Quality and Warranty
With Armorax, you buy your equipment, so expect to pay a hefty upfront payment. The company relies on 2GIG and Alarm.com hardware, which comes with a 3-5-year warranty and a $199 installation fee.
They also offer a 30-day trial with a money-back guarantee. You should be able to get a full refund for your equipment if you cancel during the first 30 days of shipping.
The security system is wireless, so you can take it with you when you move, and there is no fee for relocating. Also, make sure you have a strong signal in your area.
Features
Armorax offers 24/7 professional monitoring for medical emergencies, fire, and break-ins. Its wireless equipment has a 150-foot range indoors and a 300-foot range outdoors. The remote control is possible via the mobile app or the provided key fob, while disaster protection comes with fire and flood sensors.
Security monitoring with Armorax features a less-than-two-minutes response time, alerts sent to your smartphone, email or phone. Armorax alarm produces an earsplitting sound, which is very likely to alert your neighbors.
Cameras are available in the indoor ($139) and outdoor builds ($219). There is also a doorbell cam on offer worth $179.
The indoor cam has no pan-and-tilt but comes with a 110-degree field of view, HD resolution, and night vision. The outdoor cam comes with a rugged casing.
The Skybell HD doorbell cam features a 1080p resolution, colored night vision, and 5x zoom. It also comes with two-way audio, so you can speak to whoever is at your door using your mobile app. It has a motion detector and uploads its recording to the cloud.
Armorax control panels are 2GIG GC2 panel and GC3 touchscreen panel that work with a wide range of sensors and environmental detectors. You can build your system hand-picking the equipment, but expect to pay about $649 for a basic system if you don’t want to sign a three-year contract.
Home automation allows you to control your thermostats, lights, doorbell cameras, smart locks, garage door controllers, indoor and outdoor cameras from your system. Some equipment can be voice-activated. Both control panels work with Z-Wave-compatible devices, but the implementation is not universal. Meaning some devices will work with Armorax, others won’t.
Although self-monitoring is no longer advertised, you can choose to monitor your Armorax equipment independently. The fee is $29.95/mo if you wish to have access to the Alarm.com mobile and web app. It allows you to access your security system remotely, adjust its settings, control it, and receive emails and text alerts, as well as view camera streams and save them in the cloud.
Without the monthly fee, you won’t receive an alert on your smartphone. Nor will you be able to remotely arm/disarm your system, or see its status. Without the mobile app, it’s an overpriced and limited local alarm with no remote control.
Price
Armorax doesn’t include the equipment price in your monthly monitoring fee, and you can choose to pay-as-you-go or sign a three-year contract. The latter comes with an early termination fee, which depends on how many months remain on your contract.
Armorax has three pricing packages:
- Basic – $34.95/mo, + $99 upfront equipment costs if you sign a contract. If you don’t sign a contract, you must pay the full equipment cost upfront ($649 and up). Basic includes 24/7 cellular monitoring, an encrypted control panel, 3 door and/or window sensors, one motion sensor, a keypad, a Verizon sim card, and one key fob. You can upgrade your plan to include video cameras, additional sensors, and a touchscreen control panel for an extra fee.
- Intermediate – $39.99/mo + $99 equipment fee in contract. Intermediate adds the mobile app to Basic features.
- Advanced – $44.95/mo + $99 equipment fee. It adds home automation features.
A three-year contract gives you upfront equipment discounts, but the monthly monitoring fees are the same in the contract and contract-less options. Also, your monthly fee is locked for the duration of your contract.
Support
Armorax website provides very little information about their pricing, warranty, ordering, equipment specs or contact information. You have to contact their sales agents by phone or live chat to get the basic information other providers have no problem disclosing. There are no FAQs or knowledge base either. Also, expect long waiting queues to get through to support.
Let’s hope Armorax reconsiders the value of transparency.
Installation
Armorax equipment ships pre-programmed and ready to peel-and-stick. The control panel is a delight to use, especially if you opt for the GC3 touchscreen.
The door and window sensors and motion detectors connect automatically once you power up your control panel. There is no need to punch in activation codes. But additional equipment needs codes, which come in the accompanying manual.
Things to Consider
- Armorax made a few drastic overhauls in their pricing and features recently, which could mean the company is either evolving or inconsistent. They also lack transparency.
- According to Armorax BBB A+ profile, the company serves the greater Chicago area and the surrounding suburbs.
- There aren’t all that many customer reviews for Armorax on Yelp and BBB. The company is only three years in the business, so the reputation is mostly non-existent. Some negative reviews come from delivery delays, others from misleading promotions.
Important Tips
- You can set the GC3 touchscreen panel to announce “Entry 1” or “Motion Detected” when your sensors are triggered, even if the system is disarmed. This is helpful if you have small children and want to keep tabs on their whereabouts in and around the house, pool, or garage.
- If you buy a camera, you get 30-day cloud storage that saves up to 1,000 three-minute clips. For continuous recording, you need Alarm.com DVR solution.
