The Honeywell Home 6290W Works with a VISTA Alarm System

Hi, DIYers. Joe here from Alarm Grid. And today, we're going to talk about if the Honeywell Home 6290W keypad is compatible with a VISTA alarm system. And the answer is that it is. In fact, it's only going to work with a compatible VISTA alarm system. It's not going to be able to be used with any other alarm systems. And you won't also be able to use it as a standalone controller. This is important to know about this keypad because similar products like this are very easy to mistake for being standalone devices, especially if you're in the market for a brand new alarm system. If you already have a VISTA system setup, really all you have to check is the power requirements on the keypad. Make sure that you have enough open spaces in the system program to add another keypad. And then figure out where we're going to install it in your house. You're good to go. You're also going to want to make sure that it's compatible with the current firmware that you have on your panel. But we can help you out with that. So if you have any questions, reach out to us. The keypad, though, if you're out in the market, and you're looking for a brand new alarm system, and you see something like this, the box, it looks great. It's got this nice little controller. It's got a touchscreen on it and all these great colors. It's easy, easy, easy to mistake one of these kind of devices for being its own standalone unit, which it is not. So I just want to stress to you that if you are looking at this device, and it does look appealing to you, just know that you're going to need to install a VISTA alarm system to work with the keypad. If you're looking for a system that looks like this that's an all-in-one standalone touchscreen controller, we have tons of those that you're going to love to use. But in the event that you have a wired system, just to really hammer this fact home, this is a keypad. It will not work as a standalone controller. And in fact, this keypad has very specific features on it. So if you have the VISTA system, and you need to use Z-Wave or you need to use wireless devices with the system, this keypad will not supply those radio transmitters to use those features. So you may be wondering why the 6290W has a Wi-Fi module inside of it when it can't use Z-Wave or any other automation or security protocols through its Wi-Fi connection. The reason is is that it makes it really easy to update the firmware on the unit. That's what the Wi-Fi module is for. What it will do for you is after you install it, unlike some other devices where you have to get a memory card or plug it into ethernet or something of the sort, for the 6290W, when you want to update the firmware, just reach out to your security company. And they'll help you walk through updating the firmware via Wi-Fi on the unit. Really, this thing is used as a nice full color touchscreen keypad to upgrade something like this guy right above it, the 6160. As you can see, if you're in a home and you have a VISTA alarm system, you have your 6160s or other such keypads around the house, if you replace some of these with the 6290, it's going to give the home a much more modern look. And the user interface is way, way cleaner than this old button style keypad. Not to say that these don't work great, but this does look more modern. If you do have any questions though about the 6290W, how to install it or program it, feel free to give us a call at 888-818-7728. Send us an email to support@alarmgrid.com or head to our website www.alarmgrid.com. If you did enjoy the video, feel free to subscribe. If you want to be notified when we post future videos, hit the notification button below, and we'll send you an update when we do so. Thanks for watching and have a great day.