I love it. I'm not in this to try to get things onto as few devices as I can. I agree with using what works. Waiting for the industry to stabilize isn't going to satisfy me. I really do like the Lutron devices as well, but my investment is minimal at this point. However, it's not a bridge I have to think about or babysit. Same with Insteon, which is about half my devices (and that isn't many, as I live in a small house). Insteon gets a bad rap because it is great, until you have a problem with their cloud interface. But take it local like I'm now able to do, and it's as solid as Lutron, at a fraction of the cost, but with more hardware features in their devices than most of the consumer devices available.
Of course, I am not comparing it to RA2, that's a whole other level, but not in my budget. Plus, it makes no sense to replace what I just told you is working really well with something that cost so much more.
Requires dealer install. It's retail over $40k worth of stuff. Not for the DIYer... It's also about 7 years old. Finding a dealer to install it is next to impossible and some of it can't be updated to the latest version.
I'll probably just part the stuff out to dealers who need spare parts for legacy installs.
So I went to Lowe's today to do some retail therapy and start to replace my old GE Z-Wave with ZW+. Lo and behold, they were out of all paddle-style Plus dimmers and switches. First time I've ever seen that. I'm choosing to take this as a sign that I should consider Lutron if I'm going to go through the effort of replacing everything.
I see what I might gain by switching, but what would I lose? Anything besides the mesh? Has anyone made the switch from Z-Wave to Lutron and wish they hadn't?
All I know is I have 36 GE zwave plus switches, paid an average of $50/ea for them, and they work 100% of the time my hub works. Not sure why I would pay more for something else.
The one thing I have heard (no Lutron switches or dimmers here, just Pico remotes) is that the Caseta Dimmer does not retain its previous dim level when turning on physically.
If I am mistaken about this, I am sure someone will be along shortly to clarify/correct.
Lutron dimmers are going to run you $55 to $60 each, and have limited color choices (how about white?). But, they look nice, they work well, and do have that annoying non-feature of not remembering their last dim setting. That's because the top button means 100, the bottom button 0, and then raise and lower. Some have the 5th middle button that's a favorite setting. But, who uses light switches?
Doing 3-ways is piece of cake, as you just use a box mounted Pico, wiring the previous leads together.
Picos are great, and pedestal mounts for them are nice, as are wall mounts -- even without a box it can look like a normal Caseta in-wall dimmer, and act like one.
@destructure00 At my old place I had GeZwave switches and loved them. When I moved, my new home had no neutrals so I had no choice but to install Lutron Caseta dimmers for my automations. For me, my misfortune was a happy surprise. I loved my Casetas on ST and with HE, their full potential was unleashed. These puppies are worth every penny to me. Super easy to install, super easy to setup 3 ways, look great. The only negative is what Bruce and Dan mentioned..they don't remember the last level...but it's not something that I've missed at all. I barely touch my dimmers. The only ones I do touch are the picos for my bedroom lamps. The picos have a favorite button that comes in handy there. It's the one raised button (so it's easy to find in the dark) and my favorite setting is very dim so if I turn it on in the night, it doesn't wake my wife. These same picos serve multiple functions. They are "paired" directly to a plug in dimmer that my lamps are attached to but are also setup in my button controller app to do other things as well. The off button turns off the lamp like it normally should but a press and hold shuts down the entire room, including the television, closet and bathroom lights. Versatile little bugggers.
Thanks for the feedback. The only dimmers I care about setting a specific level for are ones that are automated via motion, I send setLevel commands instead on on/off. So no worries there. The rest of them, it might actually be nice to have them return to 100% instead of remembering the last setting...I find myself constantly turning lights back up all the way since my daughter doesn't understand the click on/off, she holds until the lights are mostly on-ish.
My switches are all white...never needed almond or any other color, so no worries there.
Sounds like price is going to be the big difference. I'll have to quantify the difference between replacing with Z-Wave Plus and converting to Lutron. I only have 6 ZW+ devices right now and 40-45 old ZW devices. Need to think about where I'd want to put Lutron vs where I can leave GE switches.
So I have 17 old dimmers, 8 old fan controls, and 14 old switches left. 3 of these are 3-way setups where I already have the necessary GE slave switches, but would need to buy extra Lutron devices.
For ZW+
17 dimmers * $42 = 714
8 fan controls * $45 = 360
14 switches * $36 = 504
Total $1578
For Lutron
Smart Bridge Pro $136?? = 136
14 standard dimmers * $55 = 770
3 three-way dimmer pkg * $60 = 180
8 fan controls * $65 (guess)??? = 520
14 standard switches * $55 = 770
Total $2376
So roughly $800 more to go with Lutron. I dunno...I was having a hard time swallowing $1600, much less 1.5x that much. Is it really that much better?
I didn't see anyone mention the throughput speed of ZWave over it's history...
Oldest ZWave is 9.6kbits/sec
Then came 40kbits/sec
Products produced now are 100kbit/sec.
In other words, it takes 10x longer to send an identical message to the oldest ZWave devices. (Series 100 and 200 chips) It takes at least 2x to send to 'normal zwave'
200 series was released in May 2005, (the) 500 series chip, also known as Z-Wave Plus, was released in March 2013
By comparison, Zigbee has a defined rate of 250 kbit/sec.
Not realistic to remove them, if I go Lutron I'm going to buy them when they come out. So not an immediate expense, but something that needs to be considered in the expense comparison.
Yep, seems like a direct replacement for my GE fan controls. I already have separate circuits & switches for fan and light, and I'm used to treating fans like dimmers when trying to set High/Med/Low speeds.
I for one, hope they are devices full of the magic.
I've tried so many fan controller options over the years... I'm ready for Fully Functional. I already have the SmartBridge PRO2 that I use exclusively for Picos. But if these live up to the Lutron brand, I'd be willing to "pollute" my Pico Only bridge with a few fan controllers.
Honestly I will probably eventually change to 100% Zigbee. It's faster, it's smaller, it heals itself, it can hop farther, it's easier to reset, and you can supercharge it with an XBee. Never heard of any 2.4 interference, but I have my network far away on the spectrum for good measure.
As for Lutron, I have a Smart Bridge Pro. The Picos are fantastic for my bulbs, but there's not currently a reason for me to install the wired switches since I never touch them. If I start seeing deals I might start converting. What I really need is the Lutron Maestro motion sensor, but curses, not Caseta compatible. Foiled again.
Edit: I'm definitely getting that fan controller though.
The last dim state is a limitation within the Caseta ecosystem. If you picos are paired to a Caseta switch through the Caseta Hub (or directly) then yes. The smart bulbs are connected through the HE hub first and are not subject to this limitation. They would be limited only by the driver they use and the app you use to tie them to the pico (RM, Button Controller, etc).
Short answer: no, you should be able to configure the pico to turn on the bulbs to their previous state easily...or any state of your choosing actually.
I'm choosing to take this as a sign that I should consider Lutron if I'm going to go through the effort of replacing everything.
