Situations
The instinct after a break-in is to buy cameras. The order that helps is: repair the point of entry properly, add a second locking point, secure the side nobody reinforced, then add detection and recording. Cameras document; the first three change whether it happens again.
A forced entry tells you exactly where the weakness was, which is information most households never get.
Not cosmetically. A door forced at the strike plate has split the jamb, and filling it leaves the same failure behind fresh paint. A longer strike plate and 80 mm (3.15 in) screws through the jamb into the framing stud are the repair.
Two locks at different heights spread the load. A door forced at one point still holds at the other.
Hinge-side bolts on a door, hinge-side locks on a window. Reinforcing one edge moves the attack to the other.
A contact sensor reports the moment something opens, which is earlier than a camera noticing somebody inside.
Because knowing is worth something, and because by now what it records is less likely to happen.
Where making the property secure tonight outranks every longer-term decision.
Where documentation, serial numbers and the crime reference number all matter.
Where the entry point is the thing to fix, since repeat burglaries are not rare.
Where the emotional impact is real and often underestimated, and where feeling secure matters as much as being secure.
| The stage | The action | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Immediately | Police, then secure the entry point | Tonight matters most |
| If keys were taken | Change the locks | The keys still work |
| Within days | Fix how they got in | Repeats are common |
| Longer term | Layers, not one device | A camera alone repeats the gap |
Security fitted in a hurry after a burglary often goes unmaintained afterwards, because it was bought under stress rather than planned. The alarm installed that week is the one whose sensor batteries nobody replaces two years later.
Your safety comes before your property.
30/30 mm (1.18 in) · anti-pick pins · emergency function · 5 reversible keys · code card
ABUS's everyday euro cylinder: special pins for pick and manipulation resistance, an emergency function that works with a key in the other side, and five reversible keys with a code card for reordering.
Best for: Replacing a builder's cylinder on a front door, at the smallest sensible price.
≈ $54
Rim lock with thumbturn inside · key outside · 5-pin cylinder · doors 35–50 mm (1.38 to 1.97 in) · 32 mm (1.26 in) bore
ABUS's additional rim lock: a thumbturn inside, a key outside, and a five-pin cylinder. Stated for doors 35 to 50 mm (1.38 to 1.97 in) thick with recesses up to 21 mm (0.83 in), and needing a 32 mm (1.26 in) round hole for the cylinder.
Best for: Securing the closing edge of a front door against levering, on a door of ordinary thickness.
Hinge-side lock · bolt rated to one metric ton of pressure · ABUS level 10 · 123 × 42 × 86 mm (4.84 × 1.65 × 3.39 in)
A hinge-side security bolt for inward-opening windows — the side almost nobody reinforces. ABUS states the bolt protects up to one metric ton of pressure and rates it at security level 10 on its own scale.
Best for: The half of the window that every other lock in this hub ignores.
≈ $68
8 contacts, 2 motion detectors, keypad · app control · arm and disarm by keypad or app
An X-Sense alarm kit: eight door and window sensors, two motion detectors and a keypad, with app monitoring and control.
Best for: A household that wants a physical keypad by the door rather than only a phone.
2K 4MP · F1.6 Starlight · 360° pan · IP66 · Wi-Fi or Ethernet
A 2560 × 1440 sensor behind an F1.6 lens gives more color in low light before it turns on its spotlights, and it can be wired to Ethernet instead of trusting Wi-Fi.
Best for: An outdoor position where Wi-Fi is unreliable and a network cable can be run, or where color at night matters more than an unlit image.
Understandably, and it is not the most effective order. A camera records the next attempt; a cylinder, a second lock and long screws change whether the next attempt succeeds. Buy the cameras too — knowing matters — but not first.
The frame. A door forced at the strike plate splits the jamb, and a repair that fills and paints without reinforcing leaves the same weakness behind new paint. Long screws through the jamb into the framing stud, and a longer strike plate, are what actually fix it.
Call the police, and do not disturb the scene until they say you may. Securing the entry point comes next, before any purchases.
If keys were taken or may have been copied, yes without question. If entry was forced, fixing that point matters more.
Address how they got in first. Then layers: locks, lighting, an alarm and a camera each do different jobs.
Common enough that fixing the entry point promptly matters. The same weakness works twice unless it is closed.
Typically a crime reference number, a list of what was taken, and any receipts, photographs or serial numbers you have.
Entirely, and it is often the hardest part. Support services exist, and it is worth using them rather than assuming it will pass.
Designed for: Replacing a builder's cylinder on a front door, at the smallest sensible price.
Its main asset: Emergency function: it operates from outside with a key left in the inside
Its main gap: 30/30 is a short cylinder — it fits a thin door and not a thick one
Designed for: Securing the closing edge of a front door against levering, on a door of ordinary thickness.
Its main asset: Protects the closing edge specifically — the side a lever is applied to
Its main gap: Requires a 32 mm (1.26 in) hole bored through the door
Designed for: The half of the window that every other lock in this hub ignores.
Its main asset: Secures the hinge side, which is where an unreinforced window is levered off
Its main gap: Only useful in addition to a handle-side lock, not instead of one
Designed for: A household that wants a physical keypad by the door rather than only a phone.
Its main asset: Physical keypad, so anybody in the house can arm and disarm without an app
Its main gap: No published cellular fallback in this listing
Designed for: An outdoor position where Wi-Fi is unreliable and a network cable can be run, or where color at night matters more than an unlit image.
Its main asset: Ethernet as well as Wi-Fi — the only camera in this hub to state it
Its main gap: Color at night still needs some ambient light — it is a sensitive sensor, not night sight
$5 – $31
9 models
$32 – $110
10 models
Accessories and spares from the same aisle, at the price we read. Confirm they suit the device you choose before ordering: it turns on the model and the part number, which the listing gives.
Device against device, already covered, inside this guide or this aisle.
The devices listed are drawn from the catalog of this site. Specifications are those the maker and the Amazon listing publish; prices are what Keepa recorded on the date shown, and both move. The order follows declared specifications, the balance between stated strengths and stated limits, and price. No device here has been installed or tested by us, and no page claims it was.
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Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
Cameras, alarm kits and safes swing by thirty dollars or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
