Oh really? How so? Considering JCI still has Simplex selling the incredibly proprietary ES-series (& for that matter still charges customers ridiculous service fees, which they can do precisely because of said proprietaryness) I don’t see how that’s the case.
This is a function of all these brands once being their own companies/product lines.
Notifier (est. 1949) and Fire-Lite (est. 1952) used to be their own companies. They operated completely separate from each other, and Notifier had a three-year head start on Fire-Lite.
then Notifier became a subsidiary of Emhart, then Emhart was purchased by Pittway. Pittway also purchased Fire-Lite, so by this point both Notifier and Fire-Lite, who had been independently successful with name recognition in their own right, were now owned by the same company.
Then, Pittway was purchased by Honeywell, making Honeywell the owner of both brands, which used to be separate companies.
Because they both had individual name and brand recognition, dealers who worked with and sold Fire-Lite or Notifier, would continue to sell those products, and it didn’t matter to them who owned the name so long as they could sell the panels.
Silent Knight was founded in 1961, so that was even later.
You realize that EST and Gamewell-FCI are more proprietary than simplex? It’s like you are trying to somehow justify bashing the brand just because of how petty their parent company is. There are way worse.
I’d still call them the lesser evils in this case (including since Edwards has kept up their innovating, which has likely been helped by the courteous & respectful parent companies they’ve had over the years: Simplex under the rule of JCI has not).
To be fair, it’s hard to innovate when you’re basically ahead of the game. Simplex had addressable signaling, in addition to boing able to synchronize conventional, SmartSync, and addressable NACs’ audibles, and they have cards that can convert coded pulls into MAPNET II points by counting the pulses. Really the only thing they’re lacking is a wider range of LED signals. And before you say anything about it, no they do not give the slightest of a damn about us collectors, since we all know you obsess over that.
Yeah, there’s no denying that all of that is true, but that doesn’t mean others like Edwards haven’t innovated either.
Yeah: even Gentex is beating them to the punch on that from the looks of it!
I realize that, but their shady business practices affect customers as much as enthusiasts: I said before that they charge their customers absolutely ridiculous fees according to those in the industry, which they can do because Simplex systems require service from a Simplex-employed technician rather than a local unaffiliated one like with most other brands (not to mention the treatment of their employees again according to people in the business).
I don’t see anything shady going on, not exactly sure what you’re talking about.
You don’t see anything likely because you don’t actually look: just a quick search on r/firealarms will net you plenty of posts & comments from dissatisfied (often ex-) employees:
JCI Lawsuit : r/firealarms (reddit.com)
Anyone here work for JCI : r/firealarms (reddit.com)
Leaving JCI felt like 1000lbs was lifted from my shoulders : r/firealarms (reddit.com)
Hope you JCI techs are getting a raise! : r/firealarms (reddit.com) (this one in particular specifically says “The company was great in the early years, as time went on, things just got worse and worse. JCI has taken what’s left of a once great company and sucked all the marrow out the bones of its dead and rotting corpse.”)
Johnson/Simplex merger. : r/firealarms (reddit.com) (this one also has comments that say similar things to the previous post)
I describe companies in 10 words or less: : r/firealarms (reddit.com) (“The problem with Simplex is JCI” “The problem with JCI is corporate greed”)
I want to collect some data to determine the best fire alarm brand and why it’s the best. : r/firealarms (reddit.com) (“The only real people who are super into Simplex tend to be the Fire Alarm Kids. JCI’s bleeding customers left and right, including customers just ripping out newer systems and replacing it all to save money. JCI’s pricing is made up and the invoicing don’t matter.”)
This is coming from the guy who thought it would be a great business practice to cater exclusively towards enthusiasts and refused to listen to people telling him he was wrong
I’m pretty sure I didn’t say that: if anything I said both enthusiasts & regular commercial customers (because without the latter how are you supposed to stay in business &/or make money?), & I don’t always ignore what people say.
Regardless though, it still seems like Ryan said what he said without even looking around for himself & finding all of the negative “reviews” people have given JCI (which is what I supplied him with since he’s so convinced there’s nothing going on at/wrong with JCI).
Why has “Honeywell’s Plan for the Future” turned into “Complaining about JCI” ?
Sorry Connor, I know it’s gotten off-subject: can you think of something to say to put things back on track?
No, I mean I think everybody already got my point (and the points of others too)
Why did they choose to do this for Gamewell and Silent Knight but not for Firelite or Notifier?
You know, I never noticed that: I had just assumed they did it for all their brands. My only guesses are that they have yet to redesign the logos for whatever reason or that Honeywell thinks of Fire-Lite & Notifier as their flagship brands & thus that they deserve to have their names still be first-&-foremost/front-&-center.
I would actually agree with that