This is a well-priced Smoke and Monoxide detector kit that has a neat party trick of alerting all detectors when one goes off.
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Overall Review10
X-Sense 3-Pack SC07-W Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Overview
It was only a few years ago when I moved into my first apartment and then eight months later need to move out due to my above neighbor catching their garage on fire.
Luckily, I wasn’t home at the time, but the smoke and damage from the fire caused great valuable losses. If only their garage had a smoke detector to alert them of a raging fire, then most of the damage may have been suppressed by a fire extinguisher.
Fires in homes are devastating and carbon monoxide can be deadly; more so when you are sound asleep. That’s why it’s important to always be alerted.
Today, I’ll be taking a look at the X-Sense SC07-W Smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors, a 3-pack synced consumer alarm.
Mounting
X-Sense’s party trick with their detectors is that they are RF connected. This 3-pack that was sent to me was all interconnected via an RF signal allowing all three to alert when on is triggered.
On a ranch-style home, I opted to put one each in my garage, basement, and living room, covering large area rooms within the house and alerting me if one of them is triggered.
X-Sense uses a plastic detectable mounting bracket that screws into either wood or the provided drywall anchors.
I found that mounting the detectors in general can be a little troublesome. You need to use the detachable plastic mounting bracket to outline three holes onto the surface. Not only do most detectors only require two holes, but most have options to twist onto the mounting screws; whereas these do not.
Once mounted, the bracket is designed in such a way that it flips the detector’s on-switch to ON. Once the detectors are turned ON, there is no physical way of turning them off; only a permanent disable feature as traditional of detectors.
Design
The tough, enclosed, flat white plastic housing is aesthetically pleasing to see mounted to the ceiling. Wrapped around the face of the detector is a nice gray mesh that I quite like.
On the face of the detector, there is a backlit numbered display that outputs useful information to the user. Below the display is a visual color output light that indicates specific problems in the room; either Red (Alarm), Yellow (Fault), or Green (Safe).
Largely placed in the direct center of the face is the unit’s test/silence button. One single press or long press of this button will silence the alarm or begin a test. Testing produces run-through beeps, status LED checks, and sensor checks. Long pressing tests the RF connectivity to other units.
The front display outputs the current Parts Per Million (PPM) of CO within the air within a range of 0 and 999ppm. Besides the PPM output is a battery indicator and after a short time period, the entire backlit display turns off to conserve battery.
Personally, I would have preferred an LED light that shines during an alarm over a readout of how much CO is within the air. That said, it appears that a display might cause more people to be worried about something they cannot see or smell over just silencing an alarm.
Functionality
Hopefully, the functionality of a smoke and carbon monoxide detector is something nobody ever needs to use, but testing with some artificial smoke does showcase the detectors doing their intended job.
Most home cameras have microphones to also detect smoke alarms and X-Sense’s detectors output a loud 85db beeping in specific rhythms to indicate problems and are picked up by my home cameras.
The beeping is loud, clear, and will change depending on the detection. Long beeps for smoke detection and short beeps for CO detection.
One slight annoyance I have is that these detectors do not come paired. Reading through the manual, there is a paring process the user must follow to pair the units.
After detectors are turned to ON, begin with unit1 and press the Test/Silence button four times. Take unit2 and press the button two times. After a second or two, the units will beep indicating a pair. Repeat the process to add additional detectors.
Once all paired, test the RF connectivity by holding down the Test/Silence button and the other detectors should receive a test command along as the button is continued to be held down.
X-Sense installed a 10-year lithium battery inside each unit that powers a standard photoelectric smoke sensor and an electrochemical CO sensor.
My Thoughts
I quite like now knowing that the detectors in my home are all interconnected and also now monitoring CO levels, something many homes lack.
X-Sense makes a great product and it’s an Amazon-based company that doesn’t just have one product and may disappear in the near future. They’re specializing in the smoke detection industry and even offer accessories for their units such as a master, ground-level test/silence remote.
The SC07-W can be expanded to 24 total detectors within their RF network and X-Sense sells packages of detectors in configurations of 1, 3, 5, and 6.
This 3-pack reviewed today is $110 on Amazon which is more than reasonable given that a reputable brand, such as First Alert, sells a Smoke and Carbon Monoxide detector for $36/ea. without RF connectivity.
I’m a big fan of these detectors and confidentially recommend them to any homeowner or even small business.
© 2022 Justin Vendette
