FireEar: Detect and Protect
None of us here at Truly Obscure own summer cottages anywhere. In fact, it’s possible that nobody at Truly Obscure even owns a primary residence. We’re all urban creatures, and we all live as such, renting small apartments or houses in very densely populated areas of our respective cities. As such it was difficult for us to find a truly useful place in our lives for the FireEar home monitoring system, though all of us can see the potential usefulness if we close our eyes and imagine.
Here’s what you’ll need to utilize the FireEar system, if you’re so inclined: a cell phone, land line, house, and a constant worry that something is wrong with your house. If you don’t already have all of these things this product might not be for you. If you do have these things we have just the product for you! FireEar is a detection system that you pay a monthly fee for. It keeps track of things in your house like the fire alarm going off, the temperature in the house dropping below a certain temperature, or power outages, depending on your subscription plan. If you’re away from your home or office for long periods of time it can be very difficult if not impossible to track these things, so a device that helps do it for you certainly will provide a peace of mind that could be otherwise difficult to come by. In the event that your house or office has an alarm that goes off, or the power goes out, the FireEar will send you a text via it’s hard-line connection, letting you know of the situation.
There are two different price plans: the standard plan, which costs $40 per year, and includes fire, freeze and power outage alerts. The professional plan costs $80 per year, and includes all of the same things as the standard, as well as the ability to contact the fire department directly for you, a potential discount on your homeowners insurance, and a service certificate (to show your insurance agent, in order to get the discount). You can also elect to add on the energy-monitoring option for an additional $60 per year, which will then send you texts if the temperature in your house or office goes higher or lower than parameters that you set. You can set up to six different settings for it to monitor. FireEar recommends having multiple systems for large areas, and if you have the professional monitoring system the discount you get on your homeowner’s insurance often covers or exceeds the yearly cost of the service. Happily, one year’s worth of service is included in the cost of the device.
As for us, we get too many texts as it is, and don’t have a vacation or second home to worry about. Also, it’s worth noting that the FireEar doesn’t replace your traditional smoke alarm- you’ll still need one of those, and have to keep the batteries fresh. We don’t necessarily think of an “ear” as the first sensory instrument we would use to detect a fire, but it certainly works detecting your current alarm. Other than needing to prime the system by activating an alarm for quite a while, it was easy to setup and use. $170 is a fair price for peace of mind- but we should also point out that the agreement (helpfully available here) includes one clause that might be difficult to meet and perhaps offend the most likely customers- you apparently agree to test the service weekly!
