Touchscreen Alarm Panels
If you are in the market for a new alarm system, then you should strongly consider going with a touchscreen alarm panel. These systems have made push-button keypads largely a thing of the past. Now you can easily control your alarm system using a bold and inviting touchscreen device. This will make it easier to understand what you are doing and help you feel more confident when controlling your system. You can use the touchscreen controller to do regular tasks like arming and disarming, adding and removing new users, and even completing system programming.
What separates a touchscreen alarm panel from a touchscreen keypad is that a touchscreen keypad isn't actually a system. A keypad is merely a device that controls an alarm system and tells it what to do. It isn't the system itself. But a touchscreen panel is a system. It is the central controller that operates the rest of the system. You could call it the "brains" of a security system. You will enroll sensors with the panel, and the panel will use an alarm monitoring communicator to send signals out during alarm events. And with a built-in touchscreen controller, you can operate the system right from the panel itself.
Once you have a touchscreen alarm panel, you can start building around it in order to improve your security system. You might add new sensors, which you can enroll with the system in the form of zones. Each sensor will take up at least one zone on the system, so making sure you have enough is always important. You might also want to add some accessories. A secondary keypad will give you a second on-site location for operating the system. Many touchscreen alarm panels support Z-Wave devices, so you can start building a smart home network around your system. And perhaps the most important addition of all is the alarm monitoring communicator. This is what allows the panel to communicate out and receive signals. We strongly recommend going with an LTE cellular communicator for ultimate reliability.
Remember that you will want to get an alarm monitoring plan for your system as well. We offer a variety of different monitoring plans to suit customers with different needs. Many of our monitoring plans include access to great service platforms like Total Connect 2.0 and Alarm.com. These are useful if you want a way to control your system remotely. If you get a cellular communicator, then you will need to make sure that your monitoring plan includes cellular service. This is a worthwhile investment, as cellular communication will help ensure that your system can always communicate reliably. You might even want to get a Platinum Plan so that you can use video cameras. Some touchscreen alarm panels like the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus allow you to stream security cameras right from the panel itself.