KidSmart Vocal Smoke Detector

Because this alarm doesn't interconnect, a lot of fire or smoke has to be in my children's room before it goes off. It needs to have an interconnect so an initiating detector closer to the fire will cause… this one in the bedroom to alarm. Because of this, it's better to use interconnected detectors with a relay to a voice evacuation system. This is costly, so I would still consider one of these voice units. I believe the research behind these detectors, but the design ignores a lot of other things we've learned just to deliver one feature. The research that led to the voice features on this detector just assumed the alarm would go off at the first indication of fire. But if these units are in closed childrens bedrooms, they'll be the very last detectors to sound. Because they use photoelectric sensors, they will typically respond slower than ionizing sensors and especially slower to a fast flaming fire. Ionizing sensors are not necessarily better and a complete solution should include both types of detectors. Because one product cannot practically deliver all features (ionizing, photoelectric, heat, CO, voice alarm, safety light, strobe), it reinforces the benefit of interconnected alarms.

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My dad has hearing problems. He is able to hear low frequencies like daily sounds (talking, cars, etc.), but has problems sometimes with the higher frequencies like tweeting from a phone, battery low… alarms, and some smoke detectors especially high frequencies. We found this out during a false alarm from one of our other smoke detectors. Being able to hear a pre-recorded message alarm makes it possible for my dad to hear the smoke detector during an house fire. It allows you to record a short 30 second message, so you need to be precise in the message you're communicating during a emergency. The smoke detector alarm includes a flashing light and high frequency beeping. I'd probably recommend that he take it with him on his trips where the hotels have high frequency alarms.

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