Guardline Extra Receiver for 500 ft. Wireless Driveway Alarm

I've been using a $15 Harbor Freight driveway sensor for years... gone through 2 of them. I thought missed detections and false alarms was just to be expected. But this spring when I was getting false alarms several times a day, I got mad and looked to find a better unit. After some study, I selected this Guardline alarm and I'm very glad I did. It was much more expensive that what I had been using, but if it really worked well the additional cost would be worth it to me. I ordered it through Amazon. It arrived just a few days later. There were two boxes inside- one for the alarm portion that goes into the house, the other the sensor that gets mounted outside so it has a view of the driveway. The setup instructions were very clear and easy to follow. The sensor was easy to assemble and insert the AAA batteries needed. Pairing with the receiver went smoothly. In my use, the receiver is inside of a steel sided house and the sensor is about 150 feet away. The sensor is mounted about 4' high, is attached to a pine board which is, in turn, attached to a tree. It is possible to point the sensor in various directions, enable a slow speed detection, alter maximum detection range, change re-detection time, and adjust sensitivity. In fact, I was surprised at how custom this alarm can be. Every thing went real smoothly ..... except I was getting too many false alarms and a few missed detections. I went back to the sensor and tried to readjust where it pointed. That made a tremendous difference in performance. After using it for well over a week, I am delighted with its sensitivity. I get very few false alarms (deer walking past the sensor, a huge crow walking on the driveway, and a few alarms with unknown causes) but every true situation (car in driveway, person walking in driveway) has been picked up. Perhaps the most difficult part of the system configuration is deciding which of the 32 alarm sounds you want to hear.... I chose a "car horn" and that has been working well. I have also been contacted by the company, twice, asking if the setup was going ok or if I could use any help (I never needed their help). Bottom line: high quality product, rapid delivery, good instructions to setup, ample offers of assistance if needed, and excellent performance. That was actually more than I was expecting from this driveway alert product. Was it worth a more premium price? Absolutely yes. I have no regrets at all about this purchase.

This is an augmentation to my original review below which at the time I had rated this product at four stars. I changed the rating to five stars because in the time I had it, it worked quite well and then when I had a problem four years later I was very satisfied with their customer service. I purchased this item in December 2016. The item worked quite well and I was quite satisfied with it. There was an occasional false alarm which I think is to be expected. More than once when I looked in my driveway there was either a squirrel or a crow that had set it off. In August 2020 the sensor started acting up. It kept going off every few seconds. I followed the troubleshooting section in the instructions to no avail. At the bottom of the manual there was an email address for more information. I sent a note to Guardline asking for help in fixing my alarm. They replied they were going to send me another sensor. I wrote back and told them this unit was not new and that I purchased it about four years ago. They wrote back and told me they shipped me another sensor anyway. Now, you can't beat that for customer service. ==============Original Review============== I just finished installing this product so I cannot yet comment on the reliability it. I will give my initial impression. This is more expensive than most of the other alarms. I purchased it because of the high ratings in the product reviews. The sensor housing looks cheap. That doesn't mean it won't be reliable but I would expect better cosmetics for the hundred dollars I paid for it. My biggest objection is the ball joint that is used to aim the sensor. It is far too loose. I received and e-mail from the vendor that sold it to me about the time it was delivered telling me about the product. In it, it had this sentence: "If your sensor doesn't stay pointed in the direction that you aim it or the ball joint is loose, you can easily fix this by tightening the screw located on the back of the mounting plate." This is not true. I tightened it as much as I could and it still was loose. I suppose one could put a drop of glue on the ball joint to keep it in place but that should not have to be necessary. The instructions were a little hard to follow and there were a few minor mistakes in them. For example, it said see section "G" to set some of the advanced features. The settings were described in section "I." Also the instructions showed three sets of four DIP switches each set of switches labeled 1 to 4 to set the advanced features whereby on the unit there was one set of 12 DIP switches numbered 1-12. Most people wouldn't be changing these advanced features anyway (I didn't) but, like I said, it was somewhat hard to follow. In Amazon's product description it says, "4 “zones” allowing up to 12 sensors per zone." But according to the instructions there can be no more than 4 sensors per zone,16 total. But even that seems to me more sensors than I can imagine anyone using. There are plenty of melodies to choose from - 32 in all. A different melody can be set for each zone so one doesn't have to look at the sensor to know what zone has been tripped if one learns what melodies go with what zones.

EDIT, 9/30/2017: It just rained, and the rain pushed the sensor downward, probably about an angle of 30 degrees, so only the closet half of the driveway was being monitored. The cover is a little dinky thing that sits on the sensor like a hat, so it's not easy to try to tape the sensor in place. I'll have to try to come up with a more permanent solution. I shouldn't have to deal with this for something I paid $100 for. I wonder how often that has happened to others without them realizing it. I was lucky to notice it myself so quickly. So I lowered my rating to 4 stars. If I continue to struggle with this problem, I'll revise my review. ORIGINAL REVIEW, 9/30/2017: I love this little thing. It's really nice to have advance notice when someone is approaching the house, whether they are there for legitimate purposes or not. Delivery people typically don't ring the doorbell, but this lets me know a package is at my front door. If I want to pretend I'm not home, I can be quiet before someone approaches the house so I won't give myself away. Friends don't have to wait on me if they are there to pick me up without me having to wait at the front door. I also use it for hanging out in the backyard where I can't hear the doorbell. The receiver can be both plugged in with a cord, and battery powered (4 AAA's). So I can just unplug it, carry it with me and sit it next to me, and just re-plug it in when I go back inside. Once fastened, the sensor can be moved to any angle you want. I have mine pointed at the corner of my neighbor's house so it won't point to their backyard, so I don't have to worry about it going off when they are walking around their backyard. There are 32 different chimes that the receiver can play. They vary in length, volume and abrasiveness (such as a car horn vs. a baby melody). There is also a volume control. It's not so loud that it will overcome your stereo on full blast, but it's loud enough. I have mine set to the Charge! tune they play at the Kentucky Derby/horse races, which isn't too jarring, long enough so it registers, but not so long that it gets on my nerves. There isn't a switch on the outside of the sensor, so the only way to disable it is to unscrew the front and remove the batteries, and that's impossible to do without setting it off. I guess you could also just cover it up or point it to the sky, but that will also set it off. The color is ideal, as it is not noticeable at all. Even the receiver looks sharp sitting on the counter. The sensor eye turns red when it is set off, but you can't see it in broad daylight, but I don't know why they have it do it in the first place. I also like how it can be paired up with additional sensors and receivers. I was considering a very inexpensive competitor that is white, which seems to defeat the purpose, as you would want it to be more camouflaged. If someone knows it is there, they can just walk around or under it. Also, the competitor has an on/off switch right on the side of the sensor. What?!? That seems really dumb. The competitor's receiver also is the type that plugs right in the wall, and I was worried about if I used it by the pool, the outdoor plug with the cover is not the type where you can easily cram something sizeable right up against it. Also, I since I can put this one right next to me, I don't have to worry so much about hearing it if I'm not sitting right next to the outlet. This is expensive, but it seems very reliable and easy to use. I'm very glad I got it.

First I'd like to give Guardline 2 thumbs up for packaging. Very professional with a user manual and a quick start guide. The manual is well written with pictures to show the switches and what they do. Well done. Setup was easy and it works perfect. The sensor is made out of some kind of plastic. Since it is not going to be under any stress so it should last a long time. The receiver is made out of heavier plastic and blends into the environment well even though its mostly black with silver. The base is designed so it is easily seen across the room. Large numbers so you can tell what zone is on even from another room. Comes with ac adapter. Wish other manufactures did the same instead as an accessory. You do need to provide 4 AAA and 4 AA batteries. Couple of things I wish it did... 1. Turn off the red light on the sensor. You can have it on for testing but be able to turn it off after it is installed so it is less noticeable. 2. The zone light only lights when the melody is playing. I wish it would stay on so that when I return to the house I can see if it was activated. It does offer NO and NC contacts so I could add an external led light but I haven't tried that yet and don't know if the contacts operate as the zone light does. I'll have to play with that. There are online videos on just about every procedure if you need the extra help. Nice feature. I use mine for mostly delivery alerts so I can get the packaged out of sight as soon as possible. Also to alert me when some door banger selling something comes to the door. I have mine about 7 feet high and about 10 feet from the door. The tilt on the sensor was easy to adjust for that angle and distance. Overall it is a great product. I hope I get many years out of it and possibly add a couple more sensors later. Hope this helps.

Update: 10/25/23 I am tired of trying to get this alarm to work. Lately the sensors are going off nonstop and no cars or animals are around. I have taken the sensors off their posts, checked for any moisture, changed batteries, but sensors continue to go off in error. I also examined the receiver, changed batteries, reset the system, still does not fix the alarm system. I am tossing this one and installing a different system. Failure. Spent too much for this to happen. I bought this system in 2020 directly from Guardline. My neighbor and I were able to install it without too much difficulty. The tiny screws for the sensors are horrible. Over time I did routine maintenance on the sensors and receiver: changing the batteries, cleaning spiderwebs and dirt from the sensors, adjusting them due to squirrels. The system performed rather well. However, over the past 6 months one of the sensors stopped working. I replaced the batteries, cleaned the unit, reset it, but still couldn't get it to work. So I went to Amazon to see if I could buy just one sensor to replace the nonworking one. I was ready to place an order but….thanks to the previous reviewers here I discovered the available sensors would not work with my existing system because Guardline changed the frequency and a new sensor is incompatible with my version. I thought about scrapping my system and buying another product but in the end decided to buy an entire new Guardline system. It would hopefully be less work. I received the new one quickly and installed the batteries. NOTE: several typos in the instructions, the receiver requires AAA not AA batteries. And they are still using those horrible tiny screws. Yesterday I installed the sensors, took me about 2 hrs and 2 calls to Guardline, one nonhelpful guy told me to watch a video 🤬. I finally got both units to work after resetting the system but what an ordeal. It shouldn't be this difficult. I hope this new system works as well as the old one.

My husband and I originally purchased this two sensor alarm system in May of 2018 as a way to alert us of vehicles entering the driveway and barn lot of our farm. It was quick and easy to install, came with everything needed with the exception of the batteries and has performed flawlessly in all seasons and weather conditions. (We've only had to replace the AA batteries once in 5 years.) The motion detect capability is very accurate and because the sensor units have a wide range of pivot on the mounting plate, you can easily dictate how close or far away you want motion detected (i.e. we can point the sensor downward to monitor movement only in the driveway or point it slightly upward to pick up movement several hundred feet beyond the drive). You can also assign a different alarm tone for each sensor unit, which is very helpful. We have the lower driveway alarm set with a specific "chime" and the second sensor installed higher up by the garage with its own unique tone. With the two separate alert tones, we can tell if someone has simply pulled in the driveway and stopped, or if they have continued on past the second sensor and into an area that is somewhat obstructed from view. (I'm pretty sure that feature alone has prevented "undesirables" from targeting our house on at least two occasions.) I really appreciate the quality materials Guardline uses. I like that the instructions are well written, easy to follow and that there is support staff available to answer any questions you may have regarding their products or installation. And YES, I love that Gueardline is a Small business located in the United States of America. In fact, we like our alarm system so much, we bought a second as a gift for a family member. Can't recommend this product or company highly enough!

First impressions count, here are mine: 1. The company spent a LOT on packaging to distract from the simplicity of this device. This is almost Apple level packaging to make you feel you're getting something impressive and valuable. 2. The product works as designed. I like that the IR sensor is adjustable in range and detection although infinite adjustable (like this amzn.com/B00KTCTV8G) would be even better 3. Given the attention to detail and comparable build quality to the much lower priced alternatives I'm ok with the price/performance value. However the price prohibits a higher overall rating. Yes, you get what you pay for but this is NOT a good value. If cost is a primary factor, look elsewhere. My recommendation: Build your own with components such as the sensor I linked to above. 4. It is out of date. The power cable should be USB. The unit should have read/write flash memory to add custom ringtones. Wifi, Integration with smart homes, etc. should be added. 5. I am a satisfied customer but I am unlikely to be a repeat customer. At this price I expect more than just reliable functions. Edit 3/14 3 weeks in and very few false positives once I adjusted the angle and reduced the sensitivity to lowest setting. Our driveway is 220' long and at the medium distance setting it would still get set off by large trucks driving on the road. The available sound samples quickly became repetitive and annoying and we've settled on the barking dog as the list annoying, yet ear catching sound.

I live in a rural area and historically had a dog that barks when someone enters the property. That old dog isn't too sharp anymore and my two new dogs apparently didn't read in their job description what they are supposed to bark at. They bark at deer, raccoons, coyotes, rabbits, skunks, the moon... pretty much at everything BUT cars/people entering the property. The Guardline Driveway Alarm is GREAT, dare I say better than my old dog because the Guardline gives less false alarms than dog did- (dog used to bark at joggers passing by). I have the unit hung in a tree so when the wind blows sometimes I get a false alarm when branches swing around, (may trim the tree to fix that if it get's too annoying) but otherwise this unit is perfect for my needs. It was simple to set up, the sender and receiver are hundreds of feet apart with no problems (though in clean line of site). Lots of ring tones to choose from (one is the sound of a dog barking... ha!) unit is easy to change the volume, change the ring tone or to turn the unit off. I plan to build a little house for the sender for winter months to protect it from the elements (as per manufacture recommendation) but for now it's good in the shade of the tree. Love it, no regrets, highly recommend this.