Well, I think it might be, is it? … Yes! Its wireless home security alarm system review time! We know, we know, you have missed us. It’s natural for you to feel sad as we are of course simply the best alarm review site on the net! So what is in Santa’s alarm (Too early for Santa jokes?) grotto today then children? Well it’s only a bleeding GE 45142 Choice Alert alarm review! Not a mouthful either, that name simply rolls off the tongue. Snappy!
We began testing this alarm early September then completely forgot to complete our tests, unprofessional we know but we were busy planning and designing this website so we can be excused.
GE 45142 Choice Alert Alarm Review
Anyway, down to business as usual, what does this alarm do? What can it do? Well lets take little sneak peak at the unbiased (yeah right) manufacturers description shall we? Yes, I think we shall.
Apparently the GE 45142 offers absolutely all you need in a wireless alarm control centre. God knows what that means. Bashing on, it does have a good amount of zones, four separate ones to be precise and that adds value to the sensors it has too. 16 to be preciser (is that even a word?!).
It all adds up to being a wireless alarm system that allows you the lucky user the ability to customise the alarm to quite a few specific situations. This is rather pleasing as throughout or testing when we review alarms, one thing always becomes apparent when we do these, everyone’s requirements for an alarm system is different so we welcome the fact it lets users have some flexibility.
During the GE 45142 Choice Alert alarm review we found that the keypad that comes with this alarm is pretty cool in our humble opinion; it’s a 5 button device and fits in the hand rather nicely. It has quite a quick pairing setup meaning that if you want to connect this with a wireless system or another alarm based accessory you can and with ease. Thankfully there is no need to get the tools out to pair this up to other devices, always a good thing as we are rather lazy here at Cool Home Security.
Okay that’s the basics out the way, now on to the meat of the device, the alarm itself. And the meat of the device is a good term to use as this alarm certainly belts out quite a noise. In fact I was a little scared that it may break a window due to how high pitched it was. In our opinion we can always replace a window no problem, just as long as the burglar or thief gets a heart attack from the siren we will be happy!
But is this Wireless Home Security Alarm System Loud?
It’s actually hitting around the 130 decibel level even though the manufacturers states that it’s a lowly 120. We tested this a few times under a few different recording devices and it was consistently over or around 130 decibels. Definitely enough to wake you and the neighbours in case of any home based emergency or break in’s.
The Choice Alert wireless home security alarm system is of course one part of the alert endless line of products. We are a little sceptical on the business model of this, we have always been a fan of getting more than what we pay for and to find out that this was only a section of a complete package certainly left a bad taste in our mouths.
Sadly though this is just a small facet of business and we can see this bite size business model everywhere we look not just the wireless alarm industry.
To the manufacturers credit, the alarm is pretty easy to get up and running. No sweat was visible in the set up to this alarm device and no stress was felt. Nothing worst than getting a nice brand new alarm only to find you require a degree in electronics to read the user manual. We always take a point or two off for lazy user manuals, gladly though this alarms manual was easy to understand and thankfully was in plain English thank god!
Other advantages to this alarm kit are that it’s a one off purchase, no need for monthly or bi monthly fees. This can be a sign of a bad alarm but in these times we know how important money can be to consumers with regards to home security and no one in their sane mind wants to pay a monthly fee for an alarm. In fact we at Cool Home Security predict that more and more companies will be getting rid of the monthly fee model as they will soon realise that there are many perfectly capable alarms available to home owners at the fraction of the cost and with no subscription payment to boot!
At the end of the day (wait we are an alarm review site, not footballers!) we think this alarm is pretty good. It’s nothing amazing by any means but it certainly can do a lot of things other alarms can not.
It wont win any awards at the annual alarm Oscars (we made that up) but it can keep your house safe and that at the end of the day (not again!) is all that matters.
We spent more than 3 hours debating what score to give this alarm as we were weighing up its pros and its cons against some of the alarm reviews on our site already as well as comparing it to the other wireless alarm systems out there for this price point.
And with the wild debate now over we are pleased to say that the GE 45142 Choice Alert alarm review gets a very respectable 7 out of 10. Not bad at all we think. You can do a lot better than it, but you certainly can do a hell of a lot worse. The GE Choice is a safe choice for those wishing to keep their belongings safe and secure this winter.