TIL that honeywell vista panel I hated for years actually saved my bacon

I always dogged on those old Vista 20p panels, thought they were trash compared to the new Qolsys stuff. But last week I had a service call in a 90s house in Glendale where the homeowner wanted to keep their wired sensors. The Vista took everything I threw at it no problem, even those old 2-wire smokes. I had to eat my words right there in the basement. Anyone else have a panel they swore they'd never touch that ended up being the right tool for the job?

3 comments

3 Comments

laura_wilson1d ago

My buddy Mike in Phoenix had the exact same thing happen with a DSC 1864 last month. He's been pushing these new Honeywell chips for like 2 years now and talked trash about DSC every time we grabbed lunch. Then he walks into this house in Scottsdale with like 25 wired zones and the homeowner wouldn't let him touch anything. He had to pull a DSC out of his truck that he'd been sitting on for 3 years just to make it work. Called me that night saying "well I guess I own one now." The thing is those old panels just work if you don't mess with them. I swear every tech I know has that one brand they avoided for no good reason until a job forced their hand.

davidshah1d ago

That "just work" logic is why we're still stuck with 90s tech in 2025.

jana5091d ago

I mean technically it's not 90s tech though lol. These DSC panels are from like 2000s at least. The real old stuff is the 5010s and stuff with the little keypads that beep at you. Those are the ones that really refuse to die.