Gabe Turner: Hey, folks.
This is Gabe at Security Baron and today we're comparing three of the heaviest hitters in
the home security game -- Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe.
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Gabe: In today's comparison of Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe, I'm going to go over some
of their key similarities and differences, the components that come with each system,
the installation process, the professional monitoring options, the customer support,
before finally diving into their respective mobile applications, so you have all the information
you need to make the right decision.
If you would like to see a list of our favorite security systems, google "Security Baron best
home security systems."
If you have a question about today's comparison, leave us a comment, and I'll get back to you.
Let's kick off today's comparison of Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe, by going over some key
similarities and differences beginning with the similarities.
Now right off the bat, you should know you're going to be doing these installations yourself.
They're all DIY experiences with Nest Secure, Ring, and SimpliSafe.
On top of that each of these offers monthly contracting.
There's no need to sign your life away for three years or two years or anything of that
nature.
You can just go in, sign up for professional monitoring and any of the services, and know
that you can cancel at any time.
When it comes to key differences between Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe, pricing is definitely
one of them, both on the equipment and professional monitoring side of things.
If you go with the Ring Alarm system is going to be $199.
The Nest Secure system is $399.
The more simple version of the SimpliSafe system in terms of number of components is
$229.
When you look at the professional monitoring element with the Nest Secure, you're going
to be secured by Brinks Professional Monitoring which is $29 a month.
The Ring system has the Ring Alarm professional monitoring, and that's going to be $10 a month.
The interactive plan with SimpliSafe is $24.99 a month.
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Gabe: Now that we've gone over some key similarities and differences between Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe,
let's talk about their components.
Each of these systems is highly customizable.
You can get as many devices as you need to help build out your home security apparatus.
However, for today's comparison, we're just going to be talking about the components that
you receive in the most basic of home security kits with each one of these systems.
Beginning with the Ring Alarm home security system, I got the Ring Alarm Secure Kit which
comes with comes with a base station, a keypad, a contact sensor, a motion sensor, and a range
extender.
You get all of that for $199.
For Nest, I purchased the Nest Secure Alarm System, which comes with a base station, which
they call the Nest Guard, two motion slash contact sensors, which they refer to as detect
sensors, and two key fobs, which they call Nest Tags.
You get all of that for $399.
Finally, with SimpliSafe, you can get the foundations pack, which comes with a base
station, a keypad, an entry sensor, and a motion sensor.
That's going to run you $229 retail.
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Gabe: Whoa, hold on.
I hope you're enjoying today's comparison of Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe.
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Let's get back to the video.
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Gabe: Now that we have all our components for our Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe home security
systems, let's talk about the installation experience now.
Each one of these systems is DIY.
I just want to walk you through my personal experience setting each of them up.
Beginning with the Ring Alarm home security system, it's generally a straightforward setup.
You're going to begin with your base station.
You're going to plug in your Ethernet cable.
You're going to plug in your power adapter.
From there, you're going to have to sink each component with the Ring.
It doesn't really come preprogrammed.
I will admit that I got a little ahead of myself and tried to do too much at once, and
it definitely set me back in terms of the setup experience.
In order to not follow in my footsteps, just follow the Ring Video tutorials exactly as
they are.
That's just going to be your best bet for setting it up.
There are a few other elements in the setup I do want to point out and note particularly.
One element is that while most of the system is peel and stick, if you want to set your
keypad up on a wall, that element you're going to have to use the mounting hardware to put
it up on the wall.
Of course, you don't have to put a keypad on the wall.
You can keep it on a flat surface as well.
The other element is in when you're setting up your contact sensor, so be it your door
or window, you're trying to make sure you know when those are being opened, you actually
put the larger part of the contact sensor on the door and the smaller part on the actual
frame.
Overall, if you follow the instructions, it shouldn't take you longer than 20 minutes
to have your Ring Alarm Security System up and running.
Installing you Nest Secure Alarm System is also straightforward.
You're going to take out the Nest Guard, which they call their bases station, and note that
that there's just one cord.
The power adapter to plug in.
There's no Ethernet adapter.
You're going to do all of it through your WiFi and mobile device.
Once you've added the Nest Guard, using your QR code and your Nest app, you're going to
go ahead and add your two Detect sensors.
That's also easy in terms of scanning the QR codes.
Then you're just going to go ahead and place them where you'd like to be in your home or
apartment.
Maybe it's a window.
Maybe it's a door.
Making sure that one element goes in the static frame and the other one goes on the part that
moves.
When it comes to your key fobs, you're just going to scan the QR codes.
They will immediately adhere to your Nest Guard.
Overall, the installation and physical installation experience for your Nest Secure home security
system can be done in less than 10 minutes.
Finally, let's talk about installing your SimpliSafe home security system.
This is where they pride themselves.
They always say no drills, no tools, no special knowledge required.
It's true.
It's a very easy process.
All the pieces come pre-programmed.
All you have to do is take out your base station, plug it in, give it a couple minutes.
From there, you're going to take out each component.
Note that they're all peel and stick.
They come with adhesive.
It makes it easy for you to attach it to whatever door, window, or wall that you'd like to see
it.
That goes for the motion sensor, the contact sensor, and the keypad.
All you need to do is pull the tab so that it is activated and synced with your SimpliSafe
station.
Put it up where you'd like to see it and, voila, you're done.
You can't ask more than the SimpliSafe installation experience.
You have everything set up in less than 10 minutes.
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Gabe: Now that we have our systems installed, let's talk about the professional monitoring
options you get with your Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe.
Before we jump into that, we want to make sure that it's clear how important it is to
have their 24/7 pair of eyes and ears helping you protect your home.
You want to get that professional monitoring just so that you can have the authorities
dispatched to your home in the case that you need it which, hopefully, of course, you do
not.
When it comes to professional monitoring, we like to see that coupled with cellular
backup.
You do not want to be dependent on your WiFi or your Ethernet adapter.
You want to make sure that all important message can get out just through the cellular backup.
Beginning with the Ring Alarm home security system, it has the most affordable professional
monitoring that we've seen basically, period.
It's $10 a month for the Ring Protect Plus plan that gets you 24/7 professional monitoring
and cellular backup.
If you're thinking about moving, you don't have to worry about anything.
You just update your address in your Ring account.
Because it's a do-it-yourself installation system, you can take it all down and set it
up in your new home.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
When it comes to contracts, you don't have to worry about signing anything with too much
commitment because it's just a month-to-month contract with the Ring Alarm home security
system.
Moving on to the Nest Secure home security system, they outsource their professional
monitoring to Brinks.
Brinks gets you that 24/7 professional monitoring with cellular backup at $29 a month.
If you're thinking of moving, they make it easy on you.
Remember it is a DIY system.
You're just going to take it apart, update Brinks on your situation, and then reinstall
your Nest Secure system in your new home.
From there, if you're worried about the contracts, themselves, you don't need to be.
It's month-to-month.
You can cancel at any point.
You don't have to worry about signing on with too much commitment.
Finally, with SimpliSafe, we have two professional monitoring options.
You have the standard plan at $14.99 a month and the interactive plan at $ 24.99 a month.
The standard plan gets you 24/7 professional monitoring, environmental monitoring, and
cellular backup.
Honestly, I had to suggest you go with that interactive plan at $24.99 because that's
where you get the value of having a smartphone.
Only with your interactive plan will you get the notifications to your phone that something
is taking place.
They build it to arm and disarm your system from anywhere and, honestly, a host of other
features that we've come to expect from the professional monitoring experience.
If you're thinking about moving, you don't have to worry too much because it's easy with
the DIY element of the SimpliSafe home security system.
You simply take your device, let SimpliSafe know where you've gone, set it up in your
new home, and you're ready to go.
If you're worried about contracts, there's no commitment involved.
You can cancel it at any time with SimpliSafe.
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Gabe: We've covered professional monitoring.
Let's talk about customer service when it comes to these home security systems.
With your Ring home security system, there are a number of options for getting customer
support help.
You can, of course, go and watch those video tutorials that are helpful in times of installing
and other elements of using your Ring Alarm system.
You also have FAQs to help answer those questions you may have along with the Ring community.
The Ring community is essentially a forum of sorts, where you can go to see if your
questions that you have, have been answered or by other Ring consumers.
On top of that, you have the ability to give them a call.
Phone support is available for Ring, and you can even live chat.
I'll be honest, I am a big fan of live chat.
One thing to note is that we've found to have a little bit of an inconsistent experience
with the Ring.
We had a couple of phone calls.
It depends on the knowledge and experience of the customer support representative that
you get on the phone with, the extent to which they're going to answer your question quickly,
and comprehensively.
When it comes to Ring, we like the number of options available.
We wish you a little bit more of a consistent customer support experience.
Shifting to Nest, they have a very similar set of options when it comes to customer support.
You have the ability to go on to read their FAQ, so you have those answers to the questions
you may have.
They have an online Help Center.
They even have a Nest community which serves as a forum of storage where the answers are
given not only by Nest employees, but other Nest consumers.
You can also give them a call.
If you want to be on the phone with a Nest employee, you can do that.
Or you can do what I like to do, which is live chat.
I will say that our actual experience with Nest is limited.
We didn't ask them too many questions, but generally speaking, we had a positive experience.
I wouldn't say anything went above and beyond necessarily, but we definitely got the answers
that we needed from Nest and their customer support team.
Finally, let's talk about the customer support options with SimpliSafe.
SimpliSafe gives you a lot of options.
You got online Help Center, you can email them, you can give them a call.
However, we did find the answers to be a little bit inadequate.
We wanted a more robust comprehensive answer to the questions that we were having.
However, we do think that SimpliSafe does make up for an ascent with the nice robust
online community that they've created.
Not only will you get answers from SimpliSafe employees on very specific questions related
to your home security system and how it functions, but also the other people in the SimpliSafe
community are really on top of their game.
Those are our thoughts on the customer support team and SimpliSafe.
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Gabe: Now let's talk about the mobile app experience with Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe
home security systems, beginning with Ring.
Ring has the Ring-Always Home app.
That's your mobile application for disarming and arming your system, live streaming your
footage, and just adding new components to your home security system.
Ring score is at 3.2 in the Apple App Store and at 2.8 in the Google Play Store.
Really middling to mediocre scores.
I do want to point out that the Ring app is for every single Ring device.
From doorbell to home security system, to each one of the cameras that they have.
I personally have not had as negative experience, as seems to be reflected in the app's ratings.
I find it easy and straightforward to arm and disarm the system, to add new elements,
and to livestream my footage among other things.
My experience was positive with the Ring Alarm mobile application.
Shifting into the Nest mobile application, Nest has a pretty average rating.
It has a 3.2 in both the Apple App and Google Play Store.
Once again, I do want to point out that Nest has a number of products across the board.
Doorbells, cameras, even locks.
That's something to keep in mind when looking at those ratings.
I personally had a pretty positive experience with Nest.
Not only is it easy to set up on your phone, but it's also easy to know when things have
been triggered, when motion has been detected.
Things of that nature right there in the mobile application.
You get those notifications no matter where you are in the world.
I can always arm and disarm my system without any issues.
Even add new components in terms of a new contact sensor or motion sensor, or anything
I can imagine.
I personally had a pretty positive experience with Nest Secure and the Nest mobile application.
Finally, let's talk about this SimpliSafe mobile application experience which is honestly
quite impressive.
It's reflected in its ratings.
It has a 4.6 in the Google Play Store and a 4.8 in the Apple App Store.
People seem to really be enjoying it.
Honestly, it does mean that they've made meaningful changes to the mobile application.
When the SimpliSafe app first came out, it didn't fare so well in the app stores.
Over time, they made a lot of really strong changes to make the entire experience of arming
and disarming your system, receiving notifications and adding components, that much more intuitive
and clean.
Overall, I really enjoyed the mobile application experience with my SimpliSafe home security
system.
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Gabe: We've come a long way today in our comparison of the Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe home security
systems.
It has been a lot of information.
Let me provide you with a quick recap.
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Gabe: When it comes to Ring, we have to talk about simple affordability.
It has the least expensive system of the three that we've used today at just $199.
On top of that, you get 24/7 professional monitoring, and cellular backup with the Ring
Protect Plus Plan, and it just costs $10 which is the most affordable professional monitoring
plan we've ever seen.
Moving into the Nest Secure home security system, it's just bringing a lot with a little.
It's a sleek, minimal, aesthetically pleasing home security system that's easy to set up.
It does have fewer devices without compromising when it comes to functionality and protecting
your home.
You get your Nest Guard base station, which serves not only as a base station, but also
a keypad and a motion detector.
Your Nest attack sensor which serve as not only contact sensors for a door or window,
but also motion detectors.
You're really getting a lot out of this sleek minimal system with Nest Secure.
Finally, with SimpliSafe, they really do come through on that promise of a simple install.
Plug in your base station, take the different components, peel and stick and you're ready
to go right at the box.
Fortunately, it is complemented by an equally intuitive and pleasant mobile app experience
in terms of arming and disarming your system, receiving notifications.
It's all easy with your SimpliSafe home security system.
Now that we've compared the Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe home security system, you can see
that they are all bringing something a little bit different to the table.
Ultimately, they're all bringing a lot to the table.
You just need to understand what it is that you and your family need.
That concludes our comparison of Ring, Nest, and SimpliSafe home security systems.
If you appreciate today's video, give us a like and hit that subscribe button.
As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron, be secure.