The Best Driveway Alarms

You’ll want to shop for a driveway alarm with a wide transmission range to accurately detect motion in your driveway and alert you. The best driveway alarms have a transmission range of 1,000 feet to detect the motion and send the data to alert you. If your range is shorter, there’s a chance your driveway alarm will miss motion outside of the alarm’s range, you won’t receive an alert or immediately know when someone’s in your driveway.

Bad weather doesn’t stop loved ones from visiting. Since most driveway alarm transmitters or sensors must be placed outside to monitor your driveway, look for a waterproof and weatherproof driveway alarms designed to withstand extreme weather conditions such as heavy winds, rain or extreme temperatures. The driveway alarm should still be able to alert you in temperamental weather.

Your driveway alarm should be easy to install without wiring or drilling. Most driveway alarms are installed using one screw and the receiver is plugged into a standard outlet. Some driveway alarms use a weatherproof wire to connect the sensors to the transmitter to send data. Before buying a driveway alarm, make sure you understand how the driveway alarm is designed to be set up for your home.

Driveway alarms can be sensitive to vehicles, objects, people and animals. Some are even sensitive to strong winds and rain. To prevent false alarms check out customer reviews to learn about the driveway alarm’s range, sensitivity and any frequency of false alarms.

After you purchase your driveway alarm, you may want to add sensors to cover more areas of your home’s vicinity. Look for a driveway alarm system that’s expandable to add multiple sensors as needed. And make sure you don’t need to purchase too many receivers to connect additional driveway alarms – most receivers can connect at least five sensors to cover a wider area of your home.

Most wireless driveway alarms are battery-powered, but the best driveway alarms include a rechargeable battery that helps to save money on batteries. Some are solar powered to save on energy and battery costs over time. Most receivers are plugged into standard wall outlets without needing any wiring between the driveway and home.

Driveway alarms aren’t ‘one size fits all,’ and depending on your home’s design, you may want some areas of your home’s vicinity to be more sensitive to motion, while other areas should be less sensitive to prevent false alarms. The best driveway alarms provide set alarm zones with different alert tones and sensitivity settings to help protect your home the way you wish.

If your children are playing outside or your home has a lot of foot traffic, your driveway alarm will alert you of every move within range. To prevent countless false alarms, look for a driveway alarm with pre-set sensitivity settings. Adjusting the sensor’s sensitivity levels will help you receive alerts only on what matters most.