FIRST ALERT BRK CO5120BN Hardwired Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detector with Battery Backup , White

new home build, works great.

Noise level is great, battery life seems to be good so far, easy to install

These were a direct replacement for my existing smoke detectors that did not have carbon monoxide detection. Easy plug and play replacements.

Had ordinary smoke detectors around the house, but with recent remodeling, we took advantage of open walls to install hard-wired/connected detectors, and wanted a CO specific unit for the kitchen area (gas stove), where you can't have a smoke detector near the kitchen, for obvious reasons -- to this day, I think of my childhood every time a restaurant claims they make [a recipe] just like mom does, and yet I never hear their smoke detectors going off, LOL.First, the hard wire plug used for First Alert is the same between their smoke, heat, and CO detectors, but the mounting basses are different sizes, to prevent accidentally swapping in an incorrect detector for a another. We learned this last part by putting all the mounts in a tool bag and installing them 'randomly' where each unit would go...easily corrected, but it does make sense for safety sake. Second, there are reviews about First Alert being bought out by, or partnering with, another company that raises the question of compatibility among some models within this product line, hence deliberately buying from Amazon for easy return if needed..I got lucky, all mine worked together just fine.Fit and finish was similar to the smokes, but agree with other reviews that the sticker on CO back is perplexingly oversized, disagree that it holds the unit securely into the base for ceiling mount, as we found the mounting lugs engaged the mounting ring solidly on their own. Personally, I think it was because the stickers were cut slightly larger than the backside of the detector, maybe they used same size circle decal as for their smokes, guess we'll never know...When first installed, it triggered all the other hardwired alarms to go off every several seconds, but unplugging this unit, removing battery, letting it power down completely and then plugging it in before installing battery seems to be the secret handshake for adding a CO-only to their alarm loop. Pressing the test button for a few seconds to reset the capture light finalized the installation process. Haven't had any false CO triggers since.My biggest ding for this product? The same ding as published marketing for the other First Alert detectors: they say it can be installed with XX number of compatible units, but never give any information about which units are actually compatible with which. Why would a company brag about how many can be used, while making it hard for a customer to know which of the several alarm products sold under the First Alert name are or are not compatible with each other??? Based on reviews, some of FA's own hardwired alarms don't play well with others in the product line :( I say an update is needed on their website, at a minimum, to give the customer ease of mind by FA being upfront in compatibility, rather than leaving the customer questioning incompatibility when deciding which units to buy.

This was installed in our home, wired in with a battery back up and we did not know they had a life to them. We started having issues with the alarms, we have 3 beeping on and off for several weeks. We tried changing the batteries, resetting etc. But every time a couple hours, days later it would start again! Most of the time during the night! How frustrating! While looking at the First Alert website we discovered that the alarms have a life to them. So off to buy a replacement to make them quit beeping! It worked for the CO alarm and now we have protection and quiet again! I do recommend the alarms.

I replaced several original installs. Perfect.

Works

I recently read that 10 years is about the life of a smoke detector. I just passed my tenth anniversary in my home that I remodeled. So time for a redo of all my hard Wired detectors. They were by BRK so it was easy to get these and replace them. I replaced the old yellowing base mounts so now they're all white and clean. I changed out one smoke detector with this CO detector as it was 6 feet from another smoke detector. Plug 'n Play. It was an easy switch out and they all worked well. The old ones worked great for ten years. I hope they never really have to do their job, but I feel like they will just fine. I test them periodically.