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Expert Advice to Live Smart & Stay Secure
Learn how to protect your home and family with our hands-on product reviews, comparison guides and other resources.
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Read Our Hands-On Reviews
Every brand below is one our writers paid for, installed and used at home.
SimpliSafe
Easiest DIY system to live with
Review in progress
Ring Alarm
Best value if you already own Ring
Review in progress
ADT
Professional install, long contract
Review in progress
Vivint
Most capable, most expensive
Review in progress
Arlo
Sharpest battery camera video
Review in progress
Eufy
Local storage, no subscription
Review in progress
Wyze
Cheapest cameras that still work
Review in progress
Nest
Best alerts, priciest plan
Review in progress
Yale
Smart deadbolt that fits real doors
Review in progress
Schlage
Toughest keypad lock we installed
Review in progress
First Alert
Smoke and CO basics done right
Review in progress
Kidde
Cheap alarms, check the date code
Review in progress
The Latest from BeSafe
New reviews, buyers guides and home safety advice
Our Writers Test and Review the Products Themselves
Four homeowners in four climates who have installed this gear, broken some of it, and kept notes.
How We Put a Recommendation Together
No invented lab numbers. This is the actual process.
1
We buy it and install it
Our writers mount the camera, hang the lock, run the wire. On their own houses, with the stud finder and the misaligned strike plate included.
2
We live with it for months
A system reveals itself after the novelty wears off: the 3 a.m. false alert, the battery that dies in a cold snap, the update that breaks a routine.
3
We check the fine print
UL listings, contract length, what the monitoring plan really covers, and which advertised features are locked behind a subscription.
4
We say what went wrong
Every pick lists its drawbacks and who should skip it. A review with no downsides is a review nobody really did.
3 in 5
Home fire deaths happen where no smoke alarm was working
Source: NFPA
~1M
Burglaries reported in the U.S. each year
Source: FBI UCR
400+
Americans die of accidental CO poisoning annually
Source: CDC
Standards and data we check against
- NFPA National Fire Protection Association
- CPSC U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
- FBI FBI Uniform Crime Reporting
- UL UL Solutions safety standards
- CDC Centers for Disease Control
- FTC Federal Trade Commission guidance
Not sure where to start?
Most homes get the biggest gain from three things: a camera on the front door, a working smoke and CO alarm on every floor, and a lock you cannot forget to set.
See How We Test