thinking about upgrading my home alarm system and getting a monitoring system this time also to cost down house insurance.. any personal reviews?

Got an ADT fire monitored system, no complaints here. They’re a bit expensive IMO but I think the peace of mind is worth it. I did find the salesman a bit pushy though, and some reviews online complain over high costs should you need to call them out for a non covered job. Overall I would recommend.

peace of mind is worth it

Genuinely interested. What peace of mind does it give you?

U don’t need to have a monitored system, it entails not only a dedicated phone line and associated costs, but the monitoring itself is costly( £300+) pa, plus the equipment.

All u need is to fit an auto dialler to your existing alarm and phone line, dialler is about £100 and takes an engineer 20 mins to fit. You then programme in upto 5 numbers, inc mobiles which it will ring continually 1after the other until u cancel it.

For fire you could fit Nest: https://nest.com/smoke-co-alarm/life-with-nest-protect/

I wonder how long it will be until they do a burglar alarm version too.

Before thinking about reducing insurance costs, check online…

I have an alarm at my house. If I select alarm on the quote, a clause appears stating that the property will not be insured if he property is left without the alarm set.

Without the alarm selected, the property is insured whether or not the alarm is set. The premium is increased by a princely £5.

The same was also true at my Mums house. Both properties are insured without the alarm option, so that they are always insured whether out on the garden etc or not..!