Where do "pro" systems cost thousands?
Sorry I think you've mistaken me for a knowledgeable regular fitter of Yale products? Well, I'm not a fitter and as you have just pointed out I know very little about alarms!
In my area the prices aren't so reasonable for some reason (or maybe they are reasonable but my expectations aren't right?). We had four quotes for our four bedroom semi-detached house ranging from £1000-£1400. Yes those quotes were free but kind of pointless because they were well above what we hoped to pay. It would be a worthwhile investment if you're out at work all day every day but I work from home, so I am here most of the time and when I am out there's usually someone else home.
The reason we wanted an alarm was for the rare occasions when no one is here but I really can't justify well over a grand, so the Yale (with all its shortcomings) is actually a much more appealing option in our case. So that's my point really, surely a Yale alarm is better than no alarm at all? And from reading others experiences they say its pretty good for the money. If one of the quotes had been £500-£600 I may have gone for that, but at double that price, no thanks.
The other point I'd like to make is that even the best alarms don't necessarily stop burglars completely anyway do they? I know that the police don't tend to take any of them very seriously because of the amount of false alarms, so regardless of the unit's brand, is it really going to result in a high speed police car racing to your house? Or a neighbour actually taking notice of a siren? I'm genuinely not sure, so feel free to correct me (again) if I'm wrong! So basically my feeling is that the point of an alarm is to act as a simple deterrent, in that the burglar will see it and think "ah... ill try one of these houses without an alarm"? rather than make a property completely secure? Or perhaps he will see that its a Yale and know exactly how to bypass it, in the same way if they see its an ADT they'll just snip the phone wire (if they still work like that)?
Its hard to say, as I say, I don't know a lot about alarms, I just know the Yale ticks my boxes, and doesn't seem to be cheap tat really, it seems to be a well thought out product.