Honeywell ADE Optima Gen4 8 Zone Alarm Panel

Bought as a replacement for an existing panel.All terminals clearly labelled and wiring instructions clear enoughFound chime facility very handy for checking operation & fault finding (Can set a zone only to chime & not set off alarm) - Multiple Zones can be set for smoke detectorsProgramming the unit is not easy as you're doing it almost blind, you've only got LED's for feedback & some settings require the tick pressed & others just return (Not mentioned in op inst!)If you've got a few extra pounds to spend or are not that confident, I'd expect the LCD extension keypad would make it an excellent unitKeypad stays lit all the time - draws attention to the boxWorked Ok with my existing bell box but then found strobe had failed! - Have bought the matching new Honeywell bell box as it's reasonably priced - Looks Ok, will review it once fitted!

Seems well made, possibly based on the old Omnicron 8000 Alarm system which served well for many years.The instructions are not very clear in places and some technical knowledge and familiarity with alarm requirements are recommended before attempting installation. When properly set up it works well.The back lighting on the keyboard is very uneven and the UNSET signal LED bleeds some light onto the warning light LED above which can be confusing. When the panel is SET all LED lights are OFF (bar the Mains indicator). As a possible design improvement an ALARKM SET light indicator would be helpful.

It is a very typical optima control panel with logic similar to previous versions.It will not work with remote key pads from previous optima ranges such as the optima 4. Brand loyalty works best if the manufacturer keeps things compatible.The box is really far too small and a few extra cm to allow for bigger batteries or longer tails on the wire would be nice. Don't expect any support from Honeywell if you need say a replacement transformer or even the specification of it as they don't seem to want to support their customers. I would have thought a web site with the option to buy replacement components would have been a good thing. I must try to find the web site and try the customer support before buying the product in the future.

Installing this alarm is not straightforward as The Engineers Manual supplied is aimed at the professional installer. I am a retired electrical engineer who has installed two previous alarm systems and found the manual to be of limited use. It would certainly confuse the ordinary DIY person requiring stage by stage detailed instructions. Unless you are competent with installing alarms give this system a wide berth.

Product arrived on time as per description. Only problem with the instruction booklet was it kept referring to the external keypad which I did not have, which was confussing at times. As for the product, it did exactly what it said on the tin. It was easy for me as I was just transferring the wires from an old optica alarm box to the new one.Only issue I have is the low noise level when entering the code. It's very hard to hear the bleeps.

Very easy to install and use, compatible with remote keypad

Installed by a quality intruder alarm engineer/Colleague

Bought to replace ageing keypad with worn buttons. New one smaller and better keys. Only drawback, not all zones were blocked so it took a while to see why alarm kept going off even though all connections were correct. Also instructions wholly inadequate. They expected fitter to be a professional.