Cavius Wireless Family Home Starter Kit product reviews

I have had a Cavius smoke alarm before, and I loved it. With a long-life battery that I wouldn't have to worry about, and a snooze button for when the flatmate is making toast; it was ideal. My only issue with that alarm was that the snooze button was small and on the side, which made it difficult to switch off, unless I grabbed a chair to climb on top of (short people problems).

This Wireless Family Home Starter Kit however has dealt with that issue. On this latest version of the alarms, the entire bottom facing surface is the snooze button. This makes it very easy to hit snooze if it accidentally goes off, all I need to do is grab a broom, deodorant can, or any other object that extends my reach by about 15cm, and give the device a nudge.

I had forgotten how small these Cavius alarms were; they fit into the palm of your hand. Very compact, and feel much sturdier than the old cheap alarms I'm used to having. As you can see in the photo I've included, the alarms blend in with the ceiling very well. The smoke alarm is only visible because of the dark stripe, and the thermal alarm is practically invisible. In fact, you can clearly see the entire alarm blends in better with the ceiling than the mounts of the old alarms that were in place. So from an aesthetic standpoint, these Cavius alarms are brilliant.

Now the snooze has been a great feature for me, because I know the kitchen is the room most likely to have a fire occur. But thanks to cooking, it is also the room most likely to have smoke (but not in life threatening levels), so a thermal alarm is great, as I can have the alarm right in the kitchen, without having to worry about any smoke from my cooking setting it off.

The three alarms that come with the kit (two smoke alarms, and one thermal) all come with the ability to link together wirelessly. Simple to set up; flick all the alarms into "Learn" mode, press the snooze button on one (to be the master alarm), and once they all start blinking, they've been linked, and you can switch them back to "Normal" mode and put them up. This wireless connectivity is a great feature, as if one alarm goes off, all alarms will go off. So if there is a fire in the kitchen, a few seconds after my kitchen alarm sets off, all other alarms (bedroom hallway, and lounge) will go off, giving me time to escape before the fire gets too close to me. If all the alarms are going off, only the one that started it will stop them. A great safety feature that will force you to find out why the alarm went off in the first place (it will be the alarm that is flashing), and of course once you snooze that one alarm, all other alarms will then stop; you don't have to stop all of them individually.

Now I am going to talk a little about their customer service, because I received what might be considered a faulty product. I had my flatmate come home late this winter and turn on the shower too hot. He then started doing something in the kitchen before finally having a very long shower. This meant we had 30 minutes of very hot water running, and needless to say, plumes of steam erupted from the bathroom when he finally vacated it. Now for some reason, this set off the thermal alarm in the kitchen (on the other side of the flat). Hitting the snooze button, instead of snoozing for 10 minutes, the alarm went off again 3 minutes later, and kept doing so for nearly an hour (this was around midnight at this point). Obviously, I ended up removing the alarm from the mount and removing the battery, as nothing else was working. So I needed to contact Cavius.

Going through their facebook page, I sent them a message first thing in the morning, and within 5 hours, I had a response telling me that I could have it replaced at any Mitre 10, no questions asked, which was great. A simple solution, no receipt needed, or having to go through certain people at certain times. Just walk in to a store, hand in the faulty one, and get a new one. Received the new alarm, and have had no issues with it. So very pleased with the prompt service.

It is important to properly read the instructions. When I first installed them, I knew that they should be installed within 3 metres of the bedrooms, but I forgot that the smoke alarms should be kept away from the bathrooms and kitchen (my bathroom is 1 metre away from the bedrooms), so using the shower was at that point setting off the smoke alarms. But moving the alarm a metre further down the hallway solved that problem. Picking the location for the alarms was really the most difficult part of the installation, and really it wasn't all that hard if you read through the instructions properly.

While the price is on the steep side, I feel safer in the home knowing they are there. Long-life battery, a quality, sturdy product, with a loud sound that will alert all people in the house if one alarm is triggered. How much is a life worth? Much more than $210.

TL;DR Alarm looks and works great. Loud and easy to turn off. If one goes off, they will all go off. Steam will set off smoke alarms. Cavius will replace faulty items no questions asked.

What a wonderful idea! If you are like me, you will have done your share of flapping around the smoke alarm as the toast burns or the clothes dryer sends out too much humidity, frantically trying to stop the screeching above because the stupid smoke alarm does not know there is no fire to report.

This system has all the answers - a heat detector for the kitchen which does not react to smoke and steam, and two smoke alarms for other parts of the house. Because the alarms are linked through radio frequency technology, they will all go off together to signal an emergency - and the combined shrieking will wake anyone, even me! Because I sleep very little, the sleep I do get is very heavy so I need a sonic boom to wake me. This little system will do the trick!

Clever interaction aside, these little alarms are incredibly easy to install. They come with a manual that sets out very clear instructions, and the necessary screws and plugs are all included. It took me under an hour to install all three, and they look very neat sitting on the ceiling and winking down at you. They are aesthetically pleasing too, looking like an old-fashioned moulding if you happen to have a white ceiling!

Yes, they are expensive, but they have a five-year battery life; and what sort of cost can you put on lives anyway? Having an early warning system means that the humans (and animals) are given the chance to save themselves, and in an old wooden house like mine every second would count.

We have come a long way since the first smoke alarms - as big as a pudding bowl, and not especially attractive to look at. They had their place and no doubt did prevent some fires, but I can remember frequently disabling mine because it was annoying. It defeats the purpose if the alarm is too sensitive, or simply in the wrong place.

I had a single Cavius thermal heat alarm a couple of years ago so I know their products and can vouch for them. Quality and reliability do count. There is a certain peace of mind in knowing the alarm has your back. I have a wood burner in the sitting room and although it is ostensibly "safe", accidents do happen - and I prefer to know about them sooner rather than later.

This is a starter kit so there is the potential to add more units as required. Three units are probably enough for my house as it is quite small, but if I ever move to a bigger house I might consider adding more units. It is good to have that option.