Are you looking for a smart alarm system to secure your home? Then you can choose from all kinds of sets, including one of the lesser known Anker. In this Eufy by Anker alarm set review, we test whether this 169 euro alarm system is the best choice.
Eufy by Anker 5-in-1 alarm set
price
€ 169, –
Sensors
2x contact sensor, 1x motion sensor
Sound
Built-in siren in base station
Other
Control panel, base station
Extras
Smart home integration, no subscription required
Website
8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Installation and ease of use
- No monthly subscription required
- Nice app
- Price to quality ratio
- Negatives
- Smart home integration could be better
- Loose sensors moderately available
- Siren is not very loud
Anker sells the alarm set for about 169 euros in the Netherlands. That is a competitive price, because major competitor Ring asks 299 euros for its Ring Alarm set and many other systems also cost more than 199 euros. Some of the security systems also require a monthly subscription to be able to use all functions. This is not necessary with Anker’s Eufy set. This brings me to the first advantage of this alarm set: you have no additional costs, which is nice. With competing systems, you pay three to ten euros per month for cloud storage, for example. The Eufy set stores your data locally, more about that later.
Contents of the box and installation
The 5-in-1 alarm set consists of a base station, a control panel, a motion detector and two sets of motion sensors. You hang the motion detector in a room of your choice. I hung it in the living room. The two sets of motion sensors are intended to monitor each window or door. I glued them to my front and back doors (on the inside, of course). For example, the set registers any uninvited guests who enter my house via the known roads.
The installation of the alarm system is simple. I was done in twenty minutes. Download the Eufy app and follow the steps to install the base station. Attach the sensors to the desired locations and set the control panel, for example by selecting your own PIN code. You can put the panel down or hang it up. I hung it in the hallway so that I can quickly enter my pin code when I leave or enter the house. This way I prevent the alarm from going off when the (self-selected) delay time expires.
The sensors are compact and smaller than those of Ring Alarm. The control panel is also smaller and looks sleeker and more premium in my opinion.
One drawback is the poor availability of separate sensors. You may need it to secure more windows, doors or rooms. The sensors cost a few tens each, but are less affordable than the competition. Anker does not make it attractive to enlarge the system.
This can be the base station
The base station has various functions. Firstly, it establishes the connection with the sensors and is in turn connected to your WiFi network. If the base station is without internet, your system will not work. It is nice that you can connect the – compact – base station via an Ethernet cable.
The station also has a built-in siren. If the alarm goes off, you will receive a notification via the app, but the station will also blare. That sounds and is useful, although I expected more from it. Because where the Ring Alarm is loud enough to be heard by your neighbors or passers-by, with the Eufy alarm set you can be happy if you hear the siren while you are upstairs.
Finally, the base station functions as a storage medium. This is particularly useful if you have more Eufy home automation, such as a security camera or doorbell. The video clips they record are then stored on the drive’s built-in storage memory. You can also put a USB stick in here.
Alarm set works properly
When you buy an alarm set to secure your home, you hope you never really need it. But to test whether it works properly, I ‘forgot’ to enter my PIN code several times when I came home through the front or back door and the alarm was turned on. Sure enough: after the entry delay ended, I immediately received a notification on my smartphone and started the (relatively soft) siren in the base station. The same happened when I turned on the alarm and walked into the living room from the hallway. So I have nothing to complain about in this respect.
Smart home integration could be better
Anker can improve its smart home integrations. It is currently possible to link the alarm system to the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. I don’t currently use the latter at home, but the Google Assistant is. I’ve linked my account to the Assistant through the Eufy app and can do some basic actions. I still miss real smart actions. For example, I would like to say ‘Hey Google, turn on the alarm’, but this can only be done via the control panel or the Eufy app. This may change later.
Fortunately, the Eufy app is very user-friendly, offers enough settings and works properly.
Conclusion: Want to buy an Eufy by Anker alarm set?
I think the Eufy by Anker 5-in-1 alarm system is a good choice if you are looking for a reliable alarm system under 199 euros. Extra nice is that this set has no additional costs in the form of a subscription. The main disadvantage for me is the poor availability of additional sensors, which you may want to buy to optimally protect your home. Hopefully this will change. For now it is good to know that the alarm system is user-friendly and does what it promises.
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