Dakota AlertLong Range Wireless Driveway Motion Detector - DCMA-4000 One Mile Alarm System - Passive Infrared Driveway Alarm Transmitter & Receiver - Outdoor Motion Sensor & Alarms

Useful device and a good addition other Dakota Alert receivers (DCR-4000 RE-4Kplus) because it's portable and also keeps a timestamped log of alerts organized by Zone. LCD is backlight. The 4 buttons (Power, Mode, Up, Down) have tactile feedback and are easy to push and difficult to accidently activate.Range and orientation sensitivity should be similar other Dakota Alert units because it uses the same helical antenna (it would be nice if they indicated antenna/device orientation for best or worst Tx/Rx performance).Has a optional haptic/vibration alert (like cell phone) and volume adjust for the speaker.Criticism are:1. The keys lockout after 12 seconds and require pushing the Up and Down arrow together to reactivate. The display shows a key icon to indicate "lockout". Lockout isn't needed and should be user configurable setting.2. The unit shows TTL (total) and the zone number. You must push the Power button to erase the Zone/TTL line before the keys are responsive. Unclear why this is needed, but it's annoying.3. To see the traffic log, you must push Up+Down (to unlock), then push the Power (to erase Zone/TTL), then push Mode+Down, then begin scrolling through zones. (Keep the manual handy).4. Still uses USB-Micro charging port (although the supply a USB-A to USB-Micro cable).I'd buy it again.

I like the fact that I can turn off the LED light on the outdoor sensor. I don't want people to see that they have been detected. Intruders don't need to know that I have motion detectors protecting my property. This system is easy to set up, and works well.

Was Totally Amazed,,, Easy Setup , and so far very dependable . Would recomend this product highly . Been in use now for about a week and Not Disappointed in the least .. Works perfectly with my existing security set up ... Great Job to the company ...

We had used Mighty Mule in the past but as we get older, the tiny high pitched beep is too quiet on several driveway alarms, and the Mighty Mule we ordered this time was sent back for that reason and the malfunctioning radio portion. THIS brand has a nice louder alarm, with the ability to choose your song or tone pattern, which should be required of all alarms in this aging population around the world. Absolutely criminal to have smoke alarms or other critical alarms that can't be heard by tinnitus victims or our veterans or just aging ears! THIS brand also has a simple installation and was chosen due to advertised radio range to the receiver inside the house. Unfortunately, we started out at 600 from the house, in the country without a lot of radios around, and it reached the receiver maybe one out of four times. We moved it 200' closer and similar result. The sensor was working but not the radio link. Finally we installed around 250' from house with light tree cover around and it is working 95% of the time, it appears, but we don't have summer foliage on t he trees so it may require moving even closer, which defeats the goal of having an early alarm system for people driving in a long driveway. When high bandwidth wifi signals can traverse this same range with video, it is not asking too much for companies that realize they are installing along driveways that exceed 200' to provide better antennae or radio links ! You are not sending much data, so make it simple but strong ! Plenty of frequencies to choose from, and this receiver has no external antenna, which would help it for those who need the range advertised. There seems to be a real "hole in the market" at least on Amazon, for better range, more audible alarms in driveway alarms not susceptible to wildlife triggers and other false alarms. For now, this was the best we found and it would get 5 stars if the range were much better !

It is positioned 800 feet from our door, and it works beautifully. This replaces an older model of a Dakota Alarm, with which we were pleased except for the fact that rain hindered its performance. So far this one is a welcome upgrade.

Setup and instructions were pretty easy. I initially bought this as an additional security measure because I've had a car prowler a few times that was captured on my Arlo but didn't know they were around. The most shocking time when we were watching tv around 6:30pm and it was dark outside. With the other cars we have in the driveway, I had no idea until a neighbor stopped by and said he chased the person away.My driveway and gravel area is about 30' wide and with the monitor set at the 50' range, I have the entire area including part of my front yard covered. It's been an excellent little monitor for getting notifications when a car happens to pull in, or when a package is being delivered and we're in another room. The IR beam is very narrow which is great because I was worried about it going off when someone is walking their dog or cars for that matter.Some people have mentioned a lot of false alarms but we haven't had that... maybe a handful or so over the last 3 months (all in the day). I will say this, in the mornings or when a car is cold (mainly white cars) it fails to trigger, but I don't consider that a deal breaker.When I got the Dakota DCMA-4000, I did need to reach out to their support after about a week or so because after adjusting the dip switches and testing, I noticed the receiver was blinking but there was no audio. I reset it per the instructions and paired it again and same result. Support (which was really helpful btw) told me that since I bought on Amazon, they may have had an older product that had the faulty speaker because they got reports of the speaker not working. They mailed me out a new speaker and was able to unplug the old one and replace. Sure I could have returned/exchanged for a new device, but figured since I was within my return window, this was a quick fix and it did resolve my issue.

Love these alarms. This company is excellent to work with and has a wonderful product.