Honeywell VISTA-20P Ademco Control Panel, PCB in Aluminum Enclosure

I purchased this to replace a proprietary system,installed by a prior homeowner, that had been inactive for several years. With a little bit of Google research of of the model number it was clear that the old unit had been manufactured by Honeywell. I was interested in self monitoring and did not want to commit to an expensive, multi-year contract to re-activate the old system. The Vista system seemed well recommended as a neutral platform. On the physical side, I was able to re-use the existing wiring and Honeywell branded wireless sensors, but the speaker, keypad, and wireless receiver all had to be replaced. I paired this with a 6162 keypad, a WAVE-2 siren, and a 5881 wireless receiver. If I could do it again I would have probably went with the 6162rf keypad, since it has a RF receiver built in and my sensors are all relatively close to the unit. On the wiring side, you need to be comfortable stripping wire and using screw terminals, and for new installs there is the issue of routing wires through the wall for the power, keypad, and siren -- everything else can be wireless if desired. A keypad that supports Vista Intelligent Programming, such as one of the 616X series keypads, is essential. The control unit shipped to me had a v10.x firmware, so I was set under the requirement to have version 9.18 or higher to use the menu programming. In line with other comments, the programming menu is more oriented towards installers and requires navigating through several menus, but I was able to complete basic programming and enable ~5 wired and wireless zones over an afternoon by following along with online guides and YouTube videos. There are some great YouTube videos that basically walk from initial start up to configuring and naming a few zones. I'm not sure if you need the software engineer background others mention to program it, but comfort with technology and a willingness to treat it as an adventure helped. So far the system is working great, and I've added an Envisalink 3 for web based monitoring and control, which I was able to get up and running in about 30 minutes. The end result is that I have a system with plenty of capacity to grow that does everything I need -- I am very happy with the system. Day to day operation is very smooth, with the full text display again helping (as you can name zones and be notified of issues). The added features (web monitoring/control and text/e-mail alerts) from the EnvisaLink are great as well. While there are an increasing number of all wireless or "home automation" oriented systems out there, I am more comfortable with the idea of having a solid, stand alone, reliable system like the 20p for security, with home automation on its own platform until there is a little more standards convergence. Next steps include adding a sensor for the garage door and possibly wireless smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. I will eventually look into the Honeywell Connect and/or Tuxedo Touch add-ons as they continue to mature.

Compared to my old alarm system, the Vista 20P has proven to be much more reliable. I'm using it with a 6160RF keypad / transceiver, which is centrally located within the house. For entry detection, I use four door-mounted wireless 5816's and six 5800PIR wireless motion detectors, which have operated flawlessly thus far. No missed transmitted signals and no false alarms. I was having to put up with those occasional problems on my old system, but no more. The Vista 20P control panel and associated accessories seem to be well designed and reasonably priced. Mine did come with a 4AH battery, but I had already ordered a Yuasa NP7-12 7AH battery, so I used it instead. I added a 4204 relay board inside the 20P cabinet so that I could disable two garage door openers and light up an alarm status LED when the system is armed. Everything works well. I agree with the previous reviewer's comment about 'not for the amateur' because of the steep learning curve when programming the 20P system. I am a previous hardware engineer with some software experience. I did a lot of Honeywell document reading and some internet searching to learn how to program the system, but once the proper commands were entered, everything works as it should. Not all of the programming info is located in a single document, so one must search. After finishing the programming, including authenticating ten detectors and four wireless key fob's, I have a high level of confidence in this Honeywell system. It is interesting to watch the 6160RF alphanumeric display while others are tripping the motion detectors and opening doors. It displays the customized zone name in addition to the zone number, which is a nice touch. My main suggestion for improvement would be to offer a simple step-by-step guide for programming, contained within a single document.

So my Journey began with an old Brinks / ADM system that got reset and I couldn’t find installer codes to recover. It was 25 years old anyway. I wanted to keep my existing wired sensors including C0 detector but I also wanted to be able to expand the system by adding zones. The Vista 20 P was just the thing. I was able to replace the old Brinks BHS3000 system by simply swapping the boards within the enclosure. Yes they were the exact same housings. This kept me from having to pull back all the wiring and feed them into the new enclosure. This allowed me to simply disconnect each wire, one at a time, and re land it on the Honeywell board. Took me a total of 20 min. For good measure the enclosure door was a perfect swap so all the labels are correct. That was the easy part.... Then came programming. With the included manual and quite a bit of help from YouTube, the system is now working. It takes a bit of patience to learn how to read the manual. The YouTube videos provided a great deal of clarity. I used a 6160RF key pad to allow for wireless sensor expansion and remote key fob use. After About three hours I had it working at least as well as my old system. There are some tricks to it like in zone 1 you have to use one of the included terminating resistors if you plan to use it for a door or window switch. Also if you want the zone chime to work on the doors or windows only, you have to create a “Zone List” which has to be Zone List #03. Spent at least an hour figuring that one out. Wouldn’t have put so much time into that one item but my wife and kids like having the door chimes. Bottom line is the system upgrade cost me approx $140 with one keypad (I’ll be adding more later) and it was actually more capable than what I had expected. Keep in mind it’s designed for a professional installer so don’t expect plug-and-play but once it’s up and running it’s a solid, scaleable system. I’ll write more as I take advantage of the features.

This is a great and widely popular panel from Honeywell. I didn't have any issues swapping it out for my old panel, and hooking up my zones and expansion modules was straight-forward. This little panel does everything you'd need it to. It does come with the required EOL resistors and zone doubling resistors, as well as the AC transformer. It does NOT come with a battery (which is clearly stated and I didn't mark off for). The one issue I have, and the reason I marked it down one star, is that the communications interface with external communications devices is less than ideal. The panel reports zone faults in real-time, but does not report zones clearing in real-time. This means that if you're using an external communicator, like the Eyez-On Envisalink, you'll get notices of faults relatively fast, but it can take up to a minute or two before you'll get a notice that everything has cleared up. DSC panels don't have that issue, as they report much more information on their interfaces. It doesn't bother me that much, and it's easy enough to work around, but if you're a perfectionist, it might annoy you a bit. If you're using only keypads and professional monitoring, however, you'll never notice this slight annoyance at all. The bottom line is this panel was extremely easy to hook up, had no issues with installation or programming, and works perfectly for its intended purpose. I can certainly recommend Honeywell panels to others.

Note: there are 2 pictures on Amazon of this system. One shows it with the transformer: correct. The other shows it with the battery: not correct. You will need to buy a battery. I ordered our system from Alarm Liquidators, great price, fast shipping, got version 10.23, which supports the 6162 keypad menu programming. We love this system! We bought it to replace a proprietary system that we got tired of not having control over, especially when they remotely locked the panel and disarmed the alarm while we were on vacation! It was no trouble at all to replace: we just swapped out the panel, the keypads, and the horn. Programming is not super easy, but it is straightforward, and there are lots of Youtube videos out there that will walk you through the process. Also, the programming manual comes with the unit, and it is complete. I got a 6160RF keypad, and also a 6162RF. I mistakenly thought I wouldn't be able to easily program the system with the 6162, but that's not correct. The 6162 keypad is very nice looking. (Both are totally functional, however.) Now we can make any changes or repairs needed ourselves, at reasonable prices, and we can choose our own monitoring company, at good savings. There were no frustrations at all programming and hooking up this system. Others have mentioned: connect the resistor to Zone 1 before you power it up, or you'll get a fire alarm, very noisy! Also, if you are replacing an existing panel, it would be helpful to label the wires as you pull them off, so you know what's connected to where.

I had an old FBII XL31 system, it was installed when the house was built. I was no longer able to upgrade or have the FBII system monitored. I looked at many options, including Ring and Konnected. Ring was an appealing way to convert the system and use the existing hardwired sensors, but to me it seemed a bit complex and would be more than 2x the cost of this. Konnected was interesting for the online monitoring aspect, but I wanted traditional keypads. I went with the Vista 20p because of how reliable it has been, cost, available accessories, and the amount of help and support for it online. The Honeywell Vista 20p is geared for alarm professionals, but install isn't terrible to install if you have basic electronics experience. There are many tutorials on youtube, which are very helpful, especially for programming. One thing to watch though, is the End Of Line Resistors. If your system has them at the end of the line (where they are supposed to be), it may be a pain to upgrade them. I had to switch mine out to 2K resistors, as FBII used 2.2K. I also added the Envisalink 4 to communicate via IP, which is very useful for both self monitoring and central station monitoring. I highly recommend that module, and it was a big reason I went with the Vista 20p.

I am using this to upgrade the fire & security panel in my new home. I used it to replace a similar Honeywell/Ademco Vista 20P that was more than 20 years old. These things last a long time, which is exactly what I want from a home fire/security system. The panel I received did come with resistors for both "normal" configurations and "zone doubling" configurations. It also included the Honeywell power adapter, panel lock, and programming manual. My panel also came with the modern "10.23" firmware. If your unit does not come with all these things, then the seller you bought from is likely selling a modified bundle in attempts to increase their revenue at your expense. Beware. If you never worked with one of these panels, then read on... Yes, you will need a battery, sensors, and at least one alphanumeric keypad plus some wire. Exactly which parts you buy depends on your needs, so you might want to do some research first. I added an Envisalink Internet communicator to it, which I recommend. It supports many other communication options (dialup service, pagers, cellular radios, etc). It has a ton of impressive expansion capabilities. Out of the box it supports up to 15 wired zones, but it is easy to add dozens of more zones with either wireless sensors or wired expansion boxes.

I replaced my Vista10Se that was doing weird things. This model is very close in layout but the wiring was slightly different. If you are switching from a different model the resisters they ship with the panel are likely different from your old one and you will need to swap all of those out. What you could put on each port was more flexible than my 10SE, but there was a restriction on what you could put on one of the ports on the 20SE. I switched to two 6160 key pads with my upgrade so I have full text on both keypads. One of those keypads is a 6160RF so I can use things like key fobs. Make sure you copy all of the setting out of your old panel if you have access to the programming... otherwise just fill out options sheet as to what you may want to change from the default. You can likely just call your security company to get setting like the dial in number and responses if you need. Each company will vary. All of my wiring went back in without a problem. I like that I can put real words on my zones now so you don't need a chart to see what is open. The relays are a little louder. I can hear them clicking as I lock and unlock the system. The messaging off this unit is much better than my old one. I also saw some after market devices to have the messaging go direct a phone w/o the need of the monitoring company to forward it. Those devices and the app can let you remotely arm and disarm as well. Keep in mind that some monitoring companies just bundle all that in to their offering now so you may be able to get it that way. I was able to keep my old cellular backup and the IP adapter that allows my monitoring to work over the internet as well. If you have not programmed these before they can be a little frustrating... and understanding resistive loops might have you scratching your head. There are a lot of online videos for these panels. I have to say the programming my first RF device was a task even with the videos... I probably should not have started with trying to customize it to my desires and gone with the defaults as a starting point for the RF (as that would have worked). In the end all is good and as I want it.

Works very well as a residential alarm panel coupled with hard wired contacts. Add an RF Keypad (6160RF) and benefit from wireless contacts if you don't want to run wires or it is too difficult to run wires in your application.

Easy to setup panel. Replaced my old brinks pos and was able to reuse the sensors existing in he house