I've been a Nest Secure owner for years and just set up my new ADT system and I couldn't be less happy. There is not a single thing about this new system that is better than what I'm being forced to replace. Let's start at the top:
The offering from Google/ADT for equipment is a joke. Two sensors, one motion detector, and a doorbell camera does not come close to covering my investment. I don't care about monitoring, I want the equipment I invested in because I trusted Google to work. So much for my investment.
Every piece of the system looks like it was designed by a 5 year old that was once told about a security system but can't remember the details. Why is the new control box 4X as big as my decade old Secure? At that size, why doesn't it have Nest Max speakers in it? That thing is ridiculous and I don't want it visible in my home. It is hideous.
The door sensors are also twice the size of my Nest Secure devices, with less functionality. They are so big that I had to reposition them 3 times to get the door to open without knocking the sensor off. It is also hideous. There is no "design" it is just a box. Well, two boxes. Two awkwardly large boxes stuck to the door and frame.
Now is I guess the time to mention that I can't push a button on the sensor to open the door without disarming the system like I could yesterday. I don't have a light that indicates the status of the system when I approach the door, like I did yesterday. I don't have a convenient night light when I walk by like I did yesterday. I don't have a motion sensor on every door like I did yesterday. I have lost so much functionally. I have a sensor. A cheap feeling, bulky, ugly sensor.
Yesterday I had a nice, sleek, small, black, doorbell. Now I have a huge, white monstrosity. I'm not even sure why but like everything else in the box, any sense is design was replaced by an enormous white box.
Finally, the app. The app is a travesty. There are no meaningful controls. You can arm or disarm, that's about it. There are no customization options. Why am I forced to listen to 45 seconds of chimes when I tell it I'm home but awake? That should be silent. I'm not leaving. That's why it's called "stay". Why can I get "one touch" arming on my phone but not on the box? It's not even one touch. I have to unlock my phone, open the app, press the status button, and THEN I get to just press an arming status. That's not one touch. You know what would be one touch? Letting me press one of the arming buttons on the hideous box and it just arms. Is that an option? No. For reasons I can't possibly understand you can't have one touch on the box. So, this just guarantees that I will hide that box in a cabinet somewhere. There is not a single function that is easier on the box than on my phone so I will hide it. You won't even have the passive advertisement of people noticing it in my home because why would I want them to. It's an ugly, useless, white box.
I don't plan on spending a single penny on this new ecosystem. I will limp this free garbage along until I can afford to buy a different system that might have SOME of the features I got 6 years ago that are no longer available.
I'm ashamed of you, Google. I know I shouldn't be because you're just doing what corporations do, screwing over your customers so that investors can buy bigger yachts. Mostly I'm ashamed of myself for promoting your products. I should have known it was just a long con.
