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Is Insteon the company going out of business?

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    #1

    Is Insteon the company going out of business?

    Not to be an alarmist or anything, but in shopping for this stuff I found some interesting trends which, to me at least, indicate Insteon may be going out of business.

    For one, you can't buy it anymore at Best Buy (where it used to be an exclusive). You can get some of the switches and things at Home Depot, but not any of the hubs, not even through an order. And speaking of which, you can buy older versions on Amazon but the newest hub is listed as "No Longer Available" and they don't know when or if it will be again.

    The stuff I ordered from Amazon was sold out of third party inventories and was pretty obviously just what was left -- it came in a bewildering variety of packaging that indicates they don't even have the stuff in "normal" stock.

    The final thing that's worrisome is the newest hub doesn't work with a lot of the products and, released over six months ago, shows no signs of ever working with them (as if they are abandoning development).

    I just wonder if anyone has any concrete information on any of this. It's a bad sign when the only way you can buy something is direct from the company and innovation has stopped.
    Tags: None
    #2
    The Amazon web site that I just visited seems to have nearly the entire line of Insteon devices available including the latest Hub. My local Home depot also has a wide, although not thorough, selection of devices.
    Message from Forum Admin: stusviews passed away in April 2018. Stu was a huge fan of Insteon and a huge presence on both the Smarthome and Insteon forums, helping thousands of us along the way (he had nearly 20,000 posts to his name). We thank him for his contributions, dedication, and passion for making the Smart Home a reality. He will truly be missed.
    Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

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      #3
      I have been getting email special offers for months now..
      Most are 20% off on selected items of the day.
      My thoughts are overstock of modules. Some of the ones I got had retail part numbers on them maybe from some retailers not selling them anymore. Slow sales or maybe moving older models out as improved ones at in the works.

      I would not take the retailers not selling Insteon anymore as a totally bad sign. Automation items may not sell in a high enough volume for retailers to justify the shelf space that a more popular item could occupy.

      Where the Insteon modules on Amazon. From an Amazon Store merchant or stocked and shipped by Amazon?
      It is quite possible an Amazon Store merchant may not stock and sell what Amazon has and sells.

      Are you talking about the latest Home Kit enables HUB?
      I believe that some Apple requirements restrict at the present time what it can and can not do.
      Last edited by BLH; 03-14-2016, 03:31 AM.

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        #4
        The Apple thing may well explain why Home Kit stuff isn't enabled, but shouldn't affect Insteon modules.

        And I don't see the Hub with Homekit listed on Amazon anywhere -- if there is a link I'd like to see it (I really don't want or need it, but it doesn't look to me like the latest Hub is there on Amazon, at least Amazon U.S.).

        And Home Depot does NOT carry the hub for ordering online -- there may be a hub or two still out there in a local store, but if you can't order a hub that to me is a bad sign, regardless of shelf space.

        So, still not convinced of the health of the company, but perhaps that's just me (I really do like the stuff when it works).

        Comment

          #5
          Well I sometimes I wounder about their company health myself.
          Today I got an email special. For 2 each Open/Closed Sensors,Motion Sensors, Hidden Door Sensors and an Alert Module.
          For a package deal of $70.00 off of the individual prices.
          Not sure if sales are slow or just excessive inventory.

          I agree Insteon is a one pony show. Early Developers Group Members had a list of all the third party vendors that where going to use Insteon. They all quietly disappeared or went the more open source protocol like Z-Wave or UPB.

          They have also been stalling getting UDI the promised Insteon IC's to make their own PLM. After they spent thousands of research dollars on prototypes and engineering time. Also still no needed API data to add the Alert Module to the ISY controllers list of supported devices.
          Last edited by BLH; 03-14-2016, 07:26 AM.

          Comment

            #6
            Yet, Insteon continues to come out with not just improved products (e.g., color LED indicators on SwitchLincs), but new items as well (e.g., Alert Module).
            Message from Forum Admin: stusviews passed away in April 2018. Stu was a huge fan of Insteon and a huge presence on both the Smarthome and Insteon forums, helping thousands of us along the way (he had nearly 20,000 posts to his name). We thank him for his contributions, dedication, and passion for making the Smart Home a reality. He will truly be missed.
            Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

            Comment

              #7
              Stores generally stock what sells. I wouldn't use that as an indicator. When I have gone into certain local stores, I haven't had an issue seeing Insteon devices. It could be your general area or maybe Homedepot doesn't sell many hubs so why carry it. They could be holding onto the hubpro since it is a hot item to drive sales directly to them. Once sales slow, maybe at that point it will show up on Amazon.

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