Optex makes some great products. Care to elaborate on your opinion?
First Phase Wiring and Sensors - What to buy?
- Thread starter TheEther
- Start date
Optex makes some great products. Care to elaborate on your opinion?
mikejrc
Active Member
im curious too
I dislike those units personally. Optex makes decent PE beams, but those units pictured don't work in my area of the country, not to mention having a wart stuck outside on a residential building. Just not an ideal solution for the majority of the installs around these parts.
There was an integrator in-state that loved those things....hundreds of them over the same amount of installs. Nothing but a false alarm headache, but the up-side is we got a lot of work out of it.
There was an integrator in-state that loved those things....hundreds of them over the same amount of installs. Nothing but a false alarm headache, but the up-side is we got a lot of work out of it.
If the product is used as intended and installed correctly there should be no problem. My experience at least with the one model that a friend uses in his installs where he needs outside protection (not very often as its expensive). One residence that I remember in particular he put them on the rear of a house because the backyard was hidden from view from the neighbors. The house was broken into previously (before they had an alarm) and it appeared that the thief had no concern of anyone seeing him in the backyard. The detectors were set up as a pre-alarm where the local outside sounder would go off for 30 seconds if they tripped to scare off someone before they broke in but they would not call the central station (dont remember if it emails the owner). Can a meter reader etc set them off? Yeah but that would go with almost any outside protection. If the house was broken into now the alarm would work like any other but hopefully the pre-alarm will just scare someone off.
Anyway I know my friend uses the model in the first link and continues to use them when someone asks for outside protection. I have used other Optex products and they seem to be of very good quality.
My "opinion" is that if the correct detector is used for an application and it is installed correctly there should be no false alarms.
Rokonet and Bosch have some real good products to. I have GE in my own house and a dog and 2 cats and no issues. If installed right the GE seem fine but in someone elses house I would go with Optex or Bosch. I never tried DSC or Visonic detectors. Ademco seem ok about on par with the Napco and GE. Never tried Aleph either that I can remember. I do mostly small installs and help a few friends with their larger installs when I have time. I dont do this full time as I work for an alarm mfg.
tmbrown97
Senior Member
Ok - in the glass-cutter thing I was being hypothetical - not talking about some Mission Impossible scene... but the chainsaw is a far better example because that's one I've really seen too. Depending on the device used to break the window the frequency can also change affecting glass-break detection results. Worst case the perp can break the window and run - then if nobody/nothing acts, they can return and clear the glass and climb in.
I used Rokonet pet immune detectors for years - and I know the exact cause of the 5 false alarms I had - 2 were in the bedroom while shuffling boxes - the cat was playing up in the higher up field of vision where a human head would be; two were in the livingroom - once the cat jumping in front of the sensor at 4ft height, one with the cat jumping on and knocking over boxes; and the last was a mylar balloon in front of the heater vent 3ft from the sensor. That said, with cross-zoning, there would've been no false alarms.
In any situation, wherever possible, you still want to stop them before they enter if at all possible... even in a smash & grab - I'd rather the timer start before they get in - makes them think twice about still going in... once they're in, they know they have at least 5 minutes - if they know what they're after that's plenty of time - especially since any cop dispatched will assume it's a false alarm anyways and not approach it with any priority... though it helps if during dispatch they know multiple zones were violated, etc.
My point? use as many detection methods as you can reasonably afford and implement - while protecting against more chances for false alarms. Any always try to keep them from even entering - that's way better than scaring them once they're already inside - that sets of a whole different type of fear in a person.
I used Rokonet pet immune detectors for years - and I know the exact cause of the 5 false alarms I had - 2 were in the bedroom while shuffling boxes - the cat was playing up in the higher up field of vision where a human head would be; two were in the livingroom - once the cat jumping in front of the sensor at 4ft height, one with the cat jumping on and knocking over boxes; and the last was a mylar balloon in front of the heater vent 3ft from the sensor. That said, with cross-zoning, there would've been no false alarms.
In any situation, wherever possible, you still want to stop them before they enter if at all possible... even in a smash & grab - I'd rather the timer start before they get in - makes them think twice about still going in... once they're in, they know they have at least 5 minutes - if they know what they're after that's plenty of time - especially since any cop dispatched will assume it's a false alarm anyways and not approach it with any priority... though it helps if during dispatch they know multiple zones were violated, etc.
My point? use as many detection methods as you can reasonably afford and implement - while protecting against more chances for false alarms. Any always try to keep them from even entering - that's way better than scaring them once they're already inside - that sets of a whole different type of fear in a person.