First Alert Battery Powered SCO500B Wireless Interconnected Photoelectric Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Combo Alarm with Voice and Location

I purchased two of these after being unhappy with First Alert ZCOMBO made for Ring, which I returned. This model interconnects with other SCO500B models so that if there is an alert in another part of the house, all alarms beep and give a voice alert. These units cannot connect to my Ring Alarm system. That is fine with me as I discuss in my review of the ZCOMBO model. I had no problems at all with setting up these two units and choosing the voice location feature. So far, no false alarms and the units are working fine. I have read the "one star" reviews and people have had false alarms after a period of time. Mine have been up for one week with no problems but if I start getting false alarms, I will update this review. The distance that these interconnect seems good as I have tested these two in different parts of my house. I will probably buy two more for other areas. One thing that I like about this design is that if it detects CO, the alarm goes off and then it speaks the CO level to let you know how much CO has been detected. As I discussed in my other review of the ZCOMBO unit, people should not just assume that getting a CO alarm means that the unit is broken. There are many possible reasons why CO may be in your house and before declaring them defective, it is important to get a professional or the fire department to check your house. If you do an online search of CO in your house you will see that it is possible that a crack can develop in a furnace causing CO to mix with the heated air. Also, gas appliances such as heaters and even gas stoves, if not vented correctly can cause CO to enter a house. If one of these signals a CO alarm, take it very seriously because your life could be at risk. Don't ever assume that the alarm is simply broken until you are absolutely sure it is. I read a review of this item saying that the alarm on these units might not be heard by older people with hearing loss. The alarm on these units is very loud and someone would really have to be very hard of hearing to not hear this. In fact, when setting these up, you should probably wear ear protection because the alarm is very loud. I would recommend that people wear ear plugs even when testing these alarms. When setting these up, it is important to follow the instructions on the enclosed sheet because it is not easy to figure out without instructions. I found that the setup was easy when following the instructions. There are also some reviews here that have setup instructions, which can also be helpful. I consider these the best units that I could find for warning me about fire or CO when I am home. The only problem is that it will not notify me if I am away from home. I have decided that I am also going to buy two Nest Protect Smoke/CO alarms, one for each level of my home and in rooms that do not have this unit, the First Alert SCO500B. It is simply too expensive for me to buy six Nest Protect alarms which would be close to $700. I think that buying four of these units and two Nest Protect units, I can get a good smoke/CO alarm system at a reasonable price. In the future, if I decide that I want to connect these alarms with my Ring Alarm system, I will purchase a Ring Listener which is designed to be installed near and alarm and will send an alert to the Ring alarm monitoring company. I am still worried about connecting my Ring Alarm with smoke/CO detectors. The reason is that if there is any type of alarm sent, even false ones, Ring monitoring will send out the local fire department and they cannot be recalled. In my city, false alarms will get fined at increasing amounts and your alarm license can be banned for too many false alarms. I think that the First Alert SCO500B is a good smoke/CO alarm and I would recommend this model. Realize though that all smoke alarms are now designed to have a seven year life span. So know that in seven years all these units will have to be replaced with new ones.

Works fine

They were easy to install but the reason I'm not giving it a 5 star review is that the instructions for the pairing process was not adequate. We had to go online on the First Alert support page.this is how we linked them all. First Alert Help Center Expand search SMOKE & CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS Wireless Interconnect Pairing Instructions What are the steps to pair wireless interconnecting detectors to each other? Step 1: Pick a unit to be the “Teacher”On that unit, open and close the battery drawer (if batteries are not installed, insert them at this time.)This is all you do with this unit right now.Step 2: Prep the “Students”On the units you want to connect (all the other detectors, minus the “Teacher”), while the drawer is open, press and hold test button and close drawer at the same time.The light on the detector should be now blinking green.Step 3: Press and hold down the test button on the “Teacher”You should then hear the other units (“Students”) chirp or start talking. This will indicate they are paired.Step 4: Press and hold the test button on any unit to test them.If you paired them successfully, they should all start to test.Make sure you hold the test button down until each chirp or say “Testing” (voice units only).To set location: SCO500, SA511, and CO511 units all have a voice feature. In order to change/set location, follow these steps: 1. Open and close the battery drawer on the unit you want to set the location on. 2. The unit will begin to talk and mention “To change location, press and hold test button now.” At that moment, press down on the test button for about a second and let go. You should then hear the different location options. If you don’t, start from the beginning and try again. 3. When you come to the location you would like to set, press and hold the test button down on that location. If you miss the location you want, don’t worry. The options will continue to cycle through and back to the beginning. 4. Once the new location has been set, the detector will notify you by saying “(Insert Location) location has been programmed.” Note: If you ever need to unpair your alarms, follow these steps to do so. 1. Insert the batteries into the drawer of the alarm to be unlinked. DO NOT CLOSE THE DRAWER. 2. Press and hold the test button while closing the battery drawer. 3. Once you hear the unit chirp, release the test button. The green power LED will start to blink indicating the Wireless Alarm is waiting for program data. 4. Press and hold the test button on the same alarm to unlink until the alarm chirps and its green power LED stops blinking. Then release the test button. 5. This alarm is now unlinked

I use these when I am changing a panel out and required to add Smoke Detectors per code. The benefit of these is you can integrate hardwired, wireless, and co detectors to the same system. you were required to have one smoke detector in each bedroom, within 12 feet of every bedroom door, and one on every level. I also recommend using a smoke/carbon monoxide detector on the hallway units if you have gas appliances in the house.

These wireless interconnected smoke detectors are amazing!!! They are so easy to connect to each other including the ones that are combination smoke and CO detectors. We bought 4 of the smoke for the bedrooms and 3 of the smoke and CO for each level of our home including the basement. They all talk with each other, the voice commands are cool, and each room/hallway has its own location; if smoke or CO is detected in one of the locations, all of the detectors will alarm and the voice commands will tell you which location is detecting smoke or CO and tell you the level of CO detected. It doesn’t get much cooler than that! You can’t beat the price of these detectors on Amazon either. So happy with this purchase and would highly recommend!

require hearing aids. Being alerted from an active smoke detector is mostly impossible because the volume and pitch is too quiet. The First Alert smoke/CO detector solved my problem. I have installed five (5) detectors in my home. Installed in basement, Kitchen, Hall, Master bedroom, and Guest bedroom. The other night I fell asleep in the living room. The hall alarm sounded that there was a CO detection of 64PPM, The alarm woke me up as the alarm is at 85db. All 5 alarms sounded off. Finally, if there was an alert from another room. I will be alerted as to the exact source. This product will certainly be a life saver for the hearing impared.

Product came in on time and there was no damage. I ordered 6 units for bedrooms hallway and kitchen. The product has been improved from the the last set which had a life span of 7 years these new ones have a life span of 10 years a 42 percent improvement!

We bought an older home in New Hampshire and there were only single station battery smoke detectors, this worried me because we have young children and I was petrified of having a fire in the basement and not finding out until it was too late. I checked Amazon and amazingly there they were, wireless battery operated interconnected smoke & carbon monxide detectors. These should be mandatory for selling a house by the fire department. I now can sleep better knowing I am protected. I installed 4 detectors and test a different detector once a week and they work as advertised. No more guessing on which detector has the low battery, it actually tells you which one has the low battery. Just read the description. Hopefully the best investment I made. Don't want a fire, but feel better with these.