I like things that bark and growl and sound mean

For a non-cat guy your cat is gaining with me! :P

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Amen, brother. See my avatar to the left. Many apartments are not big dog friendly, but even a small dog will yap its head off when the perimeter is breached and they have a way of letting you know when something's not right.

Craig.

Benjamin mentioned having an escape from the apartment.
I would like to expand on that a bit.
Check out your hall, stair wells and the exit doors. Make sure you can get out and that they are not blocked. (get escape tools if you need them)

Flash lights are good but a few candles are cheap, fit in a drawer and the batteries never go dead from sitting. Just remember to include some decent candle holders so you don't start a fire.

Keep some plastic jugs of water frozen in your freezer. If you lose power they might save some of your food for you and are part of your emergency water supply.

There are some cheap propane barbecues and butane powered stoves available now. These are cheap and the butane stoves can be used inside if you open a window.

That's key to me... just being "alerted" of an intruder. Stopping one is AWESOME, but the next step and most important for me and mine is to be notified that there is one or an attempt.

Waking up due to false alarms... just the fun that goes along with it I guess!! Haha.

Down here in hurricane alley, the hurricane preparedness specialists highly recommend AGAINST candles for lighting. The reason is that regardless of preventative measures, its way too easy to start a fire in a stressful situation (especially if animals or kids are involved). Not to mention propane and natural gas leaks.

A Pak-Lite with a lithium battery will have about a decade shelf life and the run time is phenomenal. If you don't like the Pak-Lite, pick almost any modern LED light and combine it with a lithium battery. The efficiency of the LED and the shelf life of lithium batteries are a great combination.

Fair enough Celler, I am not from a hurricane zone and was not aware they have such a problem with people lighting their houses on fire with candles.

This is what I like about this forum, I learn so much about problems in other areas.

Absolutely. I just returned from Calgary and Banff. What a beautiful place you live. Certainly a different set of expectations for winter preparedness in your neck of the woods. I'm looking forward to hearing about unique cold weather issues.

Craig.

Glass breakage alarms are handy!

You screw up with a candle, you will find out that they are NOT cheap at all. Buy batteries instead.

Absolutely, and if you can get away with them from a landlord point of view, wireless motion detectors are easy to install. I have a few and they work very well.

Craig.