Re: Thoughts on Elk M1?

On Oct 31, 9:45*am, "Eric B." <ebe...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been reading back through the archives of this group trying to see what
> people think of the Elk M1 as a security system, but I seem to see very
> little discussion about the Elk line of products. *There seems to be a lot
> of talk regarding Ademco, Napco, DSC, etc, but very little about the M1.
>
> Is that because the M1 is not considered as much of ahomesecurity product
> as it ishomeautomation, or are there other reasons behind it? *Does it
> work well as ahomesecurity product? *Does it provide for cellular/IP
> monitoring?
>
> Thanks for the info!
>
> Eric
>
> ** Posted fromhttp://www.teranews.com**

Hi Eric,
You obviously have looked into this a little and I do believe you
will be happiest with the ELK, I do have a few words of advice for
you.
I have installed and maintained home, commercial and industrial alarm
systems for over 12 yrs and now work for a home automation company
that also installs Crestron products. I have pesonaly worked with
literally dozens of different alarm panels over the years including
the ELK M1 Gold.
It depends on what level of security you want. If you want the system
to call you with alarms and events and/or do you want to pay for
Monthly Monitoring?
The M1 Gold will do both.
I checked out "ahomesecurity" and it looks the rest of the online
budget monitoring centers out there. They probably don't have a
problem signing up a system you installed, just remember to do your
homework. Does the municipality you live in require a permit? any
licensing and certification? check what the false alarm fee is for
burglary and fire. If a volunteer fire dept shows up you are looking
at $200-300 dispatching fees!
From my experience most people want to make the decision to send the
fire trucks or the police after they discern the situation for
themselves, and if you always have your cellphone on you.... having
the built in voice dialer of the M1 call you; may be all the
monitoring you need. If you want a discount on your homeowners
insurance; then you need to contract with a UL Listed Central Station
Monitoring Facility similar to ahomesecurity, ADT, Emergency24,....etc
The issues of IP monitoring and central station compatibilty are
diverse. Check with ahomesecurity to see which protocols they will
accept (currently the industry hasn't standardized). You may be better
off purchasing a universal dial capture module from a DSC, Ademco,
Bosch.... to intercept the M1's digital dialer and send it over IP to
their reciever.
With any system you install make sure you read the manual cover to
cover and install the system to the manufacturer's recommendations,
the answers to all your questions are in there you just have to do the
hardwork. ELK does have a very helpful technical support staff.
If this all seems a little daunting you may want to find a
professional installer for the alarm portion and tackle the automation
yourself.
The reason you see so much about DSC, Ademco and Napco....ect. is
that they are purpose built alarm systems. They don't have the built
in "true automation" features of the Elk M1 Gold, built in voice
dialer or software compatibility to link to your PC or Smart Phone.
HAI and ELK are the only mainstream manufacturers that have
integrated home security and automation into one piece of equipment.
Sure you can install an automation module to any alarm panel but you
will need to integrate it into a home automation system to do more
than just turn on a few X-10 lights.

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:8db165a8-4a3b-4eeb-b7d7-(E-Mail Removed)...

> If you want a discount on your homeowners
> insurance; then you need to contract with a UL Listed Central Station
> Monitoring Facility

Actually most insurances and AHJs are recognizing the FACT that UL is just a
BUSINESS that writes its own standards and verifies for a fee that things
perform as claimed. That being said they are recognizing that there are
other listing BUSINESSES like FM that are perfectly satisfactory to perform
this function. UL is has no monopoly on standards or certifications and has
no special power or authority governmental or otherwise.

On Nov 2, 2:40�pm, "Bob La Londe" <nos...@nospam.no> wrote:
> <karljacobo...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:8db165a8-4a3b-4eeb-b7d7-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > If you want a discount on your homeowners
> > insurance; then you need to contract with a UL Listed Central Station
> > Monitoring Facility
>
> Actually most insurances and AHJs are recognizing the FACT that UL is just a
> BUSINESS that writes its own standards and verifies for a fee that things
> perform as claimed. �That being said they are recognizing that there are
> other listing BUSINESSES like FM that are perfectly satisfactory to perform
> this function. �UL is has no monopoly on standards or certifications and has
> no special power or authority governmental or otherwise.

I hear echos of some kind of "re-organization" that is/has taking
place within UL. Don't know for sure what "caused" it, but it doesn't
surprise me. They've had a long .... long ride based on a myth.I
think it's like labor unions. They once had a use, now they don't.
There's too many other ways to do the same thing .... only cheaper.