Why You Can Trust CNET This complete home-security kit costs under $50 and includes professional monitoring
It sounds too good to be true, but the Kangaroo starter kit offers incredible value.
This $99 kit (currently on sale for 50% off!) includes a siren, a keypad, a bunch of sensors and one year of home monitoring.
What price home security? That's not a rhetorical question. I'm asking, what should you expect to pay for a home-security system that includes professional monitoring -- and potentially lowers the cost of your homeowner's insurance? Today, that price is just $49.50, which nets you not only a considerable amount of sensor and alarm hardware, but also your first year of monitoring. (After that year, the rates skyrocket, right? Nope: It's just $99 annually, or $9 per month.) OK, Kangaroo, I'm listening.
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For a limited time, the Kangaroo Home Security Starter Kit is on sale for $49.50 with promo code bestdeal. Shipping adds around $11. That's 50% off the regular price, which was already a steal (and was the price the last time I wrote about it).
This expandable solution provides a surprising amount of hardware, starting with an electronic keypad that's also a siren and smoke/CO-detector, er, detector. That means if it hears, say, a smoke alarm go off, it'll activate with alerts and such. It also includes a pair of keychain-friendly "Roo" tags -- small RFID fobs that arm or disarm the system when touched to the keypad.
Next up, you get three Motion and Entry sensors, which are designed for doors and windows. Finally, there's a Water and Climate sensor, which you could put in a basement or under a sink -- anywhere you want to immediately detect leaking water. This module can also alert you of changes in temperature and humidity, the better to protect you against freezing pipes and mold.
Like any good security kit, this one includes window stickers and a yard sign, because deterrence is half the battle.
All this revolves around the Kangaroo Complete Plan, which, believe it or not, is optional; there's also a totally free option. But Complete includes not only the app-based notifications and unlimited user invites (family, neighbors and so on) afforded by the free plan, but also text and voice notifications, Alexa and Google Home integrations, help with obtaining a homeowner's insurance discount (which could be as high as 20%, according to Kangaroo) and 24/7 professional monitoring.
As you may have noticed, there's one key item missing here: a camera. Although the pricing page makes mention of "Premium camera features" as part of the Complete Plan, there's still no sign of a camera available for purchase and no mention of support for third-party cameras. I expect one or the other will happen at some point.
In the meantime, you could easily deploy one or more Wyze Cams, which start at just $20. Of course, that might lead you to the $20 Wyze Sense Kit, which includes a motion sensor and a pair of sensors suitable for doors and windows. Wyze doesn't offer a keypad and alarm, a water sensor or professional monitoring. The cameras, however, would likely make an excellent addition to the Kangaroo kit.
Speaking of which, I continue to be impressed by the Kangaroo gear (including the quality of the packaging and very clear accompanying instructions) and overall value of this bundle. Even if you miss the sale, $99 is a killer price for all this.
Your thoughts?
Note: Originally published last year. Updated to reflect new sale prices or availability. Removed expired bonus deal.
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