Alarm System Equipment Manufacturers

Four companies manufacture a majority of burglar alarm equipment:

All these manufacturers make a good product. They each have their own special features and designs that set them apart from each other, but like Ford, General Motors, Honda or Toyota,  they will all get you where you need to go.

One aspect of equipment that is important to know is whether the equipment you are buying is proprietary. Proprietary equipment can only be monitored or replaced by the company you bought it from. Brinks is an example of a company that uses proprietary equipment. Honeywell manufactures the equipment for Brinks, but only Brinks can monitor it.

This type of situation can leave you a “hostage” when it comes to service or monitoring needs. You might have to replace your system in the event that you decide to switch companies. Most alarm  manufacturers make their equipment such that it can be “software locked”. By software locking the panel the alarm company keeps unauthorized users out of the programming of the system.

There is good reason for companies to “software lock” their customers panels for liability purposes. It is important that if you decide to change alarm companies that the alarm company “unlocks” the panel and restores the factory defaults on the locks (or to codes which you specify) so that you can have the option to monitor your alarm system where you choose and also be able to have any service company work on your alarm.

Blockwatch Alarm systems, however, are independent. They are made by DSC. And while they are Blockwatch Alarm Ready they can also be used without monitoring or used with a different monitoring service.