Swann - ActiveResponse Personal Safety Alarm Keychain with 110dB Emergency Siren - Black

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• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  Tiny enough to carry in your pocket

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  The Swann Personal Safety Alarm Keychain is small enough to carry in your pocket easily. I wasn’t sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to see that text notification to a designated emergency contact does not require a subscription. However, other things I’m not as impressed with. What’s in the Box: • Alarm • CR2 3Volt Lithium battery • Lanyard • Locking Carabiner • Quick Start Guide • Add for a subscription plan Set up was relatively easy. Unscrew the top of the little alarm and insert the battery. You hear 2 beeps signifying that it is powered on. You do need to install the app before you can pair the alarm to your phone. The QR code on the bottom of the alarm is just a code that talks to the app. I followed the instructions in the app to pair and set up the device. Then I entered my SO’s contact info in the app. I twisted the top of the alarm from the locked to unlocked position and pressed the button. Pressing the button is a sort of silent alarm that triggers a text message, sent from your paired and connected phone, to your designated emergency contact. My SO got the text and a notice showed on my phone. So far so good. Next, I tried to set off the audio alarm. I could not pull the little ring hard enough to pull the button out. I finally put the included carabiner in the ring and could then get enough leverage to set off the audible alarm. The alarm was not very loud at all. My car alarm is much louder. The alarm measured around 80 dB from six inches away, when I checked it. About the same as my robot vacuum cleaner. A quick price check on the replaceable (not rechargeable) battery shows it’s not cheap. It’s too soon to tell how long it lasts. Which brings to mind, how will I know when I need to replace the battery? Nothing like being in a situation where I need the alarm and the battery is dead. With a subscription, Swann offers up to 5 designated contacts, professional monitoring and response, and a find your keys function. I passed on the subscription. In summary, I have mixed feelings about this personal safety alarm. I can easily press the button to send a text message to my SO. But the siren isn’t really much good. It’s so hard to activate the siren that it likely doesn’t matter anyway. The battery is another issue. So, I will carry the device in my pocket and hope I never need it.

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  Posted 1 year ago by PJPJ

• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  Handy guardian, but concerning behavior

  • Top 500 Contributor
  • Tech Insider Network Member

  I like the size, form factor, and function of this personal alarm. It was easy to pair to our phone and add to our existing Swann app and account. Usage is also simple. After ensuring the top is unlocked, it can either send a distress signal, an audible alarm, or both. I’ll start with the audible alarm, which to me is the weakest of the two features. It was practically impossible to pull the switch up to sound the alarm using the pre-attached key ring. It is much easier to pull and activate with the carabiner is attached. The alarm tone isn’t really loud nor distinct enough to stand out and command attention outdoors unless it’s extremely quiet or isolated. The distress text is by far the more useful of the safety features. It is triggered by depressing the top button which sends an SMS distress text to a pre-specified contact or contacts through the Swann app. I tested it with my wife at home and immediately after she pushed the button, I received an SMS text beginning with “EMERGENCY ALERT!” The alert is sent from an unfamiliar number, but the heading is certain to catch my attention. The rest of the message shares that a personal alarm was triggered and suggests to follow a pre-agreed emergency plan or call police. The alert also includes a Google map link to the last precise coordinates of the device when the distress text was sent and shares the device battery strength. We were both quite impressed, so much in fact, that I immediately ordered a second device for my daughter. The following day I asked my wife to test again, this time while away from home. I wanted to see how the device functioned with her phone off wifi. She pushed the button, heard the beep, but no alert was sent. We tried again, same thing. I asked her to open, and then minimize the Swann app on her phone. She did and tried again. This time it sent me an alert. I told her to make sure background app refresh was enabled on her phone and to try again with the app closed. She did so and tried again, no signal. I can’t confirm for certain but suspect the Swann app must be open for the device to send an alert. If it is indeed true and not some sort of glitch, that’s a huge downside. If she forgets to launch and minimize the app, will she be left with no protection? It seems odd, because the Swann Security app sends me camera alerts regardless of whether the app is open or not. She kept the app open and minimized the rest of the day. A few hours later, she called to advise she tried it again and asked if I got an alert. I replied that I had gotten no alerts. Not good. We also noticed that the battery report was wildly inaccurate. The alerts kept saying her phone battery was above 90% at the time of alert, when in reality, both times it was in the low 20%. Lastly, the audible alarm has gone off spontaneously on several occasions, even with the top locked and not pulled. It started chirping once while at work and again during an event later that evening. I applied a firmware update thinking it would fix it, but it occurred again. For now, we’ve decided to wait and see if things improve. I like the alarm and the security it provides, but I am also concerned about consistency and the random audible disruptions. Hopefully, future firmware updates will address these concerns.

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  Posted 1 year ago by JMan

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Peace of Mind at a great price

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 250 Contributor

  I decided to pick one of these up for my mother since she tends to go off on her own around town a lot. She is aging, and there is a bunch of Riff Raffle in town now a days, so I thought this would be an excellent personal safety / alarm for her to carry around with her at all times. I remember she used to carry a similar device ( without the smart features) when I was a kid, she said it made her feel a little safer knowing she could trigger it and alert people around her. I am sure many of you are familiar with those type of personal safety alarms, Swann has taken it to the next level with this device. I am honestly quite impressed with the tech they have packed into this little device. It has bluetooth, and will text your emergency contact to alert them that the alarm has been triggered. If you subscribe to the service, I believe Swann will contact you and emergency services for you. I could be wrong but it seems that Swann will text a message to your personal contacts even without a subscription. The device is small, fits easily in the palm of my hand. It includes a battery, lanyard and a carabiner style link for it. It has a lock so it isn't accidentally triggered, but honestly you gotta give it a nice strong tug to activate it, so I think you'd be safe leaving it unlocked and ready at all times. The red button can be pulled to trigger the siren and alert your contact, or you can just press a button and it will alert your contact and not trigger the siren. I can see that coming quite handy if you are ever in a dangerous situation and need to remain stealthy.My one and only complaint about it, is that it advertises to be 110 decibels and it definitely does not get that loud.I actually tested it with my brothers Apple Watch, and it measured it at about 80 decibels. Still loud, but not what's advertised. Don't know if it's a glitch, defect or just my device, but it should be a little louder. Would I recommend this product? YES! They are very inexpensive and provide peace of mind for your loved ones.

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  Posted 1 year ago by Ponskippa