Thank you for that clarification @Chelsea_Ring; I didn’t realize that the duress code could be used while the system was disarmed. It still seems strange to me. With other alarm systems I have had, the duress code was intended to be able to silence an alarm when under duress while sending a silent signal to emergency authorities (so that if there was someone forcing me to disarm the alarm, that person would think I had done so and authorities would be notified that I entered a duress code), whereas a Panic button was intended to be a quick one button press to get authorities on their way.
Another HUGE difference between these two features is that a duress code can only be entered via the keypad, according to the documentation. So if I want to have a way to alert authorities right away without a call from a location other than where my keypad is, I have to purchase another keypad. Panics can be intiated by a panic button or, more importantly, the app. So if I’m in my basement and hear someone break in upstairs, the duress code is useless to me. This is another reason to go back to the behavior of a Panic signal not requiring phone calls from the monitoring system.
I appreciate the clarification, but I still think both instances should send authorities without a phone call so I thank you for passing that request along!