Boundary Smart Alarm Review – DIY Surveillance Smart Home Security Competes with SimpliSafe

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Boundary is a new UK-based company specializing in DIY Z-Wave powered smart home security systems.The system is designed to be an alternative to big names such as Simple and safe, which offers a similar set of features, including 24/7 monitoring and police response (if you choose the maximum monthly plan). Both brands aim to disrupt professionally installed alarm brands like ADT and Ajax.

Specifications and Sensor Options

At the heart of the system is the Alert Center, which is also your keyboard.The hub and all accessories communicate using Z-Wave, similar to security team system.

As a smart home security system, you have a variety of third-party integrations, including:

• Alex
• Google Assistant
• smart objects
• IFTTT

The various components you can get individually or as part of a bundle include:

• Door and window contact sensors – £30
• PIR Motion Sensor – £30.00
• Keychains (pack of 2) – £20.00
• Outdoor Siren – £90.00
• Stand – £20.00

It’s a fairly limited set of hardware, but it’s the basic bits and sensors you’d expect on a normal home alarm.

Competing brands have some or all of the following:

• glass break sensor
• Wireless indoor and outdoor cameras
• Temperature sensor (Boundary motion and contact sensor built-in temperature)
• water sensor
• emergency button
• Smoke Detectors
• CO2/CO Detector

None of the above are essential, but they are perks, and this is a Z-Wave system that should be easy to include.

plan

Similar to other systems, Boundary has a free Lite plan. It’s more useful than some options. You have up to two sensors, two users, key fob management, partial arming, and application arm/disarm. This should work for small apartments.

Most people will want the Smart plan, which costs £9.99 for an unlimited number of sensors, plus:

• event reminder
• Location reminder
• night reminder
• Amazon Alexa and Google Home
• IFTTT
• night reminder
• automatic key holder call
• Extended 3 Year Warranty
• Priority technical support

Then there is the Pro which requires professional installation and costs £25. This is more expensive than the others, but includes:

• Home simulation
• Annual maintenance visit for engineers
• 24/7 professional monitoring
• Level 1 immediate police response to request
• Replacing batteries in sensors and outdoor sirens

Annual maintenance and battery replacement are attractive to me, which other brands don’t.

Set up and pair sensors

In theory, setting up a border alert system is easy. Download the app, register, log into your WiFi, pair the system, and pair the sensor.

Everything went fine until the sensor was paired. The QR code that needs to be scanned is inside the sensor, the back plate is not easy to fall off, and it is also worth remembering to replace the battery. After a few minutes, I discovered the motion sensor and it slipped off easily. The contact sensor is much stiffer and I had to take a knife to push the latch down and slide it off.

Then the QR code itself is a 40-digit QR code, and the size of the QR code is very small because it is printed on the sensor itself. For a single motion sensor, it took me about 5 minutes before the Pixel 6 scanned it. For the touch sensor, I can’t scan it. Entering a 40-digit code is faster. Not ideal if you have a large system.

Pairing sensors from multiple brands can be annoying, but this is definitely one of the most frustrating I’ve ever used.

Once done, everything else worked flawlessly.

in use and phone apps

Once set up, the system worked fine and I had no issues at all. Since I work from home, I never really bother with the alarm system, and I never remember arming them when I check them out. Boundary has a useful geofencing feature that notifies you to arm the system when you leave your home. Notifications won’t come through anytime soon. When I go out for a walk, usually at least 5 minutes after leaving the house, that’s fine for me, the important thing is that it’s already reliable.

You can arm the old-fashioned way with a PIN on the keypad, but I mostly use the mobile app, which gives you the option to fully arm or put it in night mode.

In the night setting, only a few sensors are armed, so for me, that would be the downstairs sensor.

When arming and triggering the sensor, you get the usual countdown and enough time to disarm the system.

If you don’t dismiss it, the siren will go off, your phone will get a push notification, and you’ll get a call. The phone is an automatic system that notifies you to check the application.

If you have a fully monitored system, the hub will notify the Alert Reception Center (ARC). ARC will then attempt to contact the primary contact, and if the contact is not answered, the police will be alerted and the designated key holder will be contacted.

IFTTT automation

Boundary provides a set of useful pre-made applets for its system that work with Philips Hue, Google Sheets, SmartThings, Sonos, and Spotify.

Most of my lights are Philips Hue, so I set up the system with this and it worked great. If you don’t have an IFTTT pro account, there may be a little delay, but I’ve found it works well.

I have system:

• Turn off lights when armed
• Flash Hue lights up red if an alarm is triggered
• Turn on your Philips Hue lights if the alarm goes off at night

event reminder

An additional feature in the system is setting active alerts. These are rule-based alerts that allow you to see when sensors are triggered or inactive. So you can know if or when people enter or leave your house.

Price and Alternatives

The Boundary Alarm bundle I received was a medium bundle with an RRP of £419, but at the time of writing there is a massive 40% discount, bringing it down to £251.40

Even without the discount, you can sign up for the newsletter to get 25% off, which is £314.25.

As there are more than 2 sensors, the system requires a £9.99 PCM subscription fee.

Boundary also has bundles on Amazon.

Alternative options include:

ring

bell alert A medium pack (2 actions + 2 contacts, no outdoor siren) is currently £240 (normally £270) or a large pack with 4 contacts and 3 action sensors is £290. Then you need the £70 outdoor siren. There’s also the Ring Alarm 8-Pack (Gen 2) with Ring Alarm Outdoor Siren for £290.

Ring then costs £8 a month, but that also includes any cameras and doorbells you might have. Having all the cameras and sirens in one system is the main reason to choose the out-of-bounds loop.

The main downside of Ring is that it lacks a proper monitoring service, and you only have the option of automatically dialing emergency contacts.

Simple and safe

SimpliSafe is available in four options on Amazon, a 7-piece system starting at £170 (£309 RRP), then increasing to 13 pieces for £277 (£504 RRP). 13 Piece Kit Includes Keypad, SimpliCam, 3 Entry Sensors, 2 Motion Sensors, Glass Break Sensor, 105db Wireless Siren, Panic Button and 2 Remote Keys.

Simplisafe has two contract options Pro and Pro Premium. Pro costs 43p/day (about £13) and Pro Premium costs 73p/day, so around £22. Both plans have 24/7 real-time alarm monitoring, but you’ll need the premium plan: police dispatch, camera recording, video verification, and mobile app for remote arming and alerting.

It’s especially annoying to isolate remote Arm & Alerts from the most expensive plans.

While the SimpliSafe Pro Premium plan is cheaper than Boundary, they don’t have annual maintenance, which I would personally add a lot of value to.

Yale

Sale

Yale IA-320 Sync Smart Home Alarm, White

• High security for your home: use smart alarms…
• Simple wireless setup: this alarm and accessories…
• Expansion Accessories: Featuring a range of…
• Subscription Free App Control: No monthly…

Yale Sync Smart Home Alarm There are a variety of packages, the 9-piece set is currently £300, with regular deals. The system does not require any subscription service at all. You can get phone alerts and arm/disarm remotely. However, because there is no subscription, there is no professional monitoring service either.

security team

Security smart home alarms are less well known, but the main selling point here is that everything is preset for you. When paired with a boundary sensor, that’s a major selling point. They also have a variety of smart home sensors, making it more than just a smart alarm.

These packages don’t come cheap, though.This Defender package from £249 and has only one contact sensor, one motion and siren and key tag

SafelyTeam offers three service plans: £5pcm, £10pcm and £19. The highest plan includes 24/7 monitoring.

comprehensive

I think border smart home alarm systems are a good fit for the growing number of smart alarm systems on the market. Upfront pricing is very attractive (at current discounts), and the £9.99 monthly PCM fee sits right in between the unmonitored Ring and the more advanced Simplifsafe system.

It’s more attractive than the likes of ADT, which will set you back around £40 for PCM and have a high upfront cost for professional installation.

My main complaint is how difficult it is to pair the sensors. Frustratingly, anyone who finds the technology difficult should consider this in their buying decision.

I haven’t used the system long enough to test the battery, but Boundary says it should be an annual maintenance. Like all other wireless smart home systems, it can be annoying if you have a large system. The touch sensor access to the battery in particular is annoying and I’ll almost certainly end up ignoring those. But to be clear, this problem is not unique to Boundary. My smart radiator valve is also giving me a headache.

Other than that, it’s an excellent system. The overall hardware and application look and feel more professional than Safely’s, and it’s easy to use and reliable. I found the geofencing push notifications for remote arming to be particularly useful, while competitor Simpisafe limits remote arming to their £22 a month package.

Last updated on March 4, 2022 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API