Fortress Security Store (TM) S03-B Wireless Home Security Alarm System DIY Kit with Auto Dial + Outdoor Siren

I wanted to purchase a home alarm system without the costly monthly monitoring charges. Comparing this with others, most notably SimpliSafe, I found that the price points and third party reviews of the Fortress system tipped the balance in their favor.At that point, I had to make the decision as to whether to buy the GSM or S02 system. I spoke at length with Ben of Fortress Security, and he was very honest with me (which solidified my decision to go with Fortress). Since the GSM system requires a full-size SIM card for its secondary cellular calling feature to function, I opted for the simpler and less expensive S02 system. I was delighted to find out that Fortress would also customize my system with the components I wanted. As a result, I was able to order additional motion sensors in lieu of the full allotment of door and window sensors that would normally have been included.The Fortress system appears to be manufactured by a Chinese company. If one searches Amazon, one will find that other sellers are marketing what is essentially the same system under a different name. However, even though they may be a tad more expensive, I would very strongly urge people to buy the system from Fortress. I say that for several reasons. Fortress is a US-based company, the manual coming with the system has been written in comprehensible English, the components are pre-programmed, and the Fortress support personnel are very accessible by phone and quite helpful. You should assume that you will require some support due to the complexities involved. What's more, when I determined after-the-fact that I would not be using one of the components I ordered (the glass break sensor), the Fortress staff graciously allowed me to exchange it for another component and made the swap very easy. Bravo!I use an Ooma phone system and had issues at first trying to reconcile the internal telephone pick-up component of the Fortress system with the voice mail function of Ooma. I ultimately determined that they are not reconcilable -- you will NOT be able to get both to pick up at exactly the same time. I ultimately resolved the issue by upgrading to Ooma Premier, thereby getting a second phone line and a free OomaLinx device in the process. I dedicated my second line (as well as the fax component of my printer) to the Linx device and told Ooma to switch off its voice mail service for that second line. Using a basic telephone line splitter, I also plugged the telephone line from the base unit of the Fortress system into the Linx device. To arm or disarm the system remotely by phone, I now need only to dial that second line and I don't have to worry about getting the voice mail on my main home line. It works very well.Since installing, I have run a number of tests and the system seems to be working well. You can program the system to dial up to six telephone numbers in the event of a system alarm. Based on my tests, it does so very quickly and efficiently. The only slight downside is that the internal recorder is not very good, so the recorded message that is played on those alert calls should be a bit louder and more intelligible. But overall, I am very pleased with the system, not to mention the service I have received from Fortress.

Lots of annoyed by things such as not being able to set up the alarm at night before going to bed without a loud beep going off... the same to disable the alarm when I leave the house... really loud beep which wakes up everyone around the house. Also the buttons in the main unit don’t really work properly ... need to press them several times and really hard. My advice is for you not to waste your money and spend a bit more on a proper system...

Not a great purchase.The keypad stops working after a while meaning I have to reset the whole device to get it to respond.It has also rstarted beeping randomly for no reason sometimes through the night and I dont even have the motion sensors installed.

Battery life on the sensors isn't great.. tried several different brands.. the battery drains in less than six months on window sensors that are rarely opened. Plus you cant tweak the reporting interval on the motion sensors.. if the battery life wasnt an issue I'd give it five stars.. as it is. I feel like I'm changing batteries on sensors all the time. Its not worth the hassle.. would not buy again.

I recently purchased this alarm direct from Fortress Alarm. It was very easy to set up. I must say you need to watch all the videos atfortresssecuritystore.com. This will educate you right from opening the box. I would say after watching videos and reading the book it was set up in less than 2 hours. Very good quality. Very good customer service, I did call out to the State of Washington twice and my call was handled with care and concern. My question was fully answered. I would not hesitate to recommend this to my friends.BEST OF ALL NO MONTHLY FEES AT ALL. I RESEARCHED 10 ALARMS AND THIS WAS THE BEST.

It is fairly easy to fit but the instructions could be clearer and more up to date. It doesn't help that customer support is based in USA so you have to allow for the 8 hour difference and be patient when waiting for reply to an emailed enquiry But the system works very well

You get alot of sensors additional items with this package. The YALE version has less PIRs and far less door contacts. As a positive the YALE is easier to setup, but hey this takes time to fine tune, but once set its good.Most houses have 2 doors, a garage (main and side door) , maybe a shed. So there is a need for 5 sensors, with this you get 10. At the moment I have 2 PIRs, now wondering where to mount the 3rd, but it is a great package to have that flexibility.Tried 3 key fobs today, nice to dis arm and hear the beeps before you even open the door, in foul weather and things to bring in, who would want to go into the house dis arm and then go back to the car.All in all im very pleased and have to accept the user interface is very basic, but hey it works.

I purchased this product not expecting much but with the recent break-in i figured why not when i received the product the mounting screws where missing i contacted customer service and had them in my mailbox 2 days later this system is amazing for the price. I had a question and made a phone call to customer service and I was up and running in 10 minutes the technical support I got from Mike at Fortress was OUTSTANDING. If you buy this system and run into an issue don't hesitate to call them the PIR Detector ( Motion Detector ) has an amazing range and cover my large Living room with no problem the sensors for the doors and windows works very well with a little modification to mounting them with Velcro instead of the things they send out with it amazing range and cover my large Living room with no problem the sensors for the doors and windows works very well with a little modification to mounting them with Velcro instead of the things they send out with it

J'ai commandé un S02 et re!u un S03 à la place.J'ai installé le S03 mais j'aimerai recevoir les capteurs qui manque Il manque des capteurs, comment fait-on ?Gros problème avec ce produit et aucune réaction du vendeur (Amazon, comment fait-on ???)Maintenant l'alimentation de la sirène est tombée en panne, j'ai remplacé l'adapteur de 800ma par un 1000ma.Très déçu par le produit et surtout par le suivi de cette commande