Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Help me with choosing HomeSeer?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Help me with choosing HomeSeer?

    We're hoping to build a 2,000square foot 4-bedroom house soon. I'm a gadget freak and have always loved the idea of kitting out a house with as much home automation as possible. I used to program years back and would be a tinkerer, though with 2 young kids, time is tight these days. So I'm torn between going for a HomeSeer (have been advised the SEL would be the best fit) or one of the more consumer brands (Vera, SmartThings, Wink etc.) for the HA controller, or other options like Fibaro, Loxone etc.

    I will probably go with z-wave for every light switch and socket, and will also be going for lots of LED strips indoors and outdoors, audio (probably Sonos)smoke alarms, theromstats, cameras, smart locks etc. So I reckon I'll have a lot of devices to be controlled, so likely to be a full-whammy installation rather than a few devices here and there.

    From reviews I've seen online, I'm a little concerned by the comments that HomeSeer is very tricky to setup, and also remarks that the interface isn't that slick are a concern - I'll be honest, part of what attracts me to HA is how cool it can be to wow guests with slick interfaces that do amazing things. So, I'd love to hear from people with actual experience of using HomeSeer: what is the setup experience like in reality - is it just total non-techies who struggle and for anyone with a bit of network config experience it's fine?

    And what's the user interface like on phones and tablets? Much as going for Pro version and getting HSTouch Designer sounds cool, I'm not a UI designer and don't have loads of time available to learn to design a flashy UI if there are other options that give a decent one off the shelf.

    We will likely have a shed at the end of the garden 30ft away from the house that I'll want to kit out with HA gear also, so the idea of being able to extend the same z-wave network with Z-NET is interesting. Not sure if other systems offer similar functionality?

    I'm hoping that by going z-wave, I can get good looking switches and sockets that don't cost the full premiums of the likes of Lutron. So that means I won't need to penny pinch on the controller side, so I'm happy to pay for HomeSeer if it's the best option for me, but so far I've been struggling to see what the compelling reason to go for it would be, so appreciate any advice or opinions from people with experience of it.

    I'm based in Ireland so will buy here or from the UK. Budget is probably somewhere around 7,000 Euro ballpark - separate to home entertainment budget so I'm hoping that's a decent budget to cover all HA gear?

    #2
    I try to be a realist but a number of things jump out at me;

    "wow guests with slick interfaces that do amazing things" - alarm bells, the stock HSTouch interface (you can download it to your phone and connect to the demo server to get a feel for it) leaves IMHO much to be desired in terms of a user interface. Even with HSTouch designer to design your own interface there is still a great deal that is missing that I would put into the 'slick' category. Of course that is relative and even the standard UI is going to be slick to someone who has not seen the concept before at all, someone who is an apple developer or something will probably use it and throw up.

    "good looking switches and sockets" & "I will probably go with z-wave for every light switch and socket" - again taste is a relative thing, I'm not sure I've seen any Z-Wave pattress sockets (there was only ever one X10 one), they are all plug in devices or some sort of concoction where you use a module and bury it in the wall. Switches are not dissimilar, you could end up with switches and sockets that look different (because they are). My take on sockets is that you might think that you need them but in reality do you? What do you anticipate connecting to a socket that you might need to turn on/off (I'm discounting lights here as you probably want to dim them)?? Most things are controlled by wifi, IR or whatever. Z-Wave every light switch and socket is probably a complete waste of money and you will find that you may never turn some of them on/off.

    "have been advised the SEL would be the best fit" - the SEL runs on Linux, be aware that not all interfaces (plugins) written for HomeSeer are Linux compatible. It is up to each developer whether or not they target Linux, indeed some things will never work on Linux due to Mono incompatibilities. It's going to be frustrating if a new all singing plugin comes out that you desperately want and it is windows only, I don't imagine there will be any plugins that are solely Linux releases.

    HomeSeer can be extremely powerful and offers a good amount of interoperability that other solutions may struggle with (my house wakes up when my Sonos alarm goes off - lights turn on etc, that uses a number of plugins with HS sitting in the middle managing it all) but it can come at considerable expense in terms of time and frustration if you try and do everything at once and I think my point is do you need to make your install as large as you want it? Sometimes bigger is not always better...

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks for that mrhappy, best to make decisions with eyes fully open so I appreciate your realism. I downloaded the HS3 Touch app but couldn't register without a license, is there any easy way to get access to the test server to try out the UI? From glances online, the app and UI in general seem to quite outdated, something unbecoming the product positioned as the premium top-end controller in the home automation market. Seems baffling Homeseer don't just hire an iOS app designer and modernise their UI - I suspect I'm not in a tiny minority of people who want a slick looking UI.

      Having used Windows for Media Center for years and had nothing but issues, I was actually regarding a Linux-based machine as a real plus for reliability. What are the types of plugins I may be missing if I go that route? All my stuff will be mainstream so as long as there are plugins for the main providers (e.g. Sonos for music), I'd be fine.

      Good point about all z-wave sockets being overkill, I'll reassess. But what products would generally be recommended for switches and smart sockets that look decent at a minimum?

      I'd still love to hear from others with positive experiences of Homeseer as right now there is very little in the Pros column to offset the significant Cons of high cost, poor UI and complicated setup. Given how popular Homeseer is, I'd be surprised if that's a fair reflection of reality so would really like to hear more about the positives.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by OhPinchy View Post
        Thanks for that mrhappy, best to make decisions with eyes fully open so I appreciate your realism. I downloaded the HS3 Touch app but couldn't register without a license, is there any easy way to get access to the test server to try out the UI? From glances online, the app and UI in general seem to quite outdated, something unbecoming the product positioned as the premium top-end controller in the home automation market. Seems baffling Homeseer don't just hire an iOS app designer and modernise their UI - I suspect I'm not in a tiny minority of people who want a slick looking UI.

        Having used Windows for Media Center for years and had nothing but issues, I was actually regarding a Linux-based machine as a real plus for reliability. What are the types of plugins I may be missing if I go that route? All my stuff will be mainstream so as long as there are plugins for the main providers (e.g. Sonos for music), I'd be fine.

        Good point about all z-wave sockets being overkill, I'll reassess. But what products would generally be recommended for switches and smart sockets that look decent at a minimum?

        I'd still love to hear from others with positive experiences of Homeseer as right now there is very little in the Pros column to offset the significant Cons of high cost, poor UI and complicated setup. Given how popular Homeseer is, I'd be surprised if that's a fair reflection of reality so would really like to hear more about the positives.

        Comment


          #5
          There are other UI options with HS such as ImperiHome. I've personally focused on automation, not remote control, so the UI has never been very important to me. HS allows you to integrate many different technologies with all of the full featured plugins that are available and the event engine is very powerful and it works well. Scripting can be used for complex tasks, and since it uses standard VB.NET (or C#) for the scripting engine there's little that can't be done with it.


          Sent from my Phone using Tapatalk
          HS 4.2.8.0: 2134 Devices 1252 Events
          Z-Wave 3.0.10.0: 133 Nodes on one Z-Net

          Comment


            #6
            Hi

            I would "second" running on a PC - you wont regret it... suggest you dedicate it to HA duties and not run "stuff" on it like Plex or downloads... leave it to HA. You dont need a big spec.

            With all trhe stuff I have running on HS, I doubt if a small box would have the horsepower, and latency is not nice.

            In terms of touch interface, why not dazzle your visitors with voice control instead?!?!


            David
            ---------------------------------------------------http://weather.penicuik.org

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Bestgear View Post

              In terms of touch interface, why not dazzle your visitors with voice control instead?!?!

              David
              I'll "echo" that suggestion

              Comment


                #8
                You don't mention where you are located, if in the EU or elsewhere you can have these modern European ones. Use Z-wave switch inserts behind them and not worry about the cheap crappy look of plastic..

                Comment

                Working...
                X