Is X10 for me?

[reidfo]

It is still the easiest for setup. X10 wireless is GREAT! The motion detectors are pretty rugged and last for years. The old 16 device remotes are GREAT for executing scenes and events. If you add a receiver that receives the X10 security channels you can add DS10As to just about anything with a door or a drawer for security or just for notification.

I agree with this. The X10 wireless stuff is really great for the cost. I use a bunch of DS10As and motion detectors. With a strategically placed antenna, I am able to cover my house and part of the driveway with just one receiver. They're so cheap (check eBay) the motion sensors and door/window sensors should be part of your kit no matter what. The X10 powerline stuff however is the devils' spawn.

[bholio]

I used X10 with homeseer (HS1 and HS2) for a number of years. Been on zwave for a number of years too (HS2).

Pros are that it is cheap, and super easy to set up and use with home automation software, like homeseer. The whole system is very 'open'. All X10 signals from wireless remotes and sensors and X10 powerline itself are simply broadcast and can be sent and received by any system in your home which has a controller. Super cheap. Easy to load up on motion detectors and remotes and stuff, and kick off homeseer events etc..

The major problems were reliability and speed. A motion sensor which activates a homeseer event to turn on some light was at least a .75 second affair, working 80-90% of the time. Not so great if the motion detector is turning on stairway lights. It was always flaky. Always.

Z-wave is the exact opposite in pretty much every single way. Extremely fast. Very reliable. I can make a strobe light with a homeseer script sending on/off/on/off to an appliance module, it is that fast. My Z-Wave has an outage one or twice a year. Something in Homeseer2 zwave support dies and I need to restart it. Response to remotes is instantaneous and 100% reliable.

The downside is the setup & flexibility. Z-Wave is a real pain. As if they tried to make it terrible on purpose. You need a primary controller. You need to walk this primary controller around to all modules as you install them so the controller can learn about them. You need to import the primary controller into the software. Then you need to optimize the network. This is a slow process. Sometimes you end up with phantom devices (they might be remotes for all I know). I have a bunch. It is a slow process to delete them. I just leave them. My statement about reliability does not extend to this network setting up part. I have numerous HS2 zwave hangs and other problems during this phase.

If you want to add a remote, you need to export the controller to the remote and hope it works. Then you program the remote. If you add a new device, you have to add it to the controller, and repeat the import process, and remote configuration process again.

Signals from the remotes (all the remotes I have anyway) only go the the devices they are programmed for, and not necessarily back to Homeseer (depending on the remote). This makes it harder to create events and scenes. You have to rely on the remote for that. Some remote do integrate with Homeseer nicely. I don't have any of those.

There are certain zwave remotes which inexplicably do not function at all. No idea how these even exist. (ge45600 remote, Monster AVL300 for example).

Z-wave is also very pricey.

The actual install of the modules is the same.

I do have a few X10 motion sensors left kicking off a few homeseer events. They work well enough.

That said, if I were to start over again, the reliability of zwave wins out over X10 for me. Price difference or not.