The Detector Testers Timeline

Company Founded

11th March 1965

Company founded as ‘Cable Strippers’

Name changed to ‘No Climb Lamp Changers’

9th November 1968

As the company discovered a growing need for equipment to assist with changing lamps, new products were designed and the brand name changed to represent this new focus.

System 6 Tester Range Launched

13th April 1982

The company’s first range of fire detector test equipment was launched under ‘System 6’ brand name.

Moved to Barnet

6th September 1986

Increased products and manufacturing processes led to the need for bigger premises and a move to Barnet.

Purchased by current owners

15th March 1987

A change in ownership for the business, when the current owners first took charge.

Name changed to ‘No Climb Products’

18th October 1987

With products now focusing on fire detector testing, the business name changed simply to ‘No Climb Products’.

First products sold overseas

18th May 1989

Demand for the range of detector test equipment continued to grow – including from further afield with the first orders arriving from overseas.

Joined British Fire Protection Systems Association

9th January 1990

Further highlighting the company’s commitment to the fire industry – we became members of the leading UK trade association for fire protection companies.

Trutest commissioned

29th May 1994

The first sight of the Trutest product, designed to measure sensitivity of smoke detectors

Solo brand created

22nd July 1995

The launch of our famous Solo range, twenty years on it is the industry’s most popular test solution for functional testing of smoke, heat and CO.

Trutest UL listed

21st September 1999

The company’s first UL certification arrived in 1999, with Trutest becoming UL Listed – supporting the growth of the product in the USA.

Solo 461 launched

29th May 2000

With increasing demand for heat detector testers, a patented cordless test solution was launched in the form of the Solo 461

Joint venture in USA (SDI)

1st January 2001

With high demand for products coming from the USA, a joint venture was entered into – the creation of SDi – developing sales for both Solo and Trutest.

Solo A3 launched

15th February 2001

Further development of the Solo range saw the launched of the Solo smoke aerosol – now widely known as Solo A3.

Solo C3 launched

30th August 2002

The CO test offering was added to the Solo range in 2002 with the creation of the Solo CO aerosol – known as Solo C3

Solo A3 & Solo 330 UL listed

21st November 2002

UL certification for Solo A3 and Solo 330 was achieved, providing further support to the uptake of the product in the USA and beyond.

Awarded Queens Award for Enterprise International Trade

9th May 2003

A huge honour for the company and its staff arrived in 2003 with the company’s international trading being acknowledged with a Queens Award for Enterprise.

Moved to larger premises in Welham Green

16th October 2003

Further growth led to a need for more space and facilities – a short move from Barnet to new premises in Welham Green followed offering increased production, warehouse and office space.

ISO 9001 accreditation

26th January 2004

Our ISO accreditation meant we became the first and only such ISO 9000 approved specialist designer and manufacturer of fire detector test equipment.

Rebranded as ‘Detectortesters’

26th April 2007

We re-branded and introduced new logos for all our products, bringing them all together under the umbrella of ‘detectortesters’.

Member of newly formed FIA

14th July 2007

A founding member of the newly formed industry trade association

Testifire launched

22nd March 2008

A major new product in the form of Testifire. The world’s first all-in-one tester for testing smoke, heat and CO.

Testifire UL certified

18th November 2008

Shortly after its initial launch, Testifire received UL certification and was launched in the USA.

Smokesabre launched

8th May 2009

SmokeSabre was launched as the ultimate hand-held smoke detector tester.

Smokesabre UL listed

11th May 2009

UL certification for SmokeSabre – allowing launch of product and wider uptake in the USA.

Scorpion launched

22nd June 2013

Another new product, this time a solution for hard-to-access detectors and aspirating smoke detection systems.

Patron of Prince’s Trust

8th December 2013

A proud moment for the company as we became a Patron of the Prince’s Trust

Awarded Queens Award for Enterprise Innovation (Testifire)

14th March 2014

A massive honour for the company as we were awarded our second Queens Award for Enterprise. This time for the innovation shown in our Testifire product.

Employed first apprentice

8th September 2014

In addition to our regular student placements, further growth led to us being able to employ our first apprentice

20 years of testing

11th March 2015

Our Solo range celebrated its 20th year, during which time it has become renowned world-wide and is now widely regarded as the industry standard for testing