SteveInNorCal
Active Member
I installed an Elk M1 Gold in our primary home almost five years ago and have been very happy with it. I've used Alarm Relay for monitoring and have really liked their service - very reliable and reasonably priced. I use the built-in automation features of the Elk M1G to control lights via UPB so our home looks lived in whenever we leave and arm the alarm system. Also, I have it programmed to turn some key lights off every work day at 8 am and on again 20 minutes before sunset. Uplink provides cellular data backup when the internet connection is down (this has worked really well as our internet has short outages a couple times a week). I am not using any other home automation features. I would like to add water leak detection, main water shutoff on a detected leak, and connection to our wired smoke alarms.
We are buying a second home and it comes with a security system, but I don't know the brand or monitoring company (though I'm guessing ADT). I am thinking about updating the system in the new second home to include the same features listed above, add connected smokes, and add water leak detection and master shutoff valve. Also want to add interior temperature monitoring in two or three locations.
Here's the question: What brand home security / automation system should I buy? I think there is a huge advantage to me of having the same system at both locations. That means I can do much more of the work myself and whatever I learn is applicable to both houses.
But I get a vague general impression that Elk still seems to be lagging in the industry and I continue to worry that they won't be around (nothing specific, mind you, but I just get the general impression they are behind). But Elk certainly does have a broad line of products and a strong track record.
All you experts out there --> Should I consider alternative solutions? Or stick with Elk? What are the top alternatives to Elk? As a business, is Elk healthy or distressed?
As for communications, should I continue to stick with PulseWorx UPB switches or move to wireless switches? My general impression is that it is still easy to add / remove / replace UPB switches without doing a lot of network reconfiguration unlike wireless.
About the time I was doing our primary home installation, Omni was purchased by Leviton. How has that acquisition worked out? Is Omni / Leviton still a good brand? How does it stack up against Elk? Has Leviton invested in the Omni products or abandoned them?
I'm also thinking about adding interior and exterior cameras at both locations. There are so many brands and solutions to consider. What do you recommend?
What brand water leak detection systems should I consider? I'd like to have a system that feeds input signals to the Elk (or other) panel so I can use the same alerting mechanism.
I currently use two large Elk backup batteries, one for the control system and a second battery for the alarm horn. We have very reliable power at our primary home and outages generally happened once or twice a year and typically less than one hour. Our second home is in a neighborhood, has underground power, and is close to the Canadian border so it gets more snow. I don't know about the frequency and duration of power outages there. What do people do for bigger backup power systems to ride through longer power outages?
TIA for any and all help!
Steve
We are buying a second home and it comes with a security system, but I don't know the brand or monitoring company (though I'm guessing ADT). I am thinking about updating the system in the new second home to include the same features listed above, add connected smokes, and add water leak detection and master shutoff valve. Also want to add interior temperature monitoring in two or three locations.
Here's the question: What brand home security / automation system should I buy? I think there is a huge advantage to me of having the same system at both locations. That means I can do much more of the work myself and whatever I learn is applicable to both houses.
But I get a vague general impression that Elk still seems to be lagging in the industry and I continue to worry that they won't be around (nothing specific, mind you, but I just get the general impression they are behind). But Elk certainly does have a broad line of products and a strong track record.
All you experts out there --> Should I consider alternative solutions? Or stick with Elk? What are the top alternatives to Elk? As a business, is Elk healthy or distressed?
As for communications, should I continue to stick with PulseWorx UPB switches or move to wireless switches? My general impression is that it is still easy to add / remove / replace UPB switches without doing a lot of network reconfiguration unlike wireless.
About the time I was doing our primary home installation, Omni was purchased by Leviton. How has that acquisition worked out? Is Omni / Leviton still a good brand? How does it stack up against Elk? Has Leviton invested in the Omni products or abandoned them?
I'm also thinking about adding interior and exterior cameras at both locations. There are so many brands and solutions to consider. What do you recommend?
What brand water leak detection systems should I consider? I'd like to have a system that feeds input signals to the Elk (or other) panel so I can use the same alerting mechanism.
I currently use two large Elk backup batteries, one for the control system and a second battery for the alarm horn. We have very reliable power at our primary home and outages generally happened once or twice a year and typically less than one hour. Our second home is in a neighborhood, has underground power, and is close to the Canadian border so it gets more snow. I don't know about the frequency and duration of power outages there. What do people do for bigger backup power systems to ride through longer power outages?
TIA for any and all help!
Steve
