I think lots of people like the idea. But most people probably feel that ST is currently too unreliable to be tied into an alarm monitoring service that actually requires paying for a subscription.
Admittedly, no. But if I were I might ask for my money back, because for the last two nights in a row my professionally monitored alarm system would have failed to arm itself at 11pm the way that it was configured to.
Iāve signed up for the 7 free months of monitoring with Scout ~10 days ago.
Scout is connected via the SHM app, and is supposed to call you (via third party monitoring companies, such as COPS) within 90 seconds of an Intrusion Alert (as set in SHM). Intrusions are tracked via Motion & Open/Close sensors only, in whatever combination youāve enabled in the SHM app.
Scout provides Insurance Certificates for burglary, which was accepted without question by my home insurer.
Fast forward to last night, where an alert was tripped (motion, via a troublesome fern above forced air vent). SHM triggered an immediate in-app alert, and SMS text, but even 35 mins later, no phone calls to my named contacts (including myself).
Iāve reached out to Scout Support - Will update with any meaningful responses.
To answer your setup questions:
Per home automation, Iām not 100% onboard with automatic arming & disarming, given the issues weāve had with one of the Android devices in our house (not registering Presence changes accurately). Iām also reticent to tie any automation / presence tracking to locking / unlocking of the exterior of my house (as the tech is too buggy for this right now).
FYI - After working with Support, it looks like my account wasnāt correctly activated with Scout.
Iād completed all required steps, and the App had all settings required, but the handshake between SM & Scout never occurred.
For anyone else signing up, look for the following text / icon beneath the DISARM button in SHM, to signify a correctly updated integration with Scout: āMonitoring by scout [wolf icon]ā
Iām not sure if this is supposed to show up before or after entering the 72 test period for all new signups, but Iād suggest that if itās missing, contact support@scoutalarm.com
Can you post again after youāve had the scout monitoring active for a while? Reliability? Worth the cost?
I know that this thread is a bit old, but was wondering if the scout monitoring would respond to a panic button. I have the Aeon Labs Panic Button on my ST system and would like to know this but couldnāt find any information by searching.
AFAIK scout monitoring only applies when a security alert is triggered by smart home monitor. And security alerts are triggered by motion sensors and contact sensors when your SHM is in armed away or armed stay modes.
If you mean through the SmartThings integration, you have to fool it by having a switch (which can be virtual) report as a contact or motion sensor.
That can be done using Mike Maxwellās universal device type, but may introduce some additional lag. And it wonāt run locally because itās custom code.
Personally, I wouldnāt rely on it for a panic button situation, but itās something you can consider.