2GIG Edge Alarm Panel Coming February 2021
Posted By Michael GorisOur team came across an interesting website that seems to suggest that there will be a new alarm panel from Nortek Control and 2GIG in February 2021. The 2GIG Edge is expected to be a cutting edge (pun intended) wireless security system, with all of the latest features and capabilities.
On the 2GIG Edge Website, we are only presented with small glimpses of the 2GIG Edge Panel. The system appears to be black in color. This is in contrast to the older 2GIG Panels, which have all been white. The user interface (UI) looks to be completely redesigned from the 2GIG GC3e and 2GIG GC2e. It's too early to make any guesses, but 2GIG may be finally introducing more intuitive end user programming to make their systems more accessible.
It's hard to make many interpretations from the little information we're presented, but there are some takeaways. The upper-right corner has the 2GIG logo, which will likely be a button for accessing menus, system settings, and programming. We also see a gear icon in the bottom-right corner, which should have a similar function. Directly to the left of the gear icon is a button that we think might be used for accessing different system partitions.
The bottom-left corner has a red asterisk (*), and we expect that to open a panic menu for use in emergencies. The center of the main screen has large buttons that will likely be used for arming, disarming, and performing smart home functions. At the panel's bottom, there is a large speaker that should provide chime and voice annunciation functionality. We also see a prominent camera at the top of the panel's front, and we're excited about what that entails.
Also on the main screen are displays for time, date, and a local weather forecast. There is also an LED light in the upper-right corner. Our guess is that this light will change color to indicate the current system arming status. One observation is that the panel appears to be very thin, and it should be extremely unobtrusive when mounted on a wall. We have no word on how power will be provided to the system or what type of backup battery will be supplied.
We reached out to 2GIG to try and obtain more information about the 2GIG Edge. We were informed that there will be inter-company training held in the near future, and more info should be available after that time. However, we were informed that the camera will support some type of facial recognition feature. This sounds similar to what is currently supported by the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus System. You can learn more about IQ2+ facial recognition right here.
A 2GIG representative was also able to confirm that the 2GIG Edge Security Panel will be compatible with Alarm.com, and it should be backwards compatible with non-encrypted 345 MHz sensors, including 2GIG 345 MHz Sensors and Honeywell 5800 Series Sensors. No word on whether the 2GIG Edge will be backwards compatible with the encrypted 2GIG eSeries Sensors, or if it will have its own new lineup of encrypted wireless sensors.
Other questions we have about the 2GIG Edge include its display screen size, whether it will support the 700-Series of Z-Wave Plus and if its Z-Wave card will be replaceable, whether a cellular communicator will come built into the system and if there will be some options for 5G cellular connectivity, and whether the system will be able to interface with various automation platforms. We would love to see another Apple HomeKit-compatible system!
The 2GIG Edge website has a countdown timer that we assume represents the release date of the system. According to the countdown timer, the panel should be released in very early February 2021. That's just a few months away, so it's fair to get a little bit excited and hyped up for the release. Of course, that release date could change, especially considering the uncertainty of today's world. But right now, we're expecting the Edge by February 2021.
Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures or detailed information about the 2GIG Edge at this time. But we do plan to follow up with 2GIG again soon to try and learn more. For now, you can email us at support@alarmgrid.com to submit questions. We will try our best to provide information about what we know. Keep in mind that we check our email from 9am to 8pm ET M-F. Also remember to check out our monitoring page to learn more about our monitoring services. We look forward to hearing from you!