On 22 April 2020, almost two years ago now, we published an article titled Covert Hardening. In this we shared an account of a situation that took place while I was in Yemen. This drove home to me the necessity of including a somewhat covert, outside-the-home early warning system into one’s home protection efforts. In that article we mentioned a perimeter alarm system that we’d just purchased for testing.

This was followed up in May 2021 by an Article titled Perimeter Alarm – One Year Review. In this, we shared that the system pictured below had offered a year of flawless service. The fact that the system does not need WiFi or any connection at all to the Internet to work was a key feature. The embedded solar panel keeps the outside units charged, and the base includes a battery backup system in case one’s electricity goes out. The only negative we mentioned is that our tests indicated that the range of the system was a good deal less than the ½ mile claimed by the manufacturer.

In the eight months since our one-year review was published, this perimeter alarm system has continued to work flawlessly. That is, until about two weeks ago. At that time we started getting alarm signals at odd times. When we looked out the window toward the tree where the tripped alarm unit was located, we saw nothing. This happened several times.

On closer inspection, we found that the unit in question had a series of holes in the front-facing motion sensor cover. This is shown on the image at the top of this page. It seems evident that this “attack” was perpetrated by a woodpecker rather than a person with nefarious intentions. We suggest this because the unit is placed some eight feet off the ground, and the tree in question is often visited and drilled by a local woodpecker. It’s beyond our area of specialization to speculate why a woodpecker would find this unit attractive enough to attack.

Outstanding Customer Service

Here’s the amazing part of what took place after our discovery of the damaged alarm unit. I went on Amazon and found that a single replacement unit would cost about $40.00. Before ordering one, I thought it would be worth contacting the manufacturer to see if I could order just the motion sensor cover and thus save some money. I also wondered if they’d ever heard of a woodpecker attacking such a unit in the past.

I heard back from them just a few days later. They left the woodpecker question unanswered, yet said that they would be happy to send me a free replacement unit. I was certainly not expecting that. In fact, a week or so later a package arrived. In it was not just a single replacement alarm unit, but an entire new system that included an updated base and two alarm units.

I was amazed at this level of customer service. I wrote to this manufacturer using my personal email address. They have no way of knowing my connection to Panoplia.org. The fact that a manufacturing company today would stand behind their product to this degree is remarkable.

Back in May 2021 we highly recommended this system. We mentioned how it fits in well with the Panoplia.org Soft Skills and Tactics (SST) online course topic 03.01.05 (Covert Hardening). After almost two years of flawless service and the excellent customer service we experienced, we remain very impressed with this perimeter alarm system and the company that manufactures it. We simply hope that the offending woodpecker does not find the new unit as irresistibly attractive as the previous one.

As always, remember that Panoplia.org has no affiliate relationships with manufacturers or retail suppliers, nor do we participate in third-party advertising. We simply share our views about gear and supplies that work well for us under hard use.