Six Sensor Wireless Home Alarm System with Central Unit and Remote Controls

I bought this at Harbor Freight. At first, I reviewed it saying that it needed flat surfaces. I was wrong. The directions are unclear on this aspect of functionality so I had to do a considerable amount of experimentation...but...this system works when the sensor and magnet are arranged even in an angular orientation (approximately 30º in my case) and even on my old hardwood ornately sculpted, routed & carved, varnished doors frames and jambs. The foam adhesive mountings are 3M brand. You can only see the logo when the light hits it from a certain angle but the rather holographic logo is there--3M. That means it will stick. Tight. To surfaces unexpected it adheres. And ... as it turns out, the magnet activator does not have to be mounted in the same flat plane as the sensor. As long as the sensor sweeps an arc so that it performs a tangential encounter between the sensor and the magnet during the opening of a door or window, it will activate the alarm. However, let's consider this to be an "announcer" not an "alarm" because it automatically shuts off at 15 seconds. You can set it to make an alarm-type sound or you can set it do a ding-dong type sound. But, even if you live in an apartment and live next door to someone with whom you are closely associated, you cannot expect a 15 second alarm to prompt your neighbor to call the police. And you surely can't expect a seasoned criminal to scurry when they quickly discover that your alarm has automatically stopped at 15 seconds. Nope. They'll just continue on with what they intended to do knowing that your little Bunker Hill Security System pooted out on its own and now it's like a guard dog that received a t-bone steak. It's moot. It's not a threat. The burglars continue on undaunted! But, for its approximate 30 dollar price tag, it is useful. Like, I'm going to use it to let me know when my grown kids have used their key to enter my house announced. That way they won't get shot! For some reason, they refuse to call me before they come. I think they like to taunt me. So, if I'm downstairs in the basement workshop, I'll know someone has entered the house when I hear the ding-dong. You could also use this to monitor your shed in your back yard to let you know someone has entered it while you are sleeping. But, to use it as a burglar alarm that will protect your premises while you are away? No. Some of its quirks are: (1) You absolutely must use one of the two little hand-held remotes to arm the system. Even if you are in the same room as its little "base station," you must use the remote to arm the system. The base station has no means in and of itself to let you arm the system. Every time you use that remote, it makes a loud noise. If you have it set to ding-dong, then it will loudly ding-dong every time you use the remote to turn on the system and it will also make an excruciatingly loud ding-dong when you turn off the system. If you have it set to make its alarm-type sound instead of the ding-gong sound, it will make a loud whoop when you turn the system on using the hand-held remote and it will also make a piercingly loud whoop when you use the hand-held remote to turn off the alarm system. This can get annoying; (2) There is no battery test function at the base station (which takes 3 AA batteries) and there is no battery test function at any of the sensors (which use 3 LR54 button batteries in each sensor), and there is surely no low-battery notification in any part of the system; (3) There is no volume control for the alarms or the ding-dong. You have to use pillows, or tape over the speaker holes or do whatever you can do in order to quiet the sound if you need to do so. Well, I could go on and on but you get the idea. It's a simple announcer that has a really, really loud whoop-whoop or ding-dong. It is useful for some things. Get it at the best price you can and get a cheap bulk supply of AG10/SR54/LR54/189/LR1130/389 batteries. It's not really useful as a burglar alarm but at least when you hear creaks in the floorboards while you are ironing in the basement, with your little Bunker Hill Security System announcing legitimate entries through your monitored doors, if you haven't heard your little Bunker Hill Security System go whoop-whoop or ding-dong just before you heard those floor board creaks, you'll then know it's probably not a legitimate entry and maybe it's time to draw the Glock from your yoga pants waistband to begin a search of your premises.