Hey /r/firealarms! I'm unsure if this fits in here, and I'd be willing to move it elsewhere if the mods want me to.

Last night my girlfriend and I went to a "fire safety presentation" at Red Lobster (free dinner from a drawing). After talking about how fires are dangerous, horrifying, and either kill you or make you wish you were dead, they got to talking about how ionization alarms are terrible and don't even work, and how most/all photoelectric alarms on the market are crappy and made with low-cost parts. They then stated that they have alarms which are better (one model number we caught was dt2006sm, which led us to the company name of DeTech, which we didn't even know before that). They claim their photoelectric alarm has:

• "soldered circuit boards" which are better
• "Commercial Grade & Military Spec Hardware"
• that the special part is washable
• the batteries last 10 years
• catches fires almost as soon as they happen (that was my impression)
• 20 year warranties

all for the low, low price of $369. Same with their all mechanical, rotor lock or something heat alarm, $369.

My question is, for refitting my house, they claim it'll cost $4068, with 5 smoke alarms, 4 heat, 2 CO, and 2 extinguishers. We definitely don't have that money. Are there comparable alternatives that will "actually detect fires?" How much of their pitch was blowing smoke, and how much was real?

EDIT: They also said ionization alarms only detect "flaming fires," and that their photoelectric alarms will detect "smoldering fires." From my research this seems true, but what do you guys think?