Fortress Security Store (TM) S03 Panel Replacement

I bought this item just for piece of mind as I work nights and the wife and little one are at home. I compared this to other similar priced alarms (more well known brands) and this wins hands down. Where to start.1. I dealt with Michael via email a few times and he deserves a 5 star review as well. He is a credit to the company.2. It comes pre programmed so unless you want to change what the system does its ready to go out of the box.3. It has so many door/window sensors you have to have a massive house to need more.4. Getting 3 key fobs is a massive bonus. Its nice to be able to arm/disarm the system without having to use the keypad. A must when struggling with kids or shopping. I would try and put the keypad somewhere out of eyesight of would be intruders and this is where key fobs come in handy.5. There are so many different things you can do with the system reading the manual a few times is a must.6. Great long range capabilities. I have even alarmed the garage. Not tested how far it can actually go but long enough for my needs.7. The internal alarm is so loud that it would blow away a would be intruder.8. Panic alarm button is a great addition. Nice just to leave out of sight in the bedroom.9. The fact it calls you and up to 6 numbers is an added bonus. This is easy to set up.10. You get window and door stickers as well. Even though this is a small point it just adds to how good the overall package is and is a nice touch and people will see the stickers on the doors and windows even if they don't see you have an alarm. 11. It does so much I have bound to have missed stuff out.This is a well thought out alarm system and even though its an American company its completely compatible for the UK. Michael who seems to answer all emails is knowledgeable, friendly and answers all questions quickly. The only things that needs wiring are the out door strobe alarm and keypad but this easy.All in all this is a fantastic alarm system that fully deserves its Amazon ratings. It offers piece of mind for a great price. Don't put a few quid in the way of home and family security. You can also add fire alarms to the system.

When I opened the package I was underwhelmed by the appearance of the components, they looked very flimsy ,in fact toy like, not what I was expecting. The siren and control box are very small. The power supply for the siren and control box are derived from " u.k.square plugs" in effect 13a plug with built in transformer and a short supply lead. In my case the site for my control unit and siren were far apart and necessitated installing 2 extra 13a sockets in positions that burglars could not easily reach to unplug and immobilise the alarm system. As far installing the door contacts and PIR detectors this was straight forward and as these had already been programmed to the control unit , it didn't take long to get the system up and running. The alarm system has been functioning for about three weeks without any problems, so all things considered especially the amount of sensors supplied with the kit I suppose it is a reasonable deal. I probably wouldn't buy buy another one but I had to get a functioning alarm quickly due to a spate of burglaries in my area,so I decided to just to keep the system and install it despite my initial reservations and thoughts about returning it. Time will tell if my fears were unfounded,so jury is still out on this

This thing is not working. We've had it for about three months now. We had nothing but trouble with it. We do NOT feel protected.- First, you can't turn off the control "beep" when the motion sensors trigger. That means, even in home-mode, every time you move a muscle, the thing beeps. Loudly. We contacted the seller who told us this was a known bug and, instead of sending us a replacement, told us we'd have to send in the original, they would re-program it and eventually send it back. What are we supposed to do in the meantime? Get a dog? So we've lived without home-mode for now.- Next, the functionality that supposedly calls your phone when the alarm triggers doesn't do anything. We've checked in the FAQs and it said that it would work on a UK landline. It doesn't. Or maybe that's another "known bug".- And now half the sensors stopped working. They do not set off the alarm when triggered, but instead report to be triggered and block the alarm when you try to turn it on, leaving you sitting outside the door listening through the letter-box whether the alarm turned on correctly. We've replaced each offending sensor and are running out of spares and it still keeps happening.On top of this, the manual looks like it's been printed for a slightly different version of the system, plus the user interface works with combinations of key-codes and a two-digit display, which is NOT enough to reliably inform you of the state of the system. Turning each and every operation into a half hour frustration marathon.[update]As of now (six months in) it stopped functioning completely. It randomly beeps. It turns itself off. The sensors are basically a lottery.