door bell?

[RustyRed]

Does anyone know of a good unit to hook up at your front door as an intercom type of thing?

I've been doing some looking around this evening and the prices are all over the board. Some come with video, some even night vision and others are just audio.

This evening the boys and I were heading to local get together the car club has every Saturday night.

It's about 10 minutes from the house and we didn't even get there before the wife was calling. A few minutes after we left some dude knocked on the door. She didn't answer and told him to go away through the door. Who sells after dark door to door?

I came back home, got my flashlight and pistol out and checked around, guy was long gone after just a couple minutes and believe me the Stang and I were doing some "spirited" driving coming home. I went to the neighbor's house. No one came by there trying to sell anything, etc.

Why would you try to sell me something after dark and not the neighbor? Wife said something just didn't "seem right" about the whole deal and I told her glad she did what my sensei always tells us to do...trust your gut and develop that sense of when things are "off".

I keep telling her she needs to stop being "scared" and just learn to shoot a pistol already.

But I was thinking about adding some sort of intercom to the front door so that they would have no doubt that I was telling them to get lost if someone comes along with some lame excuse to ring my bell checking if someone is home or not.

 

[RapidRabbit]

I saw a peep hole digital camera on HGTV last year.

From the outside it looks like a regular peephole, but inside it has a display screen and I think it can record when you are not home.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Can't name anything off the top of my head, but I'd definitly get something like a reomte camera. Sounds like he was casing the house though. I'd be on double duty. And there is no reason why someone would be selling anything after dark.

 

[RustyRed]

I thought it was strange on the timing that he came to the door literally less than 10 minutes after we left.

My guess is the usual MO...knock on the front door, if no one answers go round back to break in.

It really wouldn't have mattered in a way though. If no one was home the alarm would've been set. I'd have really ruined his day if I had been the only one home and not answered the door for whatever reason.

I've found a couple of options. What I really want is something that you can talk to whoever at the door to tell them to get lost without opening the door. Something along these lines:

http://www.gadgetshack.com/basic-doorbell-intercom.html

However, I've been thinking about going a bit higher up the line and getting this one

http://www.gadgetshack.com/wire-color-video-intercom-system-.html

Our door has windows built into it so you can look out and see who's there...not sure I really need the camera option but it would be nice for some thug to look down and see the camera if they were up to no good.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe this episode will help convince her to learn how to shoot a pistol and not be afraid. I've never understood the whole "I'm afraid of guns" thing.

Deb was that way when we first met, lets just say after all these years, if you are around her and she's armed and hear her yell stop or I'll shoot....I would highly suggest you STOP!

 

[RapidRabbit]

If we had a gun, my wife would use it. :2guns
But there would probably be a few less Jehovah's witnesses wandering our neighborhood. :lol

 

[stump]

We have a system we bought from Lowes. It's made by Westinghouse and/or NOVA by Linear. They are multi-channel intercoms which connect through the home's AC wiring (just plug them in). Though we never tried it, you can also get the camera setup. Ours have worked great. We have 4 separate building (House, Barn, Garages 1 & 2) and this saves us a lot of walking. It would be possible for us the add a Camera/intercom at the front gate, since we've run AC power there for the gate opener, but for now it's only the intercom. The way it works here, folks stop at the front gate and while keeping a close eye on the German shepherd, they call over the intercom for access... People we want to see are invited in and we call back the dog, ones we don't are asked to leave...

And, for those who should choose to enter without an invitation, all residents are armed at all times. That's how we do it on the farm, I'm sure it would work in the city also...

Major componets of this security system:

 

[RustyRed]

I had seen the Westinghouse units also but I am glad to hear someone likes them before I buy one. After thinking about it the only use I can think of for the camera is hooking it up to a recorder. That way if the alarm goes off when no one is home because of a back window getting broken all you'd have to do is check the tape a couple of minutes before the alarm went off and odds are you'd have a mug shot of the guy to give to the police.

I am going to convince her to go to the shooting range soon. If I put .38 wad cutter rounds in my .357 that would probably be a good way to get her used to the idea of handling a gun. Later I can work her up to .38's and then maybe .357.

Honestly though, even with .357 hollow points my gun really doesn't have much recoil.

Heck, my mom has a .38 that they keep loaded with hollow points and I'd dare someone to break in when mom is home alone. She wouldn't even bother to say "stop or I'll shoot" if you were coming through their front door...she'd blow you away faster than my step-dad would, LOL!

I want to get a semi-auto to use to qualify for my conceal carry license anyway. It's a goofy deal but if you qualify with a semi-auto then you can carry either that or a revolver. But if you qualify with a revolver then you aren't licensed to carry a semi-auto.

What I really want is a .45 but wouldn't mind the mag capcity of some of the 9mm's. However, I'd prefer to have the knock down power of a .45.