amazon ring alarm pro virtual guardetheringtontechcrunch

#Amazon ring alarm pro virtual guardetheringtontechcrunch plus

The second is optional assisted monitoring. The first is a 3G backup connection that activates when your internet goes down, meaning the alarm still works when there’s a power cut.

#Amazon ring alarm pro virtual guardetheringtontechcrunch plus

The Ring Alarm works just fine without a monthly subscription, but a Ring Protect Plus subscription of £8 a month or £80 a year adds two extras. The Alarm base station includes an LED ring showing current armed status (here blue for disarmed) as well as a very loud siren. You can set cameras to record, floodlights to fire up and other bits when the delay entry or alarm is triggered. The alarm system can also integrate with any other Ring products you might have. That includes guest codes, handy for neighbours or tradespeople, which can be set to operate on a schedule for extra security. One of the best features is the ability to give everyone their own pin, which means you can see who armed or disarmed the alarm and when. You can get notifications when things happen, see the states of various sensors such as when a door was opened or closed, see battery levels of the various bits, and change settings such as brightness of LEDs or volume level of alerts. You can control the whole thing from the Ring app, which means you can arm and disarm it remotely. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The GuardianĪs a basic, easy-to-install wireless alarm, the system excels, but it’s also a little bit smarter than most. The Ring app handles all the setting up, settings, alerts and monitoring with ease.

You can also tailor the motion sensor sensitivity to stop it being activated by pets – though as my home is pet-free, I couldn’t test how well this works with cats or dogs. The motion sensors weren’t errantly triggered by flashes of light, as some can be. The alarm worked faultlessly in my two-month test, going off when it should and not when it shouldn’t. I stuck it to the wall behind the front door for convenience. The keypad charges via microUSB and can be mounted practically anywhere. The LED ring on the base station shines red when the alarm is set or blue when it’s off. There’s also a “Home” mode for when you’re staying in, which arms only the contact sensors by default. When you come home, simply punch in your pin and hit the “Disarm” button before the entry delay timer runs out. Both the keypad and the base station make a noise and flash to let you know what’s going on during arming or disarming. Type in your four-digit pin and press the “Away” button, which triggers a 60-second timer accompanied by a red light and what sounds like a game-show countdown tone for you to get out the door. The keypad arms and disarms the system like any traditional alarm. Punch in your pin on the keypad and hit the away or disarm buttons to use it like any other alarm. It can also be left plugged into the microUSB power adapter if you have a plug socket where you want it mounted. The user-replaceable 3V lithium batteries in the contact and motion sensors should last about three years, while the rechargeable battery in the keypad lasts between six and nine months. A range extender is included in the kit, but each device works as its own range extender, so unless you live in a really big house or have thick walls and obstructions, you probably won’t need it. The system uses the Z-Wave wireless protocol, not wifi, to connect to the various different components, reaching up to 76 metres from the base station. The whole lot can be done in about 15 minutes if you know where you want everything to go. Then it’s simply a process of pulling the battery tabs out of the various bits one by one and choosing where to put them. Plug the base station into power and hook it up to your home network via ethernet or wifi. You’ll need a Ring account, and its app on your smartphone, which guides you through the whole process. Installation was surprisingly straightforward and easy. You can screw everything in place if you want or, as I did, simply stick the various bits in place with foam fixers. The Ring Alarm is a DIY, wireless solution, which makes it rental-friendly.

Installing the contact and motion sensors was a doddle using either screws, the included foam fixing mounts or my personal favourite, Command strips.