Home Surveillance/Security System Advice

[OutofFoil]

Well, my parents, who bother absolutely no one, had their house vandalized/tires slashed the other night and I'm looking at getting them some sort of easy to use, entry level security system. I'd like to be able to monitor a driveway/parking area, front door and back door. I did some looking around online and there are so many options it's confusing and I thought I'd turn it over to the stalkers surveillance experts at LGP. Ease of use, preferably wireless so I don't have to run wires all over the house, and around $300 are the more important considerations.

[tifosi77]

We had an ADT system at our last house. Don't think we armed it once in the 2 1/2 years we lived there. *shrug*

[dodint]

Just buy the sign and save the rest of the money.

RadioShack is going on cleareance, they sell home surveillance stuff. You might be able to find a good deal on some cameras and a digital recorder. They also sell fake cameras.

[tifosi77]

Was reading a story about crime rates and whatnot, and they were interviewing a bunch of guys in prison for burglary. They said - almost to a man - that they never went after a house that was flying an American flag. Not because they were super patriotic, but because the belief was that if there was an American flag on the outside, there was probably a gun on the inside. Always thought that was funny.

[FreeCandy44]

I have a Penguins flag outside, maybe they would feel sorry for me and skip my place? Sucks about your parents though...bunch of savages in this town.

[ville5]

[PensFanInDC]

I have a 50 yard target with a small and tight grouping around the bullseye that I have displayed in my front window. No break ins yet. Then again there is almost no crime here.

[Kaizer]

A highly visible " youre on camera" sticker works well for my sister, who lives in a B&E mecca. Not having an actual camera may help since they cant find one to disable.

[DMcGrew]

I just bought some Gaurdian signs and stickers on eBay.

[TheHammer24]

I live in downtown Chicago, so more than a few of my friends have made this investment. Some have gone the route of ADT and company. Everyone says that's a waste. Now, they make an easy self install system that you install at critical entry ways. You then integrate it with your smart phone. Every breach produces an alert, and you are the prompted whether you want to forward to 911. It's fractions of the cost and from some reports better than the tradiitonak systems.

[Kraftster]

Yeah, FrontPoint. We installed about 18 months ago. No complaints so far. Definitely saved some money over Vector and ADT.

[shafnutz05]

I have a 50 yard target with a small and tight grouping around the bullseye that I have displayed in my front window. No break ins yet. Then again there is almost no crime here.

Damn, that's not a bad idea. What were you shooting?

We are lucky enough to have about as close to no crime worries as it gets

[ville5]

I have a 50 yard target with a small and tight grouping around the bullseye that I have displayed in my front window. No break ins yet. Then again there is almost no crime here.

Damn, that's not a bad idea. What were you shooting?

We are lucky enough to have about as close to no crime worries as it gets

Watch out for those buggy jackers.

[mac5155]

I have a 50 yard target with a small and tight grouping around the bullseye that I have displayed in my front window. No break ins yet. Then again there is almost no crime here.

Damn, that's not a bad idea. What were you shooting?

We are lucky enough to have about as close to no crime worries as it gets

sounds like a 12 gauge buckshot :pop:

[ulf]

lol

[PensFanInDC]

I have a 50 yard target with a small and tight grouping around the bullseye that I have displayed in my front window. No break ins yet. Then again there is almost no crime here.

Damn, that's not a bad idea. What were you shooting?

We are lucky enough to have about as close to no crime worries as it gets

sounds like a 12 gauge buckshot :pop:

Hahaha

I never said it was mine.

[dodint]

I was going to joke that he used a hole punch, but felt bad and deleted it.

And now this. Hmph.

[newarenanow]

We have Guardian. Gives us piece of mind, not only with people coming in, but listening for the little ones going out. Also saved us money on our house insurance.

Can't help with the cameras though. We don't have those. Good luck! Sorry to hear about your parents place. That is ashame that people would do that. What happened to the days of just egging cars.

[shmenguin]

a friend of ours has a camera system. we've been over there a lot over the years. i just found out that it records constantly - even while we're all just hanging out. isn't that a little creepy, or is that standard? i thought you just activate it while you're in bed or out of the house.

[ulf]

activate it while you're in bed

Might end up with some footage you wouldn't want lying around

[mac5155]

heh. I'd leave mine run 24/7.

[shmenguin]

I think it's pretty lame to record your friends without letting them know.

*Shrug*

[tifosi77]

What would be weird is if they keep all that recorded video instead of constantly overwriting the previous day's stuff.

[OutofFoil]

Thanks all. It just sucks people do this stuff for no good reason. Found a cheaper wireless camera system with audio refurbrished on tigerdirect with a 500 Gb HD. That along with a dummy cam or two in order to distract from the hidden real ones along with a motion activated siren should do the trick. He didn't like my suggestion of posting a sign near the end of the driveway stating, "This household fully supports the Castle Doctrine, you've been warned."

[shafnutz05]

Alternatively, you could have a speaker system softly playing "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue" on repeat outside of their domicile.