So a friend sent me the following images…
What do you guys think?
I think it’s interesting that the first IFP panel listed there features what’s labelled as an SK-Photo smoke detector. Is this a mislabeling, or are IFP and Silent Knight going to allow interchanging their (nearly identical) SK/IDP devices on these new panels?
I also like the cellular dialing option that’s coming for the Silent Knight panels (might be on Fire-Lite too, but Silent Knight is my preferred brand so I’m focusing on them here.)
One thing I do NOT like however, is the enlarged “Honeywell” logo on all these brands and their webpages. I know they need to get their name out there and start competing for the real big jobs that Simplex, EST, and Siemens usually dominate, but I liked the diversity of brands that existed before Honeywell bought them, even if they all re-branded things like the BG-12 and SD355.
I think they all look nice, especially the Fire-Lite ones. But are they phasing out Notifier in favor of just Honeywell?
It’s interesting to note that, unlike Fire-Lite and Silent Knight, Notifier no longer has their own domain name. Although the page is still branded as Notifier, it redirects to a Honeywell domain: http://www.notifier.com
Seems like they’re changing the system sensor protocol back to the IFP (Fahrenhyt/Hochiki) protocol…weird that they changed the NFS series to IFP series…hmmm
I don’t think there’s sufficient evidence to say that these are intended to replace the Notifier equipment line. IFP has alwas been associated with Silent Knight, and despite the Notifier “colors” on the panels, Silent Knights’ Farenhyt wesbite indictates these are still SK units. Meanwhile, Notifier’s new website still advertises the ONYX and Firewarden series.
I just noticed that Honeywell is promentently displayed next to the name on Notifier’s, Silent knight’s, and gamewell fci’s websites. Something BIG is happening.
What’s happening is that Silent Knight and GW/FCI names are going away in favor of Honeywell branded systems. As of now it looks as tho Notifier will remain a separate stand alone brand although Honeywell is appearing larger in the signage. So for those who were GW/FCI or SK ESD’s and dealers you will have a Honeywell branded offering
It’s about time they branded these properly. The actual Honeywell name is all but non-existent in the fire alarm world despite owning a huge chunk of the market.
As a Gamewell-FCI distributor, we’ve been told that most of what we distribute will be branded as Honeywell going forward. Honeywell has already merged their distribution of Farenhyt, Silent Knight’s proprietary line, with Gamewell-FCI, I guess all to be called Honeywell now. Too bad. We’ve been installing Gamewell panels for years. That name means a lot more in this field than Honeywell.
I am kind of surprised to see them expanding the IFP series, which is an antique platform to begin with. But maybe they will be a reasonable alternative for small jobs with the 7100 no longer available. Hopefully they’re a little more user friendly and can have longer than 15 character device descriptions.
Also hopefully IDP devices will be made compatible with Velociti and vice-versa. I really don’t have any interest in keeping stock of both. My understanding is they are identical protocols that simply send a different brand bit to the panel.
Honestly, I think it’s about time Honeywell consolidated their brands. With Fire-Lite, Notifier, Gamewell-FCI, and Silent Knight all “competing” in the field it would make more sense to group them all as “Honeywell” to compete with ADT, JohnsonControls/Tyco/SimplexGrinnell and EST.
The only question I have is “why now?” Why did Honeywell wait all this time to enlarge their signage on product they now own?
So does this mean the System Sensor protocol is no longer going to be favored by Honeywell?
Also, what happens to all of Honeywell’s conventional panels? Are they going the way of competitors in favor of all addressable initiation devices, and all addressable panels?
No, the opposite. IDP is Silent Knight/Farenhyt’s version of FlashScan/Velociti. Silent Knight and Farenhyt panels still support the Hochiki protocol, which they call SD, but they limit the total number of points to less than they allow on IDP. They also don’t offer smoke/CO and low frequency sounder bases in SD. (Even though Hochiki does produce these for their own panels.)
I haven’t heard of any being discontinued yet. It’s a pretty limited number that exist currently, just the Fire-Lite 5-10 zone and Silent Knight expandable panels that are rebranded by Gamewell-FCI and Notifier. I’m sure they’ll keep them around for sprinkler monitoring and small applications where the cost of addressable is not justified.
Here’s a webpage with good information on Honeywell’s current brand migration efforts, including their fire protection brands:
This helps to explain some of the changes we’ve been seeing in regards to the branding on these new devices.