You might not know this about me...I'm.actually a bit security expert & have spent just over 5 years installing alarms in homes & businesses... So you trust me... I'm battle-tested when it comes to this kind of thing. Anyway.

Did you know that Hive, the company best known for their incredibly smart futuristic & state of the art learning thermostat... sells security products?

So if you are planning to secure your home the smart way. Hold fire before you rush out and sign up for an extortionate security subscription service... And more importantly, be sure not to let those companies scare you into making a hasty decision.

You are gonna wanna see the Hive Home Shield first.

And you know you can trust Hive because the well-known and well-established British company, British Gas, will recommend new Hive home shield tech over every other smart alarm setup out there.

Here's why I like it. If you want to, you can install it all yourself...and if you need some help setting it up. Hive has qualified technicians who are health and safety trained & insured to climb ladders. And for a reasonable one of cost, they will fit the entire security system for you.

And in this video, I'll also show how easy it is, so set it up yourself because it really is straightforward. But keep in mind Hive does have an installation service available. So you can pay to get it set up professionally if you want.

And a little industry tip for you. If you are shopping around for security systems. Be very wary of companies who actually lease you the equipment on a subscription basis and charge you a hefty upfront fee as if you were buying the hardware when you actually aren't buying anything.

Ok, Here's why I like the Hive home shield kit. Let's start with the bell box. A critical component for any intruder alarm. It's your first line of defense. If you can deter the burglar from a distance. If you can do that successfully, you've already won half the battle against the burglars.

But the Hive bell box is not like the others...it's not a floppy piece of plastic glued to your house or just a hollow dummy box with a blinking light in it.

This is so much better than that...

Inside is a 110db siren & I've got one on the front and back of my house and when it goes off. The sound inside the house is unbearable. So imagine what the people outside can hear. Some companies have very quiet sirens that they only place inside, making them inaudible outside your property.

And from experience dealing with post-break-in situations. The first thing burglars tend to do is locate the source of sound and silence it quickly. But guess what, the Hive Siren is best when fitted high up. And it's mains powered & it has massive battery backup...

But that's not. There is a floodlight built-in. Which will come on automatically if your alarm is triggered and light up ample space in front of it, and it's bright.

And what makes this siren even better is you can trigger it on command with an SOS button...you can also do it remotely from the app...and you illuminate the lights when you want and even play dog barking sounds from it...to scare people off. So this is what I consider to be your first line of defense against professional burglars.

They won't have the cover of darkness, and they won't have the ability to silence the siren ...and they'll spot it from a mile off if their scouting houses to burgle. And it also might be the best-looking bell boxes out there. It's minimalistic but very effective.

There's nothing worse than a company using your property as advertising space and plastering their phone number on every corner...that's just my personal opinion.

Ok, now let's talk very quickly about the second, third, and fourth line of defense. So these are not new, but they are a necessary part of any security system. It's cameras. Hive view cameras, to be precise. I've got one watching the driveway and one overlooking the garden.

From my experience, When it comes to identifying an intruder..you are the best person to decide whether they are friends or foes. Because let me tell you. If you delegate this task to a company, who doesn't know what you and your friends and family...

All they will do if your alarm is triggered is call you and try and describe what they see....and 9 times out of 10, by the time anyone knows what the hell is going on, it's too late...

So the Hive View will allow you to make a quick, informed decision should the worst happen. It's faster without the middle man. Next is the 3rd line. The windows door sensors. These are classic magnet break sensors. A separation of the magnets will trigger an alarm...you can also set these to send notifications whenever they open and close... As well.

The fourth line of defense is your internal Hive motion sensors. I have the pet-friendly ones. These will not pick up pets lighter than 36KG...that's a big dog. If you have a dog that big, I pity the burglar who breaks into your house. Anyway, these will pick up motion when armed as you would expect. They're super easy to set up.

And here's a bonus line of defense. This actually might be better used for keeping an eye on maybe an elderly family member or a pet...it's the interior Hive View Cameras.

To see how easy it is to set up a door contact, a PIR, and a Hive View Camera check out the video above. Side note. If you're not confident climbing a ladder for the exterior cameras and all-important siren...use Hives installation service. They are very professional, they've done all the health and safety for ladders, and they're insured.