I'm new to this group. Trying to get feedback on Smarthome/INSTEON. Anyone have any experience w/ them or their products? Can anyone help me out before I make any purchases, etc.? Among other things, I'm looking into their Keypad Linc. Thanks.
Hi Jcm,
Welcome to the group. Smarthome is great and stands behind their warranties on all products (I think they are mostly 2 years). I have over 20 insteon switches in my house and just added 3 of the new insteon keypadlincs.
IMHO insteon is way better than x-10 or z-wave, I have not had one issue of reliability. I can't speak to upb as I have not installed it but insteon is awesome, especially since switches are $40. If you want to go insteon buy the starter kit
Mike
Mike,
How long have you been using Insteon? Did you use X-10 before? If so, how long?
A better URL might be...
Hi Dave,
I used X10 for about 3 years before I picked up insteon modules, I put in a few z-wave switches in January and just did not like them nor did I get the reliability I had hoped for. I still have various x10 sensors/thermostats/etc throughout my house so I hope that other manufacturers start supporting insteon in new products soon. I started using insteon when I got an email about the starter kit, May/June timeframe I think. I then waited 'patiently' for the switches....then bought a lot more when I found out the price drop.
And yes that is a better URL.
Mike
Mike,
Thanks. The fact that you're an experienced X-10 user adds weight to your views on Insteon. If they can keep the prices low and expand the product list to include sensors, remotes, etc. I think Insteon may capture the market.
What were the reliability issues you had with Z-Wave? I haven't seen many positive reports from non-dealers.
Dave,
What's your take on the possibility of wireless Insteon transmitters (motion detectors, etc)? I'm not sure if it's possible because the timing is based on powerline zero crossings. Perhaps they can use a different RF scheme with a plug-in transceiver.
That's only for the RF transmissions used to couple PLC between the two phases. If you look at the diagrams in their whitepaper
If the device receives the message via RF, it will first retransmit the message on the powerline in the next timeslot, then it will retransmit the message using RF immediately after sending the last packet of the powerline message. In this way, RF message received asynchronously will be resynchronized to the powerline zero crossing at the earliest opportunity.
"Mark Thomas" wrote:
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