Which system X10 x Insteon x UPB x Z-wave??

[Czechmarty]

I posted similar thread long time ago, and after about 2 years, I'm wondering what the most favorite system among us is. Please vote in following poll. If you have a hybrid system (as lots of us have), please vote for the favorite one. Feel free to post any comments to support your votes .
If you think I omitted some important system, please shout!
I really do like the Smarthome (Insteon) Keypadlincs, as the LED's provides immediate feedback and status of the devices, but I'm open to suggestions.
Marty

[Rupp]

You need to allow multiple selections as many use X10, Insteon, UPB and Z-Wave.

[Czechmarty]

Rupp,
That's why I stated "If you have a hybrid system (as lots of us have), please vote for the favorite one". I'd like to know which one is the most "satisfying" one....

[TeleFragger]

i said x10 as it is so flexible (if obtained reliable)... and for cost...

[Czechmarty]

Well, it looks like the Z-Wave is winning so far...

[Rotech]

As a new member (comparing with other that have the same time in HA) I started with Z-wave since day 1 and I do not regret it.

[jackpod]

Well, since i had to pick just one, I picked ZWave. I have 81 Zwave nodes and they work well. I haven't had any issues in several months now and HST did a really good job on the last round of betas adding some nice features to the Zwave portion of Homeseer. I still have about 40 X10 modules and they too work flawlessly. I had tried Insteon a couple years back and it came out as fast as it went in. I haven't tried UPB since I was warned ahead of time that I might have issues with my standby generator (doesn't produce a perfect sine wave as most generators don't).

The whole reason I switched from X10 was I had my system built around the X10 Keypadlinc, when no more were available, it was time to move on. My system was based around 29 keypadlincs, switching to Zwave was no easy task as I had to do a lot of wiring to keep functionality close to being the same. I still have several keypadlincs (but now I have lots of spares)

With Zwave you have to think a little differently than X10 and hopefully as time goes by, more types of devices will be available

[stipus]

PlcBus

[rmasonjr]

I picked X-10 above and have *almost* ordered the Z-wave starter kit, but guys I have to be honest: I see posts every day about optimizing and re-optimizing Z-wave networks. I hear 'node lost' or pulling the outlet cover off or shutting down breakers to clear issues, etc.

If I were going to switch to Z-wave, I could not have some of the outages that are being reported with some of these posts. My family would completely kill me if that happened.

What am I missing? If Z-wave is so great, why the added complexity of management of the devices? I gotta tell you - plugging in an X-10 module works pretty well - probably 98-99% success rate which is fine with me.

So, sell me - talk me into Z-wave - I dont have a problem spending the money.

Thanks
Rob

[nightwalker]

Easy fix, go with UPB, easy setup, easy managment, it just works.

[completelyhis]

i agree, upb!!!

[jackpod]

I picked X-10 above and have *almost* ordered the Z-wave starter kit, but guys I have to be honest: I see posts every day about optimizing and re-optimizing Z-wave networks. I hear 'node lost' or pulling the outlet cover off or shutting down breakers to clear issues, etc.

If I were going to switch to Z-wave, I could not have some of the outages that are being reported with some of these posts. My family would completely kill me if that happened.

What am I missing? If Z-wave is so great, why the added complexity of management of the devices? I gotta tell you - plugging in an X-10 module works pretty well - probably 98-99% success rate which is fine with me.

So, sell me - talk me into Z-wave - I dont have a problem spending the money.

Thanks
Rob

Then go with Zwave devices that do not require polling, I have an 81 node network, I use instant status and I haven't had any issues for months. When I bought my devices (unknowing to me that the quality of the ACT Homepro devices has decreased dramtically since I bought my originals 2 years ago) I would have never gone with ACT. out of 65 devices I had 8 failures which yes caused me major grief. But now that ACT devices don't support Instant Status I can't (in my environment) use a device that needs to be polled. I have opted for the Leviton line and to be honest, I didn't think the bottom toggle would go over, but you don't notice it after a while, or you can go with the Cooper. It is just like anything else, the cheaper products have issues (I think they plan it that way) I am happy with my ZWave performance. So any devices fail, they get replaced with Leviton Vizia (all mine are the vizia, I don't know if the quality of the vizia + is the same, but Leviton has always made a quality product)

Jack

[completelyhis]

upb = automation heaven for me. i was concerned about going with something over the powerline, but it is completely different than x10. i love it. here's an example. i have two lights in the kitchen, one is a "mood light" in the corner, the other is a strip of lights above the island. (well, and i have some counter lights, but anyway...). The mood light is 3 way, the island lights are not. i often wished the the island lights were 3way, because i don't like walkign the extra 5 feet to turn off the island lights when i'm in the hallway near the slave of the mood light. so, i put a split rocker face plate on the ubp switch, and the left side controls the mood light, the right side is set up via upb link (independant of HS) to control the island light.

I don't care who ya are, that's just cool. i like it, i love it, i want some more of it!

[Czechmarty]

The whole reason I switched from X10 was I had my system built around the X10 Keypadlinc, when no more were available, it was time to move on.

That is exactly my problem. I love the old Keypadlincs. The instant LED status of anything was absolutely great! You can see immediately what is ON and what is OFF. That is also the main reason why I'm looking at Insteon. That would allow me to have the Insteon Keypadlincs......

I do like the reliability of UPB, but they don't have the LEDs and they go absolutely ballistic why I run on generator! (Not to mention the price...)

Marty

[dschoppe]

and they go absolutely ballistic why I run on generator! (Not to mention the price...)

Marty

Someone posted earlier this year that UPB doesn't like AC-DC inverters either, so if planning to dabble in solar, then I'm not sure UPB is the best option.

Personally, my Lightolier Compose (x10) system has been rock stable -- it never misses and I haven't had a switch failure since installation 4 years ago. Only just recently did I purchase a Z-troller and some Z-wave devices with the intent of automating some loads that aren't powered by circuits "inside" the Compose firewall panel. Also, it will be cool to play with some of the new Z-wave devices such as the Schlage door locks which were announced a few days ago as posted elsewhere here.

Don