Customer Reviews

Ma80 Motion Activated Alarm with Auto Dialer for Standard Phone Lines

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

does what it says, and it's easy to use and install.
the options are nice, such as "silent alarm" mode, which dials numbers, but doesn't sound the audible alarm. comes with the cable and splitter you'll need, which is also great. not sure how fast it will chew batteries, but the unit was inexpensive. i can buy rechargeables.

weakness: the six second message is too short to describe an address and situation without speaking chipmunk speed, and it's very low-res and muffled sounding, (worse on my low voice, i think)--much worse than a bad answering machine. the clarity and brevity might limit its use to phone the police, but if you are being notified by cell phone, for instance, (then YOU can phone the cops), it's just fine.

i like it very much, and feel better using it.

Not bad for the price and it is pretty loud but there are some cons about it..
1. 6 second message is too short and you have to speed up your recording
2. When batteries are low it will go off and call the numbers programmed in unit. Sometimes you can't even turn alarm off due to low battery.
3. This should come with an ac/adapter power rather than just batteries.

I was away one night and the alarm was set off. When I got home, not only were the Police at my house but this was triggered by low batteries rather than an actual intruder. This is why I think ac/adapter is best and have the battery as a backup.

Exactly as advertised! I had to fiddle with mine a bit as the batteries did not seem to be making proper contact, however, once I resolved that little issue, it works great. All I wanted it to do was let me know if anyone went into my office at home. It senses movement and calls my cellphone to let me know there has been an intrusion. I then have the choice of calling a neighbor and asking him to check things out or call the police myself. I would only use it in the house. It would likely sense any little movement outside and drive you nuts. You can have it dial up to three number with your pre-recorded announcement but I felt that calling my cellphone was enough as it is always with me. If you are expecting a $500 alarm system, forget it. If you are expecting an inexpensive product that actually works, it is certainly worth the few dollars you pay for it. I will be ordering more for the house...remember, you must have a house phone link in order for it to call you, and, it needs to be near the location you wish to place it in, otherwise you will have to run phone cord extensions all over the house.

Streetwise Auto Dialer MA-80 Home Motion Alarm
the alarm works great, but takes a few seconds to trigger & dial your set phone number (cell phone). i find that the 6 seconds recording time is too short, so you have to speak fast and loud. another drawback might be the sound level of the recording is very low (after trying several distances and voice levels from the unit - with no change in the results)
i used "robbery at .... my address & zip code call police now"
i also rewired the battery case to use a power supply unit instead of the battery.
i hope this helps

Bought 2 of these! Use them at our vacation home. If someone breaks in, it calls me and I can look at the video cameras to see if I need to call the police. Simple to use and set up. Can't say enough good things about it.

Unit work great, dials like it's supposed to, and programming is easy. The only problem I had was that the battery contact springs are weak, a few time the unit powered off and had to be reprogrammed. I ended up prying the battery springs up a bit to make them longer, and have not had a problem with battery contact since.

Worth the money considering it calls up to three numbers when the alarm sounds...

For the price you get a lot -- a sensitive motion detector AND an autodialer with a recorded message. The unit is easy to set up and install. I use it to protect an unattended room full of video surveillance equipment. Just be sure the motion detector can't "see" movement outside through a window.

I have installed this baby in a vacation home and we will find out in a year if it works. Comments have been made about the difficulty of removing the back and inserting the batteries - I call this a valuable feature. If a thief is trying to stop the alarm they will not be able to remove the batteries easily - it will take them some time (alternative is smash it with a sledgehammer but then where's the sledge?). Also I was successful in disquising this as a book sitting in a bookshelf. A test person failed to find it despite being in clear view. I found it easy to program but once triggered, does the alarm keep going until the batteries run out?. I would have preferred a slightly bigger case allowing for the use of bigger batteries. Check back next year to see if I have more to say.

I have had the unit set up in my parents empty house (both now deceased) since Aug 2010. One "false" call - could have been a mouse. One call when Mom's caregiver re-entered the house unauthorized after Mom went into a nursing home. And then, yesterday. Sunday morning at 11:15 (broad daylight) it called me. I called the police as I was about 20 minutes away. When I arrived the police were doing a sweep inside the house (they found an opened back door). The intruder had entered a breakfast nook that had a locked door between it and the main house. "He" broke glass in that door, reached in and unlocked it. When he went into the center hall area - where the unit was - it activated and called me. Then the alarm went off which must have scared "Him" away. Nothing missing - just a broken glass window to replace. The unit did what I wanted it to do!!.
A wireless unit with detectors in each room might have saved me replacing the glass.....but at 10X the cost, a lot more units to possibly malfunction, more false alarms if everything isn't deactivated when I am there, etc.
I am buying two more units - one for the second floor (as a back up) and one for the basement. The only problem I have discovered is the necessity of having proximity to a telephone line - I might chose a different placement if a phone line was available there. Yeh, the recording is muffled and short. But, all I really need is to see on my cell phone where the call is coming from and I can immediately tell what the call is about when I hear the bad recording ----- then, I call the police. I am glad I bought it and glad it worked as advertised.

There is one important fact you should know about how this alarm exactly works before buying it.
After the alarm sensor detects motion, it takes 10 seconds before it starts dialing your number. THEN, and this is the most important part: 20 (TWENTY) SECONDS AFTER the first number has been dialed the alarm siren will start giving sound!!! Which actually gives the potential intruder whole 30 seconds of time to disable/trash the alarm before it will give off any sound at all! And you can't change this, the alarm will always dial the number first and start the siren second. Apart from that, it's a nice device.