ADT Security System Review

Video Review of ADT

Want to see an ADT home security system in action? Our Home Security and security camera expert, Corey Birnstengel, showcases an ADT security system featuring the equipment we tested and how it works on a daily basis. We also demonstrate the features of the ADT app.

Components of the ADT Security System

ADT has an impressive catalog of products. But you don’t need one of everything. ADT offers this extensive range of devices so it can protect anything from luxurious mansions to tiny apartments. For our setup, these were the devices we chose:

• Digital panel
• Contact sensors
• Motion sensors
• Glass break sensors
• Keychain remotes
• Emergency buttons
• Video doorbells
• Outdoor cameras
• Indoor cameras
• Smoke detectors
• Carbon monoxide detectors
• Flood sensors

Digital Panel

The digital panel was our control center. Essentially, it let us manage ADT’s arming modes — we could either disarm, arm away, or arm stay.

• Disarm: All security systems are disarmed, and only environmental sensors like smoke alarms work.
• Arm away: All sensors are armed and ready to report anything unusual, from unexpected movements to smoke or flooding.
• Arm stay: Only select sensors are active (customizable) e.g. arm door and window sensors to detect unauthorized entry, but leave motion sensors unarmed so you can move around.

Since this was a digital panel and ADT is a smart security system, we expected it to be able to control smart devices as well. Sadly, that wasn’t the case; smart home controls were exclusive to the app. That was disappointing. The Vivint Smart Hub from when we reviewed Vivint was able to do that. It was even able to stream live footage from our cameras, another thing the ADT digital panel couldn’t do.

The control panel reminds us of an iPad. It’s a little thicker, but it’s wireless and easy to use. It also has a battery life of around 24 hours. We kept it by our bedside one night when our partner was due home late. The battery still had some juice in the morning. We don’t recommend doing this every night. It’s best to keep it plugged in when you’re not using it.

Contact Sensors

We placed the contact sensors on doors, windows and their respective frames so that we were notified whenever they were opened or closed. Because they are wireless, the sensors were easy to install – not that we had to do it. Our ADT technician installed them for us, and even brought ones that matched our brown wooden door trim.

There were different styles available as well. There are the regular ones pictured above, smaller ones if you want something more discreet, and recessed door types that are drilled into the door frame. We got one for our sliding glass door.

Keychain Remote

The keychain remote is one of the reasons we recommend ADT as the best home security system for seniors. Instead of arming and disarming the system with a smartphone app or touchscreen panel, you can use this device. It looks identical to a garage door opener. There is a button for arming the system and a separate one for disarming.

The keychain remote is also good for emergencies. It has a panic button that, when pressed within the touch screen panel’s range, calls ADT’s monitoring center for help. We haven’t had the chance to use the feature in a real emergency, but we thought it would be useful for household members with medical conditions.

Expert Take

From Gene Petrino, Retired SWAT Commander and Law Enforcement

“Many people think that home security systems are only for break-ins. This simply is not the case. I remember one call where a woman had used her panic button after she let her estranged husband inside the house “to talk” and he instead attacked her. That panic button saved her life that day.”

Motion Detector

Motion detectors detect movement using passive Infrared, which means they only trigger when the moving subject emits body heat such as humans or pets. The motion sensor from ADT has a 35 by 40 feet detection range, which was more than enough for our living room.

If you have pets, we confirmed with the technician that the sensor can be adjusted to make it pet-friendly, meaning, pets’ movements won’t trigger it. They showed us a toggle switch at the back of the sensor that, when switched to pet-friendly mode, adjusts the sensor’s sensitivity so pets no longer trigger it but humans still do. That was all we needed to see to convince us to add ADT to our list of recommended security systems for pet owners.

Glass Break Sensors

Not all burglars will finesse their way into your home; some will use force, like breaking through glass doors or windows. That’s where the glass break sensor comes in. Place it in a room with glass doors and windows, and it will monitor for the sound of breaking glass.

ADT’s glass break sensor has a 25-foot range at maximum sensitivity, but if you’re like us and tend to be clumsy with glasses, you can adjust it with four sensitivity levels. Our ADT install technician placed the glass break sensor opposite our sliding glass doors leading to the patio as it works best facing the source. We asked if it would pick up noise from other rooms, and he said it depends on the loudness. We tried playing the sounds of breaking glass on our TV in the living room, and it picked up the sound.

Smoke Detector

We can assure you that the ADT WiFi smoke detector works. How do we know? Well, we accidentally burned some toast one morning and were serenaded by the blaring sounds of the alarm. The ADT monitoring team also got an alert and checked in with us to make sure everything was ok.

We’re glad we did this “test.” Because of it, we discovered that ADT smoke alarms are interconnected, meaning, if one goes off, all the others installed in your home go off too. That’s a small but potentially life-saving feature. No matter where the fire started, everyone in the house will be made aware.

Carbon Monoxide Detector

There was no safe way for us to test the carbon monoxide detector. What we can tell you for sure is that ADT’s CO detector is tamper-proof. It also has an LED light and alarm as well as a hush button, which will silence the device for five minutes in case it’s accidentally been activated.

Emergency Button

The emergency button, otherwise known as a panic button, gave us quick and easy access to emergency services. Thankfully, we didn’t have to use it, but if you or someone you live with is prone to medical emergencies, this button can come really handy.

Through the control panel, you can set up which emergency services the two buttons will connect you to. You can contact the police, fire department, and medical responders. Since no one living in our house has a serious medical condition, we opted to set the buttons to call the police and fire department.

One nifty feature of the panic button is the recessed button itself. Thanks to this, it’s not prone to accidental “butt dials” and false alarms.

ADT Security Cameras

The one area where ADT improved the most compared to our previous tests was its security camera products. They’ve done away with their old cameras – clunky, 720p ones – and now use Google Nest cameras. That includes the Nest Doorbell, which, in our opinion, is one of the best video doorbells.

Google Nest Cam Options from ADT

The Google Nest security cameras are on our list of the best security cameras because of their impressive video quality (1080p HD with HDR) and their artificial intelligence. The AI allows the cameras to recognize faces, so whenever our sitter comes to our house, the Nest Cam assures us that it’s not a stranger. There are four models available to purchase from ADT:

• Nest Cam (battery): Easy to install inside and outside and has a 130-degree field of view. It’s battery-powered, so you don’t have to worry about plugging it in.
• Nest Cam (indoor, wired): It has a slightly wider field of vision than the battery-powered model, but it only works indoors and needs to be plugged in.
• Nest Cam with Floodlight: This outdoor camera has two protruding floodlights that you can control via the app, but the whole unit needs to be hardwired into a junction box.
• Nest Doorbell (battery): Features a 145-degree field of view and a 960 by 1280 resolution. Because it’s battery-powered, you don’t need existing doorbell wires.

>> Learn More: Nest Cam (battery) Review

ADT + Nest Cam – Additional Features

If you decide to go with one camera or the entire range of Google Nest camera products, you’ll only have one monitoring plan to choose from. Unfortunately, it’s the most expensive option.

However, there are some nice bonuses included that make it worth your while. The first is extra cloud storage, which is actually from Nest Aware, a subscription service that costs $8 per month. It stores videos in the cloud for up to 30 days – that’s for all your Nest cameras. Nest Aware also unlocks other smart features, including AI detection, Familiar Face Alerts, and sound detection.

From ADT, you’ll also get video verification. When an alarm event occurs, ADT will be able to check in using your cameras to confirm the incident. Video verified alerts are typically responded to faster by the police.

There’s one more feature – called Trusted Neighbor – that deserves its own section. That’s next.

What is Trusted Neighbor?

Trusted Neighbor uses facial recognition on the Nest Doorbell and other Google Nest Cams to detect when a person in your trusted list approaches your house. When a trusted person is seen, ADT disarms, and the Yale smart lock that comes with the system unlocks after just a few taps on the visitor’s phone.

You can set time-based and event-based rules to decide when each ‘trusted neighbor’ is allowed entry. For example, we set ADT Plus to let our babysitter into the house between 4 and 5 P.M. to look after the kids. For event-based rules, you can set your system to only let people in when your smoke alarms detect fire – to let your pets out, for example.

Home Automation with ADT

Our ADT system worked with the Amazon smart home ecosystem, meaning we could tell Alexa1 to control it, including arming and disarming the systems and controlling smart lights, locks and thermostats. The same applied to the Google Nest smart home ecosystem and Google Assistant. Using our Nest Hub, we were able to control our ADT system with our voices. Unfortunately, if you’re using Apple’s HomeKit ecosystem for your smart home, it doesn’t work at all with ADT.

Now, aside from voice assistants, we were also able to set up our system with smart home devices from Kwikset, Liftmaster, and Sonos.2 And as detailed earlier, we used the ADT app to manage those devices.

We should also point out that ADT’s integration with Google Nest didn’t stop with just security cameras. ADT also offers Nest smart thermostats, from the Nest Learning Thermostat to the cheaper Nest Thermostat. This partnership allowed us to integrate top-quality security and smart home products into our ADT system seamlessly.

All in all, we were satisfied with how ADT fit into our existing smart home, but it might not be the best choice for those already in the Apple HomeKit ecosystem. As far as Apple goes, the only security system we’ve reviewed that works with Siri is abode. Learn more in our abode review.

ADT’s Monitoring Plans

One thing you have to remember is that professional monitoring is and will likely always be a part of the deal for professionally installed ADT systems. There is an option to self-monitor the DIY installed ADT Plus system, though, but even that system works with professional monitoring.

Professional monitoring means monthly fees, and ADT’s pricing ranges from $24.99 to $49.99 per month, although the exact number will differ based on whether you installed the equipment yourself or if a technician did it for you.

The top-tier option with video security offers the best value because it includes a Nest Aware subscription for the Nest Cams, which goes for $8 per month when bought directly from Google. Learn more about Nest Aware subscriptions here.

You can also add a Quality Service Plan (QSP) which is an extended warranty plan for your equipment starting at $7 per month. Just keep in mind that the cost of the QSP scales with the number and type of devices you have.

Truth be told, those prices aren’t the lowest in the industry. If you’re looking to save money, there are companies that offer monitoring for as low as $19.99 per month (looking at you, Cove! Read more in our Cove review.) You could even consider SimpliSafe if you want a security system with advanced monitoring features at a similar price.

That said, ADT’s pricing isn’t half bad. It actually falls around the industry average, and it could make sense to go with ADT despite it seeming expensive if you’re looking for premium professional monitoring and cellular backup. Besides, there are ADT deals all throughout the year to help you offset the cost.

Is ADT Monitoring Worth It?

Now we know how much the monitoring service costs, but is it worth it? That’s subjective to your budget and what you’re looking for in a monitoring service, but we can give you a couple of facts that might help you decide.

First, when we tested ADT’s monitoring service by triggering the alarm several times throughout our testing phase, it gave us a response time of more or less 30 seconds each time. That’s the industry average, and although there are faster systems out there, we consider 30 seconds to be the sweet spot. It gives you enough time to cancel the response call if it’s a false alarm, but not too long that it gives burglars a chance to take your stuff and bolt.

Second, ADT has 12 fully-redundant monitoring centers. The significance of that is even if one facility fails to operate – for example, if there’s a natural calamity in its area – ADT’s monitoring will continue. These 12 facilities are spread out throughout the U.S. and Canada, and they are all linked together.

In our book, those are pretty good stats for ADT monitoring.

Our Installation Process with ADT

ADT no longer requires professional setup with the new ADT Plus system, but it still did when we had the ADT Control system installed. The good news is we didn’t have to lift a finger to get our security system up and running. Even better, now that ADT has partnered with Dish Network, we were able to get security and entertainment installed all at once.3 Of course, we did have to pay a negotiable installation fee just as we did for the rest of our equipment and services from ADT. That’s a bit annoying.

We discovered that, in the past, ADT’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals have included free video doorbell installation, but that didn’t help us at all when it came to a full-system installation.

On the bright side, the ADT technician showed up on time, was professional, and was able to finish installation in more or less an hour. ADT told us in advance to set aside at least a two-hour window in case the technician runs late or the installation takes longer, but we didn’t expect the installation process to be that fast and efficient.

ADT Apps

You might have seen a few ADT apps on the App Store and Google Play. It’s ok, they’re all official. ADT Pulse and ADT Control are for customers who have been with the company for a while. But all new customers will download ADT+.

You can use ADT+ to set up, control, and monitor all your equipment. It can even help you add compatible third-party devices. We used ADT+ mostly during our testing of the ADT Self Setup system. The app guided us through how to install and configure each device. It also performed tests to make sure we did it right. Thankfully, we did.

The ADT+’s greatest upgrade, in our opinion, is the expansion of its Google Nest integration. You can use it as a substitute for the Nest App, so you’re not switching between screens to manage different devices. We could view Nest Cam footage and recordings, control our Nest smart home devices, and manage the security system including features like Trusted Neighbor.

ADT’s Customer Support

You can contact ADT 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat. Alternatively, you can search for an answer yourself in their knowledge center. This is sometimes the best option as we’ve had mixed experiences with the support team. During a live chat, someone sent a link to a page that had nothing to do with our question. But then another time we had amazing support while we were trying to set up a motion sensor. So we can’t say that ADT is one of the worst security systems in the market.

Speaking over the phone was really time-consuming and we found that most representatives didn’t know how many infrared sensors their indoor camera has, a seemingly simple question. Additionally, it was frustrating to not be told directly how much their products and services cost. However, we found the live chat feature to be superior over the phone line in terms of how quickly we got our answers.