ADT email

The keypad at the top is a GE (Caddx) NX148 LCD keypad.

RHC: The keypad at the top looks very much like the Caddyx keypad. As to whether you own the equipment at the end of the term, I would say no if it's a lease, likely yes, if it's a purchase, but you GOTTA READ THE CONTRACT. Looks to me like this is just another way of wording the proverbial "free system", with the bare bone essentials given out for "free", but any necessary options like extra doors, motions etc charged at insane prices. Basically, the "free system" offer gets Johnny Slick's foot in the customer's door.....

Around here the average ADT "free system" ends up being "upsold" by their slick salesmen to a final price of around $1100 !!! For that, any careful shopper around here can get a full blown system installed with monitoring at half the price with service and warranty included.

It's the same old time-honoured crap !! Customers who buy by brand name, or impulse, or who don't shop around, get screwed by offers like this. It used to piss me off big time, but I really don't care anymore since a lot come to me after their long term contract is up to get far superior monitoring, service and warranty at a fair market price. Once again, a fool and his money are soon parted !! (and yes, that definately includes residential ADT, Alarmforce and Brinks customers in case some are reading this and care to hear the real truth.....:))

BTW, I have about 400 or so DSC systems in service and quite honestly, they don't fail any more or less than the Paradox panels I have in service (about 600). They are harder on batteries than Paradox, and they have a lot of stupid bugs in the firmware (like to get rid of some troubles, power down then up...???), but they do seem to me to be a solid, economical panel. Around here in Eastern Canada, they are the most installed panel of any make. I have been told by others in the business who also do Ademco, that their equipment seems to be the most solid of any make they service (but I have no personal knowledge of Ademco equipment at all).

I do takeover some ADT / DSC systems which appear to have been altered in firmware such that they cannot be uploaded using the off-the-shelf versions of DLS software. Everything else is identical though.....,

they don't fail any more or less than >the Paradox panels I have in service (about 600).

I should have been more specific. It is the newer PC1616, PC1832, PC1864 units that seem to have the higher failure rates. I wasn't talking about any of the other lines. Because of CP-01 that is all that DSC makes that can be legally installed around here. I think we average one or two installation per week of those panels for down and dirty small commercial jobs. They seem to have a high out of box failure and/or failure within a few weeks after installation. Keypads and panels fail at about the same rate. Other dealers I talk to report similar problems on those units.

I should have been more specific. It is the newer PC1616, PC1832, PC1864 units that seem to have the higher failure rates. I wasn't talking about any of the other lines. Because of CP-01 that is all that DSC makes that can be legally installed around here. I think we average one or two installation per week of those panels for down and dirty small commercial jobs. They seem to have a high out of box failure and/or failure within a few weeks after installation. Keypads and panels fail at about the same rate. Other dealers I talk to report similar problems on those units.

RHC: Now THAT is useful to know. I don't actually install any DSC panels, just Paradox. However, I do take over loads DSC. I have yet to takeover any of these newer panels though, so this is definately something to watch for. Thanks !

I wonder what they are doing differently with the new line of panels that they were not doing before. It seems this loss of quality control must come from something they are doing differently. Made in China maybe ??

The big difference is the processor, other than that there aren't many changes