Vocal smoke alarm wakes kids

SignalONE Safety Vocal Smoke Alarm SignalONE Safety Inc., $34.95 www.signalonesafety.com

The SignalONE Safety Vocal Smoke Alarm has the same high-pitched beeps as a conventional smoke detector, but supplements it with spoken instructions recorded by the person who purchases the unit.

Traditional detectors have the high-pitched alarm; however, studies show that many children do not wake to them or, if they do, they may be scared and try to hide rather than get out of the building.

As a firefighter, I think it's a great concept. You can wake children by name and they hear instructions on what to do in a familiar voice-their mom's.

The alarm worked on my two children on two occasions. They both woke to it.

There is nothing wrong with this smoke alarm. It's a great idea. My recommendation, buy it. My kids are very hard sleepers and it woke them.

Cindy Fagiano Chicago

Editor's note: Fire Prevention Week is Oct. 8-14. Test your smoke detectors monthly and install batteries.

Huggies Pull-Ups with Cool Alert, $9.99 www.pullups.com

The product claims it will turn cold when wet. It did not turn cold. However, as a diaper, it was absorbant. The best thing about this product was its absorbancy. The worst thing about this product was that it did not meet expectations.

As a Pull-Up diaper, it worked as expected­-but no better or worse. Either the claim of a change in temperature or sensation when wet was absolutely false, or we got a faulty batch. If the product were improved, we would certainly try it again.

Maureen Callaghan Chicago

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