Re: Allegro vs. Lynx for a small student apartment

["Bill" <lost.beach@xxxxxxxxx>]

shady wrote:
> Allegro - great little wireless system, especially with the DTIM module...
> menu based programming in english and nothing too technical... after
> installing maybe 20 now, it takes about 5 minutes to program without a
> manual... also everything is lightweight (panel, door contacts, motions,
> etc.) so you don't need to overdo it with the screws, which will make your
> manager happier if you ever move out

What little there is to read about the Allegro online (outside of
official documentation that GE keeps in their restricted,
installer-only archives) seemed to suggest it would be a much less
annoying install than the Lynx.

I'm fairly technically inclined, but looking over the Lynx installation
manual suggests Ademco decided to go with a "good enough" approach to
making the programming experience friendly to the installer. I kept
telling myself "There is no reason it should be this way" while reading
the entire text.

> Lynx - very loud annoying keypad beeps, may even irritate your neighbors...
> and just looks like it's 20 years old, much like the rest of the ademco line
> (except the new touchscreen stuff, of course)

The industrial design of the Lynx is pitiful. It really does look as if
it should be gathering dust on a Radio Shack shelf circa 1986. The
Allegro shows what you can do when size and appearance are taken into
account during the initial design phase. The Lynx (along with the
PowerMax and Simon lines) are ridiculously bulky and call far too much
attention to themselves.

Mark Leuck wrote:
> The Allegro was designed to be the most basic system to install which isn't
> bad but it doesn't have ANY additional features other than pager.

I'm just looking for something basic, but effective that will monitor
for intrusion, and contact the central station before the DTIM is
obliterated.

J Barnes wrote:
> I like having the remote dialer that the Allegro has.  Simon will work with
> it also, but you will need to buy it seperately.  I have installed only 4
> Allegro systems so I am not sure about the reliablility but it seems to be a
> good easy system.  I have seen the "all in one systems" be defeated by
> pulling them from the wall.  Allegro seems to have solved that problem.
>

When exactly does the DTIM get the go-ahead signal? Is it a matter of:

- Delay zone fault. DTIM does not receive any signal until the entry
delay has expired.
- Delay zone fault. DTIM receives a signal to dial upon the expiration
of the delay unless the control/kepyad sends an all-clear.

If it's the former, then I really wish they had bundled the
control/DTIM together and kept the keypad/sounder separate.