alarm for bungalow price advice

firestarter51

my mother inlaw is looking for an alarm for her bungalow in cork, its not pre wired so wireless would be the only option, she has nine windows and doors, i got a quote from a local guy, he is offering
1 No. Insurance Approved Control Panel
1 No. Keypad
1 No. External Bellbox & Strobe
1 No. Internal Sounder
1 No. Stand-by Battery
1 No. Dial Out Facility
PIR Motion Detectors
2 No. PIR Motion Detectors
Magnetic Reed Contacts
9 No. Magnetic Reed Contacts
Keyfobs
2 No. Remote Control Keyfobs with Built in Panic Alarm


for 1,145 is this the average price, i have no experience with alarms

KoolKid

That's around average for a wireless system of that size. Did he state what panel he's using?

Thunderbird2

Are those shock and reed sensors he's installing ?

KoolKid

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

Are those shock and reed sensors he's installing ?

I'm presuming so based on the price.if not the price is not great.

fred funk }{

I would ask what system he is quoting for because that price is too cheap for anything decent.

KoolKid

€1145 for 11 wireless detectors seems around right to me . What do you reckon it should be Fred?

fred funk }{

With out getting into individual costs of detectors.....

€1145 minus the VAT leaves about €1000 to play with. Take away the "Engineers" wages, Diesel, company profit, van cost etc. It doesn't leave a lot to play with. I'd say he's quoting for probably something cheap like a visonic or the like.

KoolKid

Visonic & Siemens detectors are around the same price . Would you call Siemens cheap?
I don't think that's a fair comment as they all conform to EN50131.

Between €800 - €900 seems around the market average for 8 devices . €an extra €200 -€300 for 3 extra devices is not too far off the mark IMO.

fred funk }{

Yes. Siemens detectors are as cheap but their hardware is far more expensive.

Visonic systems are cheap alarm systems and have their place, as an entry level system. They're not my cup of tea so I don't install them.

Each to our own I suppose.

KoolKid

I have to say you have me a bit confused.
So Visonic is cheap but Siemens is not. Yet Visonic , for years, supplied Europlex. Europlex is the basic hardware behind Siemens , Was Europlex cheap then?
I think you should do some research on Visonic. They are a well established name in wireless.Maybe them being a bigger company is why they are able to supply cheaper priced products.

kub

firestarter51 wrote: »

my mother inlaw is looking for an alarm for her bungalow in cork, its not pre wired so wireless would be the only option, she has nine windows and doors, i got a quote from a local guy, he is offering
1 No. Insurance Approved Control Panel
1 No. Keypad
1 No. External Bellbox & Strobe
1 No. Internal Sounder
1 No. Stand-by Battery
1 No. Dial Out Facility
PIR Motion Detectors
2 No. PIR Motion Detectors
Magnetic Reed Contacts
9 No. Magnetic Reed Contacts
Keyfobs
2 No. Remote Control Keyfobs with Built in Panic Alarm


for 1,145 is this the average price, i have no experience with alarms

Wireless IS Not her only option. You mentioned she lives in a bungalow, any installation company who knows how to install a system professionally should be able to fit a wired alarm in such a residence, without actually exposing the cables.

Please tell me that they have included shock sensors as well, your list above only mentions reed contacts, these will only detect the opening of external windows and doors, they will not detect glass being smashed. Two beams in a situation where there are only contacts on windows is a farce.

I reckon that there must be approx 40 different registered installers in Cork, I would recommend that you contact a few others and get the best advice possible.

fred funk }{

KoolKid wrote: »

I have to say you have me a bit confused.
So Visonic is cheap but Siemens is not. Yet Visonic , for years, supplied Europlex. Europlex is the basic hardware behind Siemens , Was Europlex cheap then?
I think you should do some research on Visonic. They are a well established name in wireless.Maybe them being a bigger company is why they are able to supply cheaper priced products.

I'm talking more about their system as a whole. I know exactly about visonic and the history behind who they supplied stuff too. Incidentally enough, Siemens got rid of them as soon as they took over Europlex.

Visonic systems are a budget, entry level system to state anything else is just silly.

Installers don't opt to put in more expensive stuff for the sake of.

KoolKid

So you are saying that your thinking that the panel is cheap is not based on price, yet you are using price to argue the dearer systems are better. You and I know many installers opt for certain systems because that's all they know and they don't want to learn anything else. The same with the unlicenced and the DIYer. And we all know what their favourite is.The Powermax complete is limited to 28 zones and 2 wired zones, so from that point of view you may consider it entry level. Feature wise it's much the same as many other panels.
Siemens would have more features. But, funnily enough they are in the same price range as Visonic for devices.
As for Siemens dropping Visonic. AFAIK that's more to do with Siemens wanting everything to be their own rather than Visonic being unreliable or cheap..They are dropping X10 in favour of their own protocol. Does that now make X10 cheap or unreliable?

fred funk }{

How many installers do you know have a Powermax installed in their own homes?

I don't know of any and by talking to some installers who regularly install them for who they work for, they certainly don't recommend them or have them in their own homes.

And BTW, X10 is cheap and unreliable.

KoolKid

I don't know what every installer I know has in their homes. As I said some installers simply don't understand some systems. As you also know some installers say different things to different people. I know some installers on here who rant and rave about one panel but when I meet them in person they say another thing.
As for X10 , I have numerous devices in many own house as well as for many customers.
Apart from 1 faulty controller in 4 years I have had no issues.
Again Im wondering how you define cheap? It's not by price and it's not by features. As you don't use it yourself is it just on third party stories. I wonder why a big company like Tyco would be involved in something that's ,so called,cheap and unreliable? ???

Thunderbird2

jeez I was looking at visonics new 2-way gear and I think it's fantastic .. The touch screen keypads look fantastic . If the PIR cams could send images to phones then it would be perfect ..

KoolKid

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

jeez I was looking at visonics new 2-way gear and I think it's fantastic .. The touch screen keypads look fantastic . If the PIR cams could send images to phones then it would be perfect ..

Looking into that as an option. The data connection is not bad either.

firestarter51

it is a visonic system he quoted for, if any alarm installers want to pm me a quote that would be great

Thunderbird2

Hopefully he quoted you for the new power master panel .. 2- way wireless is the way to go if spending that much money .

KoolKid

Unfortunately inertia contacts are not yet available for the powermaster. As soon as they are that's what I'll be using. It will still be cheaper than other systems around.

altor

fred funk }{ wrote: »

I'm talking more about their system as a whole. I know exactly about visonic and the history behind who they supplied stuff too. Incidentally enough, Siemens got rid of them as soon as they took over Europlex.

Visonic systems are a budget, entry level system to state anything else is just silly.

Installers don't opt to put in more expensive stuff for the sake of.

Have to agree Fred, it is a cheap system.
A lot of installers are using this system as they can be more competitive with other company's. I have installed these systems myself too and if a budget only suits this system then that's what customers ask to be installed.

KoolKid

This system is based on customer requirements not price. Siemens devices are the same price. Would you call them cheap.
The power master has the keypad onboard and the option for wireless bell. That's the only reason to use this over Siemens in most cases.