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Insteon vs UPB vs Zwave

Looking for some thoughts here. We want to have a central controller like the HAI we have now, and not a PC in a new home we going to be building. We don't want to go to Centralite due to dependence on a single vendor and non standard wiring. Ditto for single vendor on ALC, and HAI seems to be downplaying them in favor of UPB products.

I've done X-10 for years, and understand ALL of its issues. Is UPB that much better? Also worried about the long term success of Zwave without a controller like Elk or HAI supporting it directly. I've read the Insteon white paper. While lower cost, like Zwave I don't see a controller really stepping up to support it either, except a PC. Not stuck on HAI either and am willing to look at others like the Elk.

Tks,

Jonesy

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Jonesy
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That's apparently due to (1) the higher cost; and (2) the greater difficulty retrofitting existing homes with ALC.

ELK M1Gold does support Z-Wave. HAL says they support it, too. Numerous other manufacturers are developing Z-Wave compatible controls, interfaces, thermostats, lighting controls (of course) and so forth. I doubt you'll have problems with long-term support of Z-Wave. It's at least as likely and probably much more likely to survive than many of the other protocols.

FWIW, crass salesman though I may be, I've no current interest or investment in Z-Wave other than plans to use it in my own home. I do have an interest in ELK Products since I'm an ELK dealer.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

I've ponied up for about 25 INSTEON devices and so far have mostly positive reactions. SmartHome as a company is quite responsive. The developer documentation is extensive and well done. Construction of devices is excellent to the point of overboard (gold plated solder pads that are unused, heat-shrink labels on wires, etc.)

Principal obstacles for my use at this time are with the 3rd-party software drivers.

The HomeSeer 2.0 driver is still very incomplete and buggy but is working well enough in my house with seven outlet modules (but not with wall switches)

Elk MG1 Gold now supports INSTEON but I don't know how well. I will try the ELK MG1-INSTEON combination in April. I'll be very curious to see if INSTEON can cope with two interfaces (one via ELK MG1 and one via PC + Homeseer).

.. Marc Marc_F_Hult

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Marc F Hult

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