All Your Security Needs Under One Roof

Home security systems are made up of many individual sensors—battery-powered devices ranging in size from a pack of gum to a box of large matches—and other components, such as keypads and alarm sirens.

Here, we define the parts you will usually find in basic home security systems, arranged in order of their importance to the overall system. DIY security system kits usually include a base station, keypad (or touchscreen control panel), contact sensors, motion sensors, and key fobs.

•  Base stations: Base stations act as the brain of the security system, wirelessly connecting to all the sensors and components and acting as a bridge between the individual components and the internet. These devices usually include a built-in siren and feature backup batteries and backup cellular connectivity for power and/or internet outages.
•  Contact sensors: These sensors attach to doors and windows to alert you (and/or authorities, if you have professional monitoring) when they’re opened and closed.
•  Motion sensors: Great for rooms with multiple doors or windows, these sensors detect the movement of people. Some are calibrated so that pets won’t set them off.
•  Keypads: With some systems, you’ll use a 10-digit keypad to enter access codes to arm and disarm the alarm.
•  Touchscreen control panels: Similar to a small tablet, this could take the place of a keypad. On the panel, you can arm and disarm the system, enter access codes, and control other smart home devices.
•  Key fobs and tags: Similar to the key fob for your car, these fobs have arm/disarm buttons and some contain contain RF tags, so you can tap the fob on the system’s keypad or base station to arm/disarm.
•  Range extenders: Most base stations have a range of a few hundred feet. For larger homes, some systems utilize extenders to increase the wireless range of the base station and connect to more-remote sensors. In other systems, the wireless components (as well as range extenders) act as signal repeaters that further extend the base station’s range.

Most security systems also offer a variety of add-on sensors and components—at an additional cost—for other types of monitoring, such as personal safety, fire, and carbon monoxide. Below, we define the most common add-on components you’re likely to see as you shop.

•  Security cameras: While not required, most systems work with wireless security cameras and video doorbells that allow you to see what’s going on at all times. They typically record footage when the alarm is triggered.
•  Environmental sensors and alarms: Most systems work with environmental sensors and alarms to monitor your home for fire, water leaks, extreme temperatures, and more. These devices include smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, alarm listeners that listen for the sound of those alarms, and leak and freeze sensors.
•  Sirens: Standalone sirens can be placed away from the base station. If you live in a larger home, you might consider installing multiple sirens.
•  Glass break sensors: These sensors can detect the sound if, for example, an intruder smashes a window to get inside.
•  Garage door tilt sensors: Placed on the interior side of a garage door, these sensors can tell when the door is open or closed based on their horizontal or vertical orientation.
•  Panic buttons and pendants: Physical panic buttons are a quick and easy way to alert a monitoring service that you need help. Panic pendants work the same way, except they can be worn by the user, making them useful for, say, an individual who’s at risk of falling.

DIY home security systems are a new product category for Consumer Reports, which is why we spent a lot of time fine-tuning our test methodology. We rate each system for security essentials, security add-ons, smart home add-ons, ease of use, ease of setup, motion detection, and video quality of security cameras. Our ratings also note flexibility of professional monitoring options, whether systems offer two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access, and more.

For security essentials, our test engineers evaluate each system for features and functionality that Consumer Reports believes every system should provide. That includes motion sensors, contact sensors for doors and windows, key fobs, keypads, remote sirens, and smartphone apps.

Next, our testers assess security add-ons. These are features that add extra forms of protection, such as panic buttons/pendants and security cameras that trigger the alarm with motion detection.

Since many security systems now double as smart home systems, we also examine their add-on smart home features, namely their ability to integrate compatible smoke/CO detectors, water and temperature sensors, thermostats, and lighting.

Our ease of use test looks at how easily you can interact with the systems through apps and keypads, as well as whether you can adjust the sensitivity of motion sensors. We also judge how difficult it is to set up each system.

For motion detection, our test engineers challenged the sensors with various forms of movement, such as crawling or walking slowly past them. Finally, for systems with add-on security cameras, we evaluate the video quality using the same tests developed for our home security camera ratings.

Our test engineers take the results from these individual tests and use them to calculate an Overall Score for every system that enters our labs.