RE: Motorola Homesight - BT Home Monotor - others ?

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wouldn't necessarily agree that Comfort is too complex or
expensive...
- I would agree that it *can* be.... - depending on how badly bitten you
get by the bug once you realise the sort of power it has compared to
other systems.

Have you also factored in the cost of monitoring? - With Comfort,
although it can be connected to a monitoring centre, my assertion is
that it doesn't need to be... - it is perfectly capable of dialling out
itself to numerous phones and pagers, can be setup with a GSM link as
well as or instead of a normal landline, can send email / text messages,
and can be accessed via the web. - All of this can be done without using
a 3rd party to provide any monitoring or connectivity services, so if
you have to pay a fiver a month for any of those, I say you should add a
couple of years worth of that into the comparison as well...

Comfort can be grown over time, so you don't have to have a massive
initial investment, - probably reasonably comparable to a similarly
capable "normal" alarm system. If you only build it as a security
system
initially, then the complexity isn't that bad either... - in fact the
defaults it comes loaded with already make it function as a
"normal"
alarm right out of the box, so you don't *have* to do any additional
programming. (Although of course you will want to!)

Plus with Comfort-II now having just hit the market, I'd wager that
there will be a fair few 2nd-user comfort mark 1 systems available at
very reasonable prices quite soon... - oh, did I mention I'll have a
complete Comfort Mk1 system to sell in a couple of weeks...  :-)


HTH

Paul G



> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of
> David Chapman
> Sent: 20 May 2006 17:31
> To: UKHA_D Group
> Subject: [ukha_d] Motorola Homesight - BT Home Monotor - others ?
>
> I just want a simple home monitor / security system that brings a
wires
> and
> bells alarm into the 21st century - ideally monitored but also allow
> direct
> access in via browser and ADSL and sends messages or pictures out to
> mobile.
> If it does some basic X10 automation (close curtains, lights etc) then
> even
> better.
>
> Wired systems are prefered - house is flood wired cat5
>
> So far I've looked at:
>
> Comfort - too complex (and expensive)
>
> I like many of the features of the Motorola Homesight but it looks to
be a
> very closed system.
>
> BT home monitor VP1000 is a bit too basic and again a bit too closed.
>
> There must be others - any clues what to search for ? - or a supplier
of
> components / modules so I can build my own ?
>
> David C
>
>
>
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