Notifier, Siemens, EST, Simplex, and companies that require you to be a distributor to purchase direct, require you to be a distributor to gain entry into their classes. Furthermore their classes are geared to the use of their equipment.
Notifier and Siemens do have "General" classes but again, the prerequisite is that you become a distributor.
ADI (
http://www.adilink.com) sells fire alarm equipment such as "FireLite" to anyone who has an account with them. They also offer classes, and I don't think they charge for them.
There is absolutely NO difference between NFPA 70 (NEC) and NFPA 72 in terms of how they present their material. There can't be as both documents are required to follow NFPA's "Manual of Style". There is both a NFPA 70 (NEC) and NFPA 72 "Handbook". They are available in electronic copy, soft bound, and hard bound books. If you attend an NFPA 70 or 72 course, a printed version of the book comes with the class.
The Handbooks present the Annex material after the code material, rather than forcing you to flip through 100 pages to find the corresponding "Explanatory Information". Additionally they provide "Supplemental" information not found in the standard. Voltage Drop calculations is one example.
The AFAA offers NICET training courses on Fire Alarm, but I won't recommend it. I've audited their classes and all they do is read out of the NFPA standard. I have a hard time paying someone to read a technician a story book and paying the technician to listen to the book. If a technician is interested in learning, I'd just as soon pay him his/her time off to go study, and save the money on the story teller.
At the same time I've seen technicians get paid to study, and then go fail the state exam. Tells me I wasted money.
Regards,
Dan
