Is Feniex on par enough for full duty use?

kadetklapp

Member
May 21, 2010
1,568
Indiana
I’m spec’ing the upfitting for two new Tahoes for my agency. These vehicles are full patrol vehicles, 40-60 hours a week in a rural midwestern locale. I’ve had several Feniex products before with no issue, but they were not full builds. One of our Tahoes will have a Valor. The other is slick top. My plan was to run the Feniex One system on both. I see quite a lot of voiced displeasure at the direction the company has gone and I can certainly understand that. We are at the end of our rope with SoundOff products and their down line retailers/installers who dodge warranty claims and push expensive systems which are buggy or not being programmed correctly. However, I’m frustrated by cost and limitations of the Whelen and FS offerings which lack split color capabilities and tend to be pretty expensive.
 

kadetklapp

Member
May 21, 2010
1,568
Indiana
Well shoot. But I’m glad I asked. I really liked the One controller but after the constant headaches with SoundOff I’m not interested in another problem child.
 
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Tango7

Member
Jul 7, 2020
186
Chicago Metro Area
Because in this day and age we need MORE tracking by third parties...

Between that and the "quad or die" mentality? The Cannon I bought to test bed will be the last lighting product I buy from them.
 
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EMT-BLS

New Member
Oct 28, 2011
2,640
Waterbury, CT
I will disagree with some parts here, and strongly agree to others.

Agreement first: I would not use/recommend buying anything from Feniex that uses software, because when Feniex decides to end a product, it doesn't phase it out - they delete it from the web like it was a bad nude. No support, no tech, no software/software updates, nothing. It's like it never even was. So if you buy a 4200-DL, or a One, and they decide it's costing them too much, BOOM - it vanishes. And now you have a $1,300 unit that can't do half the stuff advertised, and if it fails, it's a paperweight.

Now, disagreement. The lights (NOT the sirens) are good. I know people want to hate on Feniex, so it's just a blind hatred - but the lights are good. Yes, there are failures, but it's the world of electronics. Everyone has failures. Now, obviously, it's completely moronic to shut down dual color and force a choice between one or FOUR colors. But that doesn't detract from a 4 color grille light for $100, where a Whelen or SOS costs more for a 3 color.

Bottom line: Feniex as a brand has more misses than hits. But if you're here for a specific item, than it more than likely won't let you down. And for the love of all that is holy, don't use their sirens.
 
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EMT-BLS

New Member
Oct 28, 2011
2,640
Waterbury, CT
I almost swore off the Quad line when literally a month after releasing it, they already had to put out a patch to the flashers. It was like, WTF?
 
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Carlos SpicyWeiner

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 3, 2012
5,233
Lakeland, Florida
I will disagree with some parts here, and strongly agree to others.

Agreement first: I would not use/recommend buying anything from Feniex that uses software, because when Feniex decides to end a product, it doesn't phase it out - they delete it from the web like it was a bad nude. No support, no tech, no software/software updates, nothing. It's like it never even was. So if you buy a 4200-DL, or a One, and they decide it's costing them too much, BOOM - it vanishes. And now you have a $1,300 unit that can't do half the stuff advertised, and if it fails, it's a paperweight.

Now, disagreement. The lights (NOT the sirens) are good. I know people want to hate on Feniex, so it's just a blind hatred - but the lights are good. Yes, there are failures, but it's the world of electronics. Everyone has failures. Now, obviously, it's completely moronic to shut down dual color and force a choice between one or FOUR colors. But that doesn't detract from a 4 color grille light for $100, where a Whelen or SOS costs more for a 3 color.

Bottom line: Feniex as a brand has more misses than hits. But if you're here for a specific item, than it more than likely won't let you down. And for the love of all that is holy, don't use their sirens.
This is actually a pretty fair and balanced post that I agree with. Honestly if you are looking to do a build, don't be afraid to mix brands. Look at what you want to accomplish and find the best light for that specific placement/job.
 

fp13-2

Member
May 20, 2010
358
Harrisburg, PA
I have a 2021 PIU, and I have a mix of Feniex QUAD and Whelen stuff. All of it IMO, looks great and works well. QUAD inner on the front with two QUAD surface mounts on the hood, Whelen Microns in the grill, Vertex in the headlight holes, Ions on the running boards, QUAD duals in the side windows, and the Hella Heroes replacing the reverse bulbs. I bought the QUAD rear spoiler unit, then totally bastardized a 6-head QUAD so that I could use the QUAD converter to control the functions of the spoiler mount. TBH I didn't read up and just assumed the spoiler mount would use the QUAD controller so I could have arrow functions, etc. I was a bit miffed when it arrived and I found out it was just six basic heads.

Speaking of the install...I should probably make a video at some point...

I did have an issue with my QUAD converter not long after putting it all together, where some functions just wouldn't work, and some were really delayed (5+ seconds). The only think that irked me was they wanted me to send it back for RMA, instead of sending me a new one. It wasn't functioning 100%, but I could still respond to calls as needed. I ended up buying one from SNM and it arrived the next day, as soon as I put it in all the functions worked perfectly again (and have ever since). I sent the bad one back and they RMAd it even though they said their testing couldn't find anything wrong, so now I have a spare one. All in all, not the worst customer service experience I've had.
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
i like my flashlight.. i got one before fenix decided to sue them or not.. :cool:
 

2004p71

Member
Aug 27, 2010
367
canada
I have only did one install with all feniex product on a charger 3 years ago and it's still holding up but it's on an escort vehicule for heavy loads .
We used their light bar ,4200 controler ,cannons and few surface lights.

At the end of 2019 when they announced the feniex One during a webinar , I was all excited but it took them so looong before releasing it that we kinda lost interest into it .
In the meantime we became a Whelen Master dealer and the Cencom Core came out so needless to say that we never really push any more feniex product ever since .
We still uses and sells feniex product but it,s rarely being used in full built for emergency vehicule unless the agency is on a tight budget and dont need lots of options then we used them , other than that the whelen cencom core or 4200 is used .


The thing with feniex that I dont like it,s the instability of this compagny. Lots of new product that get phased out out of the suddend and then forget about tech support . Everybody seems to be confused overthere.
Example , I wanted to buy their AI 20 inch off road light bar . One day our sales rep told us it was being discontinued then when we got this year price list that said bar that was supposed to be discontinued is now available again .... so ok . We got back to a sale rep and they were on special order only for now. The thing is , if I buy it and next year the motor jams or something happens to that bar, I dont even know if they will support it so I will be stuck with another feniex paperweight .

lots of great exciting product but you dont know how long it,s going to last .
 

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