Hi. I just bought a new house in Texas (close on 11/30). I had the 2GigGoGC2 for the past five years, but I would like to know what panel to buy now? The IQ2 that you sell on your site? The GC3? Honeywell Lyric? Which is the most full-featured, works with ADC, and is supported by the great people ate Surety? Thank you.
Lyric is not compatible with Alarm.com.
The Qolsys IQ Panel 2+ offers the most compatibility over the other panels mentioned. It is compatible with Z-Wave Plus, DSC PowerG encrypted sensors, one Legacy sensor type (319.5, 345, or 433) a built in 4G LTE module, and has built in Wi-Fi. It also supports video to the panel through Alarm.com (via specific cameras)
Does your current home have any existing sensors, either wired or wireless?
Thank you for your response. Yes, the house has hard-wired sensors on all doors and windows.
Those can be taken over, along with 2-wire interconnected smoke detectors, using the Qolsys Hardwire 16-F, compatible with the Qolsys IQ Panel 2+ (w/ 319.5MHz radio) should you decide to go that route.
There are hardwire takeover modules for the 2GIG GC3, but they don’t work with smokes. Regarding the GC3, those are no longer made and have been replaced with the GC3e Series panel.
Thank you for your response. Yes, the house has hard-wired sensors on all doors and windows.
Please help me understand: isn’t Z-Wave a standard? Aren’t the many window and door sensors, light switches and locks I purchased over the years z-wave? Why does the IQ panel come with a choice of radio (319.5MHz, for instance)? What about 2Gig? They’re using a different frequency altogether, 345 MHz, I believe, but regardless, I was of the opinion that z-wave is somewhere north of 900MHz? Why are there all of these discrepancies for what is supposed to be a standard? Is z-wave not a standard? Thank you.
A good post with more info on this is found here.
In short, Z-wave is a standardized protocol, but I think you might be mistaking what standard means here.
Z-wave is not used for alarm monitoring purposes on any Alarm.com compatible system. Z-wave is a mesh network with limited individual device range, and battery operated Z-wave devices rely heavily on AC powered repeating devices for communication with the hub.
Dedicated panel rf for security sensors is point to point communication with extreme range comparatively. Examples are GE 319.5, 2GIG/Honeywell 345, DSC 433. PowerG is another RF and is generally the best option for new sensors.
The IQ Panel 2+ comes with a PowerG radio and one of three legacy sensor radios, 319.5, 345, or 433, which you should choose depends on what existing wireless sensors you have.
Z-wave is used exclusively for automation devices like light bulbs, switches, door locks, thermostats.