After learning that standard smoke alarms don't perform well at waking kids, we began experimenting... Kids didn't move at all with our old "standard" smoke alarm. Very surprised, I bought one of these voice type to try. First off, the beeping sound is quite a bit different from our old alarms, and the added voice is a nice feature. After trying the old alarm again with no movement, we then tried the new alarm. They didn't wake up right away, but after about 10 seconds, they started to move around and open their eyes. We bought five more to add around the house. You can't put a price on safety... If you haven't tried waking your children with your existing alarms, you should. You might be very surprised at what you see (or don't see).
I've had two of these detectors working well for 6 years and one finally hit end-of-life and required me to replace it. I purchased two of the same SKU, but they don't say "OneLink" on the face of the unit. When trying to interconnect the two units as I had before, I've had no luck. At step 4 of the instructions, the 1st unit (already set up) doesn't cause the green light to go out on the first unit as described. It simply goes into test mode with no effect on the 2nd unit. The 2nd unit can be setup and works on its own. I have two apparently functioning CO and Smoke detectors working but with no communication between them, which is why I purchased them. I have the two units inches apart, so distance isn't the problem. I've tried linking in the opposite direction with no difference in behavior. I don't know if I have defective units or not. And if only one is defective, I can't tell which one. I contacted BRKElectronics (which makes the device now) and they verified that at least one of the devices is defective and are sending me two replacements. I'll update this once I've received the replacements. Two replacement units arrived in a few days and work perfectly. I'm updating my rating because of the excellent customer service.
I am a volunteer firefighter and I highly recommend these detectors. They interact with each other wirelessly so if one alerts they all begin to sound and tell you which room has an alarm. I currently have four installed on three floors of my house with one being a smoke/carbon monoxide combo. When installing you easily select the name of the room it is going into from the pre-programmed list. If one of the detector activates they all verbally tells you which room it is. They also tells you which room has a low battery. I did have to replace the CO detector after about five years but that is normal for CO detectors as they expire.
Once set up, these are great because of the wireless feature....you WILL hear these detectors everywhere you've put them (I have FOUR), so your response time won't depend on distance nor soundness of sleep. The instructions for 'linking' them are correct, but read and re-read carefully, since it is easy to make a mistake, and you start over (not a big deal, once you learn it, takes less than a minute). I've had 2 smoke only detectors that don't 'speak' for a couple years, and I easily get a year out of the batteries. I expect these CO & smoke units to be as good. We'll see. With some testing, they really do work well, and with four interconnected....there WILL be a LOT of noise in your house...which is what you want. Great way to update the safety of an older house, with no wiring required.
This is a nice product, but it does not last its 7 year warranty. Ours started the "5 beeps," which signals its death, just 6 years after purchase. It would be nice if it lasted 7 years from the date received, but it died 7 years from its manufacturers date which was 07/2009. We purchased this in 21010, almost one year after manufactured date.
Feature Product
- Wireless enabled battery operated combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarm
- Interconnects with other First Alert enabled alarms to create a wireless safety network
- Exclusive voice alarm with up to eleven programmable locations to tell you where potential danger exists
- Photoelectric smoke sensing technology and Electrochemical carbon monoxide sensor
- Includes Test/Silence Button - Low Battery Warning - End of Life Timer and 7-year limited warranty
Description
The First Alert SCO501CN-3ST Combination Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Voice Location detects both smoke and carbon monoxide in a single device. The alarm interconnects with up to 18 other First Alert enabled alarms in your home to create a wireless safety network. The photoelectric smoke sensor is designed to reduce false alarms from cooking smoke or shower steam while remaining sensitive to real danger. The advanced electrochemical CO sensor detects carbon monoxide leaks from multiple sources, including faulty fuel-burning appliances. A loud 85-decibel siren and a voice alarm with 11 programmable locations indicate where and what the threat is.
Needed new smoke detectors. Smoke detectors only las for so long. Usually 5 to 10 years depending on the smoke detector. My old detectors kept beeping even after changing the battery. I look at the date that I had written on the detector as to when they needed to be replaced, and I was 3 months past that.
I was interested in this detector because it will not only "link" to each other, but it can be programmed to announce where the fire is located, ie, basement, bedroom, living room, den, etc. Very cool. My detectors are quite a distance apart so if one were to go off and they aren't linked I may not hear it. Not a problem any more. Never used First Alert before so we'll see.
Update: A little cooking accident caused a lot of smoke (no fire). The nearest alarm went off properly, and all of the linked alarms went off as well. Silencing the alarm required holding down the silence button for five seconds or so, which silenced all of the linked alarms.
This review is based ONLY on the installation and setup.
I just installed 7 units. The installation is very easy...took me about 60 seconds per unit to install the mounting rings.. You'll need a Phillips head screwdriver and a drill with a 3/16 bit for the mounting holes. I'm pretty handy with tools, but there was nothing involved in this that a novice should have difficulty with.
Follow the instructions for where they should be mounted. There is a "dead zone" where walls and ceilings meet. Smoke detectors are ineffective in that zone. The previous owner of my home mounted all of the old detectors right in the dead zone. Oops.
The programming is easy IF you read the directions and follow them exactly. Women should do fine; men will probably have to try programming a couple times before they figure out which simple step they overlooked. (I got it on the second attempt.) If you are overdue for new bifocals like I am, you might need a magnifying glass.
The programming took less than a minute per unit when I did it correctly.
Use hearing protection while you are programming and and testing. Seriously. All of the units will be going off at the same time on the table in front of you. At 85 decibels each, it is extremely loud,
My total project time for installing all 7 was about 45 minutes hour from opening the box to putting up my tools.
My units are spread out over three levels of the house (one in the basement, two on the first floor, one in an upstairs hallway, and one in each of three bedrooms). No issues with them communicating with each other. I tested each one individually and made certain it was communicating with all the others just to be sure. Running up and down all the stairs 7 times was a good workout. Again, hearing protection is advised. I have no doubt we will all be awakened if we ever have a fire in middle of the night.
I really like the voice feature. If I have an alarm I will not have to go running through the house to figure out where the problem is. It clearly enunciates which unit is going off.
Hopefully I will never find out how they operate in an emergency. I will update if I have any operational issues.
Although the general idea of linked alarms is great, my experience is that they do not always link reliably, even with relatively short separation distances. I generally set the alarms up for use all at one location, which works well. Nevertheless, one of the alarms is about 40 ft. from another in our set-up, and alarm signals are not always transferred between the two. There are no walls and doors that completely separate these alarms, but there is no direct line of sight between the two. Other units that are completely separated by walls and doors do transfer alarm signals reliably. For those of us with sufficient funds or wiring skills and time, hardwired alarms appear to be a more secure choice. Our set-up uses both the smoke-co alarms and the First Alert smoke alarms. (See for example, First Alert SA511CN2-3ST ONELINK Battery Operated Smoke Alarm with Voice Location, 2-Pack.)
These alarms were selected for several reasons. Firstly, they provide the hope of early warning due to the linking feature. Secondly, they use photoelectric detectors, which are preferable to ionization detectors. Some tests have shown that photoelectric detectors detect smoldering fires well in advance of ionization detectors, and they are less prone to false alarms than ionization detectors. (Ionization detectors detect flaming fires earlier than photoelectric detectors, but some tests have found that the difference between the two detector types is more extreme for the case of smoldering fires.) Some building codes/fire codes even require photoelectric detectors in some locations in the residence, at least. Finally, Consumer reports testing showed that the First Alert SCO500CN CO-detection was excellent. (Where money is not a concern, one may want to use both ionization and photoelectric detectors.)
One of the two purchased alarms was defective out of the box. Another failure occurred several years later, but within the warranty period. BRK replaced the latter alarm for a $6.00 to $7.00 warranty service fee.
This is a great idea and I wish companies would get on board and make interconnected alarms more standard. I was just looking to replace the smoke alarms that came with the house which I wasn't certain how old they were. Once I came across this it made me think that I probably wouldn't hear the alarm if it sounded in the basement and I was sleeping or watching a movie. This is very loud and sounds on all the linked alarms as advertised. Setup was easy. I put one on each floor of the house, including basement. I gave it 4 stars because I wish it had more keywords to help distinguish different bedrooms. As far as bedrooms, it only has the option of 'Master Bedroom' or 'Childs bedroom'. Many houses have 3-4 bedrooms and therefore more selections should be available. The other feature that could use more thought is the end of life of the alarm. I think most smoke alarms are coming with an end of life notification now and it is or is becoming an industry standard. The idea makes sense but what happens 7 years from now.... It will keep chirping until you remove the unit, but my guess is that most people will remove the unit but not immediately replace it. People don't always have time to run out to the store within 2 weeks, or the money, or they just forget. Myself included didn't know how old my current alarms were and it took me a long time to make replacing them a priority. I'd rather see people with an 8 year old alarm that is tested then no alarm at all.
Product performs as advertised. These units were used in the bedrooms as the bedrooms are over the garage/furnace room. I read where some people had issues with the inter-connectivity of the units. Out of curiosity, to test how they performed in my house, I installed the first two units in bedrooms that where separated by a hallway and not directly across from each other. These two units connected fine. The home in question is a 3 bedroom ranch with a basement. These units were installed in bedrooms to the far left of the home. The next unit installed was in the basement, to test the range going to the basement. I also disconnected the unit in the bedroom closer to the basement unit to maximize the distance between the upstairs unit and the basement unit. The basement steps are on the far right of the house. This unit was installed at the bottom of the steps on the far right of the house. This unit also connected wirelessly with no issues. The distance between the upstairs/basement smoke alarms is about 45 feet. I connected the other units in the rooms between these units and of course had no connectivity issues with these units either.
Also, other reviewers also noted that when the alarms go off, the voice alert from all the alarms becomes jumbled (As the bedroom alarms/Hallway alarms are close together). This is true if the bedrooms doors are open. You can still understand the voice location, but the alarms voices are all jumbled together. With the bedroom doors closed, this is not much of an issue.
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