I don't see the hype with glass break sensors in 2025

Last month I installed a full system for a client in Austin, Texas, and they insisted on glass break sensors for every window. I tried to talk them into just using contact sensors since glass breaks false alarm so much in windy areas. Three years ago I had a job where a glass break sensor went off from a neighbor's lawn mower bouncing a rock, and the police showed up for nothing. Has anyone else had more trouble than value with these things?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora1101mo ago

That rock story is just another case of technology overcomplicating simple things.

miles_roberts1mo ago

A lawn mower threw a rock hard enough to set off a glass break sensor? Wait, I need to sit down for a second because that is absolutely wild to me. I have installed those things in Texas for years and never once had anything like that happen, maybe I have just been lucky. But that story makes me wonder how sensitive some of these sensors actually are, maybe they are picking up way more vibrations than they should. Clients always hear "extra security" and think they need glass break sensors for every window, but that rock story makes me think the false alarm risk is way higher than people realize. I have seen a bird hit a window hard enough to set off a basic contact sensor before, but a rock from five feet away triggering a glass break sensor is next level stuff. Makes me grateful I mostly stick with contact sensors and save the glass break ones for sliding doors and big picture windows only.