Dakota Alert Driveway Alarm System - Wireless Driveway Sensor, MURS Alert Probe Sensor (MAPS) Metal Detecting Transmitter, 50' of Direct Burial Cable & M538-BS Base Station, MAPS-BS-KIT, Long Range

We live off-grid on 40 acres. We have a 1000 foot driveway and live in the high desert region of Arizona. I bought this system to alert us whenever delivery trucks arrive (or neighbors or intruders). This is important because our home is so well insulated I seldom here any engine noise outside until a person has arrived at our front door! So far it has met all of my expectations! It works great and now I know whenever anyone passes through our outer gate! This is really convenient since we run a home business and often get deliveries to the house. I love knowing someone has arrived. My wife and I find it really relaxes us knowing we do not have to check outside whenever we think we hear an engine sound. If the alert does not sound NO ONE IS HERE BUT US! So far it has worked exactly as advertised with a 100 percent success rate with no false alerts or failures to detect!It was very easy to set up. After unpacking the system and reading the manuals, I adjusted the sensitivity as instructed in the manual (dial should be at 12 o clock position as per manual). Then I dug a hole parallel to the driveway right on the edge where the tire tracks are (I have a 16 foot wide driveway and wanted to make sure I get vehicles coming and going so decided to bury the sensor partially IN the driveway). I put the sensor in a 2 1/2 inch Schedule 80 PVC pipe (though schedule 40, 2 inch would have sufficed), then used gorilla tape on the ends of the pipe to add some water proofing. Then I buried the pipe in the hole in the driveway (again parallel to the driveway). I direct buried the wire from the sensor to a nearby tree in a shallow trench since it will never be disturbed and we live in a dry climate. The wire says on it that it is a direct bury type for use in sprinkler systems. Then I hung the transmitter on the opposite side of the tree so it cannot be seen from the driveway at 5 foot level and attached and extended the antenna. I went into the house, plugged the receiver in and voila! I called my wife who was in the house and then I drove past the now buried sensor with my truck. I could hear "Alert Zone 1" announce on the phone every time I drove by. It works perfectly!The voice alert is not very loud even at the maximum volume so if you have a large home you may not be able to hear the alert. This is ok since you can hook up an external buzzer or horn to the system if you wish. We like that the alert is not obnoxious and is a speaking voice and we can here it perfectly from anywhere in our 1500 square foot home. We have decided to keep our security system a secret from everyone since it does not make sense to install one then tell everybody we have one and proceed to tell them where the transmitters are located, etc.. Security systems work best when others do not know where or how they are used, duh!I highly recommend the product! 5 stars for sure! I will review the product again in a year and see how it holds up!June 19 Update: Still working perfectly and still on my first set of batteries! I have had a few false alerts during thunderstorms/lightning and once or twice I picked up a faint signal from someone's walkie talkie but otherwise it has worked flawlessly! Still love this device!November 9 Update: Still working perfectly and still on first set of batteries!January 18 2013 Update: Still working perfectly and still on first set of batteries! Wow this despite our many days below freezing and nights in the single digits! We love our system! No false alarms! If the alert is triggered I KNOW someone has arrived.April 23 2013 Update: Still on first set of batteries after 1 year and still works perfectly, every time!June 22 Update: OK so the first set of batteries finally got replaced today. The usually sharp "Alert Zone One" was dull and slow like a vinyl record played on a slower speed! So it seems to be easy to know when it is time to change the batteries: just listen for the slowing of the Alert message. Impressive battery life. I installed new Energizer batteries as they last more than 1 year in this device!!

Had mixed results at first, but very satisfied in the end (the MURS Alerts are the only Wireless Alerts that reliably work beyond 500ft !). I use them for both Wild Game detection and driveway notification.My story ==> I bought 2 of the original "Reporter Alerts" about 5yrs ago, they worked fine for about 3yrs up to about 500ft. After 3yrs one of the PIR transmitters failed because of corroded batteries, so I bought 3 new reporter transmitters. By then Reporter had been sold to Chamberlain and the 3 new PIR Transmitters were ALL total junk (worked to about 50ft, if you were lucky... total trash...). So, I gave up on reporter/Chamberlain, although I still use the one old unit that just keeps on working.Last year I purchased 2 Dakota WR3000 units with 2 extra PIR transmitters (4 total). Two transmitters worked to about 300ft and two worked to about 50-100ft. I used them for 1 year but have been very unsatisfied with the reliability of detection/transmission. So, I just bought 1 MURS Base Station, 1 MURS Probe, 1 MURS PIR Transmitter. Initially I had 2 problems, the Base Station Relay connection did not work - which I wire to my house door bell, and the MAPS probe started giving me false Alerts after about 15 mins, but the PIR Transmitter worked great for both detection and transmission anywhere on my thick hilly property within about 1/4mile (1500ft) of the Base Station in my garage. So, I immediately returned the BS+MAPS unit for exchange/replacement from the supplier AutoBarn.AutoBarn sucked for the exchange. They answer the phone, but their constant delay/excuse tactics took 3 weeks until I got a new unit. I will NEVER buy anything from AutoBarn again.The new BS relay worked fine, but the MAPS unit had the same problem (false Alerts after about 15mins of power-on). So, I called Dakota Alerts directly. The Dakota customer support folks are outstanding ! They answer the phone on 1-3 rings and make it clear they stand by their products and want to make it right. They immediately offered a new replacement unit (wanted to send the new one, then I would return the old one, to save time). I finally found my problem (my fault, bad batteries, how embarrassing...). So, I immediately E-Mailed Dakota and cancelled the 2nd exchange (Stupid Customer here !). In the end, both the MURS MAPS and PIR transmitter work great ! I am very satisfied with both units and very impressed with the DakotAlerts support team. They even convinced me to return the 4 older WR3000 transmitters, so they could check/replace them.In summary, the MURS Alerts work great, the DakotaAlert support team is outstanding, and AutoBarn customer support sucks ! I gave 4stars to this product, only because of the AutoBarn return experience, the Dakota MURS gets 5-Stars.

I found this to be very useful and works almost flawlessly. With the underground probe, it eliminates the nuisance alarms of animals and such. The only thing is is that it may send an alarm during a good thunder/lightning storm. Another drawback is the life of the batteries. Not very long. A few months at best and I don't have a lot of traffic up my driveway. After reading another review, I have taken one of those 12 volt four wheeler batteries and hooked it up and now I don't have to worry about changing batteries every 3 months. Just recharge it. You just have to have an electrical meter and find the positive and negative on the battery board. I used alligator clips on the battery board and then used female stake-on's for the 12 volt battery. Now I just need to find a battery box to store battery in. Other than those minor flaws, I really like this thing!

Eats batteries like crazy. Expensive non-standard batteries hard to find. No provision for external power. Probe is hard-wired to transmitter, and won't unplug: on my installation, this makes it very difficult to change batteries. Fails to trigger if it has been raining and ground is wet. False alerts A LOT in electrical storms ( which helps run down the batteries). A VERY expensive solution that seems to be a prototype or beta model. Save your money and buy one after they finish testing it on those of us dumb enough to buy it now (mid-2019). Mine works less than half of the time.