Exit Device Comparison 2026: Every Push Bar in the Range by Length, Latching and Door

A search for panic bars on a supplier's site usually returns a wall of near-identical photographs: a red or silver bar, a grey housing, a model number. The differences that decide whether a device fits the door are in the specification rows, and on most sites they are spread across dozens of pages. This guide puts every exit device in our catalogue on one page, as of 23 September 2026, so the comparison can be made in a few minutes rather than an afternoon.

First, what the family actually contains. There are 46 published records in our panic exit device family, and 27 of them are exit devices. The other 19 are the parts that go with them: 16 outside trims (the lever or handle on the pull side of the door), one lock case for the 307, and two door coordinators for pairs. Trims have their own guide on this site, and coordinators their own article; this page is about the devices.

HOW TO READ THE TABLES

Every cell comes from a specification row on the product page. Where a device publishes a row, the table shows it in the words the record uses; where it does not, the cell says not published. Lengths are the published bar lengths, in millimetres with inches alongside. Material is the material row as published, which is not always the same as the one-line material field at the top of the page; where the two disagree, this guide says so rather than choosing one.

Of the 27 devices, 13 publish a length. That is the single most important row for a push bar, because the bar has to suit the leaf it is fitted to, and it is the row buyers most often send us without. Our article on push bar length explains how to measure the leaf so the length question has an answer.

SINGLE DOORS: DEVICES WITH A PUBLISHED LENGTH

These are the rim-type push bars for a single leaf that publish their length. A rim device latches into a strike on the frame at the lock edge, one point, and is the ordinary choice for a single escape door.

Two groupings are worth pointing out. The 307 and the 311 are not rim devices in the ordinary sense: each works with a mortise lock body in the door, the 307 with our 072 case (65mm backset, 72mm centre distance, two euro cylinder apertures) and the 311 as a complete set. Choose one of those where the door already has, or needs, a mortise lock and a keyed cylinder on the outside. And the 308 is the one single-door device in stainless steel that publishes its projection, 99mm, which is the figure to check against a door that opens into a narrow corridor.

Where a project has many door widths, the adjustable 300 and 302 are usually the economical answer: one part number cut or set to each leaf, rather than a different fixed length per opening. Only devices published as adjustable, or made to length like the 330, should be shortened; a fixed-length device cut on site is no longer the device that was supplied.

PAIRS OF DOORS AND MULTI-POINT LATCHING

A pair of doors is where exit devices differ most, and where a wrong choice is most expensive. A rim device on each leaf only works where there is a centre mullion for the strikes. Without one, the inactive leaf has to be held at the top and the bottom, which is what vertical-rod and multi-point devices do.

The 316-D is the pair set that publishes the most, and it states its latching in words: top and bottom. The 309-D states that it works the active and inactive leaf and publishes the longest bar in the range. On any pair, the device is only half the answer: the leaves also have to close in the right order, which is the coordinator's job, and our article on door coordinators for double fire doors covers that. The two coordinators in this family, the DC01 and the DSL02, are there for exactly that reason.

Two records in this table publish almost nothing. We are not going to give the 306-D or the 308-D the rows of their neighbours: ask, and we will confirm their latching and length against the drawing before you specify them.

SPECIAL PURPOSES

Four devices are built for one situation each, and each is the right answer only there.

The 314 is the device for a door that must be escapable but should not be used casually, a fire exit from a shop floor for example: pushing the bar opens the door and sounds the alarm. The 317 answers a safety question that ordinary hardware does not: a person shut inside a cold store must be able to get out without a key, from the inside, in the cold. The 315 is a pry latch, a push-to-open latch for commercial exits; the catalogue lists it in this family, but check it against the standard your door has to meet before treating it as a panic device.

RECORDS THAT DO NOT PUBLISH ENOUGH TO COMPARE

Nine devices have a photograph and a page but too few rows to place in a table: the 036, 301, 306-S, 308-S, 309-S, 312, 313, 316-S and SH01. Some publish a material and nothing else; the 312 and the SH01 publish no rows at all. The 316-S shares its construction rows with the 316-D (flame-retardant ABS housing, aluminium alloy body, iron push bar, surface mounted, reversible) but not its length. If one of these is the device you want, tell us the leaf and we will confirm the rows before quoting.

Two records also contradict themselves, and it is better to say so than to let a buyer find out. The 305 lists steel or stainless steel in its material field and iron and aluminium in its specification row. The 309-D does the same: steel or stainless steel in one place, aluminium alloy and iron in the other. Until the factory confirms, treat the specification row as the working answer and ask before ordering either for a corrosive location.

FIRE RATINGS ON THESE PAGES

Three records carry a fire duration: 1.5 hours on the 300 and the 310, and 2.5 hours on the 307. Read those as the record states them, not as evidence. A fire duration means something only as the rating of a tested door assembly, identified in a report or a listing, and none of these three publishes one. We do not hold a UL listing; the 307 and 311 have been submitted for testing, and until certificate numbers exist we will not imply a listing or a rating for them. Our article on UL 305 explains what a listing is and how to check one.

CHOOSING, IN FOUR QUESTIONS

Is it one leaf or a pair? A pair without a centre mullion needs top and bottom latching and a coordinator, which narrows the choice to the second table. How wide is the leaf? That decides the length, and whether an adjustable device or a made-to-length one is the economical answer. Does the outside need a key or a lever? Then choose a device that works with the trim you need, or a set like the 311 that includes it. And does the door face something other than an ordinary corridor, a cold store, an alarmed exit, a coastal entrance? Then the special-purpose table, or the stainless 308, is the place to start.

Send those four answers with the leaf size and the door thickness, and the first reply can name a device and a trim. Send a photograph of a red bar, and the first reply will be these four questions.