Gabe: Hey, folks, this is Gabe at Security Baron. Did you resolve for 2019 to make your home more secure? Well, if that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place because I’m going to give you my top picks for Best Home Security Systems of 2019. [music] Gabe: In today’s video, I’m going to give you my top picks in 11 different categories for best home security system and then I’ll dive into the methodology that I use to come to my conclusions. Let’s jump in.
[music] Gabe: All right, let’s kick off. The Best Home Security Systems of 2019 with the best home security system for DIY installation and with this, we went with SimpliSafe. Now, SimpliSafe is pretty straightforward when it comes to putting it together. I mean there are no drilling required, no tools, no real technical know-how. I appreciate it as someone who has to put together numerous security systems, how easy it is.
In terms of setting it up, you take it out of the box and it’s peel and stick and place, which is something we learn from preschool.
For me, it’s the best experience of setting up a system. It also comes with professional monitoring and cellular backup, starting at 14.99 a month. We like the 24.
99 a month plan, because that’s where you get into the nitty-gritty of your smart home security system, with notifications and integrations, with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. That’s where you get the full experience with SimpliSafe. In our end, we ordered the Summerfort security system which came with a whopping 19-components. That helped us to feel as if we put together a pretty comprehensive and robust home security system. When it comes to best DIY installation home security system, here at Security Baron we went with SimpliSafe.
[music] Gabe: The next best of category that we’ll jump into for home security systems is best home security system for home owners.
If you’re owning your home, you know you can go with ADT. They’ve been in the game for more than 140 years, making them one of the oldest if not the oldest security company in the United States. ADT brings a lot to the table. They have a very robust home security package.
We went with the video package which gives you not only motion sensors, door and window sensors, but also a video doorbell, smart locks. There’s other components you can add to make sure that you’re getting something protecting every element of your home. The entire vicinity is being protected. ADT doesn’t stop there, they actually offer a lot on the soft side of security. In terms of professional monitoring 24/7, they actually do all professional installations if you are a homeowner.
They have pretty solid scores when it comes to mobile application. We’re talking 3.9 in the Google Play Store and a 4.8 in the Apple App Store. That’s with a ton of reviews.
They’re doing really well on that side, and go even further when it comes to customer support. Not only do they have an online help center, live chat, and phone support, but you can even FaceTime an ADT representative.
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, how much do you think a video is worth? Overall, we’re really happy with all of the options that ADT provides for a homeowner. That’s why we gave them the best home security system for homeowners.
Let’s look at our best overall security system Frontpoint. Frontpoint is one of the most loved companies on the Internet with a 4.6 out of 5-star Google rating. Tons of reviews lauding how much they enjoy their experience with the company. Customer support, amazing, professional monitoring options, great, highly rated mobile application on both iPhone and Android, check.
They’re really doing a great job for their customers. In terms of the ability to control your system, configure your system, customize your home, Frontpoint does amazing. You have the ability to lock and unlock your doors with the smart locks that you can order with your package. You can turn the lights on and off. It just has an ultimate plan that allows for you to set up certain motion-triggered alerts, and just really know everything that’s going on inside and outside of your home.
People love Frontpoint for customization and the fact that getting that whole process started doesn’t take too much effort. They have a do-it-yourself installation that is pretty straightforward and simple. Overall, people’s experience with Frontpoint, regardless if they’re renters or homeowners or apartment dwellers, they tend to really agree that Frontpoint is an amazing system. We also really appreciate it our time with Frontpoint. When it comes to the best overall security system, we’re going with Frontpoint.
[music] Gabe: The next category we’re going to look at in our Best Home Security Systems of 2019 is best home security system for seniors.
Here we’re going with Vivint. Vivint was a great experience for me because it was such a nice installation. By that I mean it was a professional installation. Someone comes to your home and sets up a Vivint system for you, not only do they do so in a discreet way with the beautiful system, but it also just works very well.
In terms of what my experience was, I could use the panel in my home or the mobile application on my iPhone X and just made a very convenient lifestyle. One I still have today. Now, with Vivint, you get a video doorbell. You can get various indoor cameras. You can get smart locks to make sure that your doors are locked or unlocked from wherever you happen to be and you can give access to all these systems to people you trust.
If you are senior and would like someone to make sure everything is taken care of, you can just give access to someone else, or if you are someone that has a senior in their life, you can make sure that everything is locked when they go to bed.
You can make sure that the lights are on when they are not there. There is just a lot of things one can do with the Vivint System and it’s just convenient. It just works. That’s the case not only for the mobile application, but also for customer support and professional monitoring.
There is a host of options to make sure every part of the process moves smoothly. When it comes to best homes security system for seniors, definitely going with Vivint. [music] Gabe: Let’s look at the next category for our Best Home Security Systems of 2019, the best home security system for business where we went with Protect America, because you want to protect your business. Your business is you baby. You got to protect your baby.
Protect America does so because it is so customizable. In terms of what you need, if you have tons of doors or tons of windows or you just need to have indoor security cameras to surround any particular part of your space, you can do so with Protect America. When you are installing it, it will be easy because the do-it-yourself installation comes with a customer service representative on the phone with you throughout the entire process.
I really enjoyed it. I thought that it actually brought a lot to the do-it-yourself experience because I was not doing it myself.
I had someone there not only walking me through the setup, but helping me test out each component before I moved on to the next one. If you are someone who is not too worried about cellular backup, you get the professional monitoring for free with Protect America. You essentially have an entire system and professional monitoring guaranteed with Protect America. If you do want that cellular backup, it will cost you between $20 and $60 a month depending on your particular needs. In terms of what you get with Protect America, for your business, can’t really say it’s parallel.
That is our choice for best business home security system. [music] Gabe: The next category that we looked at for our Best Home Security Systems of 2019 is the best home security system for Amazon Alexa and Scout Alarm, like it was built for Amazon Alexa in mind. Whereas with a lot of home security system, Amazon Alexa seems more like an afterthought is at the heart of the Scout Alarm System. When you are looking at the Venn diagram of affordability, flexibility, and Amazon Alexa, you are going to find Scout Alarm home security system.
Scout Alarm is very affordable, even when it comes down to the professional monitoring which you can get for as low as $20 a month.
When it comes to the integrations, of course, it has Amazon Alexa but it has a host of other smart platform integrations that one can use with it in conjunction with Amazon Alexa or by itself. When it comes to best home security systems for Amazon Alexa, we are going with Scout Home Security. [music] Gabe: The next item on our Best Home Security System of 2019 list is best home security for apartment dwellers. Someone who lives in Brooklyn, I can say that I’m very use to paying a lot of money for a very little bit of space. I want to invert that when it comes to my home security system which is why I go with Nest Secure which allows me to pay very little and get a lot out of it.
Nest Secure is a pretty great system beginning with a couple of Nest detect sensors, your Nest guard that goes in your home, and Nest tag divider turn on and off that system. Where it really comes through in a clutch is its expandability. Nest Secure gives you so many options in the long run. You can add you Nest’s cam indoor, Nest’s cam IQ, Nest’s cam outdoor, Nest’s by Yale smart lock, Nest’s video doorbell. Just really a ton of flexibility and it’s ultimately pretty affordable.
If I wanted to look, for example, at the professional monitoring option, I can do a three-year contract with Brinks which is who Nest Secure partners with and get that for $19 a month, or I can just do a flexible contract and do $29 a month. If you’re living in an apartment, and want to get started in the home security path, you want to look no further than Nest Secure. [music] Gabe: The next category we’re going to look at in our Best Home Security Systems of 2019 is best home security systems with no monthly fees. Here Security Baron goes with Abode.
Abode does not require you to have a monthly professional monitoring fee that you pay.
You can just self-monitor with Abode. If you feel strongly about self-monitoring versus professional monitoring and know that you do need that professional monitoring from time to time, you can do so. You can do a three-day period for $8 or a week for $15. That means you decide most of the year. You want to be on top of all of your self-monitoring and what’s going on in your home, but you really want to have a weekend away, clean slate, and not thinking about what’s going on at your home.
You can do so. That’s a pretty flexible option and one that we’ve not seen from any other home security company. We talked about that flexibility because they offer a lot of customization. You can customize the Smart home integrations with Abode. They do work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Philips Hue, Kwikset, IFTTT.
You get a lot out of the Abode home security system. Once again, without having to pay any monthly fees. When it comes to best home security system with no monthly fees, we’re going with Abode. [music] Gabe: The next category we’re going to go over in our Best of Home Security Systems 2019 is most affordable. Here we’re going with the Swedish startup, Minut.
Minut has this one device the point that you put up on your ceiling and it will give you a read on everything going on in your home.
I’m talking motion detection, glass breaking detection, temperature, humidity, light, noise. It can even work with your existing CO2 and smoke alarms to ensure that you get a complete picture of what’s going on in your home. It’s doing all that without a camera. In fact, in that sense, is one of the more private home security systems out there because you don’t know exactly what’s happening in terms of the environment of your home without watching what’s actually going on.
It even integrates with things like Google Assistant and IFTTT. That’s all included for only $149, because there’s no pressure in monitoring, that’s it. You’re done. You don’t have to worry about paying for anything else. When it comes to the most affordable home security system, we’re going with the Minut point.
[music] Gabe: The next item we’ll look at in our Best of Home Security Systems 2019 is best home security system with Google Home. We wanted to look at what traditional home security services integrated well with the Google Assistant platform. Here we went with Brinks Home Security. Brinks is a well-known name in the security game, but they also integrate well with Google Assistant and Google Home. You can, of course, do the robust comprehensive system with the array of components like video doorbell, indoor security cameras.
All brought to you by alarm.com, and know that it will integrate well with your voice or on your mobile phone with the Google Assistant application. We appreciated that as we had a big system right from the outset, and the ability to make sure it integrated it well with our Smart home. When it comes to best home security system with Google Home, we went with the Brinks Home Security system.
[music] Gabe: You thought we were stopping at 10 categories.
No, we’re going to go with an 11th bonus category best home security system for pets. As long as your pet isn’t above 45 pounds, you’re going to want to go with Cove home security. Cove home security has motion sensors that do not detect anything under 45 pounds. If you have a particularly active dog or cat and as long as they aren’t too large, you should be fine in terms of your notifications because we all know that a dog or a cat running around an apartment throughout the day can definitely make your notifications go off and be a little bit extra, disturb you in those meetings that you’re in all day. We don’t want that.
Cove also has a lot of other things going for. A pretty highly-rated mobile application, solid customer support, affordability, and do-it-yourself installation.
When you’re looking at best home security system for pets, you might want to check out Cove home security. [music] Gabe: Those are our top picks for Best Home Security Systems of 2019. Let’s talk a little bit about the methodology we used to come to our conclusions.
One, we focus on installation. There are various types of insulation. Generally, there are do-it-yourself installation or professional installation with a little bit in-between in terms of maybe being on the phone with a customer service representative while installing the system.
We looked at that process. I installed each one of these systems except for those that came with professional installation.
Then we look at professional monitoring. We look at the price of professional monitoring at all the elements that are offered. That is one thing that we used to see how we feel about a particular security system. The third thing we look at is customer support. There are various ways in which you can get in touch with companies and we like to look and see what those are.
You have things from an online helps to things like what ATT offers, a FaceTime call. That helps us to get an idea of the customer support options. We look at reviews and our own anecdotal experience to essentially characterize the customer support experience for any particular home security system. The final thing to look at is the mobile application. We look generally at, of course, the actual mobile application on my iPhone X.
We also look in the Google Play Store and the Apple app store to see how people feel about those particular mobile applications. We don’t just look at their scores, rather we look at the trajectory of how people feel about it. If two years ago, everyone hated that, but now, six months ago, they made an update and everyone is positive. We try to note that so that we’re not basing our reviews or our experience on something from a long time ago.
Of course, once again, we’ve tested each one of these mobile applications ourselves.
That’s a bit on our methodology for coming to our conclusions on our Best of Home Security Systems 2019. That concludes our look at the Best Home Security Systems of 2019. If you appreciated today’s video, give us a like and hit that subscribe button. As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron. Be secure.
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