SSI Security+ Product Review: NAPCO StarLink MAX
Tracey Morgan of Budd-Morgan explains how the new StarLink MAX 5G Universal Cell Communicator enhances his business and boosts RMR.
The new NAPCO Security Technologies StarLink MAX 5G Universal Cell Communicator is the focus of the second installment of the SSI Security+ Product Review, and for Tracey Morgan of Budd-Morgan Central Station Alarm Co. in Bellmore, N.Y., the product is a game-changer.
“From one dealer to another, if you are not using StarLink, you are missing out,” says Morgan emphatically. “It is really a one-step solution. I strongly recommend it. You guys got to try it.”
The StarLink MAX is the next generation of the company’s StarLink Communicators was introduced in October 2022. They are 5G LTE M sole path or dual path communicators. It comes with Napco’s standard 3-Year factory warranty and has patented dual diversity antennaes– both separated and independently spaced.
Each antenna receives signals simultaneously, then, using Signal Boost, StarLink signals are intelligently selected and combined, to maximize the signal and eliminate signal drop-outs.
StarLink communicators are designed to be easy and quick to install in minutes, eliminating the need for extra conduit. They are low current draw, so they eliminate the need for extra power supplies. Plus, StarLink Fire Dual Path Cell/IP Models are self-supervised, eliminating a supervision module, and they have two new onboard modular jacks for easiest FACP quick connection.
All StarLink models have over-the-air software upgrades to reduce truck rolls and are preactivated to confirm proper communications, saving integrators onsite labor and time.
Morgan says the new StarLink Max has a new chipset that allows it to transmit data up to 100 times faster than the previous generation units.
“When you are dealing in life safety, seconds count. And to have a chip that enables a transmitter to go out that quickly is very beneficial to our clients,” says Morgan, who adds that using communicators has helped improve business at Budd-Morgan “in many facets.” He notes that Budd-Morgan Central Station has installed thousands of StarLinks over the past few years.
“It has assisted us in becoming industry leaders in our market. It has enhanced my business, it has enhanced my technicians’ ability to do things quickly and efficiently, and more importantly, it has enhanced security and fire response for my clients. It is a one-step solution for central station monitoring and programming,” says Morgan.
Morgan says StarLink Max takes his technicians only 10 minutes to install, set up and program.
“And it enables us to increase our recurring monthly revenue, as well as take over alarms that were installed by other dealers. One of the features that I like very much is dialer capture. If we cannot access a panel’s program because it’s dealer locked or we don’t have the ability to program a particular panel, we’re able to just hook up the StarLink. It will take the data that’s coming from the control panel automatically transfer it to the data that we have in the StarLink. And now we are the central station without ever having to program the actual control panel,” he says.
That ability to do takeover quickly is quite a change from the past when you needed to have the program codes to take over an account.
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About the Author
Jason Knott
Jason Knott is Chief Content Officer for Emerald Expositions Connected Brands. Jason has covered low-voltage electronics as an editor since 1990, serving as editor and publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He joined CE Pro in 2000 and serves as Editor-in-Chief of that brand. He served as chairman of the Security Industry Association’s Education Committee from 2000-2004 and sat on the board of that association from 1998-2002. He is also a former board member of the Alarm Industry Research and Educational Foundation. He has been a member of the CEDIA Business Working Group since 2010. Jason graduated from the University of Southern California. Have a suggestion or a topic you want to read more about? Email Jason at [email protected]
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