Responses (1)

R

RS12

Hi Dan, I don’t know the answer to some of what you asked but I saw your post when I was searching for something else and thought I’d share what I do know since no one has answered you yet. Overall I LOVE the Ring Alarm. However, in fairness I’ve never had another professional alarm to compare it to (for us, it replaced a non – monitored alarm that I had to carry around a key fob to arm or disarm). But I love how easy it is to set up, the ease of controlling it through the app (even if we’re many miles away leaving on a trip and forgot to set the alarm), and how it integrates with the Ring cameras and door bells (when alarm is going off, it can be set to automatically start recording the cameras). Also, you really can’t beat the value. We have a doorbell, a stickup cam, and professionally monitored burglar AND fire alarm for $100/year. As far as the Missing Features, I’ll address the ones that I know the answer to here (but check Ring’s website under 3rd party products for the alarm to find out some of them-such as garage door tilt sensor etc) - Ability to turn off notifications for smart locks \*\*\*Not 100% sure but I’d imagine so since everything else can be customized as to which devices set off the alarm and /or notify your phone under which alarm mode. - Ability to use third party sensors to make up for the lack of needed sensors from Ring – like a garage or gate sensor \*\*\*Yes they do have 3rd party ones they sell and /or certify to work, check their website. I would recommend an additional Dome siren or two though because my main complaint of the entire Ring Alarm is that the sirens on the keypad and base station are not loud enough (yes loud enough to wake you up, but not loud enough to cause a criminal to cover his ears and run away) - Ability to Disable chimes or mute keypads \*\*\*Yes the volume of chimes and keypad button presses can be adjusted or disabled outright. The LED circle light on the base station can even be dimmed or turned off. -Ability to turn of or disable Neighborhood feature which is filled with a bunch of people posting videos of minorities walking in front of their house as if they were criminals. \*\*\*Doesn’t look like you can remove the icon from the dashboard, but you can customize what times of the day to receive neighbors alerts, disable the notifications outright, or set a distance limit of how far away a post is before or alerts you. -They go on to say that Ring is in no way a substitute for a professional alarm system such as ADT. \*\*\*Again I haven’t had ADT et al, but I don’t see what those would do that the Ring Alarm doesn’t (other than possibly if they had more first – party sensors like garage door tilt etc). Ring alarm has a 3rd party smoke/CO detector that immediately calls Fire, a listening sensor for other alarms (like existing home smoke /CO alarms), a flood/freeze sensor, motion detectors, door/window magnet sensors, a panic button (keypad also has a panic feature and silent alarm feature). The only sensor I wish it had currently that supposedly they’re working on developing is a window vibration /break sensor. But if you have an Echo Dot etc (which we don’t because it creeps me out) you can set it to listen for glass breaking and trigger the alarm when it is set. Lastly, I have a significant investment in Smart Home devices, about a 50% split between Z-wave and Zigbee. Since Ring uses Z-wave, will it provide full functionality as it applies to an alarm for the Z-wave third party devices? \*\*\*Unfortunately not necessarily. The certified 3rd party Dome siren they even directly sell on their website for example can only be used with the system as a non-adjustable siren with one tone and volume level (and even then only when the alarm itself is triggered rather than as door open chimes etc) but that same siren is supposedly adjustable for tone or volume if used with other systems. -I have Samsung Smartthings, so if I need that in the middle, I can; however, I do not like my alarm system dependent on the cloud any more than absolutely necessary \*\*\*Sorry I don’t know for sure, but whatever will work directly with Ring Alarm base station will continue to work even if the power goes down, internet goes down (as long as you have coverage from AT&T cell signal at your house), or if any device (including the base station) is tampered with or destroyed while it is set. I hope that helps some, sorry I can't fully answer your questions!

0

•

06-02-2020 01:06:10

•

Reply

C

cgmartine

It is a hit and miss. It is far from perfect. You most likely will be dissapointed. Way too many flaws.

0

•

06-02-2020 01:34:43