My New Year's Resolution - Dump as much Zigbee & Z-wave as I can

I do like the lutron bridge and picos. I also use their fan controls.

But reliability, I don't really see any difference between it and a robust zwave/zigbee mesh.

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YMMV, of course... :wink: but in my case, my Lutron Caseta devices have had exactly zero problems since they were installed years ago. I cannot say that for my Z-Wave and Zigbee devices over the years.

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I'd agree, except it's likely to be the case that the typical story of today's HA won't lead to the optimal sale.... for example-

" This beautiful SMART HOME you are looking at uses 'a' for hub(s), 'b' for motions, 'c' for contacts, 'd' for lighting, 'e' for switches, 'f' for temp/HVAC, 'g-z' for etc.;
some on 'x' batteries, some on 'y' batteries, and some on 'z' batteries. With protocols, 'Z' this and 'z' that, WIFI, and a touch of Bluetooth. "

That's just a recipe for a buyer to be thinking....
"I'm asking for a discount ...it will take me months to unravel this place".

Now if a buyer were to walk in and see a complete & logical system with vendor, product, and protocol standardization/continuity...well, that's another Matter.

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We've sold two homes with Insteon, a UDI ISY, and an Elk security system in them. First one in 2010, then the last one in 2019. In both cases the new owners relied heavily on me for support for more than two years. I really didn't mind it, and in the latter case we became good enough friend that the couple spent a week with us this past summer, at our new place, and are invited back again! I don't know that the tech was a selling point in either case (to be frank, I think the guys loved it and the ladies were less impressed), but they didn't want us to remove it, either. And that may have been specific to those two couples, in terms of the guys liking it more.

What I do know is that I don't want to be tech support for THIS property, if we sell it. For one thing, I don't understand Rules or other aspects of Hubitat as well as I understood the ISY, and I really don't have the time or desire to learn it, to that level. For another, it's larger and more spread out than the earlier properties, and may well be a vacation home instead of a full time residence, which brings its own headaches. And finally, while I really didn't mind being tech support in the past, I'm getting to a point where I want to focus on MY projects, and not someone else's. So, while I think the tech could become a selling point for many homes, I'm going to try to make that NOT the case when we sell this one.

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So I'll be the tech support for temperature and humidity sensors? :wink: :rofl:

It already is, but with the qualification that the system is turnkey, complete and in place. No one (today or 10-15 years from now) is going to want to buy a home with a smart system they (A) need to learn how to use and program (B) will need to continue to build out. I would argue that the average non-technical person isn't going to be so willing to tinker with devices from multiple manufacturers to figure out which one works together, which don't, etc., much lee multiple controllers or hubs to make it all work. Heck I'm more tech adventurous than the average joe, and lately have been toying with the idea of including HA, and to me that seems like it just may be a bit more than I'm really willing to go. Based on my reading in the community over the years, I would say that most the systems that users in this community have won't be a selling point because they aren't complete (I don't think anyone here every fully completes their build out) or are just way to overly complicated for the average buyer. I know as I change out switches, etc., I have been keeping the dumb switches to put back in when I one day sell. If a buyer happens to be a HA / Tech enthusiast type, there is a good chance they have already formed opinions (no Z, prefer cloud, wifi etc.) and a HA system won't be as much of an attraction as they realize how much they would need to change out to get it to their liking or preference. Because of this the "average consumer" grade system (i.e. Alexa or Google home, Wi-Fi or cloud based) will be the most likely to appeal to the broadest cross section of home buyers.

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I discovered yet another reason for a Lutron bridge. I was updateing my Hubitat hubs, and walked in the kitchen for a brewski. Of couse the lights didn't come on, as the zigbee motion sensor was down. Since I have Lutron also connected to HomeKit, all i had to do was tell Siri to turn on the kitchen. Minor advantage, I know.

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Personally I would like to think that the "rise of AI" which is at least making the news here... plus the convenience people may experience in some small way themselves over next 5-10 years. I would like to think that at least the middle-class / middle-of-the-road sales in property may start to market as including some form of commercial grade smarts, whether it be an existing Philips Hue or Lutron system or similar, automated blinds with a system like Bond or other similarly ubiquitous platforms. These are not all equally well known across property buyers, but have the advantage that they have broad integration across more commonly known platforms like Google, Alexa, (and at a stretch) Home Assistant, etc.

When it comes to platforms like HA, Hubitat, Homey, etc... At least at the moment, those have less broad appeal to make them worth advertising or including in an offering for a home up for sale. I agree the likelihood of someone choosing to purchase a house running on on some rpi's hosting HA, NodeRED, InfluxDB, Grafana, etc, is a likely niche market, let alone the maintenance involved in such setups. While Hubitat may be considered less maintenance, it is not completely devoid of the odd maintenance effort over time...

So yes, where was I... :slight_smile: Turnkey is a difficult but aspirational target at the moment, I would say. Things need to settle in terms of protocols and other fundamentals before commercial products / platforms can offer a stable and consistent user experience over a long period of time.

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Im going to market it heavily to the Amish, so you still have a fighting chance to avoid it. :grin:

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