Customer Ratings & Reviews

Guessing that a lot of these purchases are event driven and mine certainly is. We have a 1000 sq ft Apartment and 2 acre of property behind us that is all dirt & empty space. The space is where we I have a Storage Shed the shed is where we store the supporting tools and supplies. The Shed was recently broken into and everything of value was taken. While that is deeply disheartening, it really only affects me. If the apartment were to be robbed and ransacked like the shed was, I would be devastated! I do consider myself handy when it comes to mechanical and electronic projects. I also believe that I am a good researcher and analyst. I found that there are a lot of great alarm systems available at very affordable prices today including DIY professional systems. Several of the professional systems now have videos on installation and configuration—configuration used to be the tough part of installing one of those. In my case, I was looking for a balance of price, ease installation and options for monitoring. Given the recent break-in, I also wanted to get this project started and completed quickly as the Apartment is just as vulnerable as the Shed. This next statement may make you question my research, or at least, reading abilities. While I did plan to have the system monitored, I didn’t realize until after I received my SimpliSafe system that you can’t monitor the system remotely at all with the app without one of the SimpliSafe plans, and, at the time of this writing, October 2023, you have to have the $25/mo. plan to do any serious monitoring. I would have put off having the system monitored for a while if that were not the case. Perhaps it is better that I was forced into a plan earlier than I wanted. As an aside, SimpliSafe gives you 3 days of ‘practice’ use after you activate your system. This means they won’t contact local law enforcement if the system detects and alarm. On the one hand I wanted my system monitoring to start immediately but, do understand the logic of giving me time to learn to use the system without causing false alarms. The installation was truly easy. Once you plug in the base station and pull the battery tab on the keypad, you are off to a great start. Installing any of the sensors is as easy as removing a paper battery tab, using the keypad to tell the base station that you are installing a new device and naming it from a list once the base station announces that a new device has been detected. The preinstalled double sided tape makes mounting the sensors easy. Our shed has numerous unfinished rough hewn wood surfaces and I decided to mount sensors that had to be on those surfaces with the included screws. I didn’t try the included self-adhesive on the rough hewn wood which, may have worked perfectly. SimpliSafe tells you how far away you can mount sensors like the glass break and motion sensors but it was less clear about how high to mount them given the space I was working in or, for the glass break in particular, the angular range that it could work with. For example, if you have windows on opposite sides of a room with no option to mount the sensor in the middle, can it detect glass breaking behind it or beside it? SimpliSafe sensors are relatively inexpensive, and, as such, perhaps an extra sensor or two isn’t a bad thing. The App is easy to set up and use and definitely slanted to the easy side rather than the comprehensive side. That said, if a sensor were to drop off the app will alert you to that. I am not looking forward to changing batteries but would rather that to running wires through an older structure. SimpliSafe has done a great job making system purchase, installation and operation easy and straightforward. They even sent me an email letting me know that the county where my Apartment is located requires a form and payment to be completed and sent to authorize monitoring and, more specifically, response. Not only did they tell me about it, they sent me the exact link to the form. They also let me know that no paperwork or fee was required for the fire monitor. The Apartment can be a relatively harsh environment with high humidity in the summer and relatively cold nights. I am hoping the sensors, base station and keypad are rugged enough to function for years to come. If you are looking at one of these systems, read all you can to understand what you can and can’t do with and without Simpli-Safes monitoring options. Watch or read about sensor placement and plan your own install. I don’t think you have to become an alarm expert but each install has its own challenges. I found plenty of good information available from a lot of sources on the Internet to address those challenges. I have not interacted with SimpliSafe customer service at this point and can’t comment on that aspect of the product. Overall, I believe I made a good decision for my family and have only positive things to say about the installation and operation of my SimpliSafe system.

PROS: The alarm system is good, chime is a little low, but you can buy a siren separate. Design is really cool, very modern. It’s absurdly easy and quick to install. The app instructions to install is really easy to follow. CONS: the camera image and battery life is disappointing. Battery lasts 3-5 days in a very quiet with no movement area. Quality of 1080 resolution compared to other likes is inferior. I tested Ecobee, Ring and Eufy to compare. SimpliSafe is one of the lowest image quality. I returned my package due to the camera image quality and battery life. The monitoring is also a little expensive $30. Simply safe thinks they are competing primarily with ADT and Vivint, which costs $60 per month so they are relatively cheap at $30 per month. They in reality compete mainly with Ring and Arlo that charge $20 per month for similar monitoring package.

We've only had this security system for about a month and so far it's pretty good. The set up was easy. The only complaint is the batteries do not last long and it has to be charged frequently.

Not worth the money. Is easy and simple to set up, yes. However battery lifespan is horrible. Maybe a week. The camera dont record without the company's monthly monitoring service. There is no function for the camera. Ended up paying more money for google instead.

The outdoor cameras have to be recharged every two weeks which is a pain. I should've looked for solar powered cams.

First the quality of the components are rock solid. WiFi connectivity and cellular connection all were strong, stable and no loss of signals to date. The package comes with free full monitoring service for 3 months so that is really a big plus and good way to work out kinks in issues. The install took all of 90 minutes, really less as I was testing various locations for the two outdoor cameras. The keypad is a breeze to use and can be placed anywhere and is moveable off its base so easy to move from interior of house to front door or reverse. The keypad is very easy to read and where you can make all changes. Even better than the keypad is the app or the web page for your account. The install of various components offer two options in many cases, permanent with screws or with the adhesive strips both seem dependable. I love the cameras and color and clarity…1080p HD video. A 140° ultra-wide field of view. Plus digital zoom and full color vision at night and built-in spotlight + HDR let you see clearly 24/7. 8X zoom. Battery will last 3-6 months, I think will be less during Winter temperatures as battery will be reduced due to cold temperatures. The two way audio so far is pretty good, not very loud but adequate. The camera even has a siren that will go off if other sensors are tripped. These cameras are really the icing in the system. The motion sensor is omg so easy to set up and use…less than 10 minutes to install and activate. I love love the system with it many alarm modes and configuration for home and away bypasses. The numerous methods of alerting you to issues, and the 24/7 monitoring service and the monitoring fee will not in any way break any one’s bank. The internal base station siren is pretty loud but I also got an out door siren coupled with the external cameras…well plenty loud.

The SimpliSafe outdoor home security system is a breath of fresh air. I recently had ADT come out to give us a quote for home security coverage. Not only was the equipment expensive, it did not seem to be as high quality as the SimpliSafe equipment. I have seen several people complain about the amount of time it takes to get the live feed, some people say they are experiencing up to a 2 minute delay. I only have about a 15 to 30 second delay, and that tracks with any other motion controlled camera I have ever used. If you need there to be absolutely zero delay, then you need a wired system. The nature of this system mainly being comprised of wireless accessories that operate on batteries means that they are making every effort to save battery life. This is done by not having most of the functions of the camera constantly operating. As far as I am concerned, set up was incredibly easy, but I would definitely recommend purchasing the solar panels for any of your cameras you are installing outdoors, especially if they are up high. While you can just recharge the batteries on your own, it would be a big hassle if you have them placed up high. I would highly recommend placing them up high to prevent theft or destruction of your camera. I definitely recommend this kit though, as the two outdoor cameras included in the kit, when purchased individually, would cost about the same price as this entire kit.

Over all the set up and functionality of the system are OK - I didn't encounter anything that was a show stopper however on the other hand nothing really stood out as cutting edge or better than anything else on the market Let's start with set - most to the stuff setup was fairly easy however the cameras were a bit of a pain - for some reason I and to wait 10 -15 mins for the system to allow me to add then next camera - I did try to install them into the system before mounting but this seemed a bit excessive - all of the out sensor and stuff install and then mounted and was ready of the next item by the time i was ready. During the software set up they do push the paid monitoring service quite heavily to the [point that the first time I saw it it took a bit of looking around to opt out Mounting - everything was fairly easy and straingth forward - the camera mounts seemed a bit light for there size however I haven't had any issues with them - I pulled them off and buck on several times Operation - no real issues here it works as advertised - as with all systems the wireless cameras are sensitive to how often they are triggered - this greatly affects the battery life before taking them down to recharge. You can adjust this in the software however just something to be aware. I was able to integrate it into google home and preform basic functionality that been said I found use the app to be the easiest. I will say the the app is very user friendly and fairly intuitive on operation. Overall my impression is that the system will do it's job once set up is complete - just nothing that really seem to set it part form others in the market space - so the two stars down are really for the pain in the set up

I've been a Simplisafe customer for nearly 11 months and would strongly recommend that shoppers consider another company. I've detailed my experiences below with notes about each aspect of their system that I've tried: INSTALLATION: Installation was a breeze. The included instructions and app seamlessly walk you through the setup for the base station and each of the various hardware components included with your system. KEYPAD: The keypad has a great aesthetic and works seamlessly with the rest of the system. I really appreciated that you can detach it from the wall holster in case you wanted to move it somewhere more accessible. ENTRY SENSORS: The entry sensors work extremely well. They were easy to install and provide nice feedback when opening and closing windows and doors. INDOOR MOTION SENSOR: I would not recommend if you have pets. It is advertised as being able to distinguish between humans and pets but it triggered twice by my 10 lb. cat when we were not home. It is now useless to me. OUTDOOR CAMERAS: These are not very good. I have 2 and have had to have one replaced 3 times because the batteries kept dying in a few days (even though it was in an area with very little activity--meaning there should have been very little battery useage). They also take a relatively long time to connect when trying to view live from the app (like 30 seconds). INDOOR CAMERA: I've had this replaced once and it still constantly disconnects from the system, requiring a long phone call and manual reboot to fix. My $30 pet cameras are far more reliable. BASE STATION: It looks nice and has a pleasing blue light when activated. However, it constantly disconnects from the WI-FI, requiring a manual reboot in some cases. This is inexcusable if you rely on it to work when you're away from your home. APP: The app is probably the worst component of all due to several basic features that are missing. First, you cannot create a guest or limited account. If you want another member of your household to have access, you just have to give them your username and password. Second, there's no way to customize the external camera notifications. For instance, you cannot set it so that notifications are disabled when the alarm system is set to off and enabled with the alarm system is turned on. So everytime my kid is playing in the driveway or backyard I get like 20 notifications telling me motion is detected. Lastly, and probably most importantly, is that the hardware just seems to be of poor quality. To date, I've had 3 replacement outdoor cameras, 1 replacement base station and 1 replacement indoor camera--and I still have issues with all three. I DO NOT RECOMMEND SIMPLISAFE

I sleep better at night now that I have this home security system. Unfortunately we had to set this up after getting burglarized instead of being proactive with our security living in a city. We had some security measures in place like a doorbell camera and a yard camera, but the burglar exposed many of our flaws. He was able to gain entry to two doorways by quickly popping the locks, thankfully not into the main house, but could've easily. Not so easy anymore. This Simplisafe security system was a breeze to set up. The unit was very easy to connect to the simplisafe app. The app interface is easy to use. When you log in it jumps right to your cameras. There is a slight delay in connecting to the live feed when clicking in from a pop up notification, minimal, but noticeable for me. The video quality is great. Notifications are timely. The battery on the camera seems to drain quick, but we plan to remedy that with a solar panel. It is also super convenient to be able to set the alarm from either the keypad or on your phone through the app. The door monitors just stick right on to the surface of the door and door jam. The sound when tripping one is very loud and deterring for me to test, so I imagine that sound should cause someone uninvited to run. The motion sensor I have placed in the basement so the dogs don't trip it and thankfully no intruders have tested this for us. There are a couple of paid plans to choose from for different levels of monitoring for your comfort as well. If you're looking for a simple to set up alarm system with the option for monitoring, this system is for you. We didn't lose much property when burglarized but our sense of security was taken, this Simplisafe system home security gives it back.

We bough our simplisafe bundle back in the fall of 2021. Within the first few months one of our outdoor cameras had stopped working, and would not reset or reconnect no matter how many times we tried. Our backyard camera ended up dying every 3 days despite being on the charger for well over 4-6 hours. Now in spring of 2024, we have no working sensors or cameras (despite having charged and replaced batteries). Complete waste of time and money, I would not purchase again.