I’m pretty sure this is the best category for this. If you don’t think so and it bothers you, feel free to move it yourself or let me know.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Menards is a major chain of stores here in the Midwest that competes with Lowe’s and The Home Depot (although my area doesn’t have a Home Depot store). They also sell many other categories of products, including food, toys, decorations, and furniture. I go there quite a bit because they have significantly lower prices and a pretty good selection. The only reason I ever go to Lowe’s or somewhere else is if Menards doesn’t carry the specific item I’m looking for (which is very rare).
My local Menards store has always had a pretty interesting smoke alarm selection (so far, it’s the only place that I’ve ever bought smoke alarms from), but it has recently gotten pretty interesting. Menards has always partnered with Kidde to sell their products. Menards also rebranded some Kidde products under the “Smart Electrician” brand. Literally the only difference was the packaging and a slightly lower price. They have also always sold USI alarms (say what you want about that).
At that time, Menards also sold one Siterwell alarm rebranded by Smart Electrician. That alarm can actually be seen as the Photoelectric alarm in Technology Connections’ video about ionization vs photoelectric technology:
The “Kidde i9040” is also likely a “Smart Electrician i9040” since he probably got both units from Menards at the same time.
Recently, they have narrowed their Kidde selection to almost exclusively the “DETECT” line of products. They do still sell the same USI products. Now, they also seem to rebrand some other random smoke alarms under the “PERFORMAX” brand. They seem to be made by Siterwell as well. Now, the only ionization alarms that they sell are the USI ones.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
Most of them have 10 year sealed batteries. To me, the most intriguing alarm is the smoke and co combo alarm that can be battery powered or hardwired and can have wired or wireless interconnect. This would be a great “one size fits all” alarm that anyone could buy to install anywhere in their house and it will work as intended. If I was replacing all of my alarms, I would consider those as a good option to replace all of my existing alarms and add coverage to the lacking areas that do not have wiring for it.
If you want to see their full selection on their website, I made it easy for you:
If anyone’s a smoke alarm collector, these might be cool, less common additions to your collection.