Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Petite, unobtrusive hardware
- Wi-Fi connectivity and interconnected features work well
- Very affordable
Cons
- Doesn’t detect the presence of carbon monoxide
- No battery backup on the hub; any power outage means no push notifications
- We encountered a minor operational problem during testing
Our Verdict
This three-alarm smoke detection system offers seamless, long-range interconnectivity and Wi-Fi support, giving you extra layers of fire security.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Pricing Today
Best Prices Today: X-Sense XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm (model FS31)
$109.99
The trouble with smoke alarms is that one alone usually doesn’t provide enough protection, even in smaller homes. An alarm that goes off in one room might not be heard in the rest of the house, obviating the entire point of the technology.
Interconnected smoke alarms offer a solution: If one goes off, they all go off. But the technology either means having dedicated wiring installed or standardizing on a wireless interconnectivity platform and hoping your mesh of alarms are all in range of one another.
Specifications
The new XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm smoke alarm system (X-Sense model number FS31) gives the wireless interconnect concept an upgrade by putting a base station in the middle of the mesh. That station doesn’t just coordinate the satellite smoke alarms (it should be noted that these alarms will not detect harmful accumulations of carbon monoxide), it also connects to your home Wi-Fi network (2.4GHz only) and relays information to the X-Sense app on your smart phone.
The X-Sense FS31 system worked exactly as promised, despite a wealth of interfering walls, floors, doors, electrical wiring, plumbing, and metal electronics between its three satellites.
The satellites are modified versions the X-Sense XS01-WT smoke alarm I reviewed in the spring of 2021, bearing the model number XS01-M. They look identical to the standalone XS01-WT, with the only real difference being the addition of an internal 915MHz radio that’s used for inter-alarm communications. Three satellites come with the base station in the box (a 5-station model is also available for $140). A maximum of 24 satellites can be supported on one network, with add-on detectors priced at $30 each ($20 each at Amazon at press time).
The unobtrusive hub of the X-Sense XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm system.
Christopher Null/Foundry
The base station, smaller than you might think at just 3.5 inches square, is powered by a USB-C connection. Note that it doesn’t carry a battery backup, so if the power goes out, your mobile notifications will go dark; consider plugging the hub into an uninterruptible power supply just in case. Each satellite is powered by an included (and replaceable) 3V lithium cell. The preinstalled batteries promise a 5-year operating life, and the alarm itself boasts a 10-year operating life before it must be retired.
Installation and setup
Setup is a multi-step affair, and the process is not immediately obvious, as the X-Sense app instructs you to scan a QR code on the back of the manual to begin registration. But that didn’t work for me, and eventually I stumbled my way through the app to find a screen for adding the smoke alarms directly, based on their model number. Again, the app doesn’t indicate how to add the base station but attempting to add an alarm prompts you to first onboard the base station by scanning a QR code on its underside.
Once the base station has been added to the app, you can proceed to add the alarms, one at a time, by activating their respective batteries and pressing a pairing button on the side of each device. I encountered no trouble with this part of the process.
Performance
You can add up to 21 additional X-Sense XS01-M smoke alarms to the FS31 system, but be aware these do not detect the presence of harmful levels of carbon monoxxide.
Christopher Null/Foundry
The X-Sense FS31’s big selling point is of course the alarms’ interconnectivity, so I tested the devices by placing them in the furthest corners of my house, and then using the X-Sense app’s test feature to trigger an alarm that should, in theory, cause all of them to sound off. Sure enough, the system worked exactly as promised, despite a wealth of interfering walls, floors, doors, electrical wiring, plumbing, and metal electronics between the three satellites.
X-Sense claims a 500-meter (1,640 feet) maximum range in open air, and though my home is not nearly that large, the system appeared more than capable at blanketing my entire house with coverage.
The sirens are very loud and piercing, and three different siren styles are available, so you can customize different alarms with different sounds if desired. The volume of the alarm on the base station can be set, but all siren alarms remain at maximum volume regardless.
Each satellite alarm can also be configured to send a variety of different notifications to your phone, including when alarms are triggered or end; when a device is silenced, tested, or malfunctions; low battery notifications; and offline notifications. Push notifications were successfully sent to both my phone and my email inbox.
The X-Sense app gives you an at-a-glance look at all your alarms’ status and displays push notifications if the system goes into an alarm state.
Christopher Null/Foundry
I also tested the alarms with simulated smoke and found they alerted quickly when exposed to the hazard and stopped sounding promptly when the smoke cleared, with push notifications (and an email) being pushed out in seconds. Finally, I also tested the alarms with the base station disconnected. When one alarm was exposed to smoke, each of the other alarms still activated, even without the central hub to coordinate them. The only difference being that push and email notifications were not sent (with the app showing all devices offline). The absence of battery backup on the hub seems like a missed opportunity.
The X-Sense app gives you moderate flexibility in how the system works, including the option to silence an alarm by pressing a button on the base station. (With this option off, an alarm can only be silenced by the app or by disconnecting the power plug.) These options are all very straightforward and self-explanatory.
I had no trouble with X-Sense’s system until at one point, one of the satellite alarms dropped offline without warning, disconnecting from the network. X-Sense offers no real troubleshooting options for this event—suggesting only that you should just move the alarm closer to the base station—but even when I put them a few feet apart, the alarm stayed offline, despite force-quitting the app and power-cycling both the alarm and the base station.
The only fix I was ever able to find was deleting the troubled alarm from the app and re-adding it through the onboarding process. It has remained connected ever since.
For the price of a subscription, you can connect the X-Sense system to a third-party professional monitoring service that will dispatch your local fire department should smoke be detected.
Christopher Null/Foundry
In the U.S., X-Sense offers a subscription service called the Protect+ Premium (that’s the company’s footnote marker at the end of “Protect”, although there’s no footnote on the page I’ve linked to). The service will automatically dispatch first responders if one of its alarms is triggered. The service, administered by the third-party monitoring company Noonlight, takes steps to avoid sending a fire truck based on a false alarm, starting with a written message. If there’s no response within 20 seconds, a phone call is initiated. If there’s no answer to that call within 60 seconds, a fire truck is dispatched.
Protect+ Premium costs $5/month or $50/year. There’s also a $3/month, $30/year Protect+ Basic plan, which requires you to request a fire-engine dispatch by pressing a button in the app when one of the smoke alarms sounds off. Neither plan is something I’d invest in, but you might feel otherwise.
Should you buy an X-Sense XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm
Despite the lone operational hiccup, the X-Sense FS31 system worked well in my testing, the various hardware components are petite and unobtrusive, and the price—on sale at Amazon for just $70 as of this writing—is wholly reasonable.
You’ll need some other means of warning residents of the presence of carbon monoxide in your home, but this interconnected smoke alarm system is a strong fire-safety tool.
