I've got a friend that interested in getting an alarm on their garage. They are looking for something basic. Door contacts, motions, siren, keypad, panel... no monitoring. I can buy the equipment from ADI through my work but I'm not sure which one to get. I'm looking for something that would be easy to use and program through the keypad.
Vista 10P has 6 zones and easy to program. Make sure you buy a keypad that you can program with and not the basic ones that come in the kits.
He should only need the most basic panel, with the most basic keypad. A siren and enough magnetic contacts to put one on each door will get him going. If there are no easily accessible windows (something someone could break and crawl in through) a motion sensor is probably NOT needed, as the only points of entry would be the door(s).
Can't give you any model numbers, but from the sound of it, nothing fancy is needed.
Get a DSC Kit 120 from ADI. easy to install and has everything you need but the contacts & maybe an exterior siren. this has added bonus of being "wireless ready"
Napco P801 is easier to program in my opionon and you can program it with the basic keypad just fine. For those who want to get fancy there is an alpha keypad available, but the LED is so intuitively setup that I thinks its easier to use than the alpha. I have programmed a bunch of them so it doesn't really count, but I can usually program one in a minute or two. I think my very first one took me about ten or fifteen minutes to program and that is only because I took the time to read it all and fill out the programming work sheet first.
Can't get Napco from ADI though. Not sure what happened, but I got a letter or an e-mail from Napco telling me that the were refusing to allow ADI to sell their products anymore. SGI, Eastern, & Alarmax are the main guys I use for Napco products these days.
The P801 also supports integratable supervised wireless available and I have very good luck with Napco wireless. If you have no need of wireless then don't buy the receiver.
I've never been partial to Napco programming.
| | Napco P801 is easier to program in my opionon and you can program it with | the basic keypad just fine. For those who want to get fancy there is an | alpha keypad available, but the LED is so intuitively setup that I thinks | its easier to use than the alpha. I have programmed a bunch of them so it | doesn't really count, but I can usually program one in a minute or two. I | think my very first one took me about ten or fifteen minutes to program and | that is only because I took the time to read it all and fill out the | programming work sheet first. | | Can't get Napco from ADI though. Not sure what happened, but I got a letter | or an e-mail from Napco telling me that the were refusing to allow ADI to | sell their products anymore. SGI, Eastern, & Alarmax are the main guys I | use for Napco products these days. | | -- | Bob La Londe |
ADI sells DSC?
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What about the FB-408ATPK? I guess it's an Omni? That one costs about $75 and looks to do everything I need it to do.
The old MA panels were a pain, and in the newer Gemini series the 1632,
3200, and 9600 are a not really easy to keypad program all the features, but the P800 and P801 are the easiest panels I have ever programmed, and yes I have programmed a frew Ademco panels.Sorry, i forgot he was looking at ADI to buy a system from. Guess there's always E-bay.
I have a handful of Gemini 816s (?)...I cringe whenever I might have to make a programming change. I cant wait for them to get hit by lightning :-)
| | The old MA panels were a pain, and in the newer Gemini series the 1632, | 3200, and 9600 are a not really easy to keypad program all the features, but | the P800 and P801 are the easiest panels I have ever programmed, and yes I | have programmed a frew Ademco panels. | | -- | Bob La Londe |
I have a couple of those out there...they're easy to program even with the dinky keypad that the package comes with. It's only a tad goofy the way it sends CID...but if you're gonna use it for a local system it's easy. By no means is it a high end panel, but I've not had any problems with the few I have running.
Get a cheap laptop, install QuickLoader on it... When it's time to make a programming change, just plug your laptop right into the board and program away........
I have not used any 816s as I always felt they were a brain damaged version of the 1632 without enough savings to justify the reduced zones and features.
However, they are a pretty easy to program with a laptop as are the P1632s. The 3200s and 9600s are onyl a little more difficult because they have some many programming options.
I don't have enough of them to justify the expense.
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| > | | > | The old MA panels were a pain, and in the newer Gemini series the
1632, | > | 3200, and 9600 are a not really easy to keypad program all the features, | > but | > | the P800 and P801 are the easiest panels I have ever programmed, and yes | > I | > | have programmed a frew Ademco panels. | > | | > | -- | > | Bob La Londe | > || >
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They were all take overs, so the struggle to program them didn't endear me to want to continue using the product. Maybe one day Napco will send me a evaluation panel for me to play with :-)
| > | | > | The old MA panels were a pain, and in the newer Gemini series the
1632, | > | 3200, and 9600 are a not really easy to keypad program all the features, | > but | > | the P800 and P801 are the easiest panels I have ever programmed, and yes | > I | > | have programmed a frew Ademco panels. | > | | > | -- | > | Bob La Londe | > || >
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I have to say the P1632 is my main stream panel. I never use the 3200 anymore. I jump up to the 9600 if I need more zones or more programability. They both have a nice menu programming feature for basic setup, and then 'by address' programming for the detailed stuff, or just break out the laptop.
The P800/1 is my low end panel and it is very very easy to setup.
Those 4 zone Express panels never impressed me. Kinda in the same class as the DSC 550. Sorry, that just trying to shave way too much off the cost of an install.
What kind of panel would you be interested in evaluating? I'm sure they'd be willing to send you something if they were asked. ( I could ask if you don't want to)
As you can surmise, the programing is just "different" not actually difficult. If you you can grasp the concept of counting in binary ( if you don't know how, it's very simple, once it's explained) then Napco programing becomes very simple to understand. With a laptop it's no problem whatsoever. The best thing about Napco is that it gives you a versatility to do just about anything you'd ever be asked to do by a client. Obviously, you don't always need to do "everything" but it's a great feeling of confidence to know that pretty much anything a client may come up with, you can do it. I've been using it since the 80's. Pretty rock solid, in my opinion. In recent years they've tried to simplify the programing, especially in the low end panels ( which I don't use). It seems to be a tendency in the industry to reduce programing complexity down to the level of a three year old. In my opinion, I think that it's an effort to keep up with the downward slide of competence in what passes for installers nowdays.
When ever I go to do a service call on an older system for someone, who's not already my client, the guy before me has usually told them the system should be replaced. Only because they don't want to "work" on programing. That's another thing I've noticed too. Since I can program Napco, there's not a panel out there that I've come across, that I can't comprehend the programing in a relatively short time. I think that if someone has only ever experienced programing simply programed panels, it seems that their comprehension of other panels programing is never developed.
Just an observation.
The 400/800/801 series programs more like DSC than Napco
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