Gabe Turner: Hey, folks.
This is Gabe at Security Baron, and today we're comparing two newcomers to the home
security game -- abode and Scout Alarm.
Let's dive in.
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Gabe: In today's comparison of abode and Scout Alarm, I'm going to go over the key similarities,
key differences, installation process, professional monitoring, customer support and mobile application,
so you have what you need to get it going.
Let's get ready to rumble.
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If you have a question about today's comparison, leave us a comment and I'll get back to you.
Let's begin today's comparison of abode and Scout Alarm going over some of the key similarities.
Now, they both have flexible contracting line for both annual and monthly contracts.
They both allow you to self-monitor or spend money on professional monitoring.
They do do-it-yourself installation that allows you to also do tons of your own smart home
automation.
Lots of integrations with both abode and Scout Alarm.
Now that we've gone over some of the key similarities between abode and Scout Alarm, let's go over
some of those key differences.
With abode, you cannot call customer support unless you have a paid option.
Whereas with Scout, anyone can call for customer support, so that definitely is a significant
difference between the two.
The other one is that a Scout allows you to send in your system within 60 days and they'll
even pay the shipping cost.
If you decide you're not really feeling Scout, you can just send it back.
Whereas with abode, you're going to have to pay the shipping cost plus a 20 percent restocking
fee.
The first element we're going to check out in our comparison of abode and Scout Alarm
is the installation process.
I just want to point out that each of these systems is really, really incredibly customizable
and there are a host of components you can get for each one, but we're going to focus
today on those core components and setting those up.
With abode, here's going to want to follow the instructions and it's pretty straightforward.
You take out your hub, you make sure you have that mobile app downloaded and your username
and account created and you're ready to go.
You'll take each component separately and attach it to the hub and your mobile application.
You take your door sensor, your motion detector, your key fob and your indoor security camera,
and make sure they're all functioning properly.
With Scout Alarms, I want to be especially specific about making sure you follow the
proper outline for how to set it up.
If you actually takeout some batteries beforehand, it can really delay your progress which is
something that we've seen with the Scout Alarm system.
You're going to want to make sure you go sequentially with each element as you are basically walk-through
in the mobile application.
That's what's great about abode and Scout.
They basically walk you through setting up those systems.
Because of the similarities between setting up its system, and I do not think I can really
distinguish between the time it took me to do on abode and a Scout set up, we're going
to actually call this a draw when it comes to the installation process for abode and
Scout Alarm.
Hold on, quick break.
I was wondering how much to return policies factor into your purchasing decisions for
a home security system.
If you note, abode and Scout have very different return policies and I was wondering if that
affects your decision-making process.
Leave us a comment below.
I'd appreciate to hear your thoughts.
All right, let's get back to the video.
Now that we discussed the installation process, the next element of comparison for abode and
Scout Alarm will be the professional monitoring services.
Both of these systems allow you to self-monitor or do professional monitoring.
We are big fans of professional monitoring, and even bigger fans possibly of cellular
backup.
With any paid professional monitoring plan for Scout and abode, you actually get that
cellular backup which is really important.
Let's start with the abode system and what it offers.
Abode gives you that self-monitoring option that we discussed, but it also gives you on-demand
professional monitoring which is actually pretty cool.
For example, if you just want to go away for three days, you pay eight dollars and you
get three days of professional monitoring.
If it's a week, you pay $15.
There are other plans available.
You can do a $10 a month Connect plan or a $30 a month Secure plan.
That Secure plan gives you premium customer support and also gives you 90 days of timeline
storage along with of course that cellular backup and things like that.
The abode plan does bode well for abode.
Scout Alarm goes about his professional monitoring package in different way than abode is actually
pretty interesting.
They have something that's in between professional monitoring and just purely self-monitoring.
They have something called, "Always On" packages $9.99 and then they will actually get in touch
with a friend or neighbor without actually calling out to the police or fire dispatch
regarding your particular system and that's interesting.
Separately, if you just want to do the cellular add-on, that's $15.99 a month and this is
something you can do without actually going the full way to the "Always On+" package.
The Always On+ is professional monitoring with cellular backup included.
Those are the options with the Scout Alarm home security system.
The next thing we're going to discuss when going over the professional monitoring services
of abode and Scout Alarm are the contracts.
You can sign yearly contracts with both companies and get some savings from that.
What's great is that if you decide during that period to cancel, you'll be refunded
your money on the right basis of whatever it should have been if you were on a monthly
contract.
That's the next thing.
If you do a monthly contract with abode or Scout Alarm, you're easy to just up and cancel.
Know that if you decide to cancel, Scout Alarm will even prorate you your refund for that
month which is something which is pretty great.
The final thing to compare between the two are moving policies and there's not much to
compare here because they're both really easy, the do-it-yourself systems, so you just pick
up your system move into your new home, make sure you change your settings and you're ready
to go.
When it comes to who we give the nod to between abode and Scout Alarm for professional monitoring
services, we're actually going to go with Scout Alarm here.
They give you that prorate refund of whatever you don't use if you decide to cancel and
on top of that, they're just significantly cheaper in the long run than the abode.
You're going to save about a $120 for full professional monitoring, and sell the backup
over the course of one year with Scout Alarm.
The next element of comparison between abode and Scout Alarm is that customer support,
and let's begin here talking about abode.
Abode actually does not give everyone the ability to just call into the support line.
You will have to call in or rather email in and ask for a call back if you do the basic
free program.
If we decide to go one of the paid programs, you'll be tiered in terms of how quickly you
can get to an associate.
If you pay for the Connect plan, you'll get through to someone.
That's what we were able to do is get through to someone when we were still on the Connect
plan.
If you go with the Secure plan, you'll be placed at the top tier and you should be able
to get through to a customer service representative faster.
We just really weren't huge fans of that.
We didn't think that's the way that things should go.
Anyone should be able to call in and get support when they need it.
With Scout Alarm, anyone can call in at any point and you'll be sure to get someone on
the phone and potentially with Scout Alarm.
Those are the first two things that we wanted to note between abode and Scout Alarm.
As I'm probably made clear in each of their respective reviews, I wasn't a huge fan of
neither abode or Scout Alarm's customer support personally.
What do I do?
I turned to Amazon and see what people are saying and those reviews.
Abode has a 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon and people seem to generally enjoy the experiences
they have with the abode system.
The abode system, of course, require you to pay for that top tier customer support but
people that got it seemed to like it.
With the Scout Alarm system, it only has a 3.5 out of 5 stars in Amazon, which isn't
bad, but it's also not great and the reviews that mention customer support we're very mixed.
We saw some people had fantastic, wonderful, great customer support experiences, and other
people are like, "No, not good, bad terrible."
We really had a mixed bag in terms of reviews for the Scout Alarm home security system.
When it comes to choosing a winner for customer support, I'm going to go ahead and go with
abode because of their superior Amazon rating and the fact that those people talk about
it and the Amazon reviews seem to enjoy it more so than those in the Scout Alarm home
security system.
The last element we're going to take a look at today between abode and Scout Alarm is
the mobile application.
Mobile application is where you live stream your footage, checkout what you put in the
cloud and just generally arm and disarm your system.
You want this to function well.
Let's start with the abode app.
It is here that you will set up your home automation, so you do these cool smart home
integration and where you'll disarm and arm your system along with just live stream re-footage.
People seem to enjoy the experience in the abode mobile app.
You get a 4.2 in the Google Play Store and the 3.1 in the Apple App Store.
The Scout app on the other hand has a 3.6 in the Google Play Store and a 3.3 in the
Apple App Store.
The issue that we see is a lot of people said a recent update caused the app to crash every
time that they opened it and that's something you don't want when using a home security
system.
You want to know which one did I choose because ultimately the average app to a very similar
number but we're actually going to give the edge to the abode home security app because
of the people's actual reviews of the app itself were much more positive.
Let's do a recap of what we covered in today's comparison of the abode and Scout Alarm home
security systems.
Installation, we actually call it a draw between abode and Scout Alarm.
Just make sure you follow these instructions correctly.
Professional monitoring, here we keep doing the Scout Alarm security system because over
the course of the year they're going to be about a $120 cheaper than abode and that comes
with that full professional monitoring and cellular backup.
Customer support, this was a tough one.
We actually give the nod to abode but just barely.
They have a premium support line that does like to get in touch with them directly and
seems to be more useful for consumers than that one of Scout Alarm.
Mobile application, we give this slight nod here to abode.
Abode and Scout have similar numbers when you average them out but people's experiences
with abode seem to be more positive recently.
If you've been paying attention, you know that abode slightly edges Scout Alarm in our
head-to-head today.
With abode, you'll note that you get a better customer support team as long as you pay for
it and you get a better mobile application.
While with Scout, you're going to get a significantly cheaper professional monitoring system over
the course of a year.
Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either system if you're looking for an affordable
home security system.
That concludes today's comparison of the abode and Scout Alarm home security systems.
If you appreciate today's video, give us a like and hit that subscribe button.
As always, I'm Gabe at Security Baron.
Be secure.
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