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?
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?
Comment