House broken into

[Sleepy]

So, stopped home at 8pm tonight, dropped my car off at the parking lot next door. Ran inside and hopped in the wifes car to go to dinner. Came home an hour later to find my side door kicked in. Door was kicked off its hinges. Livingroom tv, xbox, and wii gone. Tile counter in the kitchen destroyed from the door hitting it.

Needless to say we have the insecure feeling and a lot of fixing to do.

So if anyone in des moines runs accross a cheap in new shape xbox arcade with a dora the explorer game in it, a Hisense 42 inch flat screen tv with missing remote, or a white wii that is missing its power cable and oh yeah the disc drive is broken. Shoot them for me.

The wifes knee jerk reaction is to move. Granted we have wanted to move for years however its not feesable.

So does anyone have any suggestions or recomendations on home security systems?

[AutoMods]

i have the logitech alert security. but its kinda buggy, i would look elsewhere

[Deimos]

Fence, dog and guns

[Sleepy]

Fence, dog and guns



Check check check

[c_mart_28]

I'm really sorry to hear that man. It's amazing what kind of low-life people are in our midst every day.

[Ricky]

I had that happen to me after I came home from a vacation one time. Its the worst feeling ever. I had a lot of nice electronics in my house and they took almost every single on of them. It takes a while for the feeling to lessen. I installed a net work security camera system in my house with a DVR and everything. Recorded motion and had night vision cameras. You could also pull up the live cameras from your phone and check on the house. It was a nice piece of mind.

[watman02]

if u were only gone long enough for dinner then they had to have been watching u!u have any body over recently? repair man cable guy somebody who could have checked out ur place and then waited to come back??

[LT1Dan]

if u were only gone long enough for dinner then they had to have been watching u!u have any body over recently? repair man cable guy somebody who could have checked out ur place and then waited to come back??

This. Or have any shady neighbors or teenagers in your neighborhood?

[Deimos]

This. Or have any shady neighbors or teenagers in your neighborhood?

This^^^

[Sleepy]

No repairmen or anything simular over. Aside from family, kids friends(they are all under 10yrs) and Chris lol no one has been in my house in the last 6+ months. I can say there are some teens across the street moved in a yearish ago. Don't seem to have any problems, I talked to their folks last night and they were shocked it happened. Their windows were open and don't hear/see a thing.

It blows its all under or right around our 1k deductible. So its all out of pocket to replace it.

Will be looking into a security system for piece of mind. I could care less about the crap, its more knowing something will wake us up if someone tries it in the future.

[AutoMods]

sucks man. any of your neighbors have any outdoor cameras?

security systems have came a long way and keep getting cheaper. mine can text me and/or email me pictures when their is motion, right to your smartphone. you can also view live video and review video from your phone or any internet connection.

also there are cheap motion alarms which are about as loud as a fire alarm for as little as $20, some have auto dialers that will call your phone when there is motion inside your house. I have a couple motion alarms that are independent of my main system. http://www.ebay.com/itm/HOMESAFE-Auto-Dialer-Security-Safety-Alarm-New-/150781689346?pt=US_Surveillance_Security_Systems&hash=item231b49fe02

I find it odd how some people will spend a ton of money on a nice firearm for self protection but wont spend a few hundred on a security system

[sparkles]

Having your house broken into is one of the most gut wrenching feelings one will ever have in their life. It sucks. At least it wasn't much. When the douchebag Lucas Jones broke into my place, it cost me about $5k. Granted, he was upset with me because he wanted to sleep with my gf, his cousin, at the time, but still. It takes a low life to disrespect someone on that level. He used to travel around in this group, so if anyone sees him, let him know he's a douche.

[Stg4raddo]

2gig go control and alarm.com monitoring service its simple enough to do a diy install and you can have camera and home automation features also uses internal cell to report alarms etc

[Sleepy]

Stg4raddo - So I checked out alarm.com, I have sent emails to get more information from a few different companies. I clicked find dealers for alarm.com and the two in des moines that popped up were Vivint and FrontPoint. Both of which are places I have already emailed, so it sounds like they may all use the same system?

Either way having a monitored system is much cheaper than I thought it would be. Amazing more people do not do this, cheaper than paying for cable each month.

[Stg4raddo]

Alarm.com offers support to two alarm panels the 2gig and a simon xti. I deal with the 2gig at work and its a great platform compared to your tradtional wired alarm panel. The alarm.com plat form is used to give you web and smartphone access to control arm/disarm as well as view cameras,control garage doors and even control lights and locks. Just depends on how much you want to put into the system.

[BGjohnson]

Vivint does use alarm.com I can turn lights on/off, look at my remote camera, lock and unlock the front door, or arm/disarm house all on my phone. Plus I can look past events to see when doors are open or closed.

[AutoMods]

what does alarm.com charge per month? they probably let you get all the equipment up front for a low monthly fee but in the long run would it be better to buy your own equipment up front with no reoccurring monthly fees.

i feel like with all the remote capabilities, there is not a need to pay a 3rd party to monitor when you can get alerts to your phone. and if your on vacation you could have family help monitor/log in if any motion alerts get triggered.

[StreetSweeper]

I have Vivint witch is alarm.com and pay around 53 bucks a month. Its great peace of mind thats for sure. I had a bannar fall off the wall in the middle of the night in the shop that set the system off and let me tell you it's a rush at 3 AM knowing your going out gun drawn. I love how its not a hard wired panel and the smart phone compatability is awesome.

[Scott]

I have a zmodo 8 channel security system, its a cheaper system but works great. records all the time and automatically records over old footage once its full. ITs tuff to get the internet viewing and alert system working correctly but it does work. Mainly use to store the video if someone does break in as opposed to watching on the web, I have the DVR locked in the gun safe so they cant get to it.

[AutoMods]

best buy has several systems, swann, lorex and samsung are pretty common

[Sleepy]

So I have checked into three different companies so far.
FrontPoint
Vivint
SimpliSafe

FrontPoint - Roughly $50 a month, start up costs are going to be around a thousand out of pocket. This is for window/door sensors, glass break sensor.
Vivint - Around 60-70 a month, by far the most advanced and best options. Still trying to figure out with them what start up costs will be. There is a $200 install/start up fee plus equipment but I can not get a strait price out of them.
SimpliSafe - $25 a month, ZERO contract(frontpoint and vivint both want 36 month contracts). They have by far the least options, but the options that really matter are there. They have motion sensors, window/door, fire. Start up costs would run me about $550. The one thing I really dislike is the lack of video.

Simplisafe is really getting me on the cheaper start up and no contract. I really really hate loans and contracts.
The one hold back is the lack of video. If I am at work and a motion/door sensor goes off, it would be nice to see what was going on before rushing home or calling the police.

Is there a way to have a couple camera's set up and to be able to view them with an android/windows app? After some reading it sounds like I may need a dvr, however those set ups seem to be $$$.

[Stg4raddo]

If i was in the dsm area i would help you out. I could guote you equipment and have you install it if you were up to it. With alarm.com you can tie cameras into your system with no dvr and view them with the same web login or smart phone login. No dvr is required as alarm.com does offsite video storage.

You wouldnt even have to do full on video you could use image sensors that are more along the lines of a digital camera but still offer remote viewing.

[AutoMods]

you have to have video in my opinion. its useful and reassuring to look at. you really don't need windows/door sensors if you have cameras in your home because the cameras detect motion and can alert you. i sometimes watch my kids on camera if i'm in another room, etc etc

sounds like you haven't checked out independent systems yet, you should

[StreetSweeper]

Vivint will haggle with you on start up cost's. The only out of pocket expense I had was 200 dollar install that they broke down and added three separate increments to my monthly bill. All equipment was free. so make sure you haggle with them to work to your benefit.

[Sleepy]

I will have to give that a try. Unfortunatly the guy I spoke to kind of sounds like a new guy, stumbles a lot and does not sound comfident.

He did mention the 200 start up cost and 3 pay if we did not want to pay it all at install.

He wouldn't give me a straight price for sensors, control panel and such. Possible because there were no prices to give?

If thats the case then Vivint is the way to go. Any other company is going to cost an easy 1k to get started and still have a 50 a month payment to moniter.

I know Ryan, I should look into DIY systems. However I can not seem to find one that gives me sms notifications and app service with out a monthly fee.

[81LS1Camaro]

Sorry to hear about your loss. It always seems like other people want your stuff. A few weeks ago I was working out in the garage, lights on, stereo blasting, making noise and everything. I was carrying a old 55 chevy gas tank outside when I looked up a crack head was rummaging through my truck. I dont know what he was thinking, I was obviously home. All I can say is man he could run fur a scurvy bastard. I chased him 7 blocks before I lost him in a dark alley. He didnt seem to want to stop and talk to me very bad. I was lucky and he didnt get anything and left 4 porn dvd's for me for my troubles lol. What did you ever pick for an alarm?