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Insteon Technology dying out??

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    Insteon Technology dying out??

    Hi All,
    I have had x10 and then insteon forever, I mean back when it was BSR I have been using it, But as of late as more and more companies are offering WiFi switches
    I am slowly migrating over to them, I also am seeing my insteon devices dying (I had two dimmer light switches go bad in 1 year )
    I have had a hub die (which insteon replaced)

    My house is completely automated, I have 8 Alexa devices (maybe more) been doing HA since 1972 (!)

    My question now that I have finished ranting, is .. what about you?

    Jonathan

    #2
    Same here. I started with X10 then migrated to Insteon. But the company has been slow to innovate and bring new products, and their upgrades like the new motion sensor were underwhelming. I also have multiple Echos and as Alexa has become the center of automation, I have found the Insteon hub to be a serious single point of failure, with Alexa-Insteon integration continuing to be unreliable. I’ve been switching over to TP-Link Kasa products and have had no issues so far.

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      #3
      I still use insteon switches and will for the foreseeable future. The best system is one that fits your needs. All protocols have their cons so it comes down to what a person is willing to deal with.

      When it comes to lights, I just need my switches to look good, turn on, off, and dim. There are other companies that make products with niche features in them that for the most part end up never used. Don't get me wrong, extra features are good. However, features that add cost but aren't used means overpaying for a product.

      I value true automation over a fancy expensive remote control. All of my lights and sensors work in conjunction with each other that the need for an app or voice control is minimized.

      The downside to WiFi switches (from my experience) comes from larger installs and how it effects WiFi networks. I know a few people who ended up needing to invest in their WiFi network to handle to amount of connected devices exceeded what their consumer router could handle.
      Last edited by lilyoyo1; 10-23-2018, 07:12 AM.

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        #4
        I've certainly had my share of Insteon devices die on me, including the Hub (f.k.a. Hub2) itself. As you mentioned, macgeek , Insteon will usually repair or replace a dead Hub2, in or out of warranty, at no cost. There's a thread in here somewhere with their official instructions on how to handle that. But let's face it...this stuff dies eventually. It's more complex than the mechanical wall switch that you replaced. I've had multiple Nest and Ecobee thermostats go south on me just in the past year.

        If you're already in the Insteon ecosystem, I'd hold on. True...the last few device revs haven't seemed very exciting, but they're working on some big stuff. At the risk of seeming spammy, I've added a link to a post I wrote recently about what they've been up to, based on interviews and discussions I've had over the past few months.

        Me? I'm with lilyoyo1 on this one. I have over 80 Insteon nodes around my home, and I'm still investing. Their products look professional, they work well, and they don't interfere with or depend on other bandwidth in my home. I also work on a third-party Insteon control app, and we continue to invest time in building that out and expanding its capabilities.
        The team behind Insteon has been pretty quiet this year, prompting concerns from consumers. So what's going on? Quite a lot, actually!

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          #5
          I appreciate all the input, almost every plug and switch in my house is insteon, but $50 for a dimming light switch that dies after 2 years... is well.. getting annoying

          Jonathan

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            #6
            If your devices are dying that fast, I would start looking at the environment itself and not only at the devices. Older devices did have issues but from my experience (from dozens of Installations) as well as different forums, the quality of newer devices are such that they shouldn't be dying as fast.

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              #7
              It certainly seems like it. I jumped ship to Smartthings a while back but kept my old hub in the closet. Took it back out recently to check again and it's sad to see nothing has changed. The web interface is still labelled as Beta and has broken image links. Some products like the mini remote still can't be configured on Android and require an IOS device. Even joining up my hub again seemed to antiquated. The app you make a new account to add a hub, if you just removed the hub without deleting the account at the same time you're out of luck. The app will no longer login since it can't find a hub and I had to email them to manually delete my account. The hardware and protocol seem to be pretty solid, but man does the software just suck. It's a shame.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by mrhector View Post
                It certainly seems like it. I jumped ship to Smartthings a while back but kept my old hub in the closet. Took it back out recently to check again and it's sad to see nothing has changed. The web interface is still labelled as Beta and has broken image links. Some products like the mini remote still can't be configured on Android and require an IOS device. Even joining up my hub again seemed to antiquated. The app you make a new account to add a hub, if you just removed the hub without deleting the account at the same time you're out of luck. The app will no longer login since it can't find a hub and I had to email them to manually delete my account. The hardware and protocol seem to be pretty solid, but man does the software just suck. It's a shame.
                Have you tried to migrate your smartphones hub to another one? You'll find the process is similar and just as tedious. Which hub were you using? If it's the 2242, there hasn't been any movement on it since it was discontinued a few years ago. There's no point in working on something that is no longer in production. The beta website was never intended for the hub2.

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