Cooper vs Leviton Dimmers and Switches?

[VirtualPanther]

Hey guys!
A question for all of you users of Leviton (like me) and Cooper dimmers and switches:

Without any regard for the price (found a nice sale), which BRAND of z-wave dimmers and switches would you go with? Why?

Here's the Leviton VRMX1-1LZ Dimmer and here is the Cooper Aspire RF9540 dimmer I am considering. I will only use them in default white color, so any additional plates that come with Levitons are useless. Mostly single pole, with about 30% 3-way setups.

Any thoughts?

[clay2young]

Used to be almost all Leviton

They were the previous design.

When I started changing to LEDs, my older Levitons worked, but not well. At that time the newer Levitons were much more expensive than the Coopers. So I tried Cooper Aspires and liked them. So where smooth wide-range dimming is important to the wife, I swapped out for Cooper Aspires. Then I had to change others to Cooper where matching switches were important (required by).

I now have a lot of lights controlled by the old Levitons that really have no need to be Zwave.

Screwless Cooper wall plates are much better than Leviton's. And the Cooper plate will work with Leviton.

[VirtualPanther]

At that time the newer Levitons were much more expensive than the Coopers.

Funny. That's my problem too! I already ordered and expect to receive tomorrow ten Leviton dimmers references above. They were a good deal being about $70 each. Or so I thought. Yesterday, I find Cooper dimmers at about $55... Called the company that sold me Levitons and they charge 10% restocking fee. Not ideal, but given the price difference between the two, quite acceptable. Of course, these are newer Levitons (the most current ones!), so they work just fine. I have several of them in a 3-way setup and they seem just fine. Manual control at the switch is a bit difficult, in terms of making them brighter or dimmer: stiff and narrow plastic tab to push.

So, I thought to myself: I could just take all of the Levitons and move them to basement for consistency in look. The fist and second floor can be all Cooper. Ton of work to move, but perhaps it is worth it? Or I could just keep Levitons where they are and keep using Levitons: once again, consistent look. But am I missing an opportunity to get a better brand / design that Coopers may be, while I can, at a (deleted - message board policy violation)

[macromark]

Funny. That's my problem too! I already ordered and expect to receive tomorrow ten Leviton dimmers references above. They were a good deal being about $70 each. Or so I thought. Yesterday, I find Cooper dimmers at about $55... Called the company that sold me Levitons and they charge 10% restocking fee. Not ideal, but given the price difference between the two, quite acceptable. Of course, these are newer Levitons (the most current ones!), so they work just fine. I have several of them in a 3-way setup and they seem just fine. Manual control at the switch is a bit difficult, in terms of making them brighter or dimmer: stiff and narrow plastic tab to push.

So, I thought to myself: I could just take all of the Levitons and move them to basement for consistency in look. The fist and second floor can be all Cooper. Ton of work to move, but perhaps it is worth it? Or I could just keep Levitons where they are and keep using Levitons: once again, consistent look. But am I missing an opportunity to get a better brand / design that Coopers may be, while I can, at a

Please do not use our message board to promote other distributors of products we carry; that's a violation of our message board policy. Instead, why not contact us directly to see if we'd match the pricing... and throw a little business our way???

[VirtualPanther]

Please do not use our message board to promote other distributors of products we carry; that's a violation of our message board policy. Instead, why not contact us directly to see if we'd match the pricing... and throw a little business our way???

My apologies for unintended advertising, although the language of my post should not give anyone an impression that the post is marketing in nature. It was simply one of the results in Google; I have no idea who they are.

I have, in the past, asked for price matching via telephone, to no avail. Nevertheless, I am quite open to saving money and I am equally open to supporting HomeSeer. I love the company and the forum and happy to put the money where the mouth is, so to speak.

Once again, sorry for the unintentional portion of the aforementioned post.

[macromark]

My apologies for unintended advertising, although the language of my post should not give anyone an impression that the post is marketing in nature. It was simply one of the results in Google; I have no idea who they are.

I have, in the past, asked for price matching via telephone, to no avail. Nevertheless, I am quite open to saving money and I am equally open to supporting HomeSeer. I love the company and the forum and happy to put the money where the mouth is, so to speak.

Once again, sorry for the unintentional portion of the aforementioned post.

Thanks for your understanding. FYI - the company you linked to is not a stocking distributor of Cooper's RF line (Z-Wave) and only has a small quantity of light almond switches. Still, i can work you a nice deal, if you phone me directly x106.

[VirtualPanther]

So, my Leviton dimmers just arrived via UPS, a whole box of them...

Do I keep them, or get Cooper dimmers instead? I liked their wall keypad. Never used to consider their dimmers, when they were over $100 each. Now they are directly competitive with Leviton's... Any advantage to Leviton? I read of some people having some issues with them, but not too specific to make an informed decision. Any input would be quite appreciated. Standing at the major crossroads here, as far as z-wave light control for the whole house goes...

[sparkman]

I have all Leviton and am happy with them. No failures, reliable z-wave, and a consistent look and feel. I even use some of their cheap companion switches to control Aeotec smart switches to maintain that consistency. I see Cooper and Leviton as basically the same from a reliability/functionality perspective with a slight edge to Cooper for their keypads (based on what I've read about them).

Cheers
Al

[VirtualPanther]

I have all Leviton and am happy with them. No failures, reliable z-wave, and a consistent look and feel. I even use some of their cheap companion switches to control Aeotec smart switches to maintain that consistency. I see Cooper and Leviton as basically the same from a reliability/functionality perspective with a slight edge to Cooper for their keypads (based on what I've read about them).

Cheers
Al

Al,
Thank you, as always

[sparkman]

You're welcome. One thing I should add is the one feature I don't like with the Levitons: the single tap to include/exclude. It's fine for inclusions, but don't try to exclude other devices when someone else is home. Speaking from experience, it's guaranteed you'll accidentally exclude a switch that way when you intend to exclude something else.

I now only do that when I'm home by myself. I'm not sure what the Cooper's process is for inclusion/exclusion.

Cheers
Al

[VirtualPanther]

don't try to exclude other devices when someone else is home. Speaking from experience, it's guaranteed you'll accidentally exclude a switch that way when you intend to exclude something else.
Al

That's funny

[macromark]

So, my Leviton dimmers just arrived via UPS, a whole box of them...

Do I keep them, or get Cooper dimmers instead? I liked their wall keypad. Never used to consider their dimmers, when they were over $100 each. Now they are directly competitive with Leviton's... Any advantage to Leviton? I read of some people having some issues with them, but not too specific to make an informed decision. Any input would be quite appreciated. Standing at the major crossroads here, as far as z-wave light control for the whole house goes...

A couple nice things about Cooper

Their 5 button scene controllers support the indicator class. As such, HomeSeer can track the status of each button independently. So, you can trigger 10 different events from the keypad! Also, if you choose to use this as a simple scene controller, it will control 5 separate scenes (independently).

in contrast, the Leviton scene controller does not support the indicator class and can only control 1 scene at a time. When you hit one button, it turns off the others.

As for the Cooper RF9540, it has a nice "trim" adjustment that allows you to set the low cut off for the switch. That way, if the LED bulb starts to flicker at 32% (for example), you can set the trim to 33%, after which it will just turn off.

Beyond that, there's the ergonomics. Leviton dim bars are horizontal; Cooper dim bars are vertical (my prerference) and the Cooper paddle can be activated from any part; with the Leviton, you must always hit the bottom of the paddle to turn on or to turn off.

[VirtualPanther]

A couple nice things about Cooper

Their 5 button scene controllers support the indicator class. As such, HomeSeer can track the status of each button independently. So, you can trigger 10 different events from the keypad! Also, if you choose to use this as a simple scene controller, it will control 5 separate scenes (independently).

in contrast, the Leviton scene controller does not support the indicator class and can only control 1 scene at a time. When you hit one button, it turns off the others.

As for the Cooper RF9540, it has a nice "trim" adjustment that allows you to set the low cut off for the switch. That way, if the LED bulb starts to flicker at 32% (for example), you can set the trim to 33%, after which it will just turn off.

Beyond that, there's the ergonomics. Leviton dim bars are horizontal; Cooper dim bars are vertical (my prerference) and the Cooper paddle can be activated from any part; with the Leviton, you must always hit the bottom of the paddle to turn on or to turn off.

Mark,
Thank you. Really. Especially so, given that the Coopers are quite price competitive now.

[clay2young]

Thanks

A couple nice things about Cooper

As for the Cooper RF9540, it has a nice "trim" adjustment that allows you to set the low cut off for the switch. That way, if the LED bulb starts to flicker at 32% (for example), you can set the trim to 33%, after which it will just turn off.
.

I had not realized that. It will be nice to use.

[DD1]

Beaming?

Do the Cooper switches support both beaming and instant status?