Skylink SC-1000 Complete Wireless Alarm System
by Skylink
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List Price: Our Price: $134.99 You Save: $41.13 (23%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Skylink SC-1000 Complete Wireless Alarm System
Customer Review: SC-1000 combined with SC-10
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading the reviews of this product, I decided to purchase this with the SC-10. As one reviewer had described you get an extra key transmitter, window/door sensor, external alarm, and at a cost savings. So for just over $200 I combined both products. I also added some additional items, i.e. the water sensors, extra motion detectors. Installation was fairly straightforward. I did have to call support because the antenna on the external alarm unit needed a small trimming to fit inside the unit. Customer service was excellent, they called me back timely, twice. The unit has worked extremely well, and has been tested a couple times.
I really like the dialer features, up to 9 calls, and no monitoring fees. I did as other suggested and hid my dialer, placed it in silent operation so you can't hear the dialer/message being delivered. I put the external alarm from the SC-10 on the outside, so I have alarm inside/out, at the same time. I added additional items, easy enough to do.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a simple to install system, with ability to avoid monitoring fees.
My only complaints. The key transmitters look somewhat cheap, bulky, plastic, and not very well labeled. As someone suggested, I used perm markers to color code the keys. The door/window sensors also have a bulky component that gets mounted right up alongside or on your door. I placed mine at the very tops of the door so they are somewhat out of site. They are larger than most sensors you find in wireless systems.
For the money spent you can't beat this system, and with the capability of easily adding on to the system, it makes for an excellent home alarm system. If you're in the market for a security system for yourself, click the order button now.
Customer Review: Decent Product, Customer Service lacking
Summary: 2 Stars
I had my SC-100 for about 6 months when the speaker stopped working, the solder joint on the back of the speaker came off. It's made in China, so I wasn't too surprised, but getting it fixed was a hassle. Customer support offers very little assistance even though it was still under warranty. At this point it's easier for me to buy a new speaker and fix it then to send it in a be without a system for who knows how long. Just something to be aware of if you do have a problem.Customer Review: Has potential to be excellent, not there yet.
Summary: 3 Stars
I installed the SC-1000 kit, 1 extra motion sensor (PS-434A), 1 additional alarm (AA-433), 5 extra door/window sensors (WT-433).
First off, do not order this product online. It is critical you purchase the SC-1000 kit at a store you know has a generous no question return/exchange policy for some specified time. I Bought the SC-1000, followed instructions perfectly and found defects. Due to a generous return policy where I bought the item I was able to work through all problems as they showed up until I eventually had a working system. The process took nearly 4 weeks.
The SC-1000 kit had a noticeably defective motion sensor. It would trigger on zones it was not programmed to. Free replacement.
A few days later the extra one I bought at the same time as the kit would not trigger the alarm about 1/3 of the time during testing. The red eye would go off but nothing would happen. Free replacement.
Immediately after installation, the Dialer would sometimes not dial out during testing using the silent alarm function. The dialer would receive the signal because the clock time would blank out as it should prior to dialing the number but it would time out and default back to wait mode (clock) without dialing. The dialer seemed to get the signal and was trying to switch to dial mode but it just wouldn't complete the process. Fiddling with the antenna would sometimes fix the problem but other times you could have the Dialer within arms reach of the SC-100 control Panel and it just would do as described before. After 3 weeks of this testing, adjusting, moving, it became apparent either the SC-100 Control Panel, Dialer or both were defective.
During this same time one of the replacement motion sensors started acting up. This time the sensor always worked when it was triggered but sometimes you could nearly walk right up to the sensor before it would do so. So I took all 3 components (Control panel, dialer, replacement motion sensor# back for free replacement.
Right off the replacement SC-100 Control Panel was blatantly defective, the key pad light did not work and when using it the sounds made were real strange and garbled. Took it immediately back for free replacement the same day.
Of note about this final replacement is the SC-100 Control Panel has different color wires on the speaker (white/black vs red/black) as well as these wires being obviously glued to the front housing. I am not sure but if I remember correctly the other 2 SC-100 had the speaker hard wired to the circuit board. This one is connected with a 2 prong connector instead. Both housings, front and back, seem to be of a higher quality than the other 2. The wiring doesn't look as sloppy either. Enough of a difference that the wife even made an unsolicited comment backing up my own observations. The entire assembly looks to be made better. The antenna was not connected and fell off when the housing was opened but this is the same setup the additional alarm has. I don't know if this was intentional or not. The other 2 control panels didn't do this.
Now the system is up and running nearly perfectly. The dialer still has failed 2 times to dial out so far but it seems to be working much more reliably so far. Both motion sensors work outstandingly now. There have been 0 problems with the door/window sensors.
There are other design issues I have noticed. The key chain remote is very functional and works excellent. It would be nice to have some sort of confirmation that the alarm is activated or not though. A car alarm is of similar cost to this system but uses a LCD remote that shows if the alarm is on or not as well as many other functions. If this system had similar features I would glady pay more for it and raise my review rating.
The AA-433 Additional Alarm can not be turned off from the SC-100 Control Panel. Only the key chain transmitter or external keypad can do so. If the external keypad can operate the additional alarm so should the SC-100 Control Panel. The AA-433 Additional Alarm does not ignore the silent alarm signal from the SC-100 Control Panel so this renders this function of the SC-100 useless. Even though the AA-433 is rated at 120db and the SC-100 is 110db, it sounds weaker than the SC-100 because it does not use an alternating Hi/Low sound wave like the SC-100. The AA-433 sounds more like a standard fire alarm where the SC-100 gives you that panic feeling and makes you want to run.
A great thing about the door/window sensors is the size of the contact magnets. They are large which allows you to install them on your door trim without having to chisel into them. The size gives you up to a 3/8" gap and they still function perfectly. Some of my trim is angled so this allowed installation without damage to the trim should I decide to remove the sensor. Just a couple small screw holes to putty should I decide to do so.
If the design issues are addressed and quality control were to improve I would give the system a 5. As it stands I can only give it a 3. If you have access to this system locally I would recommend buying it because you will eventually overcome the defects by replacement. If ordering offline you would go broke in postage returning the defective components. You would be better off buying a rehab ADT alarm or paying a local company for one to be installed.
Customer Review: almost perfect! ....so far :)
Summary: 4 Stars
got my system up and running pretty much...the only thing i wish it had was the ability to phone in from a remote location and check the status of the alarm..arm/disarm it....apparently Skylink's other system the AM-100 has a dialer which has this feature...but the tech support told me they work on different frequencies so that dialer would not work with the SC-1000 and it's sensors...if anyone knows how to accomplish this, please comment and let us know!
the price is great of course...easily expandable...there seems to be a little confusion about the external audio alarms (A-433)...apparently there are 2 different units out there---an A-433 and an A-433D which perform slightly different...i have the A-433D which came with the SC-10 I purchased to supplement the SC-1000 as others recommended....it seems to work well in tandem with the SC-1000, but others seemed to have some issues with the non-"D" version of the A-433 audio alarm...
Customer service has been quite good actually in responding to questions....email them any questions you have...they responded in under 24 hours each time I did!
also, many thanks to everybody who has left all the detailed instructions and comments here in the reviews--they are invaluable! :)
Customer Review: this system is not properly tested by the manufacturer
Summary: 3 Stars
SC-1000 works OK in default configuration, but once you start tinkering with Advanced Programming or adding new elements to the system pretty soon you'll get across of all kind of problems (read my other reviews on this subject). If you've purchased this system keep it "as is" or you become unpaid volunteer-product tester for Skylink, Inc.