Pros:This is an excellent choice, It works great an installs easily.
Cons: Not approved in the state of Massachusetts. If your getting a house ready to sell in Massachusetts your local fire department must inspect your house prior to closing. A combo carbon monoxide & photoelectric smoke alarm MUST have a voice alert so you know which alarm is alerting. I did not know this prior to purchasing. The fireman told me you can't even purchase these in Massachusetts and asked me if I bought them in NH where they are legal. I said no I bought them from Amazon. I guess if they were bought for your house that you live in they would probably be okay! Make sure your state approves the use of this non-voice photoelectric detector. You must have both carbon monoxide & smoke alarms installed in a dwelling prior to closing on a purchased property. I suppose they could be separate units but if it's a combo unit it must have voice warnings.
Tested with a little smoke from grill and car exhaust. Passed both tests, fair price and quick delivery. Will order again.
We recently purchased a home that was built in the 80's, when regulations/standards were a bit different. Only had 2 existing smoke detectors, one on each floor. I purchased and installed a total of 6 of these combination smoke/carbon monoxide detectors...one for each bedroom, and an additional one in our bonus room. They were very simple to install (in total, probably took 30 mins to install all 6). All of the necessary hardware is included. The instructions could have been slightly more clear on guidelines of where to mount them, but I Googled some other sources for guidelines that helped better). These don't turn on until you twist them into the base, and there is a flashing LED light that lets you know it is working (the light doesn't flash very frequently, so I've stared at it for what feels like a couple of minutes just to make sure).
We'll wait and see if they last the 10 years they are claimed to....
Bought 2 of these around 01/2017.. we use them in common areas that are well ventilated but devoid of direct wind and elements. Both have experienced a number of false alarms twice in the middle of the night but never while cooking. Fire at least 4 times, and CO2 once. We removed one from its mounting spot and it now sits on a table in that room. I've used compressed air to try to clean out the dust after every false alarm so i guess that helps. Overall this product is still better than the Kiddie brand. 5 incidents/445 days = 1% occurrence.
I tried every home center to find a single packed, smoke AND CO detector that wasn't either hard wired or had that idiotic "Voice Alarm" feature that would drive my dog out of his mind every time we'd get a false CO alarm. This one is perfect!
Feature Product
- Keep your family safe with this talking 10-Year Battery smoke and carbon monoxide alarm; it's equipped with voice and location, so you are alerted of the danger and where it originates from across your house
- Tells you whether the danger is smoke or carbon monoxide and where the threat is among up to 11 pre-programmed locations in your home
- Features electrochemical Carbon Monoxide sensing technology and photoelectric smoke sensor optimized to detect larger smoke particles produced by smoldering fires; helps minimize the number of false alarms
- Features a sleek, low-profile design to blend more fully into the wall and out of sight
- 10-year limited warranty; equipped with end-of-life signal chirp, so you know when it's time to replace the unit for your safety
- Rigorously tested to meet UL standards
Description
The First Alert BRK PRC710V Talking Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Built-In 10-Year Battery features a photoelectric smoke sensor and an electrochemical carbon monoxide sensor. The photoelectric sensor detects larger smoke particles from smoldering fires from objects like cigarettes burning on furniture or in trash cans. This exclusive voice alarm not only alerts you whether the threat is smoke or carbon monoxide, but also uses 11 pre-programmed locations to tell you the location of the danger in your home. The battery-operated smoke and CO detector can be installed easily, with no wires or electrician required, and its slim profile will seamlessly blend in with your home decor. A one-touch silence/test button makes it easy to operate. Its built-in 10-year battery will provide continuous power for the life of the detector and continues to protect during power outages.
I initially thought the battery was dead. I even requested a return. Then I realized that the mounting plate was not moving the activation switch to the on position. Once I did this manually, the detector worked perfectly. They should really have a mention of this in the install notes. Since the activation switch is also the deactivation method, I was orried about pushing this switch too far. No need to worry just push it to the stop, but don't break out the plastic tab.
I got the set of 5 and they are easy to install and set up.
One of them started peeping for smoke for no reason even after moving it to another room, Amazon forwarded me to the first alert hotline and they are super helpful, somehow this one was malfunctioning and they sent out a replacement. Hope the others will last.
I had this alarm for a few months and it started beeping 3 times every couple of minutes.
I gave it one star for being defective after reading other reviews. I just pulled it down and it was full of water and let me know that my new roof was leaking. It may or may not be good but it helped with a water leak.
These are much less expensive than anything I was looking at, at Lowes and did the same job. I like the 10 year batter life much better than a 9 volt battery that seem to want to go off at 2am with the chipping telling me to replace the battery. I have never gotten over a year use out of a 9 volt battery and I hate replacing them.
Removed prior smoke detectors which were over ten years old and replaced with new 10-year combination smoke and CO detector. Process took less than 10 minutes per unit and love the capability of not having to worry about changing battery every 6-12 months. .