dogs set the alarm off 50+ times when we left the house and set the alarm for 'away'. We later found emails for each time the dogs moved through a sensor. My phone was off during a wedding, or I would have quickly reset the alarm to 'home' which would have been just fine. Ring central was annoyed with me, but I explained and they laughed even after having called the police. It ended well. My basement windows need sensors, but my guess is today's burglar is going to come in through the garage door anyways by hooking the manual release handle with coat hanger wire. I suggest cutting the cord right at the handle-end and leave it dangle but take the handle itself off. that way the cord can't be snagged from outside. Motion sensors will hopefully catch anyone who gets in anyways. [update - I updated my garage door opener, and it has a wireless notification system also, and it is now integrated into the RING system . Cool!] Congratulations if you have read this far. Their product seems very good to me. Their Lawyers? Not so much. Read their agreement. We use the PRO level protection plan [the highest]is $20/month or $200/year, and that will do the job for me for half the cost of the old professionally installed system. We get a rebate on our home insurance that almost pays the monitoring expense. There is a $3/mo and a $10/mo plan also, but they don't provide the professional monitoring or any possible insurance rate reduction. Ring has a comparison chart you should read. If you want to save video for 30 days from your doorbell the $3/mo plan does that. Other cameras as well? that's the 10/mo plan with RING. Check it out. I do want the automatic fire dept notification though. That's 20/month. The RING system has worked well out of the box so far without needing fancy adjustments. However, you CAN tailor each device separately to work how you want. alarm/no alarm set a different ring tone, LOTS of possibilities and VERY useful. It is much MUCH more flexible than my old wired system. You can set a delay just before you leave the house. We use it and it gives us time to re-enter and find what we forgot. Also Cool! While the RING system comes with very useful good keypad[s], you WILL NEED your cellphone for the install process, and daily use plus any system changes you'd want. Use the keypad while at home for setting/unsetting the system, or use your cellphone if you have already left but forgot to set it. I LOVE that feature. For your safety, make sure you have strong passwords on RING [and also on AMAZON if you use an ALEXA service such as an echo camera]. I did have to upgrade my cellphone to a current model because I had an old version of GOOGLE ANDROID that couldn't be upgraded. If Android, the phone needs AT LEAST Version 10. I recommend a 5G phone but it will work on 4G phones as well. Also, you will need SMS messaging which also means you'll need a low usage data plan. Yes, I know, 99% of the cellphone world already does that, but in my profession, I can't have my customers messaging me all the time. Again, that's MY problem. Most likely you will be fine. Update - This might be the world's longest review, but the Ring system is that important. It is becoming more and more useful every day. We never used the old wired system, and that could have landed us in trouble with our insurance people, but now, we ALWAYSuse the Ring system. It is about the best thing I've added to our house. My Wife absolutely LOVES it. Read more
