Unpopular opinion: spending $400 on a home security system was a waste

I put in a Ring system with cameras and sensors for my house in Austin. Cost me about $400 total plus the monthly fee. But then my neighbor's unlocked shed got broken into while my cameras just caught squirrels. Anyone else think these systems are mostly just giving people a false sense of safety?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_diana23h ago

Yeah, "mostly catching squirrels" pretty much sums up my experience too. I got a similar setup last year and the most exciting thing my cameras ever caught was a possum trying to open my trash can. It feels more like paying for a hobby than actual protection.

the_ruby23h ago

Oh man, I gotta push back just a little on the "mostly catching squirrels" part. I mean, sure, my cameras catch way more random wildlife than anything suspicious too (raccoons, skunks, the occasional deer), but that's kind of the point, right? The whole idea is that you want them to catch everything so you can see what's normal. If you only get alerts when something big happens, you're gonna miss things like that possum trying to get into your trash. The hobby part is real though, I'll give you that. I spend way too much time checking my phone for motion alerts and scrolling through clips of leaves blowing. But I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.