Low Cost Security Alarm ?

AT&T made a fine system a few years ago called the 8000, I suggest you look that up and if available buy it, I think it can be found on Ebay for that price.

Look on ebay for an Ademco Vista20P or an Ademco Lynx system.

$150.00????

Whew!

How much is you home and contents worth? At that price I can only suggest that you buy a baseball bat and a dog.

A dog will cost him more than $150.00 (over time). Cats are much cheaper. What do you propose he do with the bat? In the average hallway in the average house, you don't have a whole lotta room to swing. Besides... that leaves the perp open to use the line: "Typical honky white trash bringin' a bat to a gun fight", followed by a loud "bang" (or "boom" depending on the caliber of the gun he's got).

RHC: WTF is it with people who think a toy non monitored alarm is a real alarm system and will actually DO something ????

That's just mean.

In answer to your question: Any commercial 6 zones hardwired panel will probably be a superior replacement for your Radio Shack panel. Depending on how it was wired you may not have to do much except at the panel. Most modern ones I work with have the ability to add an integrated (self diagnostic and device/battery monitoring) wireless receiver for a few wireless devices. $150 will probably buy a number of different control panels with a keypad new. Add on a battery and you are good to go. To add wireless to it will go past your budget. Retail for decent (not junk consumer only) wireless transmitters is going to be around $50 each (give or take) for contacts and $100+/- for motions, glass breaks, smokes, etc.

I throw in some perspective here for DIYers since our resident, "Its not rocket science," advocate no longer seems to be contributing.

Now, a real professional should be a lot more comprehensive than that, and a smaller installer like myself or a number of those here are going to be a lot more in tune with the capabilities of each component they install. Yes, we get paid for our time and expertise, but you get something with a lot fewer possibilities of having problems and greater chance of working as desired.

Hmmmmm..... Maybe I should reincarnate DIYComponets.com. Nah. I don't want to spend that kind of time on support.

AT&T made a fine system a few years ago called the 8000, I suggest you look that up and if available buy it, I think it can be found on Ebay for that price.

Or a Moose Z1100 would make a fine choice...........

RHC: Bob, RLB told me he no longer feels it of much use for him to contribute to the newsgroup. Given his condition, that is understandable

Shhh, he may fall for it

Better yet a Z911, self contained in a small neat package

There are sawed off shotguns so I guess there could be a sawed off bat too.

He could buy a gun also, but that means he's got to be home when something happens. With the dog for when he's away and the bat for when he's home, I figured that would pretty well cover it better than a RatShack panel.

Oh well, we all know that there's just no perfect system

I've tried to figure that out for years. I don't know if it stems from them just not wanting "another monthly bill" ..... just beleiving that an intruder will stop and retreat when they hear an alarm .... I doughknow??????

I'll tell you a funny story that happend to me when I first started. Having previous sales experience I thought I had a sales presentation that would cover all the objections to having me install an alarm system. Very early in my new business venture I was humbled by a little store owner. I stopped in to his store on a cold sales call and asked him if he had an alarm system and if not, I could install one for him at a reasonable price. He said that he didn't need an alarm system. I tried all my sales approaches and getting the same response, I finally asked him why he thought he didn't need an alarm system. He said, because the old guy who lives behind the store has his chicken house right up close to the back of the store. I was dumbfounded. I asked him what that had to do with him not needing an alarm system. He said that every time someone came near the chicken house, all the chickens would begin squawking and the old guy comes out with a shotgun.

I simply just hadn't prepared myself with anything that would overcome that objection.!!!!!!!! I said OK. and left.

And, after all these years, I still can't think of anything.

RHC: The truth is, there ARE a few situations where a non-monitored system can be effective, but they are extremely rare. Most people simply dream up a "reason" (which to them justifies crippling the system with no monitoring of any kind) as an excuse for justifiying their not having to spend any more money on their alarm equipment. The fact that in almost all cases, their reasons are laughable doesn't even dawn on them. It's part of the same "something for nothing" attitude that has spawned the "free systems" over the years, and lately the outright scammers like AlarmForce. And it's a fact that the easiest person in the world to fool is yourself, since you won't hear any arguments to counter your "reasons".....

Even sadder still is the false sense of security they are lulled into. PT Barnum would have been proud.....

The Omegalarm 4012/8012 is a far better choice.

$150 should about cover the tax .. lol