Voice Alert System-6 Home/driveway Alarm

I used the Chamberlain sensor system for years, but it eventually wore out. I upgraded to their new system, but the new audio sound was difficult to hear and couldn't be adjusted. I searched all over and eventually settled on this Voice Alert system. It has worked really well for over a year. All of my sensors are outdoors with no cover from the sun or rain and I haven't had to replace a single one.SENSOR SETTINGS: You can set the sensor to go off every single time something crosses its path or you can set it to take a 20 second pause between alerts so the same object doesn't set it off repeatedly. It also comes with plastic inserts to control the angle of view (narrow, wide, full).VOICE RECORDING: The base comes with the zone sounds prerecorded, but they are pretty useless. It sounds like a distant echo as if they recorded something hitting inside a warehouse. You will want to record new sounds. I did not like the thought of hearing my own voice, so I found a website for recording audio. Just google "text to speech" and various sites will come up. Type in the phrase (for example: "driveway"), select a male or female voice and it will create an mp3 with their automated voice. Crank up the volume on your computer and set record on the base. It came out very clear. I also added loud beeps before the voice but that is just me being overly complicated about it.BATTERY: My sensors go off a lot and are out in the weather so I have to change the battery about 2 times a year. Just a standard 9V. No screws, just push the tab in and pop the front off.Overall a very good system. I just ordered another base so I can have it upstairs and downstairs. You can program all the sensors to work with both bases at the same time.DISTANCE: My farthest sensor is about 150 feet from the base with no problems.BONUS: The base has a playback feature that lets you hear any alerts you missed.

I have heard time and time again that driveway alarms are very helpful for numerous situations, whether it be notifying you when UPS is delivering a package, or letting you know when carpool is dropping your child off, or even notifying you when an intruder is approaching your house in the middle of the night. I purchased a different driveway alarm last year, and was very unhappy with it - it always gave false alarms, and within a few weeks it started to malfunction, constantly beeping for no reason whatsoever.After missing an important delivery because my wireless doorbell system wasn't working, I decide to go ahead and research options for a new driveway alarm. This one seemed to have great overall reviews, although commenters noted that this is 'old fashioned technology'. I received my voice alert system 6 three weeks ago, and wanted to give it a bit of time before writing a review.I have been very happy with this product. I like that you can record either a message or a tone for the alarm noise (I recorded an iphone ring tone - just found one in the app store, played a sample, and recorded it into the voice alert system). I bought a tall and small wood birdhouse from Ace hardware and attached it to a tree near the driveway, then installed the voice alert sensor in that - it protects the sensor from the elements, and also protects it from direct sunlight. I used the vertical masking piece initially, but kept getting middle of the night alerts and realized there are quite a few cats and racoons that like to walk on my driveway in the night! The sensor was working exactly as it should, so I adjusted the angle and put a small piece of masking tape across the bottom (although next time I change the battery, I might use the horizontal masking piece inside the sensor).At this point I only use one sensor, although I like that I can purchase more sensors and use them with the unit.In summary, I am very happy with this unit. It works very well, has great functionality, and is performing exactly as described. It was very easy to install. The trickiest part was opening up the unit to install the battery - it is not apparent from the diagram. I used a slim screwdriver to compress the tab in the slot, and it opens easily after you understand how the opening mechanism is designed. I recommend reading the instructions and spending time to test the direction of the sensor. I initially placed it high like the packaging materials recommended, but this did not work for the particular area I wanted the sensor to detect based on the distance of the tree I installed it on. I used the recommendation of other commenters and called my cell phone from the home phone, placed my home phone near the interior unit, and walked outside to test whether the sensor was working - I could hear on the cell phone whether the driveway alarm was getting tripped. I continued to tweak the direction over the past few days when I had the racoons and cats tripping the driveway alarm in the middle of the night (as noted above), and now I am very pleased with how everything is set up and love the fact that I know when someone is coming up the driveway - whether it be a car or a person walking up the driveway.

Compared to other alarm systems, this one is pretty cheap and it works. The setup is much easier to adjust to your preference/need with 2 people or at least 2 phones (to test if the sensors are positioned the way you want/to test the radius of it). I think another reviewer mentioned having to adjust or purchase some sort of "less than 3 feet" guard so that the sensors wouldn't pick up cats, but I'm not sure how that would work with cats jumping into the bed of a truck or on top of a car. The mic on the alert monitor picks up sound well, volume control does its job.. I only have one sensor right now, but plan on purchasing another. Cars were broken into on my street (2 in my driveway were hit) and even though I would love a video feed to catch whoever is not supposed to be around the house, the moment this alert system arrived and was setup, I immediately felt safer. I still wake up every now and then from the sensors picking up these 2 stray cats in the neighborhood, but it's not often (1/2wks) so not a big deal for the feeling of security.

Our experience differs from others, not sure why. We had to put this in 5 different spots and different heights before it started alerting (it seems that 5' up, halfway up the driveway, with the sensor unrestricted, is the magic spot). Well, it worked great for about 4 days--caught every car coming in and every person walking by. A few false alarms but we don't care about those, it's easy enough to check out the window. And then....it stopped working, hasn't worked for about 3 days. We have not had any rain, temps have been mild, it has not been moved at all. It just quit. Call to the manufacturer back when it was initially not working took me to voicemail; that was over a week ago and there has been no call back from them, so no help there. When it worked, it was great. But if it's not going to work every time, it's kind of useless... But again, this experience is not common, at least among people who have reviewed the item.