BT VP1000 Home Monitor > Reviews (4)

We all like to feel safe in our homes and one way to ensure this is having an alarm system fitted to your home that will protect you should you either be in bed at night or out and away from home. Having five children I decided to make us and our possessions safe by installing an alarm system and with so many on the market it was a very difficult decision. After considering many different models I settled on the BT Home MonitorVP 1000 system which best fitted my needs. Below I will tell you how easy it is to install and the benefits of buying such self install systems and how it operates. This way of installing an alarm system can save you thousands of pounds.

Setting Up
--------------

Equipment : Control Panel, Two Key Fobs, Alarm Box, 3 Room Sensors, 1 Magnetic Door Catch.

Fitting is very easy and below I will take you through it step by step how the instructions showed me even the worst technophob could set this up as you will see.

1. The control panel can be placed on any wall you wish always best near the front door where mine is located it is easily fixed with screws and has no wires other than a power cord which needs to go into the mains and a phone line that needs to be plugged into the phone socket and alarm control panel.

2. Once you have attached the unit to the wall then you need to place the magnetic bar on the front door half on the door and the other half opposite on the door frame, this is secured with either screws or sticky pads provided and when closed causes a circuit.

3. Place the three sensors in the main areas of risk in the house such as living rooms and kitchens wherever you feel somebody may enter you property they operate at a distance of 1.8 meters to a target and are ideal facing windows. They have a pet detect setting which means dogs and cats are not detected due to size and weight.

4. Place the outside alarm box on the wall high up on the outside of your property its LED light will flash when the alarm is operated and the sound is absolutely horrendous. There are no wires as the whole system is wireless.

5. Your system is ready to be set up just register online or over the phone with BT and then they will instruct you when you can power up the unit and install the phone cable. You will then be able to check the status of your home security online from any computer over the net and set up your alerts to mobiles and landline phones so when the alarm is activated it will let you know you can register three numbers to be alerted.

6. Carry your key fob with you as this can turn on and off the alarm system and has a panic button so if you are indoors and in danger you can press the panic button on the fob and an alert that you are in trouble will be sent to your designated numbers.

How It Works
-------------------

If anybody enters your property whilst the alarm is set they will need to know your pin number to cancel the alarm you do get about a minute to enter this code before the alarm will sound and alerts will be sent. The sensors will set the alarm off should anybody enter their range and send an alert, forced entry through the front door again will activate the alarm and send alerts once the magnetic circuit is broken.

The alerts themselves should not all be set up to contact you as the panic section will mean that should you get attacked in your home the only alert will be sent to you not much good really as you can't help yourself.
I tend to have mine switched on at night as well when we are all upstairs so we are alerted if anyone enters whilst we are sleeping something I have always worried about over the years.

Value For Money
-----------------------

This system is great value at only £199.00 and gives you a real sense of security even being able to keep an eye on your home whilst at work. With so many great features £199.00 is not a great deal to pay and it could even save lives should someone break in whilst you and your family are in bed. To have a company come in and set up a security system could cost you thousands of pounds here you have a safe reliable system that anyone can install for a fraction of the cost.

Overall
----------

A great wire free system that works very well indeed and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new or their first alarm system for the home. I have had no problems well that's a lie my 3 year old did set it off the other night sleep walking but that was great as we caught him before he could hurt himself. You can buy extra sensors and key fobs £29.99 and £19.99 respectively and for the low price of £199 you can't go wrong. I hope this review has been informative and should you need to know any more please let me know and I will see what I can do.

Barry