Is the EST Genesis a good "starter" alarm?

My grandfather works for a demolition company and is working on a building with a few functional EST Genesises. Are these alarms a good “starter” choice?

They’re fine, but there are a few things to note.
They’re all two-wire, so if you want to operate the horn and strobe separately, you’d have to disassemble the alarm and cut the wires running to the strobe.
Secondly, in order to change signal coding, you have to physically break off a piece of the circuit board. It’s on Code-3 by default but if you want to set it to continuous, you’d better be sure that’s what you want because you can’t go back.

They were my first and I love them. Small, bright, loud, easy to wire. I love them.

For any starter, I’d recommend the Wheelock MT. The horns are 12-24vdc but I’ve only seen 24v strobes. It’s Multitone and gives you 8 choices:
[list]

  • []Continuous Mechanical
  • []Code-3 mechanical
  • []marchtime mechanical
  • []code-3 500Hz
  • []bell
  • []slow whoop
  • []hi-lo
  • []siren
  • [/list]It has two volume settings and the horn/strobes are always 4-wire. It mounts to 4-inch square boxes and 2-gang boxes and it’s semi-flush mounted and it’s design looks ageless. The strobes follow Wheelock sync and the horn can also be on Wheelock sync without any issues. You can set it on any tone on the sync protocol and it won’t restart but it will skip like a 7002T. The horn doesn’t sync or silence on the protocol though. Ideally, the horn would be on a silenceable nac separate from the strobe and the strobe would be synchronized.

    No one seemed to mention it’s quirks

    The EST Genesis is unique in that it does not require a sync module. The strobes can sync without a module for (correct me if I’m wrong) two hours. They have very precise timing circuitry in each device. They are low profile and can be fitted to 4" square boxes with an adapter plate. The strobe is also small, but as effective as a regular strobe. Instead of a aiming light with reflectors, the lens itself bends the light to travel in certain directions. Although for any beginner alarm, I’d recommend a 4-wire device, but I’d love to have at least two of these alarms for my collection. This device was released a while ago but it’s technology is still ahead of its time compared to other manufacturers’ devices. This device is as modern as can be.

    The EST Genesis will function just fine as a “starter” signal just be careful when hooking up power. Not sure how EST signals handle FWR but virtually all Simplex signals require filtered DC. Like others have said changing the coding requires physically breaking off a piece of the circuit board and also it’s a single-gang mounting type so if you wanted to use a double-gang box you’d need an adapter plate. If you are looking for some other recommendations the Wheelock MT and the System Sensor SpectrAlert Classic P1224MC are fantastic choices as well.

    Thank you for the advice. I have now officially started my collection :smiley:

    Iam surprised no one said the Spectralert Advance .

    I did recommend the SpectrAlert Classic. The advance is nice in the sense that the universal mounting plate and rotary switches make it easy to configure and wire, but the Classic sounds way better if you ask me.

    Or you could go for the cutting edge and get an L-Series.

    IMO, the SpectrAlert Classic looks just ugly.

    Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. :lol: It’s an iconic alarm, sorta like the Wheelock MT or 7002, easy to recognize and found everywhere. When the Advance came out I wasn’t too impressed with its’ appearance but it grew on me. Especially the speaker strobes. The L-Series will probably be the same, take me a few years to warm up to the design concept. Right now I think it looks a little futuristic and honestly not very nice. The one thing I DON’T like is the sound of the Advance and L-Series horns. Shrill and honestly rather annoying (I suppose all alarms should be annoying - but the Advance horns just don’t have the same characteristic piercing peep of the classic horn/strobes)

    I love the classic! They are super iconic and I think they look pretty nice. The L series devices actually look pretty nice when seen in person. I have 3 of them

    They look a lot more cleaner than the Advances and very modern. I’ve only saw one in a Family Dollar that used to be a Dollar Tree in the Family Dollar Plaza.

    If you want my opinion for good starter alarms, asdf1, I’d recommend:
    Wheelock MT
    Wheelock AS
    Wheelock HS4
    Spectralert Classic
    Gentex Commander 2/3
    Gentex SHG

    With the exception of the AS, I believe all of these are four wire alarms.

    :smiley:

    On second thought, when I first saw it, it looked fat and sluggish expect the Ceiling mount model, but I guess I was dissapointed with “FIRE” on top.
    (BTW, what’s the font for these alarms?)

    Also, I agree on the speaker strobes. When I saw them in person, the Ceiling mount models specifically looked uglier than I thought.

    I may not be a big fan of the Advanced, but I would like the L-Series a lot more if they had the Classic horn instead of the Advanced horn.

    *Advance

    And I agree. The new electromechanical tone on the L-Series is a bit too low pitched and loud. I’d rather have the classic tones instead.