SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3) Review: 8.6/10
“Me too!! The chime from the siren is really quiet even on the highest setting, completely useless really.” That single line captures the strangest split in the feedback on the SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3): alarm volume gets described as “ear-splitting,” yet the door-chime use case can feel “completely useless.” Verdict: Conditional buy — 8.6/10.
Quick Verdict
The SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3) is a “Yes” if your goal is a louder alarm and better whole-home coverage, but “Conditional” if you’re buying it mainly to amplify door chimes in a noisy house.
| Call | What buyers liked | What tripped people up |
|---|---|---|
| Yes (for alarms) | “disorientingly loud,” “wake your neighbors” | Some call it “not very loud” in their setup |
| Conditional (for chimes) | Can mirror countdown beeps/chimes | Multiple users say chime volume is too quiet |
| Yes (DIY install) | “pull the tab…select a room. done.” | Adhesive strength complaints; occasional delay |
| Conditional (outdoors) | “mounted it outside…heard by your neighbors” | Weatherized vs weatherproof expectations |
| Conditional (value) | “great value,” “reasonably priced” | A few resent needing it because base siren feels weak |
Claims vs Reality
The SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3) is marketed on Amazon as a “loud, 105 dB indoor/outdoor siren” with “simple set up” and a “weather-resistant design.” Digging deeper into user reports across Amazon reviews, Best Buy reviews, and SimpliSafe’s own community forum, three gaps appear: how “105 dB” feels in real homes, what “door chime” mirroring actually delivers, and what “weather-resistant” means in practice.
Claim #1: “Loud 105dB siren—stop intruders in their tracks.” (Amazon product page)
Many owners echo that it’s brutally loud when the alarm actually triggers. A verified buyer on Amazon wrote: “omg its so loud. my poor dogs ran for the hills when we tested it.” Another Amazon reviewer framed it as neighborhood-level volume: “i’ll wake up the whole neighborhood!!!” Best Buy reviewer RandyR said: “it is very loud and can easily be heard by your neighbors,” describing only “about a 2 second delay” before it joined the base station.
But the “loud” claim isn’t universal in the way people expect, especially when placement and expectations differ. A verified buyer on Amazon said flatly: “not very loud… would not really scare anyone off and your neighbors would probably never hear it.” That contradiction doesn’t necessarily dispute the 105 dB spec; it shows how room placement, dampening surfaces, and distance change perceived volume. One Amazon reviewer even offered a placement hack: “place them on a high cabinet facing up to ceiling… the siren sound reflects off ceiling,” claiming “ear-splitting” coverage after repositioning.
Claim #2: “Simple set up—peel and stick…follow the steps in the SimpliSafe app.” (Amazon product page)
Ease of install is one of the most consistent cross-platform positives. A verified buyer on Amazon described it as intuitive: “a breeze to install with no need to open any manuals.” Best Buy reviewer Drew called it “easy to install and setup,” and another Best Buy customer summarized pairing as “very easy with no issues.”
Still, “simple” doesn’t always mean “set-and-forget.” One Best Buy reviewer (Gage) liked the setup but pointed out practical friction: “there is a delay between the base station chime and the siren chime,” and complained “stronger adhesive… this fell off our wall twice.” That kind of real-world annoyance shows up less in specs and more in day-to-day living with it.
Claim #3: “Weather-resistant design…weatherized for installation in sheltered areas outdoors.” (Amazon product page / SimpliSafe blog)
SimpliSafe’s own blog draws a bright line: “weatherized, but not weatherproof,” advising placement “under an eave or other overhang.” User feedback generally aligns with the idea that outdoor placement is doable when sheltered. Best Buy reviewer White Hair Grandma shared: “I put this on the ceiling of my covered front porch… no issues.”
But the same “outdoor” label can create mismatched expectations for people who interpret it as fully waterproof. The data here doesn’t include a flood of water-damage complaints; instead, the tension is more about understanding that “sheltered outdoors” is the intended use case, not exposed mounting.
Cross-Platform Consensus
Universally Praised
The SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3) earns its reputation most when buyers use it as a true alarm amplifier for larger homes. A recurring pattern emerged: owners who felt the base station wasn’t loud enough — especially across floors — bought one or more sirens to cover blind spots. A verified buyer on Amazon explained the multi-story use case: “its a must have if you have a two or more story house… the door chime from the base is not loud enough for me to hear downstairs… so we got another one for downstairs.”
For people prioritizing deterrence, the stories get vivid. A verified buyer on Amazon described the alarm as “insanely loud,” while another said it’s “disorientingly loud.” Best Buy reviewer Ben Zito wrote: “you must get one (or more) of these sirens. they are so loud, it hurts,” framing it as the missing piece that makes the system feel like a real alarm. These aren’t abstract claims; they’re tied to a specific fear: an intruder hearing only a weak base station siren.
Ease of installation is also repeatedly reinforced, which matters for renters and DIY-first homeowners. A verified buyer on Amazon wrote: “this siren is a breeze to install,” and another described the flow as: “pull the tab, push the button, select a room. done.” Best Buy reviews similarly praise pairing and setup as straightforward, suggesting the installation experience matches the product’s DIY positioning.
Finally, buyers talk about scaling: adding multiples for coverage. A verified buyer on Amazon said: “we have 3 of them—one by the front door, one at the back, and one on the garage.” Best Buy reviewer DKMS echoed the logic: “you can use multiples if you have a large home or multiple floors.” For households trying to make sure everyone wakes up — upstairs sleepers, basement rooms, or detached garages — that “add more sirens” approach is a consistent theme.
Commonly praised themes (after user stories):
- Alarm loudness described as “insanely,” “disorientingly,” “ear-splitting”
- DIY setup and pairing feels frictionless to many
- Multi-siren setups solve multi-floor audibility gaps
Common Complaints
The sharpest complaint isn’t about the alarm — it’s about door chimes. Digging deeper into user reports on SimpliSafe’s community forum, one parent framed the stakes: “since we have a swimming pool and small children, i am very concerned about being notified anytime there is a door opened.” Their frustration wasn’t subtle: “the high setting is not even as loud as the base station… with any background noise such as a tv, we’d never hear the chimes.”
Other community members reinforced the same experience in fewer words. One wrote: “the chime from the siren is really quiet even on the highest setting, completely useless really.” In that context, “105 dB” becomes a misleading mental model for chime performance: people may assume the siren will make chimes thunderous, but they’re describing a chime volume that can disappear under normal household noise.
There’s also a recurring complaint about the base station itself being underpowered, which indirectly shapes how people judge the add-on siren. Several Best Buy reviewers call the base alarm weak. Nicky Helen 1 said the base “wouldn’t scare a small child,” and Ben Zito wrote the base “is not very loud and wouldn't scare an intruder.” That fuels resentment in at least one Amazon review: “what you get with your system is pretty worthless… so you would spend more money on this.” Even when that reviewer admits “it really is insanely loud,” the complaint is about feeling upsold into a louder alarm experience.
Smaller but notable: mounting/adhesive and timing. Best Buy reviewer Gage complained the adhesive failed (“fell off our wall twice”), and also noted “a delay between the base station chime and the siren chime.” These issues matter most for people using chimes as safety alerts, where timing and audibility are the entire point.
Common complaint patterns (after narrative):
- Door-chime volume can be too quiet for noisy homes
- Some feel forced to buy it because base siren/chimes feel weak
- Adhesive strength and slight delays show up in reviews
Divisive Features
The SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3) divides people most on one question: “Is it actually loud enough in real life?” On one side are buyers describing it as neighborhood-waking. A verified buyer on Amazon said: “nice and loud too,” while another wrote: “this sucker is loud! would wake me from death.” Best Buy reviewer RandyR said it’s easily heard by neighbors.
On the other side are buyers who expected more, either because of placement, acoustics, or expectations shaped by “105 dB” marketing. A verified buyer on Amazon said: “not very loud… neighbors would probably never hear it.” The contradiction doesn’t appear to come from a single platform; it appears across Amazon and community discussions, suggesting the device can be either “ear-splitting” or “underwhelming” depending on environment and usage (alarm vs chime).
A second divisive point is what the siren “adds” beyond loudness. Some users love that it mirrors sounds and countdown beeps. A verified buyer on Amazon said it “transmits door bell, count down beeps.” But for others, the mirrored chime feature is exactly where disappointment is concentrated, especially for families using “door chime” as a critical safety notification.
Trust & Reliability
A different kind of anxiety shows up in SimpliSafe’s support community: trust in monitoring behavior during setup. In a SimpliSafe Support Home thread titled “Police called during installation - Not Pleased,” Steven Kbone described testing sensors before switching monitoring over, then said monitoring later treated earlier events as active alarms: “they had called the police!!” A SimpliSafe representative replied that monitoring “remains intact and fully active” and advised using “test mode” to avoid dispatch during testing.
That isn’t a siren hardware failure story, but it’s part of the reliability narrative around alarms: the ecosystem’s behavior can surprise people during upgrades or activation. The same thread includes the user’s verdict on the design: “i think it is a terrible design,” emphasizing how stressful false-dispatch risk feels when you’re still installing and learning.
On long-term durability, the most concrete timeline detail comes from user mentions of battery life rather than physical breakdown. One Amazon reviewer claimed: “batteries in sirens last about six months,” while a Best Buy “brand response” stated typical batteries are expected to last “about 8 - 12 months.” The gap matters for outdoor users and cold climates; Best Buy reviewer Bob T worried: “cold eats batteries… time will tell.” For households placing sirens outside under an eave, battery maintenance becomes part of “reliability.”
Alternatives
Only a few competitors are explicitly mentioned in the data, and they appear mostly in broader SimpliSafe upgrade discussions rather than siren head-to-head shootouts. In a SimpliSafe community thread about upgrading systems, one user said: “when i do it will most likely be cove or abode,” framing them as alternative security ecosystems if someone is frustrated.
ADT appears as a reference point for people switching, not a direct siren comparison. Best Buy reviewer White Hair Grandma wrote they replaced “my adt system,” and another community member said: “i wouldn't have adt and don't care for ring.” The implication isn’t that ADT, Ring, Cove, or Abode has a better add-on siren; it’s that some users evaluate the siren within their broader satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with the overall system.
For buyers who are happy with SimpliSafe but need more volume, the alternative most often suggested by the community is simply “more sirens.” In the “Siren Volume - Door Chime” thread, a responder suggested: “you can do more external sirens,” and even described a DIY workaround: “used walkie talkie pairs… to relay the chime to an amplifier.”
Price & Value
At $59.99 on Amazon and Best Buy, the SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3) is repeatedly framed as a cost-effective upgrade for coverage. A verified buyer on Amazon called it “so reasonably priced,” adding: “as crazy as it sounds, i plan on buying 6 more.” That kind of bulk-buy sentiment suggests the perceived value is strongest when it solves a specific whole-home audibility problem.
Resale pricing from eBay listings in the data shows variability: one listing shows $35.00 (item no longer available) and others around $48–$54.99. That spread hints at decent resale demand for new-in-box units, but also indicates buyers can sometimes find a deal secondhand — especially if they’re building a multi-siren setup.
The strongest “buying tip” theme isn’t about coupons; it’s about placement and expectations. People who treat it as an “alarm volume booster” tend to rave. People who treat it as a “door chime amplifier” often run into the “quiet chime” complaint. One Amazon reviewer even turned it into a practical guide: mount high, aim at ceiling, and “check location.”
FAQ
Q: Is the SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren actually loud enough to alert neighbors?
A: For many owners, yes. A Best Buy reviewer said it “can easily be heard by your neighbors,” and an Amazon reviewer wrote “i’ll wake up the whole neighborhood!!!” But one Amazon buyer disagreed, saying “neighbors would probably never hear it,” suggesting placement and acoustics heavily affect results.
Q: Will it make SimpliSafe door chimes louder throughout the house?
A: Not reliably, based on user feedback. On SimpliSafe’s community forum, one user said the chime on high “is not even as loud as the base station,” and another called it “completely useless.” Some Amazon reviewers do say they can hear chimes better downstairs, but it’s inconsistent.
Q: Is installation really as easy as “peel and stick”?
A: Many buyers say yes. An Amazon reviewer said it’s “a breeze to install,” and another described setup as “pull the tab…select a room. done.” However, a Best Buy reviewer wanted “stronger adhesive” after it “fell off our wall twice,” so mounting method matters.
Q: Can it be mounted outdoors? Is it waterproof?
A: Users and official guidance point to sheltered outdoor mounting. SimpliSafe’s own guidance says it’s “weatherized, but not weatherproof,” recommending placement under an eave or overhang. A Best Buy reviewer said they “mounted it outside,” and another placed it on a “covered front porch… no issues.”
Q: How long do the batteries last in real use?
A: Reports vary. One Amazon reviewer said “batteries in sirens last about six months,” while a Best Buy brand response said batteries are expected to last “about 8 - 12 months.” Cold-weather users worry winter “eats batteries,” especially for outdoor placements.
Final Verdict
Buy the SimpliSafe Auxiliary Siren (Gen 3) if you have a multi-story home, a detached garage, or sleepers who won’t hear the base station — the people calling it “disorientingly loud” and “ear-splitting” are using it exactly that way. Avoid it if your main goal is louder entry-sensor door chimes in a TV-on household; one concerned parent said chimes could disappear under background noise, and another user called the chime “completely useless.”
Pro tip from the community: placement changes everything. One Amazon reviewer advised mounting high and aiming toward the ceiling so the sound “reflects off ceiling,” turning a dampened install into whole-area coverage.
