And the mighty return!  Yes your favourite alarm review site is back with yet another spectacular wireless home security alarm system review and today we are going to sit by the fire with some milk and cookies to give you the Visonic Powermax Alarm Review.

If you have never heard of the Visonic Powermax then why not?  In our last post we were complaining about how dull and dry the names these alarm companies are calling their products and along comes Visonic with “The Powermax!”.  We were genuinely considering giving it 10 out of 10 simply because it had a cool name.  Alas our professionalism conquered that thought so if you are considering purchasing this home security device, read on.

In our short time reviewing alarms we have unfortunately come across one or two rather unsavoury points of view regarding wireless alarm systems and their ability to actually … erm … work.  Well we have to just say that this is not true.  Well it’s not true when considering the Visonic Powermax as this is one of the most assuring home alarm systems in quite some time.

With its “code secure” technology ensuring that external scanners don’t pick up any of the signals, this is no ordinary “do it yourself” alarm.  In actual fact it genuinely isn’t.  As apparently it comes under the BS6799 Class 5 standards, but that’s enough tech talk for one day!

Where were we?  Oh that’s right; we were doing our eagerly anticipated Visonic Powermax alarm review!  The alarm itself will set you back around £199 but if you shop around you may get a better price but don’t count on it.

What Do You Get With This Wireless Home Security Alarm System?

What do you get for your hard earned money?  Well you get the control panel obviously, a key or fob if you will which you can remotely access the alarm system and you will also get 2 door sensors.  It has to be said however, there has been reports that this system only comes with 1 sensor, either we were lucky or this was simply an error on Visonics part we don’t know.

So once we opened up the box and got rid of the packaging we did what we always do and tried to set up the system using solely the manufacturer’s user manual for the alarm kit.  One thing that Visonic has got correct is the fact that they know their target audience, they got their branding spot on and the set up is tailored to those with no home security experience what so ever.

That gives Visonic mega brownie points in the eye of Cool Home Security as we always feel that there are far too many companies these days creating their manuals as if the only people that will use their alarms are individuals with a brain the size of a small planet.

We will never understand why they do this; it’s as if wireless security setup is an exclusive club with only tech geeks and brain boxes with an invite.  Don’t get us wrong, you won’t find bigger tech geeks than us at Cool Home Security but when you consider that these devices will be used by people from all different aspects of life, young and old you begin to realise the importance of a user manual “for dummies” when setting up alarms.

Aesthetically the alarm ticks all the right boxes.  It has a very nice design that can be said is quite original when comparing it to other wireless security systems out there.  It’s not a futuristic design by any means but it certainly looks quite stylish and would find a home in any fashion conscious alarm lovers (Do they even exist?).

How Durable Is The Visonic Powermax Wireless Home Security Device?

We found that the installation went pretty straight forward; we managed to hang it up on the wall without any issues to said alarm or wall.  Once we installed the anti tamper features it comes with we then proceeded with giving it a good thumping.

We like to call it our “Durability test”.  If you are a regular reader of our alarm reviews you will already know what the test involves.  For those new to the site we simply take a hammer and try and smash the alarm off the wall.

Why do we do this?  Simple, it’s because we are clinically insane.

Not really, we do it because if you are in the unfortunate situation where a burglar has entered your house and your alarm goes off; the thief will 99 times out of 100 take one of two different choices.  He/she (equal rights and all) with either run out of your house as fast as they can or they will try to bash the alarm in the desperate hopes that the siren will fall silent.

The sad fact is that sometimes the burglar is successful when they try this, and that is why it is important to test the durability of the alarm once it is secure in your houses.  What use would our wireless alarm reviews be if we praised an alarm system only to find that our mailbox was overflowing with angry folk complaining about the fact their alarms got smashed off the wall and they were on the receiving end of a nasty break and entering episode.

No one wants that to happen hence we will continue to smash alarms with a hammer.  In addition to this it’s a rather fun thing to do too.  It can be a bit of a pain to tidy the remains of the alarm up but every silver lining has a cloud.

Long story short, the Visonic Powermax passed the durability test and although the alarm did come off the wall eventually, it took a while to get the alarm to stop.  This ensures us that whoever tries to break in to a house with this system set up they will be in for a hard time.

We would like to end this review by saying that the Visonic is a great piece of hardware, it does have some minor issue with regards to the manual but the diagrams are probably enough to allow even the most non-technological individual set the device up.

We can confidently say that this wireless home security system will keep you and your family safe.  It looks good, it’s secure, it’s a bit pricey but it’s still a very robust piece of home security.  The Visonic Powermax alarm review gets a score of 7 out of 10.

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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.

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