Well, there I was this afternoon, sitting watching Death Valley Days on the tube... WHEN... BANG...! CRASH...! On my front porch and door.. I was sitting about 6 feet away and first it scared the Be Jesus out of me and I was at the front door in one big leap. I open the inside door to find the aluminum lower panel of screen door smash in. Out the door onto the porch, shouting, "who the (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman)"? About that time 3 teenage boys jumped out the hedges and took off up the street. 10 years ago I would have went after them, but these old legs and body no longer will cooperate. I yelled at them and watched them run off.

I went in the house and called the police and they arrived about 10 minutes later. I gave them their descriptions and direction of travel, but that is all I could manage. That got me to thinking... in early May of this year some broke the knob and lock off of the same door. Last year someone broke out the window glass panel in the same door. Last week I had a window in the rear of the house broken by someone.

Man I have know idea who these heathens are. I am sure I haven't done anything to them... so they just must be evil little

Okay, I guess I need to get some kind of doorbell/camera gadgets. I tried to look up how to connect them and that type of info and I guess my mental agility is rapidly leaving me because I couldn't comprehend. Of course, not sure if I could afford them, but only need something that gives me a good quality photo and sound. Has anyone had any experience with these gadgets? I need some good advice please.

Here is the door... I think the first sound I heard was one of them jumping onto the porch and the crash was when they kicked the panel in.



Garry-

Thats some serious damage Garry-I'd load up the shotgun.
They aint coming in to kiss you goodnight.

Wow, that's terrible! I think boco offers good advice for this. I do have a ring doorbell and love it. I believe I got it on sale for $169 at best buy. It runs on a rechargeable battery and seems to last 2-3 months on a charge. Only dies after you leave for vacation for me so far . You have to have wifi available and I can watch it on my cellphone whenever I want. It alerts me to anybody that pulls in my drive or approaches the house. I can have a conversation with the person outside of my door while watching them. You can also get cameras or other devices to put on the back door or shed or whatever that is networked with the doorbell. I really like it and money well spent for us. If you don't have decent internet it will likely not work well..

Dang that stinks. I'm glad you're ok.

Yes plenty of experience since my robbery.
Ring doesn't anyways record. Sometimes it records late. Has a monthly fee. Has both hardwired and wireless versions. Battery life fluctuates, takes 8 hours to charge or you can connect a solar panel charger to it.
Google Nest has both wireless and hardwired. Constantly recorded late. Short battery life, teachers 4 hours to charge. Has a free 3 hour long history or pay per month for unlimited storage.
Blink is wireless forget how long it takes to charge. I didn't like the mount for them you screw the mount in then push in like a Lego.
I haven't tried Argo but looks good.
Eufy is new on the market and haven't tried them. The cheapest of the surveillance systems.

You can always use a cell trail cam if your with Verizon or at&t.

Note:
I had a ring doorbell prior to the robbery. The guy parked in front of the camera and the camera didn't record or alert. Since then I've noticed Ring "goes to sleep" at night. I have watched cars people and animals walk in front at night and the Ring doesn't capture it.

Get a trail cam (easier, I think) put it high, and inconspicuous on video mode!

Slightly off topic , but my girlfriend's condo assn recently replaced all the storm doors on all the condo units. They got some real beefy units , can't remember the brand but would hold up to a bit of attack with a baseball bat. Nice stuff , very tough but light and normal looking and not ugly.

Worth looking into instead of repairing that weak door.

Reolink has some good reviews. Don't have any cameras here, yet, but I think I would look at those based on what my reading shows.

We have the blink cam mentioned above, it is pointed across driveway at side door and sends to wife's phone, I would give it a good review. Good luck sir, stay locked and loaded.

Noteworthy, my neighbors Google nest did capture the robbery at my house and the picture was good.
With his and the ones I tried they captured people already halfway in the driveway at his house.

One thing you'll have to play with on each of these systems is the sensitivity and the notifications your phone gets. Sometimes it's overwhelming and your phone doesn't stop all day.

Most of the systems I mentioned have monthly fees. Eufy doesn't.

Those wireless door bell deals can be spendy and since you already said reading up on them didn't make much sense to you (all this newfangled technology!) I agree with Yukon John's idea on a trail camera. You can get still photos or videos. Most don't have sound but I bet some do maybe? But do you really even need sound? With pics and/or videos you'd at least have something to give to the cops.

My guess is they're trying to rob you. Make a bunch of noise doing it to see if you're home or not. Makes my blood boil.

Trail cameras and motion lights would be my suggestions for your situation. You can build boxes for the cameras that look like bird houses or any number of things.

Amazon has some 39 dollar cams that are awesome

maybe something like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/Unique-...REC-_-pipsem-_-100572753-_-202098336-_-N

for the new door

cut a some plexy glass to fit into it from the inside for the winter and make up a screen for it in the summer be able to get a lot of ventilation but have a locked door at the same time

Lexan (polycarbonate) is MUCH better than plexy glass. It is semi bullet proof , used for safety glasses and riot shields. Way worth the higher cost for security.

And there ya go

x2,,,garry sounds like they got it in for you for some reason. Did u have words?

We have the Ring our town had a 100$ off coupon to all the residents. works pretty good but battery life isn't super long. I went to Best Buy and bought a hard wired 6 camera with a DVR box. Think i paid around $550 I have all sides of the house covered. It records for a month at a time then rerecords over its self..

Not semi bullet proof. The layer that goes in between the layers is what makes the units semi bullet resistant. Worked at a place that made them. worked with the stuff from time to time.

I believe 3M sells a window film to make windows bulletproof. Finding it has been difficult in recent years for some reason....

If you have a hard wired outdoor floodlight ,you can replace it with a Ring floodlight. It has motion sensors and will notify you on your smartphone when it is activated. Shoots a 180 degree beam . Great product!