After months of internal debating, I made the switch to the Hikvision panel.

I decided to do this because I needed an easier to use system for my family, while the integration with the Hikvision Live-Guard NVR and intercom also played a crucial role.

Ask me anything related to the AX Pro, the user experience, etc and I will gladly answer.

Things I don’t like:

– Does not have ‘Night’ mode. This could make the delay zones act as instant zones for when I am not expecting any visitors…

– The delay zone does not send a push notification to the Hik-Connect app. It does so only when the alarm is triggered after the entry delay is over. I would appreciate it if there was a countdown timer in the app.

– The keyfob does not have any kind of audible feedback and it is very slow as it takes 3-4 seconds longer to arm the system, compared to my DSC’s keyfob.

– It takes approximately 2 seconds more for a wireless instant zone to trigger the alarm siren. This is frankly quite disappointing.

– The wireless performance is definitely worse than the DSC. In my large house I needed to use 2 repeaters to fix the dropouts, whereas the DSC needed zero.

– In Europe, the AX Hybrid is not available, and this left me with the AX Pro with wired zones [DS-PWA96-M2H-WE]. This doesn’t support the wired AX Pro keypad AFAIK.

– Siren is not very loud, so I purchased 2 more wired sirens from another manufacturer that are triggered from an AX Pro relay.

– No option to add an external antenna for 4G. The AX Pro is installed in the garage which suffers from poor cell reception. I worked around this by using a dual-WAN router (TP-Link Omada) that switches between fiber router and a 4G router.

– I cannot control the AX Pro locally from Hik-Connect, since it requires internet. This is why I will install LED keypads in the house, so that I have a backup way to control the system if internet goes down.

– Hik-Connect has critical notification feature so that even if the phone is in Do not Disturb, the alarm notification will come through. However, I cannot seem to change the alarm notification for less serious events, like disarming. It always defaults to a siren which is excessive. If I turn off the siren, then it’s just a plain notification sound. I would like it if I could customize the sounds depending on the event.

Things I like:

– The app is feature-rich and fast.

– The integration with Home Assistant works great and was one of the main reasons I chose this system. I can play with the home lights or anything else when the alarm is triggered. My only concern is that I have to set a very low polling rate (1 second) to catch all events. I haven’t noticed any issues until now. The motion sensors are triggering events on HA just fine.

– Video verification with the IP cameras and/or PIRCAMS is very useful.

– I can play with all settings without asking my installer to change things. Though I wish there were more options…

– The system can bypass open zones automatically.

I’m still waiting for the LED keypad and the All-In-One Indoor Station, so I will update this post when I have experience with them.

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All in all, despite the negatives (maybe some are nitpicking), I like the system. I just need to give it a few weeks to get used to it and maybe trust it more.