I've been weighing all my switch options and Inovelli Red Dimmers look pretty fantastic...on paper, but I thought that I'd ask if a) they're ready for prime time or b) if there is another strategy I should be looking at.
My house is nearing completion and it's time to pick switches. The default would be a Lutron (RadioRA or Caseta) but...two things bug me there a) I don't like the feel of the buttons and b) it's frustrating to use Pico switches AND Caseta switches as they appear to activate debounce logic (or something) which causes delays. Pico switches are my go-to for adding some random functionality so...
This led me to Zooz, Inovelli, or Shelly.
Shelly will great for some things, but it's a pain in the neck to find double-throw double momentum switches and they're not great for three-way (for people who can't handle up being off and down being on ... sometimes).
So... here I am. Thoughts? Experiences?
What would people do if they had to buy 40 switches, need dimming control, can't handle mismatched up/down toggles, and care about look and feel?
FWIW, I have GE/Jasco/Honeywell Dimmers and Switches, Inovelli Red Dimmers, and Zooz Dimmers and Switches.
I like both the Zooz and the Inovellis better than the GE/Jasco, both for cost and features. Most of my switches/dimmers are Zooz, and they've been bulletproof really. I would happily use either Zooz or Inovelli, but if I had to pick a dimmer today, I'd probably go with the Inovellis over the Zooz, solely for the LED bar. It's fantastic for visual notifications.
Reliability? I only have 2 Inovellis and a dozen or more Zooz, so in terms of measurable reliability, I have a lot more history with the Zooz. As I said bulletproof. The Inovellis, so far, have been just as bulletproof. For that matter, the GE/Jasco/Honeywells just work as well, so there's not a lot between them on that front.
Appearance? I like the look of the Inovellis, but the Zooz's look "cleaner", and the GEs too.
Physical interaction? Other than the Zigbee Jasco's they all seem to operate as expected, a quick walk around, and the GE/Zooz/Innovelli all seem to actuate pretty much the same. The Honeywell Zigbee seems to have a "shorter' action, but otherwise is similar.
YMMV of course, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of the 3 brands, although for dimmers, Ireally like the long LED bar on the Inovellis, so in some situations, I would lean towards them.
I've replaced all my switches/dimmers with Inovelli devices in my house. I probably have about 30+ of them installed.
As of the latest set of firmware updates they are definitely ready in my mind. They look nice with the LED bar's and they are full of features. I do things like turn the switches by the doors to red when the alarm is enabled and back to blue when its disabled. Double clicking up/down on certain switches will open/close my garage and doing the same on my living room switch will control my fireplace. There are so many possibilities
If you get the devices and they have the original firmware on them make sure you either update them to the latest or set the power reporting to a high value. There was a bug in the original firmware where if you set it to 0 (meaning no power reporting) it would flood the network with power reports. This gets worse as you add more devices to your mesh. It was fixed in the newer firmware. You can upgrade their firmware using the community firmware updater tool however, in one of their updates you had to update the firmware on the led bar to stop an issue with lights flickering. The only way I could do that was with an Z-Stick. You may not even see the issue with the flickering.
On the latest firmware though I'm having no issues at all.
This is possible. You will need to make modifications to the wiring so both switches are constantly powered and one of them controls the lights. This isn't difficult.
You will also need to set it up using device associations. However you will need to make sure you change one of the parameters/settings (#12) on the both devices so you don't cause a looping issue when you try to keep the two of them in sync. Its one of those things that may not make sense until you are actually ready to set it up and start playing with them.
I have a whole TWO Inovelli switches right now and so far, they seem great. Only one is in a place where the notification LED is actually useful... and it is useful. And easy to program via Hubitat.
I have several Zooz items that are not switches, and they seem great.
Inovelli and Zooz both have staff members on this forum, which is awesome.
I am leaning towards Inovelli for switches that are primarily controlled by timers or security motion sensors, particularly if the LED will be useful... and RA2 for switches/dimmers that are primarily touched OR operated via remotes... and Zooz for various other motion sensors and plug-in modules.
The problem with having a Hubitat is there are too many options.
I want remote controls and I don't see Z-wave options that look as useful as the Lutron Picos. The Lutron stuff also has a stellar reliability reputation.
