I’m looking at potentially getting an Alarm.com alarm for my new house. As far as I can see the panels that most people use are the
2GIG GC2
2GIG GC3
Qolsys IQ Panel
Qolsys IQ Panel 2
I was leaning toward the IQ Panel 2 as it seems the most featureful, but the fact that it runs Android makes me a little nervous. Does it ever suffer from freezing, random reboots, or does it mean it could be susceptible to any exploits found in Android? What has everyone’s experience been?
More background: I came from having a DIY system from AlarmRelay which was manufactured by DMP (Digital Monitoring Products). That alarm is rock solid, to the point that Chase Bank uses that brand in most of their branches. However, AlarmRelay/HomeSecurityStore stopped selling DMP and for me to replace it with a DMP system now it’s quite a bit more expensive since it needs to be professionally installed.
The reason Alarm.com appeals to me is for the RadioRA2 and ZWave support (and specifically the ZWave Plus in the Qolsys). On the DMP side of the house if I don’t do Alarm.com I could do their XTL-PLUS which has Z-Wave Plus, or their XR-150 which has Z-Wave (not Plus) and Control4. I eventually want to put decent lighting controls in the house so I’m trying to be sensitive of which integrations the alarm has.
The Qolsys IQ Panel 2 is a brand new product, generally speaking, but as the second generation panel from Qolsys it is an upgrade in every way, building upon the efforts of the original. From our experience we have not noticed issues with the panel at all. Note that 2-Way is not available on the Verizon model quite yet but should be very soon.
For lighting integration, RadioRa 2 is not specific to panels, and can be integrated with any Interactive Gold account through suretyDIY.
I am personally a big fan of RadioRa 2 as well for a robust lighting control system, if that is the direction you are looking to go.
Z-wave on the IQ Panel 2 is solid as far as we have seen, and for the most part all devices compatible with the IQ Panel are compatible with the IQ Panel 2 from launch. A new secondary touchscreen will be released for it at a later time.
Is two way now available on the Verizon model? I was told you can’t disable a sensor remotely through Alarm.com app. Why is that. So if I were to forget to arm system and left a window open, I can’t remotely arm the system?
Absolutely! We provide service and support for all Alarm.com compatible panels including Qolsys!
We also offer the Qolsys IQ Panel 2+ (QS9201-1208-840) through our storefront should you be looking for the new version. If purchasing through the previous link the panel includes a 6 month free trial of our Surety Home plan.