2 Messages
New Customer Coming from ADT
Hi Everyone,
I recently moved into a new house and decided to try SimpliSafe. I had some gripes with ADT, but was generally satisfied. However, SimpliSafe looked like an internet first company, and I thought would integrate better with various other home automation features I had around the house.
Needless to say, I've been incredibly disappointed with SimpliSafe. Right out of the gate, there were numerous features that I feel are fundamental to any smart alarm system that were missing.
- No scheduling
I want to be able to automatically arm the alarm system at specific times during the day, then disarm at another time; very useful when you generally leave the house for work around the same time everyday and you know there will be no one in the house. This way, if I forget to arm the system, it will do so automatically for me. ADT Pulse allows for scheduling.
- No history of entry opening/closing
I want to be able to view a timeline of events; when someone opened a door, or when motion is detected. This is such a basic feature, I was honestly shocked it is not included functionality. The workaround is to enable secret alarms that will send you an email whenever an event occurs. Not only does this mean that I have to now go to two different places to view things related to my home (SimpliSafe portal and my email), but secret alarms also disable chimes which brings me to my next point... (again, ADT Pulse has this feature)
- No chime when secret alarms are enabled
This is pretty self explanatory. Incredibly frustrating, I have to either choose secret alarm to keep a history of open/close, or to have a chime.
- No announcement about which entry is opened
The chime does not indicate which door or window has been opened or closed. Such a basic feature that has been around in the alarm industry for years now. ADT Pulse again has this feature.
- 13 characters max for sensor labels
I cannot call a sensor "Kitchen Window." That's too long of a label.
The issues I've highlighted above have made me think that SimpliSafe is so far behind, I'm really not sure if they will ever be able to catch up. These should not be wishlist items, these really are features that should be available out of the box.
Not only are the above basic features missing, but SimpliSafe does not offer any more integration with other home automation systems than traditional alarm companies. There is no IFTTT support, no SmartThings support, and the list goes on.
Honestly, the only selling point is the monthly subscription price and possibly the aesthetics of the newly designed system. I thought Simplisafe would be a disruption to the traditional alarm company, but honestly I found the entire experience lacking critical basic features and no advantages over competitors. I am most likely returning the unit, but I have to decide whether removing all the sensors that i've put in place will be worth it...
I recently moved into a new house and decided to try SimpliSafe. I had some gripes with ADT, but was generally satisfied. However, SimpliSafe looked like an internet first company, and I thought would integrate better with various other home automation features I had around the house.
Needless to say, I've been incredibly disappointed with SimpliSafe. Right out of the gate, there were numerous features that I feel are fundamental to any smart alarm system that were missing.
- No scheduling
I want to be able to automatically arm the alarm system at specific times during the day, then disarm at another time; very useful when you generally leave the house for work around the same time everyday and you know there will be no one in the house. This way, if I forget to arm the system, it will do so automatically for me. ADT Pulse allows for scheduling.
- No history of entry opening/closing
I want to be able to view a timeline of events; when someone opened a door, or when motion is detected. This is such a basic feature, I was honestly shocked it is not included functionality. The workaround is to enable secret alarms that will send you an email whenever an event occurs. Not only does this mean that I have to now go to two different places to view things related to my home (SimpliSafe portal and my email), but secret alarms also disable chimes which brings me to my next point... (again, ADT Pulse has this feature)
- No chime when secret alarms are enabled
This is pretty self explanatory. Incredibly frustrating, I have to either choose secret alarm to keep a history of open/close, or to have a chime.
- No announcement about which entry is opened
The chime does not indicate which door or window has been opened or closed. Such a basic feature that has been around in the alarm industry for years now. ADT Pulse again has this feature.
- 13 characters max for sensor labels
I cannot call a sensor "Kitchen Window." That's too long of a label.
The issues I've highlighted above have made me think that SimpliSafe is so far behind, I'm really not sure if they will ever be able to catch up. These should not be wishlist items, these really are features that should be available out of the box.
Not only are the above basic features missing, but SimpliSafe does not offer any more integration with other home automation systems than traditional alarm companies. There is no IFTTT support, no SmartThings support, and the list goes on.
Honestly, the only selling point is the monthly subscription price and possibly the aesthetics of the newly designed system. I thought Simplisafe would be a disruption to the traditional alarm company, but honestly I found the entire experience lacking critical basic features and no advantages over competitors. I am most likely returning the unit, but I have to decide whether removing all the sensors that i've put in place will be worth it...
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- No scheduling This is somewhat silly. Security is a binary function; on or off. You turn it on the instant you need it, and off when you no longer need it. Turning that over to a "timer" is less secure. I suppose that if you really want automatic set on as an option, that would be ok for those too careless or too lazy to do it manually. Irregardless, no security system should ever, under any imaginable circumstances, turn itself off.
- No history of entry opening/closing Every time a door is opened or a motion is detected, it appears in the log. That is, when the system is on. When the system is off, it is, you know, not on. As in, not paying attention to the sensors which are not active.
- No chime when secret alarms are enabled How "secret" would it be if it chimed?
The other two complaints are right on, although since I can't hear the voice, that function wouldn't help me any. I'm hoping the new system displays the sensor label on the keypad. Of course, in the new system, it appears the name limit is 11 characters which is even worse.
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coltmaster1
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Also, the keypad's pre-named sensors might go to 11 (I never checked), but if you check the user online web portal, you can see a sensor can be named up to 13 characters. Of course, spaces are included, which just makes it more difficult to name them, especially when folks have a ton of sensors or several in one room, etc.
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- I don't think scheduling is necessary silly, I've been doing more research now on other products, and although it isn't supported by the less serious alarm systems like Nest or Ring, it is supported by both ADT and Abode. In fact, I've read a few other testimonials regarding Abode's scheduling feature, and many users claim it is one of their favorite features. I would have to agree. I guess from my perspective, it is better to have the alarm system arm itself if I forget. Yes, I may be careless, but honestly part of the reason why i would even purchase an alarm system that I can monitor 24/7 is precisely because I want someone watching out for me when I am careless. Right now, there is simply no recourse if you forget to arm the system (e.g. at least Nest will send you an alert when you leave the house and ask you if you forgot to arm the system). Not only that, but the future of home automation should point towards a place where we don't have to manually do anything, the system will take care of it. Scheduling is simply one step closer to that goal.
- I see what you mean regarding it being "on," which I assume means armed. The problem for me is that why does the alarm need to be active to utilize the full feature set? I have had numerous times in the past where I needed to know if someone has left the house. I can easily deduce that by whether the garage door was opened and motion has stopped. However, none of these are logged when the system is off.
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