SkyLink SK-200 Home Alarm and Automation Starter Kit
In
this day and age you simply cannot be to careful when it comes to
protecting yourself and your valuable property from opportunistic
thieves and professional burglars. Fortunately there are companies out
there who are trying to make securing your property easier.
While many probably think of companies such as ADT when it comes to
home security, there are companies who are trying to break away from the
more traditional contractual home security plans that have been around
forever. SkyLink happens to be one company who are trying to move the
home security segment away from monthly fees and contracts. I have been
fortunate enough to receive a SK-200 Home Automation and Alarm Starter Kit from SkyLink to review, and after a week of use I am ready to share my thoughts on the product. Has the time of DIY alarm systems arrived? Let’s find out.
The SkyLink SK-200
The SkyLink SK-200 Home Automation
and Alarm Starter Kit makes an attempt to kill two birds with one stone
in one small package. The starter kit claims to be able to add home
automation features and security features to your property, but can the
well priced SK-200 ($149) deliver everything that it promises?
Inside the small box you will find the essential foundation to start
building your own home alarm system. The SK-200 comes with the essential
internet hub that allows you to remotely control the system via your
smartphone or tablet (only iPhone
is supported presently), two windows/door sensors, one motion sensor, a
keychain remote control, and a Ethernet cable to connect the hub to
your home router.
As you can tell from the listing the starter kit is just that, and
you get just enough equipment to get the system up and running. The
whole premise of this system is that you can build the alarm up over
time. You can add various components to the system such as a solar powered outside alarm ($79), video cameras ($95 each), telephone dialers (starting at $122), garage door openers ($139), appliance control modules ($45-$50), additional window and door sensors ($28 each) and water sensors
($24) that can detect when your home is flooding, but of course all of
these come at a cost, and soon you will find that your $149 investment
could easily eclipse the $600 or more mark. The flip side of this coin
is that you will never have to pay a monthly fee to use the system. As
long as you understand that the SK-200 is simply a building block to
start a home alarm and automation system you will be okay.
I have to admit though that my initial thoughts and feelings about
the SK-200 were not that great. I did not pay for the product, but I
have to say that the included equipment left me feeling a little
underwhelmed, and I couldn't help but feel that for the price the
consumer should perhaps receive a little more in the kit such as a few
more door and windows sensors, and batteries (more on that later).
The initial set-up
Inside the box not only will you find the equipment, you will also
find the instructions. The pamphlet style instructions help you identify
the components, and they will guide you through installation. While the
instructions are not the most comprehensive, they do the job and they
help make installation a relatively pain free experience
The internet hub is a small device that is just slightly larger than a
hockey puck. On top of the hub you will find a few controls that allow
you to arm and disarm the device. Around the back of the device you will
find the connectors for the Ethernet cable and the power adapter. The
hub is small enough to be hidden out of sight, which is nice because you
can hide it from would be intruders.
The internet hub is easy to set-up. Once you have connected it to a
power supply, and have hard wired it to your router, you are instructed
to download the free SkyLink app onto your iPhone or iPad. The hub
registration is easy and straight forward, and I had the hub activated
within just a few minutes after downloading the app. From this point on,
the rest of the hub setup must be completed from a phone or tablet.
The next step is to connect the two door/window sensors to the
system, and it was during this phase that my first annoyance came to
light. Connecting the sensors to the hub is as easy as going into setup
in the app, and then selecting add device, but after trying for five
minutes to get the sensors to connect I was about to give up, but then I
realized the sensors did not have batteries in them. I know I should
have realized this sooner, but seeing as this is supposed to be a
starter kit that is ready to go out of the box, I assumed that batteries
would be included, so keep this in mind if you decide to purchase one
as you will need batteries (2 AA, and 1 AAA). After the battery debacle
was rectified the sensors connected in a matter of seconds.
After you have connected the door and windows sensors the process
must be repeated for the keychain remote, and motion sensor. This
process really was lightning fast, and within no time I was ready to
install the sensors above my doors. The sensors come with both 3M double
sided sticky pads and screws, and installing them was easy. They are
off white in color, are quite unobtrusive, and blend into door and
window frames nicely.
Overall within 20 minutes of opening the box the whole SK-200 system
was up and running in my home which I thought was quite impressive. I
imagined installing my own home security system would be a pain, but I
have been proved wrong. While installation was easy, I still was not
quite sure just how effective such a small system could be, which leads
me to testing and using the device.
The road test
Right now you are probably wondering how this little internet hub
could be considered an alarm, especially when I have already mentioned
that the outside alarm is a $79 extra. It turns out that the internet
hub has a built in alarm, but do not expect the hockey puck to be able
to sound an alarm loud enough to scare away intruders.
The SK-200 is actually very easy to use via the iPhone application.
The app is well designed and well thought out. Animated icons on the app
show which components are active, and what sensors are triggered. You
can set the app to alert you every time a door is opened, or when motion
is sensed in the room, or you can choose to only have the app alert you
when the alarm is armed. You can also make it so that the hub chimes
every time a door or windows is opened which is a nice touch, it just
becomes highly annoying in a home setting, but I imagine it could be a
feature that is welcomed inside a small business simply because it could
alert you to patrons entering and exiting the building. The sensors
that are included are very responsive, and as soon as the magnetic
connection between the sensors has been broken, the hub initiated a
response via the application.
When it comes to arming the system you can either use the iPhone or
iPad application, or you can use the keychain remote. From within the
app you can choose how much of a delay you would like there to be before
the alarm is active. If you are a fast mover, you can have the alarm
set to arm after 30 seconds, which should be plenty of time for you to
leave the building, or you can set it for a longer duration. Setting the
alarm is as easy as hitting the arm button from within the app or on
the keychain remote. The hub will beep during activation and will beep
rapidly right before actually being armed. Disarming the system is just
as easy as arming.
The SK-200 is very easy to operate, and being able to keep up to date
with everything that has occurred is easy to do thanks to the log book
that is contained within the app. The log will show you exactly what
sensor(s) have been activated and at what time, and while I do not have
video cameras, or any other sensors to try out with the starter kit, I
can see that the app is set up to display information from the add-on
units as well, so it would be very easy to see exactly what is happening
in your home. There is also an option to be able to view a live feed
from any of the video cameras that you might have attached to the
system, which is a very nice feature indeed, and one I hope I can try
out later on.
The biggest let down though is the alarm itself. If you think that
you can just purchase the SK-200 starter kit and have a system that can
protect your home, you would be wrong because honestly the alarm itself
is more of an annoyance than anything else. The alarm in the hub is
barely loud enough to scare away any little critters that might be in
your home let alone full grown intruders. The alarm is weak at best, and
honestly it was even hard to hear it from an adjacent room which was
really disappointing.
If you keep in mind that the SK-200 is merely a starter kit that is
just aimed at getting you up and running, you will likely be happy with
your initial purchase. The SK-200 is easy to use, and even though I had
zero experience in installing alarm systems, I had mine up and running
within 20 minutes, so it is also easy to install. The applications for
iPhone and iPad are easy to use, but why SkyLink have not developed an
app for Android is beyond me. I have been told that there are plans to
have a Android app available soon, but as of right now 80% of smart
phone users are excluded from being able to remotely access the alarm
from their smartphones, which I believe is a huge oversight on SkyLink's
part.
Is the SK-200 good value?
The SK-200 is certainly user friendly, and the fact that you can
build, and add-on to the system at your own pace is nice. For the
initial outlay of $149 I would have hoped that the starter kit would
have come with batteries for the sensors, I would liked to have seen at
least one more sensor included in the kit, and I would have liked the
hub to have had a louder alarm built-in so that I wouldn't feel the need
to immediately rush out and spend another $79 for the outside alarm.
If you are in the market for a ready out-of-the-box alarm system, the
SK-200 is probably not the right choice for you, but if you want to be
able to have full control over your home alarm and automation needs, and
are prepared to piece together a system over time (or all at once if
you have the money) the SK-200 is a solid choice.
The fact that the SK-200 can be more than just an alarm is an
exciting prospect, and the fact that you will never have to pay monthly
service fees is nice, and that alone will (over time) negate the initial
expense of buying additional components. If you go into this purchase
knowing that you will not come out of the other side for just $149 I
would really recommend this home automation kit, but for those of you
who want it all from one package, I recommend that you keep on looking.
Disclaimer:
This review is based off of a SK-200 starter kit that was supplied by SkyLink and GreenRoomSocial.
Show Konversi KodeHide Konversi Kode Show EmoticonHide Emoticon