The Whelen bashing got started as a result of quality issues with their older WS series prroducts, which had high failure rates and were much higher pitched so didn't cover as well as the classic electromechanical sirens they replaced in a lot of cases.
Plus, who wants to see their favorite Thunderbolt get replaced by what is essentially a huge bullhorn? I know I sure didn't when I saw the first Vortex go up here!
(My friend I was with at the time thought I was completely insane when I started dropping all kinds of cursewords and completely didin't understand why I was going off)
Time has gone on though, and the Whelens have proven to me that they can get the job done in fine style when the TORNADO WARNING is issued.
When you get down to it, that's really all that matters, and the Whelen WPS and Vortex products can and will bring it.
-b-
Can and will bring what? A service technician, a bucket truck with a bunch of spare parts? (parts that will be wrong, BTW)
A good old motor driven unit is still better than ANY overpowered car stereo on a pole. The only reason they can sell these things is the salesman always bamboozles the county or local officials into believeing that you can make a voice announcement on these things and promise you the world when the truth is that:
a) anywhere beyond 1/2 a block away it all echoes to the point you can't make out what they are saying verbally. Like in a stadium.
b) you have your choice of 110 tones...as if this really matters. It needs to make noise.
c) it has "no moving parts" which is BS
d) they are more reliable since they are electronic (hahhahahah). A power surge scraps them.
e) they are modern...like this matters? Windows Vista is modern and it is a POS.
f) They are battery backed so when the tornado hits, the siren will still work. As if this matters. If the early warning system and the executive are doing their job, the sirens should be running at least 15 minutes before impact when the power will kill. So what if the siren works during the tornado? It's too late by then. If you need a siren to tell you there's a tornado outside in your neighbor's yard, you are an idiot and need to be added to the Darwin Award Pages.
g) the siren "expert" that maintains the siren for them says "these Federals are old and we can't get parts for them anymore. You need a new siren for only $18,000." The truth is that they just want to make money by selling a new system. Most siren businesses out there won't even change brushes nor can they diagnose and repair a radio decoder failure in the field. Most of the "techs" are parts changers without any hands-on experience or knowledge of how or why things work. I rarely see a siren that is beyond repair. The only ones that I junk are Federal model 2s that have had the commutators burned so badly it isn't fea$ible to repair them.
h) "nobody uses those old motor operated sirens anymore. The industry all builds nothing but electronic ones now. Motors are a thing of the past." Reeeeeeeeeaaaallly?
It's all a sales pitch. I've seen it enough. The bottom line is that motor driven sirens are and will always be superior to a PA system with a tone generator. Motor driven units are already proven to last 50+ years and speakers are already proven to not last 10 years. IF they go for 10 years, they were worked on more than once I can assure you. Put up a new Sentry or even a slightly used mechanical one and it will be there in 50 years still running strong.
If I had to have my life depend on a new siren, it would be the Sentry motor driven. If battery backup is a must, order one with the "-B" suffix.
Choice 2 would be a Federal 2001.
Whelen's siren failure rate is high and their LED & strobe failure rate is equally high. That's why we don't use them here anymore.
A good old motor driven unit is still better than ANY overpowered car stereo on a pole. The only reason they can sell these things is the salesman always bamboozles the county or local officials into believeing that you can make a voice announcement on these things and promise you the world when the truth is that:
a) anywhere beyond 1/2 a block away it all echoes to the point you can't make out what they are saying verbally. Like in a stadium.
b) you have your choice of 110 tones...as if this really matters. It needs to make noise.
c) it has "no moving parts" which is BS
d) they are more reliable since they are electronic (hahhahahah). A power surge scraps them.
e) they are modern...like this matters? Windows Vista is modern and it is a POS.
f) They are battery backed so when the tornado hits, the siren will still work. As if this matters. If the early warning system and the executive are doing their job, the sirens should be running at least 15 minutes before impact when the power will kill. So what if the siren works during the tornado? It's too late by then. If you need a siren to tell you there's a tornado outside in your neighbor's yard, you are an idiot and need to be added to the Darwin Award Pages.
g) the siren "expert" that maintains the siren for them says "these Federals are old and we can't get parts for them anymore. You need a new siren for only $18,000." The truth is that they just want to make money by selling a new system. Most siren businesses out there won't even change brushes nor can they diagnose and repair a radio decoder failure in the field. Most of the "techs" are parts changers without any hands-on experience or knowledge of how or why things work. I rarely see a siren that is beyond repair. The only ones that I junk are Federal model 2s that have had the commutators burned so badly it isn't fea$ible to repair them.
h) "nobody uses those old motor operated sirens anymore. The industry all builds nothing but electronic ones now. Motors are a thing of the past." Reeeeeeeeeaaaallly?
It's all a sales pitch. I've seen it enough. The bottom line is that motor driven sirens are and will always be superior to a PA system with a tone generator. Motor driven units are already proven to last 50+ years and speakers are already proven to not last 10 years. IF they go for 10 years, they were worked on more than once I can assure you. Put up a new Sentry or even a slightly used mechanical one and it will be there in 50 years still running strong.
If I had to have my life depend on a new siren, it would be the Sentry motor driven. If battery backup is a must, order one with the "-B" suffix.
Choice 2 would be a Federal 2001.
Whelen's siren failure rate is high and their LED & strobe failure rate is equally high. That's why we don't use them here anymore.
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