Ring Alarm Pack - S by Amazon | Smart home alarm security system with optional Assisted Monitoring - No long-term commitments | Works with Alexa

I fitted this alarm three days ago, and have found it to be very straightforward to use, and easy to fit. I purchased it from Amazon with a £90 discount, making it a bargain in my opinion. I would have paid the full price, but would have had to wait until later this year. I bought the basic kit for now, and intend to add more motion sensors and contact sensors later.In setting up the alarm, the base station is set up first. I had issues here. There were two options for setting up the alarm base, and I tried both options but neither worked. After multiple attempts I decided to contact the Ring helpdesk. The advisor was extremely helpful and talked me through the stages. The stages were exactly what I had done previously but this time worked immediately! (That is always embarrasing!) The advisor emailed me so if I had any more issues I would be able to contact him for advice, and it is a good job he did.I expected fitting the contact sensor to be awkward as the frame of the door is close to the wall, but more than the maximum inch. I tried it before fitting and it actually fitted fine and worked with no hassle. The range extender was a doddle to fit. Plug it in, the app soon found it. The motion detector appeared to be just as straightforward, until it the test to ensure it was working. I tested it as requested but when exiting the test mode the app told me it could not communicate with the app. I tried re-testing it, but that didn't help. I attempted to remove the motion sensor from the app but was told it could not communicate with the sensor. I tried removing the batteries to re-set it, but when I put them back in the app said it was still in test mode and when trying to exit test mode it said it could not exit test mode as there was no communication.Having had no success to come out of test mode I emailed the advisor. He made a couple of suggestions, all of which I had done. The sensor is working, according to the app it is detecting motion, but it is stuck in test mode. I am going to have to replace that sensor when I have a bit of spare cash. Disappointing, but hopefully I will have more look with others.Once set up the alarm is easy to use. Each user has their own code for the key pad, but equally the alarm can be set from the app on the smart zone. Exit/entrance delays can be set if the keypad is utilised to set the alarm, so the user can leave the house before the alarm is active. The keypad is re-chargeable, and the alarm base station can survive for 24 hours with no mains power, which is handy if you need to change the location.This is a very easy to install, easy to use, and is highly recommended. The issues were minor, and bar the motion sensor easily rectified. Once I have tried a new motion sensor I will update the review.04/01/2022 Update to reviewI have re-tried setting the motion sensor up. On this occasion I was able to remove the motion sensor from the app, and re-install. Upon re-installation it worked prefectly and exited the test mode at the first time of asking. This is an excellent, inexpensive alarm system, that I can add to as time goes on. A basic set up to begin with, that secures the house. Further motion detectors and contact sensors can be added later.

I honestly can’t fault this alarm system. Previously, we’d had an alarm that had been put in for us by a local installation company. The installation company did a good job, and objectively I’m sure the alarm was fine – but it was too complicated for us to be able to make changes to the system on our own. And the manufacturers of the alarm wouldn’t provide support to us, only to installers. So when we couldn’t understand how to do something, or even when we wanted batteries changing or an extra sensor added, we were on our own or at the mercy of random Youtube instructions (or had to pay the installation company to visit).In comparison, I found the Ring alarm a dream to fit, and it’s deliberately made user-friendly so you can change or update things yourself. The only downside I can see is that if you advertise the presence of a Ring alarm on the outside of your house, it might enable a skilled burglar or one with the right equipment to crack the system more easily than they could do with a professionally installed alarm. However, we don’t have a Ring siren on the outside of our house (we still have the siren box from our old alarm as a deterrent), so that doesn’t bother us. The base station makes a loud enough noise inside if it goes off, and we get notified of any alarm via our phones.You have to be prepared to experiment with the position of the sensors, to make sure they are triggered if someone crosses their path, but that’s easy enough to do. You can attach the sensors to doors/walls with sticky tabs, but I screwed mine in because otherwise I was worried they may fall off when I change the batteries.One thing I particularly like about the Ring alarm is that you can set a different code for anyone who is looking after your house when you are away. So you don’t need to give them your secret PIN (that you might use for other things as well).I also like the fact that if the alarm is triggered, you get an automatic phone call as well as a notification to your phone – something that our old alarm didn’t do (unless we paid extra for this function to be added).Another thing I like is the Home alarm setting, which is a half-way house between away or fully disarmed. If set in this mode, the alarm won’t be triggered by the internal motion sensors, but it will be triggered by external doors or windows opening, which might be reassuring if you are at home and feeling vulnerable.The app is very slick and user-friendly. You can set or disarm the alarm with one push of a button.We’ve also bought a stack of Ring cameras – inside and out – so all in all we feel we have got excellent protection in place for a very reasonable price.