FIRST ALERTSMCO500V, Interconnect Battery-Operated Combination Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Voice Alerts, 1-Pack

I purchased two of these after being unhappy with First Alert ZCOMBO made for Ring, which I returned. This model interconnects with other SCO500B models so that if there is an alert in another part of the house, all alarms beep and give a voice alert. These units cannot connect to my Ring Alarm system. That is fine with me as I discuss in my review of the ZCOMBO model. I had no problems at all with setting up these two units and choosing the voice location feature. So far, no false alarms and the units are working fine. I have read the "one star" reviews and people have had false alarms after a period of time. Mine have been up for one week with no problems but if I start getting false alarms, I will update this review. The distance that these interconnect seems good as I have tested these two in different parts of my house. I will probably buy two more for other areas. One thing that I like about this design is that if it detects CO, the alarm goes off and then it speaks the CO level to let you know how much CO has been detected.As I discussed in my other review of the ZCOMBO unit, people should not just assume that getting a CO alarm means that the unit is broken. There are many possible reasons why CO may be in your house and before declaring them defective, it is important to get a professional or the fire department to check your house. If you do an online search of CO in your house you will see that it is possible that a crack can develop in a furnace causing CO to mix with the heated air. Also, gas appliances such as heaters and even gas stoves, if not vented correctly can cause CO to enter a house. If one of these signals a CO alarm, take it very seriously because your life could be at risk. Don't ever assume that the alarm is simply broken until you are absolutely sure it is.I read a review of this item saying that the alarm on these units might not be heard by older people with hearing loss. The alarm on these units is very loud and someone would really have to be very hard of hearing to not hear this. In fact, when setting these up, you should probably wear ear protection because the alarm is very loud. I would recommend that people wear ear plugs even when testing these alarms.When setting these up, it is important to follow the instructions on the enclosed sheet because it is not easy to figure out without instructions. I found that the setup was easy when following the instructions. There are also some reviews here that have setup instructions, which can also be helpful.I consider these the best units that I could find for warning me about fire or CO when I am home. The only problem is that it will not notify me if I am away from home. I have decided that I am also going to buy two Nest Protect Smoke/CO alarms, one for each level of my home and in rooms that do not have this unit, the First Alert SCO500B. It is simply too expensive for me to buy six Nest Protect alarms which would be close to $700. I think that buying four of these units and two Nest Protect units, I can get a good smoke/CO alarm system at a reasonable price.In the future, if I decide that I want to connect these alarms with my Ring Alarm system, I will purchase a Ring Listener which is designed to be installed near and alarm and will send an alert to the Ring alarm monitoring company. I am still worried about connecting my Ring Alarm with smoke/CO detectors. The reason is that if there is any type of alarm sent, even false ones, Ring monitoring will send out the local fire department and they cannot be recalled. In my city, false alarms will get fined at increasing amounts and your alarm license can be banned for too many false alarms.I think that the First Alert SCO500B is a good smoke/CO alarm and I would recommend this model. Realize though that all smoke alarms are now designed to have a seven year life span. So know that in seven years all these units will have to be replaced with new ones.

Our last house had hard-wired alarms which we had installed as part of a big remodel we did 20 yrs ago, 1 in each of 4 bedrooms, the hallway, the family room, the living room, and 2 in a very large home office/studio/work area. When we moved into our current place it had only 3 battery-powered alarms, 1 on each level, and I wanted the same reliability of connected alarms, but the cost of re-wiring was more than we could afford. I did some research and was hesitant about wirelessly-connected alarms at first, because the reviews didn't strike me as enthusiastic or that the alarms were reliable to the point of staking one's life on them.As time wore on my anxiety about having just the minimum number of alarms just nagged at me. I took a little gamble and ordered some of these. They were easy to install and easy to program. The also have a feature that lets you choose from a list of locations (that are common to most homes) to be spoken as part of the alarm, so you know the location/room of which alarm triggered the announcement. That's something even our hard-wired units didn't do.They use 2 AA batteries each, which are easy to replace simply be twisting/'unscrewing' the alarm unit from its' mounting plate. No screws must be unscrewed to replace the batteries, but they DO have a locking feature that is a plastic "pin" that comes as part of the unit and can make it difficult to open the battery compartment. You do NOT need to use it for the alarm to function, but it seems like something useful to landlords if renting out space. I did not use the pin to lock the battery compartment, as we're empty nesters and my spouse won't use a step stool yet alone a ladder. All mine are mounted on ceilings, so I need a step-stool/ladder to reach them, but they remove very easily. It's VERY unlikely anyone in our household is going to fiddle with the batteries.Know that the programming is a 2-step process when you are connecting more than 1 to the alarm "loop". The instructions were pretty easy to follow, and after connecting 2 or 3 units, you'll likely be able to do it without referencing them. NOTE THAT THE PROGRAMMING INSTRUCTIONS ARE ON A SEPARATE PAPER FROM THE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS. The documentation states that each alarm unit should be within 100 feet of the next nearest unit, likely more than adequate for most homes.I installed 4 in August of '23, and now, more than 8 months later, have had no false alarms yet. I like them so much I ordered more for additional locations throughout the house. (I'm a heavy sleeper and also am hearing impaired and wanted to increase the likelihood of hearing any alarm).Note, too that YOU DO NOT NEED TO PROGRAM THEM FOR CONNECTIVITY, but if you don't, you might do better buying single units without the communication feature.Pricier than "single" units, yes, but if you want the extra protection of connected units and you need/want combination Smoke/CO2 alarms and can't/don't want to spend the money for hard-wired units, , I'd recommend these.

Worked Great

SAFETY FIRST