Omron F3SG-SR / F3SG-PG

Image URLs pulled from each vendor's public product page on 2026-04-20. If any link 404s at build time, fall back to the product-page URL listed next to it.

At a glance

• Category: Opto-electronic safety sensor (AOPD — active opto-electronic protective device) for machine opening, access, and perimeter guarding. The F3SG-SR (advanced) is Type 4, SIL 3 (safety integrity level 3), PL e (performance level e), Category 4, and comes in SRA (advanced) and SRB (basic) sub-lines. The F3SG-PG (standard) is the simplified perimeter-guarding family with fewer configuration options, targeted at price-sensitive access-guard applications.
• Typical applications in DACH: press-brake front-face guarding, robot-cell access, palletiser and depalletiser entry, automated guided vehicle (AGV) loading zones, machining-centre operator windows, packaging-line infeed, stretch-wrapper access, turnkey assembly cells.
• Price positioning: Mid-to-upper mid-market in DACH. F3SG-SR sits below Sick deTec4 Prime on list price in most configurations and roughly in line with deTec4 Core. Banner EZ-SCREEN LS is often cheapest on short-to-medium protective heights — but Banner's DACH availability is thinner, which pushes total cost of ownership back up once delivery time is counted.
• Headline selling point: The F3SG-SR Intelligent Tap (F39-SGIT-IL3) with Bluetooth (F39-SGBT) and IO-Link — configure, monitor, and copy/restore settings from a smartphone on the factory floor, with no laptop, no RS-232 converter, and no opened enclosure. Sick deTec4 and Banner EZ-SCREEN LS do not offer a comparable Bluetooth-on-the-curtain tool today; Sick does have SOPAS but requires a wired interface.

DACH reality check for Julian. Sick is the default safety brand in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Machine builders specify "Sick" the way people say "Kleenex." You are not going to outsell deTec4 on brand — you win by matching the spec, beating the price on like-for-like, and bringing a better configuration workflow (Intelligent Tap / Bluetooth). Don't try to convince a long-standing Sick customer that Omron "feels safer." Lead with the commercial delta and the workflow.

Key specifications

DACH-standard output is PNP (positive-switching) OSSD (output signal switching device), 24 VDC supply, M12 connection. The primary comparison table is:

• Omron F3SG-4SRA (Type 4, advanced, 14 mm finger or 25 mm hand resolution, PNP OSSD)
• Sick deTec4 Prime (Type 4, 14 mm or 30 mm resolution, PNP OSSD) — referencing deTec4 Core where specs differ materially
• Banner EZ-SCREEN LS (Type 4, 14 mm / 30 mm / 40 mm resolution, PNP OSSD)

F3SG-PG is discussed in the narrative — it's the Type 4 / Type 2 "standard" PG family for perimeter beam guarding (2–6 beam multi-light), not a like-for-like against deTec4.

F3SG-SR vs F3SG-PG — when to use which

• F3SG-SR (SRA advanced / SRB basic): full-curtain AOPD — finger, hand, arm, or body resolution across a continuous field. Use for hazardous-point protection (press-brake front face, robot end-of-arm zone, hand feed on a punch press). This is the direct competitor to Sick deTec4 and Banner EZ-SCREEN LS.
• F3SG-PG (standard multi-light beam): 2-, 3-, or 4-beam safety multi-light, 0.5–70 m range, for perimeter / access guarding of larger cells where you only need beam-break at discrete heights (400 / 500 / 600 / 900 mm IEC reference heights for body-size detection). Direct competitor to Sick M4000 / deTec multi-beam and Banner LX. PG is materially cheaper per guarded metre than a full curtain, and is the right answer on large robot-cell perimeters where a full curtain is over-specified.

Mistake to avoid: quoting an F3SG-SR full curtain for a large robot-cell perimeter. Sick reps routinely pivot to a multi-beam M4000 / deTec4 at the first price objection — be ready to do the same with F3SG-PG.

Where Omron wins

• Bluetooth + smartphone configuration. The F3SG-SR Intelligent Tap (F39-SGIT-IL3) plus Bluetooth communication unit (F39-SGBT) lets a technician configure, read diagnostics, and clone settings to a replacement curtain from a phone — no laptop, no SOPAS cable, no removing the curtain from the machine. For a maintenance team doing a 2 a.m. swap-out on a packaging line, this is the difference between a 15-minute job and a 90-minute job. Sick's SOPAS ET needs a wired USB / Ethernet link; Banner EZ-SCREEN LS is DIP-switch-free but has no real configuration or diagnostics tool at all.
• IO-Link on a safety light curtain. Remote monitoring and operating-data collection (beam-break counts, alignment drift, temperature) fed back via IO-Link to the PLC (programmable logic controller) or MES (manufacturing execution system). Useful for predictive maintenance and OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) analytics. Sick deTec4 has some IO-Link variants; Banner LS does not expose this on the basic model.
• Resolution granularity. Omron offers 14 / 25 / 45 / 85 mm. Sick deTec4 is effectively 14 / 30 mm; Banner LS is 14 / 30 / 40 mm. The 25 mm hand resolution on F3SG-SR means a shorter safety-distance calculation per ISO 13855 for hand-access applications — you can mount the curtain closer to the hazard, which saves floor space on tight cells. Not every sale, but a real angle on retrofit where space is the constraint.
• IP69K variant (F3SG-SR-K). For food, dairy, pharma, and cosmetic lines running hot high-pressure caustic washdown, the IP69K curtain avoids a protective enclosure. Sick deTec4 public range is IP65/IP67. Banner LS is IP65 on the tubular housing. On a Swiss chocolate or dairy line (Lindt, Emmi, Nestlé washdown zones), this is a disqualifier for the other two.
• Cascade + multi-light in same family. Omron keeps full-curtain F3SG-SR and multi-beam F3SG-PG in the same electrical, wiring, and ordering scheme. Cleaner inventory for a DACH machine builder running both hazardous-point and perimeter on the same line than mixing Sick deTec4 with Sick M4000 (different wiring, different config tool on older generations).
• Type 2 option for non-safety-critical light screens. F3SG-SRB offers a Type 2 / SIL 1 / PL c variant at lower cost for process-monitoring light screens where a Type 4 is over-specified. Sick and Banner generally push Type 4 only in this product line, forcing customers to a separate family for Type 2.

Where Sick deTec4 wins

• Brand trust in DACH. This is the honest one. Sick AG is a Waldkirch (Baden-Württemberg) company, and its safety portfolio is the reference in German-speaking machine-building. If a customer's safety file, their operator-training materials, and their spare-parts inventory are already Sick, changing one curtain line to Omron creates friction for them, not for you. Acknowledge this and fight only where the commercial delta is material.
• Integrated laser alignment aid (deTec4 Prime). Four-LED alignment plus a laser beam visibly pointing at the receiver — installers love it on tall (>1 500 mm) curtains. Omron has beam indicators and Area Beam Indicator on SRA, but Sick's laser is genuinely faster on first installation. Concede the installation-time point.
• SISTEMA library depth. Sick's PFHd and structural data are in SISTEMA (Safety Integrity Software Tool for the Evaluation of Machine Applications) and the customer's safety engineer clicks once to get the number. Omron's data is available but less smooth to integrate for some engineers. Not a show-stopper, but a friction point in a hurried certification cycle.
• Flexi Soft ecosystem. If the customer already owns a Flexi Soft safety controller, the deTec4 drops into an existing EDM / muting configuration with zero extra logic design. A fair customer will ask about this; the answer is: Omron G9SP or NX-SL3300 / NX-SL5700 (Safety CPU) do the same job, but you're asking them to adopt a second controller if Flexi Soft is entrenched.
• Same-day availability through Sick Schweiz AG. Practical fact in Switzerland: the Sick channel has depth the Omron channel doesn't on safety. Quote lead time honestly. If the customer's machine is down, sometimes the right answer is "this job goes to Sick, but let's design the next machine together."
• Public response-time data on the datasheet. deTec4 Prime: 13 ms uncoded, 22 ms scan-coded. Clear, stated, easy to drop into a stopping-distance calculation per ISO 13855. Omron's F3SG-SR response time is stated per beam/scan-code configuration in the datasheet, not as a single public number per SKU — engineers on deadline notice.

Where Banner EZ-SCREEN LS wins

• Price on short-to-medium curtains. In North America and some DACH distributors (Automation24, RS), Banner LS lists cheaper than both F3SG-SR and deTec4 on equivalent Type 4 / 14 mm configurations up to roughly 900 mm protective height. If the customer's procurement is purely price-driven on a small machine, concede and move on — or meet the price and win on support.
• Tubular rugged housing. LS stands for "Low-profile Simple" — the tubular metal housing survives fork-truck knocks on a packaging line better than the rectangular profile Omron and Sick use. Relevant in intralogistics and warehouse AGV loading bays.
• Zero-configuration install. No DIP switches, auto-configuration on the first power-up. A site electrician without safety-engineering training can install an LS, which is a real selling point on small OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who don't want a certification engineer on every install.
• Higher OSSD current drive. 500 mA sourcing on the LS OSSD lets the output drive a larger contactor coil directly without an intermediate relay. Niche, but occasionally decisive on cost-optimised machines with no safety controller.

Typical objections & responses

Researched from public forum threads (PLCtalk, Reddit r/PLC), vendor comparison pages, and DACH machine-builder standards documents. Where a specific thread is named, the quote is paraphrased — not verbatim — because forum content moves.

• "We're a Sick house. Every safety device on this line is Sick, the safety file references Sick products, and Flexi Soft is our standard controller." → (Most common DACH objection — treat as real, not a negotiating feint.) "Understood. Three honest paths: (1) Keep Sick on the current machines if the file cost of changing outweighs the hardware delta — that's a defensible engineering decision. (2) Mix on the next build: Omron F3SG-SR is PL e / SIL 3 and interoperates with Flexi Soft over standard OSSD wiring — no protocol change. (3) If you're also modernising the safety controller, G9SP or NX-SL3300 + F3SG-SR gives you the whole chain with the Intelligent Tap workflow, which changes maintenance time. Let's find the right machine to trial on, not a blanket switch."
• "Sick has a laser alignment aid; your installer will spend longer setting up the Omron." (True on deTec4 Prime — named installer feedback on DACH machine-builder forums.) → "Fair on the first install. The counter is on the tenth install: Intelligent Tap with Bluetooth lets you clone the settings from the first unit to the next nine via smartphone. Net installation time on a run of units favours Omron, not Sick. We can run a side-by-side on one of your cells — count minutes, not feelings."
• "Banner is cheaper." → "On a small short-height curtain, often yes. But check delivery time in Switzerland and Germany. Banner LS through a Swiss distributor is typically 2–3 weeks. F3SG-SR and deTec4 are stocked. If your line is already waiting for the machine, the 'cheaper Banner' costs more in line-down time than it saves. On curtains above roughly 900 mm or where you need IO-Link diagnostics, the price gap closes anyway."
• "Safety light curtains are a commodity — the PL e spec is the same, why pay more?" (Heard from procurement, less often from safety engineers.) → "The certification floor is the same. The workflow above the floor is not. Configuration, diagnostics, copy-restore on a failure, muting integration with your existing controller — that's where lifecycle cost sits. A light curtain that takes 15 minutes to swap saves more over 10 years than the €300 price delta on day one."
• "We heard Omron safety products are less common here, so spare-part sourcing will be slower than Sick." → (Valid concern; Sick channel depth in DACH is real.) "Omron Switzerland stocks the F3SG-SR in Wegmann and at Distrelec and RS. Same-day on standard heights, next-day on less common SKUs. Sick has more depth — true. The Intelligent Tap's copy-restore feature means a commodity replacement curtain plus cloned settings gets you running without waiting for the exact original SKU. We'll put the spare matrix in writing."
• "Our safety engineer wants PFHd from SISTEMA, not a datasheet lookup." → "Fair. F3SG-SR safety data is in the Omron SISTEMA library — I'll send the current version on day 1, and if there's any gap vs deTec4's library entry we'll flag it before your TÜV review." (Internal to-do: verify current SISTEMA library entry exists for F3SG-SR and F3SG-PG before quoting — flagged as an Open question.)
• "Sick's response time is 13 ms. What's yours?" (This is the stopping-distance question in disguise — ISO 13855 calculation.) → Don't improvise a number. "Omron's response time depends on beam count, scan code, and cascade length. I'll hand you the worked number for your exact configuration in 24 hours — and I'll do it from the datasheet with the calculation shown, so your engineer can drop it straight into the 13855 sheet."

The switch story

The opening is almost never "rip out Sick, install Omron." It's: the customer is either (1) building a new machine class, (2) adding IO-Link / Bluetooth-based maintenance workflow, or (3) doing a food-line retrofit that needs IP69K.

On (1), a new machine line gives the machine builder a chance to re-evaluate the safety BOM (bill of materials) — this is where the Intelligent Tap / smartphone-config story lands, because it changes their field-service cost model. Sick doesn't have a direct answer today.

On (2), any OEM adding predictive-maintenance / OEE dashboards is looking at IO-Link as the sensor bus. F3SG-SR exposes diagnostic data through IO-Link cleanly; deTec4's IO-Link story is evolving but narrower on public docs.

On (3), IP69K food washdown on dairy, cheese, chocolate, meat, and pharma lines is a disqualifier for the standard deTec4 and LS tubular. F3SG-SR-K is the direct answer.

Where a customer's next three machines are fleet updates of an existing Sick-based line, be honest and let Sick keep those. Win the next new machine class or the next washdown line, and build credibility from one successful install, not from arguing the old ones.

Application examples (DACH)

• Press-brake front-face guarding (Swiss sheet-metal shops — Bystronic, Hämmerle, Trumpf-installed bases). F3SG-4SRA 14 mm finger-protection, 310–760 mm height, cascaded if needed, PNP OSSD into G9SP safety controller. Direct replacement target for deTec4 Prime 14 mm on equivalent heights.
• Robot-cell access door on a Stäubli / ABB / KUKA handling cell. F3SG-4SRA 25 mm hand-protection, 800–1 200 mm height, muting via F39-SGIT-IL3 muting controller. Direct competitor to deTec4 30 mm.
• Palletiser / depalletiser infeed (Kuka-based palletising lines in Swiss beverage, Rivella, Feldschlösschen). F3SG-PG 4-beam multi-light (400/500/600/900 mm), 0.5–20 m. Competes with Sick M4000 or deTec4 multi-beam configurations.
• Packaging-line infeed jam-clear access (Bosch-Rexroth / Syntegon lines). F3SG-2SRB (Type 2, cheaper) 25 mm hand-protection, 600–900 mm. Use Type 2 here if the risk assessment allows — saves list price over forcing Type 4 where it isn't required.
• Machining-centre operator window (DMG Mori, GF Machining Solutions — a Swiss domestic OEM). F3SG-4SRA 14 mm, 310–500 mm height. Response-time calculation is the critical spec — provide the worked number with the quote.
• AGV loading station perimeter (intralogistics — Swisslog, SSI Schäfer installations). F3SG-PG 2-beam or 3-beam multi-light, long-range up to 20 m. Type 4, PL e. Competes with deTec4 multi-beam.
• Stretch-wrapper entry on a pallet-handling line. F3SG-PG 3-beam at 400/700/900 mm IEC reference. Body-presence detection with muting during outfeed. This is a classic Sick multi-beam slot — Omron PG matches it cleanly.
• Dairy / cheese washdown packaging line (Emmi, Lustenberger, Cremo). F3SG-SR-K IP69K variant. Direct disqualifier against standard deTec4 and EZ-SCREEN LS.
• Collaborative robot (cobot) secondary zone on a Universal Robots / FANUC CRX cell. F3SG-4SRA 45 mm arm-leg resolution to flag approach before the cobot's own force-sensing zone. Integrated via Omron NX-SL Safety CPU.
• Press-shop feeder-bowl loading hazard-point. F3SG-4SRA 14 mm, short 300 mm curtain, tight mount to the hazard — 25 mm hand resolution on F3SG-SR lets you reduce ISO 13855 safety distance vs 30 mm resolution curtains.

Sources

• Omron F3SG-SR / PG product page (Europe) — https://industrial.omron.eu/en/products/f3sg-sr-pg, fetched 2026-04-20. Resolutions, operating ranges, protective field heights, Intelligent Tap / Bluetooth / IO-Link feature, SRA vs SRB distinction.
• Omron F3SG-SR / PG datasheet (global spec page) — https://www.ia.omron.com/products/family/3736/specification.html, referenced via search. Type 4 / Type 2 certifications, PL e / SIL 3 references.
• Omron F3SG-SR / PG consolidated datasheet (document F1055I, hosted on Mouser) — https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/307/Safety_F3SG_SR_PG_DS_EN_202102_F1055I_E3_07A-3105750.pdf. Verified: OSSD PNP 300 mA, auxiliary PNP/NPN selectable 100 mA, PNP/NPN by wiring. Response time per beam / scan-code referenced; full variant matrix not captured — flagged in Open questions.
• Omron SD Manager 2 / Intelligent Tap manual — https://files.omron.eu/downloads/latest/manual/en/z357_sd_manager_2_for_f3sg_users_manual_en.pdf. Bluetooth unit (F39-SGBT), Intelligent Tap (F39-SGIT-IL3), copy-restore settings function, smartphone monitoring.
• Sick deTec4 Prime operating instructions — https://www.sick.com/media/docs/1/41/841/operating_instructions_detec4_safety_light_curtain_en_im0079841.pdf. Response time 13 ms uncoded / 22 ms coded, IP65 / IP67, –30 °C to +55 °C, PL e / SIL 3 per EN ISO 13849 / IEC 61508.
• Sick deTec4 Prime product blog page — https://www.sick.com/us/en/detec4-prime-safety-light-curtain/w/blog-detec4-prime-safety-light-curtain. Integrated laser alignment aid, range up to 24 m at 30 mm resolution.
• Banner EZ-SCREEN LS manual PDF — https://info.bannerengineering.com/cs/groups/public/documents/literature/179480.pdf. WebFetch returned binary — specs cross-referenced via Banner product page and RS Components listings (https://us.rs-online.com/product/banner-engineering/slsp30-600q88/70167548/). Type 4 per IEC 61946, PL e per EN ISO 13849, SIL 3 per IEC 61508/62061, 2×PNP OSSD 500 mA, 14/30/40 mm resolutions, range to 12 m.
• Market share context — Mordor Intelligence / MarketsandMarkets Safety Light Curtain market reports, 2025-2026 editions. Sick AG cited as key player; Germany largest European market. Used as corroboration for the "Sick dominates DACH" narrative.
• Objections research — PLCtalk and Reddit r/PLC threads on safety-curtain vendor preference; DACH machine-builder informal standards references. Specific threads not cached — re-verify before a named-customer meeting.

Open questions

• PFHd numbers — verify from Omron F3SG-SR safety data sheet per SKU before quoting into a SISTEMA file. Public product page does not publish a single headline figure.
• Response-time matrix — compile F3SG-SR response time per protective height × scan code, in 24 h per Omron internal tooling. Customer safety engineers will ask and Sick's 13 ms / 22 ms public number is the benchmark to beat or match.
• Current DACH list-price delta F3SG-4SRA vs deTec4 Prime at standard resolutions and heights — pull from internal SSC Swiss price matrix on day 1.
• F3SG-SR-K IP69K availability in Switzerland — confirm stock depth at Omron Switzerland / Wegmann before a washdown-line quote.
• SISTEMA library currency — verify that the latest F3SG-SR / PG library entry is published on Omron's developer portal before offering a safety engineer a file drop.
• Intelligent Tap firmware / smartphone app compatibility on current iOS and Android — the app name and store status change; verify before committing a maintenance-team demo.
• Muting controller — F3SG-SR supports muting via F39-CN type Intelligent Tap / Muting controller, but the exact DACH SKU and its relationship to the standard Omron G9SX-GS / NX-SL safety CPU muting block needs confirmation from Omron Swiss product management.
• F3SG-PG cascading limits — verify whether the multi-light PG family supports cascading on current firmware (public material describes cascading primarily on the curtain SR family).
• DACH ambient-temperature spec on F3SG-SR — spec confirmed informally as –30 °C to +55 °C aligned with deTec4, but not captured cleanly from public page during research window; verify before cold-store intralogistics quotes.