What is the Difference Between the Honeywell Vista 20P Control Panel and The Honeywell Vista 50P Commercial Control Panel?

Vista 20P and Vista 50P are two popular alarm control panels by Honeywell. As their names suggest, they are both part of the Vista Series family. The key difference between the two is that Vista 20P is designed for residential use (although it can be used for commercial use as well) while the Vista 50P is designed for commercial use. There are many other differences between them.

Following are some differences between Vista 20P and Vista 50P:

Zones

Vista 20P supports up to 48 zones of protection. The number of built-in hardwired zones is 8 but you can expand those to a total of 15 zones by using zone doubling. Furthermore, wired and wireless expansion modules can also be added. With a compatible zone wireless receiver, Vista 20P can support up to 40 wireless zones. You can set up a total of 2 different partitions with 20P.

Vista 50P supports up to 9 hardwired zones by default. You can expand those zones up to 87 by using compatible expansion modules. Furthermore, you can also set up a total of 8 different partitions with 50P if you have specific areas that you would like to arm separately from other common areas.

Alarm Keypad Support

Vista 20P is compatible with many alarm keypads by Honeywell. Some of the compatible keypads include Honeywell 6160V, Honeywell 6150RF, Honeywell 6150, etc. You can add up to 8 console keypads as well as up to 4 touchscreen keypads such as Honeywell Tuxedo Touch.

Vista 50P is compatible with fixed English alarm keypads as well as alphanumeric alarm keypads by Honeywell. Some of the compatible fixed English keypads include Honeywell 6150RF, Honeywell 6150, etc. Alphanumeric alarm keypads compatible with Vista 50P include 6160RF, 6160, etc. Vista 50P is not compatible with Tuxedo Touch or Tuxedo Touch WIFI keypads.

Total Connect Support

You can use Total Connect and Total Connect 2.0 services with Honeywell Vista 20P. Vista 50 on the other hand, lacks compatibility with Total Connect service by AlarmNet.

V-Plex Devices Compatibility

Vista 20P is not compatible with any V-Plex device. 50P on the other hand, is fully compatible with many V-Plex devices.

ECP Mode Compatibility

Honeywell Vista 20P is fully compatible with ECP mode which allows AlarmNet communicator to supervise the ECP data connection to Vista 20P control panel. Vista 50P on the other hand, does not support ECP mode with any of the alarm monitoring communicators of AlarmNet. So, if you add a the GSMV cellular alarm communicator, 7847i internet alarm communicator, or the iGSMV dual path alarm communicator, then you will need to use trigger mode or the more limited 4204 for alarm communications.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both Vista 20P and 50P have many differences. Vista 20P is a more suitable choice for residential use where you don’t need a lot of functionality but you do want compatibility with AlarmNet’s monitoring services. Vista 50P is a better choice for commercial use where you want relatively more functionality than Vista 20P but don’t really need AlarmNet’s monitoring services or Total Connect compatibility.