Scantronic Upgrade Quote-Taking the Mickey?

[Harden Long]

Hello

Recently moved house in which there is a scantronic 9100 which seems to have been poorly maintained

So I contacted alarm company who installed it and they have delivered a quote to upgrade etc which to my mind seems excessive


They have suggested a few extra bits and bobs-PIR's in 2 rooms, 3 or 4 vibration window sensors as well as 2 new remote keypads at front and back doors (the existing keypad and unit is under the stairs) and a new Gardtec 595 control panel.


The quote is coming in at £857 (not incl Vat)

On top of that is a £180 annual maintenance and monitoring fee and 40 quid police charges


My guesstimate had been nearer the 450 mark which is why I think this seems excessive-I'm happy to be corrected !

Should I ask other alarm companies to quote me? Is it an easy enough task for engineers/companies to upgrade a scantronic sytem even if they don't normally use them?

 

[breezer]

re police charge, ask the police, and make cheque to them yourself

ask the company to quote again, but with out vibration sensor on the windows. (its a whole topic on its own)

if they are making your alarm to the latest "european regs" you do have to have 1 keypad by the means of normal entry (if you have more thats up to you) and you should have more detection devices

get more quotes from other alarm companies

 

[lvsystems]

I would get some other quotes if I was you. Presumably they are offering you a digi com connection to your local monitoring station hence the fee to the police for the URN (Unique Reference Number). Also ask them what else they offer instead of Gardtec they are cheap and not so cheerful. The quote itself does seem reasonable ish. Depending on the scope of works and cabling required to add additional devices.

Also as Breezer said I wouldn't suggest the use of vipers (vibration detectors) they are prone to false alarm and if you are connected to the police you could very quickly have your response level downgraded or lose it all together. One option other than connection to a monitoring station is to have a speech dialler installed this uses a standard telephone line and you can programme up to 4 tel no's for it to dial should the alamr go off.

 

[breezer]

they may also say that you must have vibration sensors to make your system "confirmed" that way its harder to lose police responce, but all vibration sensors on the perimter are more susteptable to false alarms, and you dont have to have vibraion sensors for a confirmed system

 

[lvsystems]

Correct. Whats your take on Gardtec Breezer ?

 

[breezer]

guess

 

[lvsystems]

Have you installed many of them ?

 

[Harden Long]

Thanks everyone-it is all a bit confusing and I now know I need to get more quotes

I don't suppose anyone knows a good reliable alarm company in Glasgow?


Are the smaller independent firms in general terms better than the biggies ?

 

[lvsystems]

That really depends on the firm. If you are going to have a connection to a monitoring station then go with a NACOSS Gold company. They are regualry audited and as such more reliable generally.

 

[Harden Long]

Thanks-I ask all these impossible to answer questions but I appreciate your patience

Is monitoring "worthwhile" (I know it depends on peace of mind etc but am interested in general feedback) Tell me to get lost if I am being a total divvvy !

 

[lvsystems]

IMO it depend s on where you live ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) are doing everytyhing in there power to get out of attending domestifc alarm calls. They keep moving the goal posts and if you have more than 2 or 3 false alarms in a rolling 12 month period varies on area then they will withdraw response completely. This is why I tend to elan towards an auto dialler no subscription charge. uses a standard phone line and will call the people you want it to. Who can then investigate. If the police are necessary they are more likely to respond to a burglary in progress call than the call form the monitroning station. E.g. if you are there then it's def not a false alarm. However, if you have no immediate friends/realtives in the area then the monitoring station may be slightly better. I truly believe ACPO are making it very difficult for a standard system in a house to have full police repsonse but that's just my opinion based on the new legislation that is continuously bought in.

 

[Harden Long]

Thanks IV for explaining that to me

Again, I know this question is a bit like saying "what is better-a bmw or a merc", but in general terms do there tend to be better respected makes of control panels-I see the Gardtec is not especially well thought of here and wondered if you could give me some names that I can talk over with my alarm company (ies)

cheers

david

 

[lvsystems]

It's actually LV Not wanting to be pedantic.A BMW cos I have one LOL.

This is probably going to start a riot but I really like Galaxy systems. Breezer hates them with a passion. Texecom are also good I believe but no direct experience with them. Some of the new scantronic and meniver stuff is quite good but it s really down to doing some research and finding a system within budget and suitable for your needs. At least if you discuss this with the alarm companies they should be able to give you some info on the different optinos which you can then post back and we shall advise ,should you wish to that is.

 

[Harden Long]

Excellent advice LV and many thanks-I shall be pursuing things next week and will no doubt be back asking more groan inducing questions!

cheers-have a great weekend

david

 

[Steve]

I thought breezer owns a galaxy panel? Or was it securespark?