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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Owners Manual +
By M. Hamrah
I purchased and set up this system which is basically OK but I have the following issues with it:The system I ordered, which came with the Door/Window Sensor, is also an ALARM which is not described or titled as such anywhere it should be 'Door/Window Sensor/Alarm. In the owners manual its' function is not mentioned or exactly what it does.This Sensor\Alarm has a switch on it which you can turn on/off - what it does is:With the system in the Armed mode, and the Sensor\Alarm switch in the ON position, when the door or window is opened it makes a pathetic alarm sound and after a while sends a signal to the LCD panel to alarm and dial the phone numbers you have entered.With the system in the Disarmed mode with the switch in the ON position when the door is opened it makes an annoying partial alarm sound anyway. I don't want to, when answering MY door, or going outside to water my plants, have this annoying sound or my neighbors hearing this alarm type noise. If, you have young kids it might be useful or you have a business and want to be alerted when customers come in it might be useful.The system should have an option: When the Alarm system is in the Disarmed mode with the Sensor\Alarm switch turned on when the owner or family member opens the door it makes no annoying sound. When the system is put into the Armed mode the Sensor\Alarm when activated then makes a sound (and a louder one then it does. This is not an option for some reason.Another option, which should be available with any system with a remote operating system (Keypad type remote this comes with) is that when the system is armed and a break in occurs the Sensor\Alarm should Immediately send the signal to the LCD panel, the alarm should sound and the system dial the numbers inputed by the owner. This does not happen. What happens is when a break in occurs the Sensor\Alarm does not Immediately send the signal to the LCD panel but waits a certain amount of time before doing this.What it means is when you door is kicked in and a burglar walks into you home there is no alarm for a while, then it will go off, giving the burglar time to locate and disable the LCD panel, likely before it even dials the telephone numbers making it in this situation the system virtually useless.It seems the system was set up for owners, without a remote keypad, can open their door, enter the premises and go to the panel and disarm it before the alarm sounds. There is no option for owners when a breakin occurs for the alarm to sound immediately and dial the phone numbers before a burglar can get to the LCD Panel.Additionally, when the alarm system is activated and dials the numbers owners inputed into the system, you are given four options; to end the call, listen into the room the LCD panel is in, speak into the room the LCD Panel is in or disarm the system. The owners manual does say what happens after the system is activated after the phone call. If, you don't disarm it on the call what happens (does the alarm stay on forever?). After contacting Mace Support I was told the system 'resets' after a certain amount of time which is seems logical but this information should be in the owner's Manual.A bug; The LCD Panel mounting installation is easy, however the Sensor\Alarm is not. The screws they furnish for installation have too large of heads making the owner have to install extremly carefully for the Sensor\Alarm to mount to. It took me six times before realizing the problem. I used my own, smaller headed screws and got it right the first time (but now have holes in my door frames that would not be necessary if the appropriate screws were supplied or the Sensor\Alarm mounting holes where bigger.Lastly, I sent several questions into the Mace Customer service which were never answered. I sent the above into the Mace support and did get responses.Overall the system operation is not bad but has, in my opinon flaws. In purchasing any alarm system the above I would think a prospective customer should be aware of (and more) before purchasing.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Like it well enough to have added more sensors
By Charles A Jennings, MC, LPC
After our home was invaded by armed men, I decided we needed a few more seconds of notification when someone breaks into our house while we are bathing or asleep. The Mace alarm was installed February of 2012, so enough time has passed for me to write a review. I will tell you at the outset that we have not used the telephone calling feature, so I cannot report on that feature.Being made of plastic, I first satisfied myself that the units appeared sturdy enough to have the 9-volt battery replaced from time to time. Then, following the directions for placement, the various sensors were mounted using custom mounts. That is not a comment on the factory mounts which seemed adequate, just that the custom ones blend in better. Once mounted, a couple readings of the instructions was sufficient to set the unit up and test it, which resulted in minor relocating to give optimum results. The reader should be advised that none of the IR sensors were placed outdoors. In Arizona, there are two brief times a year when outside temps fool low cost IR sensors I have tested, rendering them useless.The final test results were impressive. I tried several known techniques to avoid detection, but the system placement we used could not be fooled. We now have sufficient warning to enable us to take protective action, a very comforting thought when we are most vulnerable.There are three hiccups about which buyers might want to know. One is mentioned in other reviews reporting that their units' batteries went dead rather quickly. I frequently test our system and this October did suspect that one sensor might not be working. I found one of the factory supplied batteries was dead and a second was not far behind. All the others were in near new condition. This bothered me as the base unit has been good about letting me know when a particular door is not completely closed when the unit is arming itself. I now know I cannot trust it to do that for all sensors, so frequent manual testing is suggested. New, major brand batteries have been installed so I doubt that will ever again be a problem.The second hiccup is the purchasing of additional key chain transmitters. At the time I ordered the base unit from Amazon, the key chain transmitter they sold was not compatible with the base unit. B&H Photo of New York did sell the correct one. Amazon might stock it at this time.The third hiccup was sporadic communication with one of our door/window sensors, the most distant one. To remedy this, I tightly wound a bit of fine wire around its existing antenna extending the antenna's length an additional four inches. This made communication 100% reliable.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Great Bang for the Buck
By Randal A. Donnelly
While not a top of the line security system, it does what it's supposed to do. And for the money, it can't be beat. I've had it for about a month now and it's working perfectly.I have to give props to Mace customer service. I had just glanced through the instructions for setting up a third sensor and didn't realize that additional sensors weren't automatically detected by the base unit. Mick at Mace straightened me out and also helped when I couldn't get the auto-dial out to work. Both problems were user error but Mick got me up and running quickly.One drawback to the auto-dial that has already been mentioned in another review here is that by the time you answer your cell phone, the alarm message is almost finished and you have no time to enter a command before the next number is dialed. I'm still trying to figure this one out.
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Excellent DIY Security System
does not function properly
