Matt B. from Woodinville, WA

How easy was it installing your security system?

It can be a little overwhelming with dozens of sensors, but you install the system one sensor at a time, bringing it online piece-by-piece. All of the sensors worked perfectly out of the box. Alarm Grid customer support helped me understand the various configuration options for each sensor.

Why did you decide to let Alarm Grid monitor your system?

I chose Alarm Grid for the price. I was a little worried about what I would get at that price, but Alarm Grid has been excellent to do business with. They are very helpful over the phone and by email. My emails were responded to within hours of being sent.

Do you feel safer now that Alarm Grid is monitoring your home?

Absolutely.

We had the unfortunate experience of a burglary at our house. After that incident, we installed the Honeywell Lynx Alarm system. My wife feels much more comfortable being alone in the house with the system in "Armed Stay" mode. We also have the Lynx system configured to put itself into "Armed Stay" mode everyday at 9pm, so we don't have to remember to arm the system overnight.

We had an alarm during a weekend vacation outside of cell phone range. Since Alarm Grid couldn't reach me, the police were dispatched to my house. Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm (the wind blew open a door that wasn't closed all the way). Looking back through the sensor logs, I could see that the police were at my house within 5 minutes of the alarm sounding. It's great to know that if we had real trouble at our house, the police or fire department would be called automatically and arrive within minutes.

What do you think of the home automation features in your system?

This is one of the greatest features of the system! In my basement home office, I use the Lynx system and a Z-wave appliance module to turn on a dehumidifier and air purifier at 8am and off at 5pm on week days. During the summer months, I use a schedule on the Lynx system and a Z-wave appliance module to power my lawn sprinkler system. The Lynx system is controlling when my Christmas lights turn on and off using an outdoor Z-wave appliance module. My porch lights are controlled by the Lynx system and a Z-wave wall switch. I use a rule in the Lynx system to automatically lock 3 different Kwikset z-wave deadbolts (front door, back door, garage entry door) whenever the system is armed. When the system is disarmed, the garage entry door automatically unlocks.

What is the best part of your new security system?

The automation is great (as described above). The key fobs for arming and disarming the system are very convenient. After we pull into the garage, motion sensors detect our presence. The Lynx system starts beeping to warn us that we must disarm the system. Before getting out of the car, I press the disarm button. If I forget to use the key fob, I can also just key in my passcode to a Kwikset Z-wave deadbolt on my garage entry door.

The TotalConnect 2.0 app for Android is awesome! I never arm the system when I leave my house. When convenient, I just launch the TotalConnect app and arm the system.

I get an email whenever the system is armed, disarmed, or if the alarm goes off.

Did you take advantage of the homeowners insurance discount offered by most major insurers?

State Farm insurance gave me a $100/year discount for having a monitored alarm system.

Did you enjoy your experience shopping with Alarm grid?

Alarm Grid was very helpful with the setup and configuration of my alarm system. It's very nice that they can just download my entire system configuration and review it for errors. If they find an issue, I don't have to do anything, they simply upload the new configuration right into my alarm system.

Alarm Grid support is proactive. I had a problem with my Internet router that caused the Lynx system to stop using WiFi and fallback to using the cellular network. I had no idea the Lynx system stopped using my WiFi. Alarm Grid sent me an email letting me know the system was off WiFi and that I should try rebooting the Lynx system. That fixed my issue.

We had a 24 hour power outage last month. After about 30 minutes on battery backup, Alarm Grid called me to make sure everything was Okay. After about 6 hours, the Lynx battery finally died. When that happened, I got another call from Alarm Grid letting me know the system is offline.