Smart Home Pick

Door And Window Alarm With Chime, 5 Pack Wireless

Five two part sensors that stick either side of a door or window frame and sound a 120 decibel alarm the moment the gap between them opens, which is loud enough to carry through a whole apartment. A set button arms and disarms the unit and drops the volume to 90 decibels when a full alarm is more than the situation needs. There is no wiring and no drilling: they run on 2 AAA batteries each, not included, and go up in a minute wherever you need them. A built in LED flashes red when the alarm triggers and again when the battery is running down, so a dead sensor does not sit there looking armed. Five of them covers the front door, a patio slider and the windows a renter cannot otherwise secure. They also work on a cabinet or a basement door where the point is knowing a child opened it.

What you're getting

• Two part sensor that sounds when the gap between the halves opens
• 120 decibel alarm, with a set button that drops it to 90 decibels
• No wiring and no drilling, running on 2 AAA batteries each, not included
• LED flashes red when the alarm triggers and when the battery is low
• Five in the pack, enough for a front door, a slider and the windows

Why we picked it

Renting means living with whatever lock came with the building, and there is usually nothing you are allowed to change. These do not improve the lock, they just make sure nobody opens it quietly, which for most apartments is the part that was actually missing. The low battery flash is the detail worth having, because the failure mode of a cheap sensor is looking armed while being dead.