Honeywell VISTA-20P Ademco Control Panel, PCB in Aluminum Enclosure

I purchased this to replace a proprietary system,installed by a prior homeowner, that had been inactive for several years. With a little bit of Google research of of the model number it was clear that the old unit had been manufactured by Honeywell. I was interested in self monitoring and did not want to commit to an expensive, multi-year contract to re-activate the old system. The Vista system seemed well recommended as a neutral platform. On the physical side, I was able to re-use the existing wiring and Honeywell branded wireless sensors, but the speaker, keypad, and wireless receiver all had to be replaced. I paired this with a 6162 keypad, a WAVE-2 siren, and a 5881 wireless receiver. If I could do it again I would have probably went with the 6162rf keypad, since it has a RF receiver built in and my sensors are all relatively close to the unit. On the wiring side, you need to be comfortable stripping wire and using screw terminals, and for new installs there is the issue of routing wires through the wall for the power, keypad, and siren -- everything else can be wireless if desired. A keypad that supports Vista Intelligent Programming, such as one of the 616X series keypads, is essential. The control unit shipped to me had a v10.x firmware, so I was set under the requirement to have version 9.18 or higher to use the menu programming. In line with other comments, the programming menu is more oriented towards installers and requires navigating through several menus, but I was able to complete basic programming and enable ~5 wired and wireless zones over an afternoon by following along with online guides and YouTube videos. There are some great YouTube videos that basically walk from initial start up to configuring and naming a few zones. I'm not sure if you need the software engineer background others mention to program it, but comfort with technology and a willingness to treat it as an adventure helped. So far the system is working great, and I've added an Envisalink 3 for web based monitoring and control, which I was able to get up and running in about 30 minutes. The end result is that I have a system with plenty of capacity to grow that does everything I need -- I am very happy with the system. Day to day operation is very smooth, with the full text display again helping (as you can name zones and be notified of issues). The added features (web monitoring/control and text/e-mail alerts) from the EnvisaLink are great as well. While there are an increasing number of all wireless or "home automation" oriented systems out there, I am more comfortable with the idea of having a solid, stand alone, reliable system like the 20p for security, with home automation on its own platform until there is a little more standards convergence. Next steps include adding a sensor for the garage door and possibly wireless smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. I will eventually look into the Honeywell Connect and/or Tuxedo Touch add-ons as they continue to mature.

After my second home was broken into, and the front door left open for who knows how long, I decided I wanted an alarm. After much research, and not wanting to deal with contracts, salesmen and high monthly fees, I ended up with this panel and a totally expandable professional system that texts me when the alarm is disarmed, armed, fire, trouble, flood, and of course if a break-in occurs. The basics of the system are the 20P panel, the 15P would be fine for most,unless you have more than six wired zones, the EVL-4 Eyezon IP communicator, which requires a hardwired connection to the router, and mounts inside the cabinet, 12 volt back up battery, required as it drives the siren as well as power failure back-up, siren, and don't go for anything less than the 6160RF keypad. The RF denotes that the keypad is capable of receiving and transmitting to wireless devices. Even if you don't think you'll want or need wireless, once you read up and see all the endless possibilities of the wireless devices and sensors, you'll be glad you spent the little extra to go RF. If you don't own a drill, wire strippers, or maybe even a soldering iron, and willing to roll up your sleeves and learn a little about all the well thought out and time proven nuances and actually read the manual-then this is probably not the system for you. Just looking at the manual and all the options are a bit overwhelming, but once you dig in, only a few of the actual programming prompts need to be changed. Each zone needs to be told how to react to the sensor, but just read and check out a few youtube videos. You don't need to be a computer programmer or rocket scientist-Just be willing to invest a little time and energy during the install, and you won't need to touch it again unless you want to do some upgrades and enhancements, which I'm sure most techie types will be fascinated by the possibilities. I'm working to install an electric water valve in the main water line, so the water is shut off when armed in away mode-no flood worries!

Works very well as a residential alarm panel coupled with hard wired contacts. Add an RF Keypad (6160RF) and benefit from wireless contacts if you don't want to run wires or it is too difficult to run wires in your application.

Easy to setup panel. Replaced my old brinks pos and was able to reuse the sensors existing in he house