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- Review count3
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- First reviewDecember 8, 2014
- Last reviewJuly 14, 2017
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informedbuyer's Reviews
SimpliSafe Defend Home Security System: With 4 entry sensors, 2 motion sensors, a panic button and a smoke detector, this comprehensive security system keeps your home safe in the event of an intruder, fire or other dangerous situation. Monitor your home while you're away using your compatible mobile device.
Customer Rating
4
Good Basic System
on July 14, 2017
Posted by: informedbuyer
I have had my system for about 9 months now and I felt it was time for a review. Ownership while good has not been trouble free. I had the base unit hidden in a closet in my house and for many months there were no problems. A few months after the install I went to put on the alarm and got a code on the keypad that there was no signal to dispatch. I opened the closet and the base was flashing blue. The same happened the next day, I contacted Simpli safe and they instructed me to moved the base unit to another room in my house and reset it . I put it in test mode and I got a call from the monitoring center they received my test signal. All seemed to be good again. A day or two later I noticed one of my keypads said the alarm was active and I had not set it. I reset the keypad by removing and reinserting the battery- that seemed to work. Two days after that I had problems again, my wife usually arms it when she leaves the house, and for some reason she couldn’t arm it. I tried off my phone app, no luck, I tried off the web, no luck it said it was busy processing another action and to try later? I called simpli-safe they said they were not getting a signal and to try and reset it and see if that resolves the problem. Resetting didn’t work.
As a side note Simpli-safe works off of one of two cellular networks-t-moible or Verizon. Most of their base stations ship with the t-mobile chip. Both my wife and I have t-mobile cell phones and we have never had reception problems in the house. After contacting Simpli-safe about the problem they offered to send me out a verizon chip. They overnighted it to me and it was very simple to install, I sent the old T-Mobile one back and all was good again.
A few days later my wife accidentally set off the system when she opened a door. I called the monitoring center to report the false alert. I also asked why I didn’t a call ( I did get a text) . I usual get a call immediately when testing the system. They told me that they wait at least 20 seconds before they will contact, I probably beat them to the punch.
Recently I added a CO2 and smoke alarm combo just in case I have a fire and we are not home or are sleeping with the alarm set. Reviewing the smoke detector some people said they have had false alarms, I haven’t had that experience and I have had mine installed for about 2 months now.
About two weeks ago I added the simpli safe camera to the system( see separate review on that) save your money the camera lacks basic settings and had horrible lag. Maybe the next generation will be better.
Overall I think it is a very good system, I like that you can add to it as needed which is all I needed. You have the option of having it monitored or not at all. I agree with others that the phone app needs a lot of changes, its way to basic and the design looks old and cheap compared to competitors. If you want a system that you don’t have to have professionally installed, sign any contracts, wait for price increases, and choose the level of service then go with Simpli Safe yes there is an upfront cost of the equipment but the monitoring fees and no contracts are where you save a lot of money over the competitors. I would recommend and have to various friends and neighbors.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
Add to your peace of mind with this SimpliSafe home security camera. It expands your existing SimpliSafe system with another viewing angle to monitor your premises, and it streams in 720p HD for clear, sharp images. This SimpliSafe home security camera has night vision capabilities for watching any time of day.
Customer Rating
2
Wait for the next Gen-not worth it.
on July 14, 2017
Posted by: informedbuyer
I have had this camera installed for about a two weeks and I am not thrilled with it. First let’s discuss the cost, the camera will set you back $99.00 you might be able to find it on sale at a big box store. Once installed EACH camera will come with a 30 day free monitoring after that it will cost $4.00 for each camera. For what you truly get its way overpriced at best it should be a $20 camera because of the lack of simple features discussed below.
Set-up- setting up this camera was very simple and took me less than 10 min. Simple.
Video- it’s the most important thing isn’t it? Video quality is good however this camera has horrible camera lag, you can walk in front of it, and watch your phone you won’t see the action, go make dinner, have a drink, have desert, see a movie, look at your phone again and maybe by now it will show you walking in front of it (ok not that long but close) the lag is not acceptable! I have high speed internet in my house ( 50mps) I thought maybe this was my wifi problem so I installed a wifi range extender in the room where my simpli cam is and the result was the lag is now down to a 14 second lag, which doesn’t sound like that much but it is still too long. A thief could be in your home and disable the system before he would ever appear on video . Simpli safe does not even contact you unless the alarm is active for 30 seconds !
Video Storage- Simpli safe stores all video in the cloud accessible via the Simpli Safe app. There is no ability to add a micro SD card and I do not know how long they save stored events on their servers. At this price point it should offer both cloud and onsite storage.
Adjustments- There are very few adjustments with this camera and all are done via the app. Basic adjustments are missing. Want to increase the sound? Can’t do it, want to zoom in? can’t do it, want to use two way talk? Can’t do it- there is no setting for this. I even contacted Simpli safe and they confirmed all of this.
Mount- this camera only has one style of mount. It has to sit on a flat surface, no way to mount it on a wall. This limits where you can place it.
Night mode- Night mode is very good, in fact mine is always in night mode (not my choice) I guess my rooms don’t have enough light. You can turn off night mode but then if you do the camera wont record anything at night. Frustrating
Night mode- Night mode is very good, in fact mine is always in night mode (not my choice) I guess my rooms don’t have enough light. You can turn off night mode but then if you do the camera wont record anything at night. Frustrating
Can I use it without Simpli Safe- No it only works with Simpli safe.
Bottom line. This camera and the app are not ready for prime time, maybe by the 2nd or 3rd generation but right now it is not worth the money. There are MANY other wireless cameras to choose from that do not suffer the same setbacks as Simpli safe. Maybe Simplisafe will realize their camera’s shortcomings and allow companies that know how to make a camera integrate with the Simpli safe system. This camera was released out of Beta way to soon.
Mobile Submission: False
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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+61points
74of 87voted this as helpful.
This Canon PIXMA MG6620 9539B002 printer features built-in wireless networking, so you can easily print photos and documents from your computer and select connected mobile devices. Copy and scanning capabilities offer efficient multifunction use.
Customer Rating
3
quality is lacking
on December 8, 2014
Posted by: informedbuyer
I have owned various printers over the years, HP, Epson, Lexmark, and Cannon. This review is not of the performance of the printer but rather the build quality. I bought this printer to replace my canon MP560 which after several years of no problems gave me a cartridge error that I could not fix. I have had three canon printers and it seems the print heads always go out.
Canon prints are usually very sharp for text and great for photos so I bought this model on sale. Even though the 560 and the 6620 use five ink tanks the printing stats (speed, nozzles, DPI, etc.) On the MP560 are superior to this printer, so are the scanning stats. To get closer to the stats of the 560 I would need to buy the next higher up printer. I decided against that since I found that I don’t print as many photos as I used to ( I also own a Selphy printer and an IP90V that I can use for photos) so the lower stats were not really a problem for me. The only stats that bothered me were the printing speeds. I also liked the idea of some of the new features such as the cloud printing and the NFS feature.
When I took the 6620 out of the box I noticed the inks are much different than the MP560, those inks were clear so you could see how much ink you had left in the cartridges. At any time you could remove the cartridge and see how close you were to having to replace, of course the software would tell me it was near time to replace and the cartridge but I usually found the cartridge was still a third full but I would need to reorder soon. I learned to never trust the ink software.
The Ink cartridges the 6620 is using are all in black colored cartridges so unless you are using the software you cannot tell how much ink is left in the cartridge. The second thing I noticed was the receptacle the power plugs into was very loose. I compared it to the model in the store and found the same problem. Then there is the area were you remove paper jams, on the series above this (720 model) has a rear door that folds down so it is easy to remove a paper jam. In this one you have to turn the machine around so the back is facing you and push the panel to one side to remove. It takes some pressure to do this and is just extra steps; I don’t know why they didn’t include the door like they have on the higher model. With the MP560 you had two paper trays, a front and a rear which was very convenient for special paper, doing cards, etc. Canon got rid of this on their printers-too bad-it was a nice feature.
In the end I decided to return this printer. The build quality just doesn’t seem to be there anymore with Canon. I have a second printer in my house, ( a 6 year old Lexmark) that I think I will use for another year or so (inks are getting tougher to find) and then look at printers again. Hopefully Canon will improve its build quality if not it will be time to try another brand
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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+7points
11of 15voted this as helpful.
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