The only places near me that have Siemens are my High School and a newly constructed shopping plaza. Most common horn/strobes are of course, Z-Series alarms and H-Series pulls, however the Whole Foods in that department has A-series (AS) notification.
Boston area:
Simplex: Very common, in installs of all sizes, especially larger ones.
Honeywell: Notifier is quite common in installs of varying sizes. Fire-Lite and Silent Knight are very common for smaller installs, like standalone restaurants. Gamewell-FCI is not exactly that common, but not too rare, either.
EST: Quite common, mainly in larger installs.
Siemens: Not common. Only know of a few installs, like the school that I’ll be going to next year.
Sounds like there is still a lot of Simplex alarms around there. One of these days maybe I will go down there and check it out if I get the chance.
I’m from Portland, Oregon and work for a company that specializes in special hazards systems (clean agent, inert gas, watermist, industrial dry chemical, explosion protection, gas detection, etc.). We also install new fire alarm systems and service a lot of existing systems ranging from fire sprinkler monitoring to a few small high-rise systems. I work both in the Portland metro area and more rural areas in Oregon, Washington, and California. Here’s what I see:
Siemens - lots of legacy Pyrotronics systems out there. MXL and MXL-IQ. I also service some SXL and System 3 systems. Lots of the high-rise buildings have Siemens systems.
Notifier - we’re a Notifier dealer so we install new Notifier systems and get calls to service existing systems.
JCI / Simplex - they’re everywhere, right? Especially in the high-rise market.
Silent Knight - also everywhere. They’re all over the commercial market. Tilt-up buildings with good size sprinkler monitoring systems seem to always be Silent Knight or Firelite systems.
EST - I hear they’re out here, but I don’t come across them too often. We perform testing on a couple of these systems, but I’m sure as hell not gonna touch them.
Honeywell brands (Notifier, Fire Lite Alarms Inc., Silent Knight) are all the most popular brands/devices in my area.
Depends, really.
Just about every retail/store/restaurant in San Antonio has Fire-Lite or Silent Knight. Understandable, though.
OSU has mostly Simplex systems, with the occasional Notifier system scattered about.
Up here in Omaha where I am this summer, the company I work for is an EST distributor, so there’s a lot of that around.
Hope that if you see a ton of EST systems that you eventually get to a system that has an Adaptahorn on it. 
The most popular FA brand in my county/area is Simplex.
Simplex seems to be up there with System Sensor as the most popular fire alarm brand in some areas.
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Hell, I’ve worked on more Mirtone panels than I ever have on Simplex/Notifier.
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I think I saw a Mirtone FACP in northern Vermont, in Northfield, Vermont. And I saw what looked like Wheelock 7002s, possibly the "T"s, they had the late-style grille, but possibly with the old style black horns. If they’re the "T"s, (silver-plated horns) then I doubt they are later than 1986. (the first ones of such) Thus likely placing them in the Faraday 6020/Simplex 2901-9833 era. The Mirtone FACP, looked like the same era.
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Funny you say that, I was just working on a Mirtone system with the 7002Ts, seems to be common with that panel & horns.
Oh how I’m sure that there are a lot more Wheelock and Edwards alarms over in Canada than in the US.
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Oh how I’m sure that there are a lot more Wheelock and Edwards alarms over in Canada than in the US.
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Oh definitley! Now you see a lot of Mircom systems being installed. I was just in Boston/Salem, MA and North Conway, NH. I noticed a ton of systems with BG-12s and System Sensor horn/strobes. One random brand I saw was Firewolf by Napco.
I’m wondering what sort of alarms they use.
Sorry for the bump. I guess I will explain my area even though it was already explained twice. Which is Portland OR which I has some interesting things compared to the rest of the country.
Simplex: Common.
Simplex is used a lot in Portland. The Oregon Zoo has many Simplex systems, I have seen a few Simplex systems downtown as well and a many hospital uses Simplex. Most likely you will see Simplex 4100ES and maybe 4100Us. There are smaller 4010s out there as well. I know of a couple 4002 systems still kicking but those are unfortunately are close to replacement. I only recall only seeing one 4005 system. I know of a couple 4020 system that were installed but those were replaced by 5820XLs. I do know of 2 4100 Classic systems but those were upgraded to 4100ESs. There a 4100 Plus in a elementary school in my district is getting replaced this summer. As for Simplex AVs go, TrueAlerts are the most common but 4903s (horn strobes and speaker strobes) are hard to find. 4903 strobe plates can be found but there not very common. 2903s are basically non existent. There was a school in my district that had 2903s and 2902s but that school got demolished. There was a church in Salem that got 2903s but that got replaced by Spectralert Advances. 4050-80s are also non existent to the point that I don’t know if there were any system that was installed with 4050-80s.
Even though Simplex does well in Portland, the biggest market there losing is the Oregon schools. They lost my district, the district where my dad works at, some neighboring districts. There is only one district I know of that still uses Simplex. Mine switch to Notifier, My dad’s district switched to Silent Knight, a nagboring district switched to Siemens, and one switch to EST
Some notable Simplex systems are: OMSI,OHSU, Oregon Zoo (Despite the one EST system there), Lloyd Center and possibly more there I didn’t mention
Autocall (JCI): Extremely Rare
Some enthusiasts found one Autocall system but that’s it. There’s only one disturber for Autocall and judging by the lack of Autocall systems, they haven’t installed many. In the future I could see some more Autocall systems
Autocall (Pre-JCI): Non Existent
I don’t know of any Autocall systems prior to the closure of Autocall.
ADT: Uncommon.
Used to be common back in then but has lost that title.
FireLite: some what Common
Mostly found in some buildings. Mainly I seen Fire Lite the most was in Targets (except for one) and CostCos. I’m not sure with FireLite. I think I have seen more Simplex systems then FireLite. As for pull stations goes, the BG-12s are extremely common pull stations to the point where it’s used of non-FireLite systems like my local Walgreens where it has a 5208 but with FireLite BG-12s. The BG-10s are harder and harder to find. I only seen a building in downtown Portland that has them and I’m not even sure it’s there anymore. The most common panel is probably the 9200UDLS. FireLite isn’t as common as Silent Knight is
Silent Knight: Extremely Common
There extremely common in smaller buildings and common in bigger buildings aswell. Silent Knight systems are still being installed to this day with the newest SK system I seen at a Home Depot where it was the first system for the existing Home Depot. SK has a lot of school districts aswell. I can count some school districts that are using SK right now. Silent Knight also has the Keller Auditorium in Downtown Portland which I found surprising considering I was expecting Simplex or Notifier. Silent Knight also has Portland State University on there back which Portland State uses for there fire alarm system today. Silent Knight is used in retail a lot aswell. Silent Knight is huge in Oregon even though it kinda slowed down in the recent years
Notable Places: Keller Auditorium, Home Depot, Many School Districts across the metro area
Notifier: Fairly common
Notifier is Fairly common to the point it’s used in my school district and a neighboring district as well. There is 80s Notifier in some hotels in the metro area. As of now I don’t know of any Notifier systems in downtown at the moment but hopefully I will find one. There is also some smaller Notifier systems I did find
Notible Places: Clackamas Town Center, Pioneer Courthouse Square for the Starbucks and what ever under that place and some older Hotels
Gamewell FCI: Fairly Common
Gamewell FCI is fairly common. There is a district that uses Gamewell FCI and know of a older FCI system at a Restore. Gamewell FCI is used at the Koin Tower in Downtown Portland OR.
Notible Places: Koin Tower and Pioneer Square
Honeywell: Non-existent
Honeywell used to have PDX and a arcade but PDX replaced there Honeywell system with a EST3 and the arcade went ahead and replaced it with a Silent Knight system.
Johnson Controls (Pre-Simplex): Extremely Rare but not non existent:
There are only 2 places where I know that Johnson Controls systems were installed, a Community College (almost all the buildings have IFC systems) and a building in Portland State University that uses Johnson Controls rebranded Notifier systems.
Mircom: Extremely Rare
There is a Shake Shack in Beaverton that has a Mircom system, other then that it’s almost non existent.
EST: Common
EST is pretty common. I know a district that uses EST systems and there are some smaller places that use EST. There biggest customer is PDX, which has EST3.
There more common in Central Oregon
Notible Places: PDX
Siemens (Appolge): Extremely Rare but not non-existent There’s only like one system with a Siemens rebranded EST system I was aware of. That is the Oregon Convention Center.
Notible Places: Oregon Convention Center
Siemens (Cerberus Pyrotronics): Common
Siemens is common and still being installed. A hotel in downtown has a Siemens system and one of the stadiums, Moda Center. Siemens also has a mall.
Notible Places: Moda Center, Washington Square
Potter: Somewhat Common
Potter doesn’t have any vintage systems here but in much newer systems starting in the 2010s, Potter started to get installed more and more. It helps that Portland Public Schools uses them (there’s a case study on Potter’s website) and I do remember seeing a apartment building with a Potter system.
Notible Places: a lot of Schools in Portland.
Fike: Extremely Rare
There’s only one system I know of that has Fike. It oddly has EST Genesises
Bosch: Common
Really the only places that use Bosch is retail stores. Fred Meyer uses Bosch (well Kroger owns them and uses Bosch) and formally WinCo. Walmart also uses Bosch.
System Sensor: Extremely Common
System Sensor is everywhere. The Advances and L-Series are extremely common and the Classics are very common aswell. As for smokes go, the I3s are common but here’s a odd thing about Portland, it has more System Sensor 1400s then 2400s. I don’t know what Oregon’s phobia of photoelectric smokes but I have found more 1400s then 2400s and the addressable versions is the same deal. Ionization being more common then Photoelectric with CPX-551s being more common than the SDX-551. I have seen Simplex rebranded 1400s a couple times. The MASS is less common since System Sensor wasn’t popular back then. System Sensor is found commonly on Notifier systems even if most the AVs are Wheelock or Gentex. Silent Knight installs uses System Sensor often with Gamewell FCI also using System Sensor. FireLite is mostly System Sensor. Even on non-Honeywell systems there still common. There are quite a bit of Potter installs using System Sensor and Bosch installs uses System Sensor commonly.
Wheelock: Extremely Common
Wheelock is very common but here’s the weird thing. Wheelock is most commonly found on Simplex systems. A lot of Simplex systems in the 1990s though the 2000s used mostly Wheelock devices. I believe they stopped doing this in the early 2010s, Simplex uses TrueAlert and TrueAlert ESs for new installs with the use of Exceeders for renovations or replacement for older systems maybe using the ET70WPs for the weatherproof speaker strobes. Wheelock is common on Silent Knight systems, it isn’t any System Sensor but you can find SK with Wheelock. There are a few FireLite systems with Wheelock devices. There is also a few Notifier systems with Wheelock devices but those aren’t as common as seeing Wheelock with Simplex. I have seen 2 EST systems that have Wheelock and PDX has Wheelock with EST.
As for older Wheelock devices, I founded some 34-24s and 34Ts but not any 7002Ts.
Gentex: uncommon
Gentex it’s very common with systems. I have mostly seen Gentex on FCI systems but that’s it. I have seen 2 Simplex systems with Gentex, one with GXS and one with Commander 3s and 4s
Faraday: Non Existent
I can’t find any system with Faraday devices unless you are counting rebranded stuff.
Federal Signal: Non existent
I heard Federal Signal never sold equipment on the West coast so that explains it.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
notifire- alot
simplex- non existant
gentax 50 50
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The most popular system brands I come accross near Tacoma are usually a Honeywell brand. Occasionally may find a few Simplex systems here and there (You’ll also find a lot of EST in Seattle) but almost every building I see that has an alarm system is usually a Honeywell device.