hey group. i have recently started fixating on the possibility that my (old) home catches on fire while i am not home to help my dog get out. it would give me peace of mind to have a camera / sound monitor that would alert me if an alarm went off. are there any monitors like this? i know baby monitors exist, but i dont want to be constantly checking something, & i would want it to register when any loud noise occurs, not just baby cries. do baby monitors notify users of all noise? which devices have you had success with that could help me out? thank yous!

I want something that catches pretty much everything that happens at my front door like deliveries, people stopping by motion all of it. The main reason I’m looking to replace my current camera is that it froze at the WORST possible time. FedEx dropped off a package marked fragile and right when they were putting it down the video froze. When I opened the package later, the item inside was broken, so now I have no idea if it arrived damaged already or if it got dropped during delivery.

That pretty much convinced me I need something more reliable. I’ve been looking at the Wyze doorbell because the price seems reasonable, but I care way more about consistent recording and notifications than fancy features.If you own this one does it reliably catch the full event ?

I don't why it's difficult to get facts about competing alarm companies.

I use Google a lot, but i fail to see why I need adt at all.

I understand I can access my cameras form.google home anyway on my Google devices. Adt doesn't give me any benefit. I believe I can also connect the home lock to my Google home.

The only integration I'm getting is being able to set and clear an alarm through Google home and open a garage door.

What am I missing if I want to just use my own Google cameras, my own lock and buy a new garage door opener and connect them to my Google account.

I have an adt control panel and app.

Obviously they can monitor the alarm and call police but for 72 bucks a month I don't see the point.

Plus they charge to come out and replace a battery to charge to install. I amy as well just maintain my own.

Anyone have suggestions about going down a diy route with Google devices and just using another alarm company to monitor it ? I am based in NC, thanks

Hi, we've moved into a house that has an ADT alarm system. I believe that the previous owners lived part of the year abroad, and they had some sort of monitoring system in place. Is anyone able to advise me on whether it's worth recommissioning this alarm system, or to scrap it all together and go with a wireless technology system?

There are panels in the hot press with blue lights made by Pyronix

Does anyone know why the white camera here is more expensive than the black one? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BMW4M484/ref=ewc_pr_img_11

White is $110 but the black camera is $81 with a $9 coupon (normally $90)? Is there something special about white cameras? As far as I can tell these are precisely the same 4K 8M pixel cameras.

I'm thinking about getting a Baseus X1 Pro, mainly because of the dual auto-tracking cameras. One thing I'm not sure about is what happens after tracking stops.

Say one camera follows someone walking across the yard. Does it automatically return to its original position, or just stay wherever the person disappeared? I'd want it watching the side gate most of the time, not pointing at a random part of the fence after every alert.

Hi everyone!

Im not sure if this is the correct place to post this, so please point me in the right direction if I am mistaken.

I am looking for some recommendations for a lockbox to hold an Xbox. I support a disabled youth with limited impulse control and autism who has historically broken into the clear acrylic lock boxes to steal the console to pawn it/sell it. They are a teenager and very determined to steal it when they want. However, is doing better behaviorally and also very determined to play GTA 6, lol.

I dont have the exact ones used previously, but I know they were purchased off Amazon. They did not work, RIP Xbox, and i need something that can hold up.

I need something that is sturdy and requires multiple steps to even think about being unlocked, that would fit an Xbox and the xbox be useable. Something that delays the behavior if not completely protects it from being stolen.

Price is not a concern if it works well. Please give me whatever recommendations you have. Preferably something that can be shipped to or purchased in Canada.

My HOA's clubhouse currently has a system with a few cameras and a TVI-AR314-4 DVR. The current system uses the Guarding Vision app.

The system sucks. I can usually get the live feeds on my phone, however, I can never download recordings. Either it says recordings don't exist or the app is so unresponsive and errors out. I'm done with it. I can't even get into the system to change anything, as I don't have the master password and I can't reset the system. Reaching out to the installers has not been successful so I'm done with them, as well.

Can anyone recommend a decent system that won't break the bank? I'd like to reuse the existing cameras and I would like more points in case we want to expand. The most important thing is I need the mobile app (Android and IOS) to be easy to use and reliable. We have had issues that couldn't be dealt with because we couldn't gather the evidence from the cameras.

I am running a Swann closed circuit system with an NVR16-8580 connected to the internet. I recently added a doorbell. I'd like the Swann Security app to send me notifications from the doorbell but not the cameras. Does anyone know of a setting that will do this?

Video showing you the alarm/beep that happens every minute.

And how do we fix it?
Started doing it about 3 months ago and we have to arm/disarm via the app to stop it for 4h.

Is it battery on the actual main box that you can see? Or the sensors?

Visonic Powermaster 30, 29A44C.

I’ve tried twice. Each time I’ve said “I just want to cancel” like 15 times but they go on and on trying to offer me things. I end up hanging up.

My Experience With Vivint Smart Home — Buyer Beware
I want to share my extremely disappointing experience with Vivint so others can make an informed decision before doing business with this company.
I had Vivint security services at a home I moved out of in 2019. On January 20, 2022, I contacted Vivint to cancel my service. Vivint has since acknowledged in writing that cancellation was discussed during that interaction.
Fast-forward to August 2026, when I discovered my account had remained active and I had continued paying for a service I hadn’t used in years. The disputed charges totaled approximately $2,800.
What followed was an exhausting process involving numerous phone calls, multiple representatives, repeated transfers, disconnected calls, and promises of follow-ups that failed to resolve anything.
One Vivint representative even emailed me confirming that a refund review had been requested for charges dating all the way back to January 2022. After weeks of getting nowhere, I finally filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Only after filing that complaint did I receive meaningful attention from Vivint’s Priority Support Team.
Ultimately, Vivint refused to reimburse the approximately $2,800, stating that I had not submitted the written cancellation notice required under my original agreement.
Interestingly, Vivint cancelled my account in August 2026 entirely over the phone. When I questioned why my 2022 telephone request wasn’t sufficient, Vivint explained that its cancellation procedures had changed to allow verbal cancellations.
I understand that companies have contracts and policies. However, I also believe that customer service should involve more than simply pointing to contractual requirements after a customer has spent weeks trying to resolve a problem.
Vivint has offered a refund of just $51.47, which it says has been processed.
After countless hours of frustration, I’ve decided that continuing to fight for the remaining money simply isn’t worth any more of my time.
Vivint has permanently lost my business, my trust, and any possibility of a recommendation from me.
If you’re considering Vivint, I strongly encourage you to read every detail of the agreement, understand the cancellation requirements, and keep written documentation of every interaction.
Based on my personal experience, I would never recommend this company to anyone.

It seems to be a late 90’s era Total Home system. Hardwired zones, Voice module for dial up control, and climate control. We just bought this home and it works fine. But there’s no network integration. I can’t seem to identify if I can add an IP integration.
The control board is labeled “Total Home 8000”
Currently I have to pay for a landline, the monitoring company wants to add a GSM module and we’ll have to pay a full service monitoring company

Is this thing even worth setting up, or should I just get rid of it/sell it in get a different brand or updated Lorex system? It appears to be a couple years old (2021?) but never used.

Attic access and ability to install it/run cables. There’s no problem at all –

8 bullet camera 4K hardwired system with a 2TB HDD DVR

Just moved into a new apartment with my partner. Our new place has less security than our past apartments would like to get some cameras for our own peace of mind

We need a camera for the front door as well as maybe 1-2 cameras for our living room/kitchen area. I personally don’t feel the need to put a camera in our office or bedroom.

While our main concern is security, we also want to use the camera to monitor our dog when we leave him at home.

Things we would like:
- Good night mode/night vision
- Live feed
- Motion detection
- No drill preferred

Since it seems like most camera systems require a subscription, I would prefer if cameras were ~$65/each but I don’t mind paying up to $90/each if it’s really that much better. Seems like Ring is the most popular but want to see if there are other options out there.

Thanks in advance!

I have approximately 20 Geeni IP cameras throughout my rural property on multiple buildings. Bit of a mess. Most connect directly to the home router but I put an outdoor 2.4GHz AP up on the roof for the distant cameras. I've grown to dislike the Geeni app for it's clunky interface, poor video tracking and the ads inside the app hounding me to buy cloud storage. I want a camera system that has a professional interface with smooth tracking access, locally stored footage that's responsive and intuitive to access both on PCs and phones, and bonus points for easy to export (rarely needed).

Currently it looks like this;

~12 Cameras around and in the house. Perimeter and doors. ~6 around my detached workshop. These connect to a repeater inside the workshop, and that repeater connects to the AP on the house through a window. Metal cladding blocks most of the AP wifi signal inside the workshop. ~3 on a detached garage. They connect directly to the AP.
~2 in remote buildings monitoring surrounding land that can access my yard. Connect directly to AP.
~ 2 to 4 soon needed on a small office building to be built next year. (This could be another base unit.)

I'm leaning towards REOlink residential PoE systems. A 16 channel for the house and then use a second 8 channel base unit in the workshop. Perhaps a hybrid unit that can also pick up the detached garage cameras @ 20M away? Technically I could shallow bury 3 outdoor CAT cables to service the garage camera needs, but that'd be a pain. Also the workshop base unit ideally would use wifi to connect to the AP for intranet. Second option is to do a point-to-point bridge between the house and the workshop to bring access in that way.

The 2 remote cameras would need to be Wifi capable. It's unfeasible to hardwire. They're solar powered. They're not critical, but they're useful for high-level observation.

I'd appreciate any and all opinions on doing a multiple-base REOlink installation to cover my needs here.

I got a 8 channel annke camera system and the night vision is terrible I could hardly see. I'm wondering if it's me having bad setting or something

Looking to replace my locks for front and back door. Prefer to pair it with Alexa. Was looking at Phillips and Wyze, we already have Wyze cams and doorbell.
Any recommendations?

My wife and I currently have Blink outdoor cameras, and we’ve been extremely disappointed with them. They’re either way too sensitive and trigger notifications for no reason, or they’re so delayed that we don’t get alerts until someone has already left the camera’s view. Even when we do get a notification, it takes forever for the recorded video to load. Trying to access the live feed through the app is even worse, and it can take several minutes to load, if it works at all. We’re looking to replace our entire system with something reliable that sends timely notifications, accurately detects people without constant false alerts, and allows us to quickly access recorded footage and live video. What outdoor camera systems would be recommended?