ELK M1 Gold Beats all?

Is there anything else worth considering? 
 
I want to integrate with CQC most likely and would like some monitoring.  

The Elk and the HAI/Leviton Omni Pro II are the two main contenders.

My experience with Leviton z-wave products has been kind of sketchy.  Did you pick Elk for a particular reason?

automatedux said:

My experience with Leviton z-wave products has been kind of sketchy.  Did you pick Elk for a particular reason?

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For me, it mostly a question of cost.
 
The Elk M1 and HAI OP2 are similar in their capabilities.  Some folks feel that HAI has a slight edge in home automation capabilities. But many also feel that Leviton is not putting much new effort into the OP2 product line since they bought HAI.  Meanwhile, Elk is continuing to enhance the capabilities of the M1 (e.g. their new wireless components and cellular communicator). 
 
The HAI base system has some extra built-in functions compared to the Elk, such as multiple RS232 ports and an ethernet port.  But that comes at the cost of a much higher price - about 3x over the Elk.
 
The Elk takes a more modular approach and lets you add on just want you need. It has a single RS232 port and no ethernet ports as part of the base. But you can add them if/when you need them.  Even with the cost of an added ethernet port, the Elk was much less expensive than the OP2.
 
I also felt that the OP2 has some quirks, such as if you add an external expansion enclosure to add zones, then you must use EOL resistors on any burglary zones.  The Elk gives you zone-by-zone flexibility as to whether there is an EOL resistor or not. 

Here using two OmniPro 2 panels > 10 years.  One of them is in a compact format in a closet in the middle of the home.
 
I am not a professional installer of this stuff.  In one home security wiring was completed by GC (general contractor) and I terminated each side a bit at a time. 
 
I have installed EOL resistors on all of the zones (main and attached).  I was doing this though with earlier non Leviton panels many years ago.
 
I like the compactness of the OmniPro 2 panel.  Using UPB as main light switch transport plus X10 (on steroids), Zigbee and Z-Wave.  Compactness is one closet (9 foot ceiling) with Omnipro panel on top and Leviton media can below.  It has worked relating to the WAF (wife acceptance factor tidy and neat) as I did invade the laundry room and build a custom closet for the stuff.  It is behind two doors and not really noticed; but difficult sort of if you need to do something with it.  I really have only opened it up twice since after installation in the last 5-6 years.  Due to WAF also have removed the follow me lighting stuff using the panel's sensors in the home.
 
Recently replicated Z-Wave network running on Homeseer to the Leviton VRCOP.  It is a secondary to a Z-Wave Plus GPIO card.
 
I also am using a Russound zoned audio system and OmniStat with the OmniPro 2.  Legacy Omnitouch screens and IP Omnitouch screens.  Both do CCTV fine for me.  (very low resolution on the serially connected Omnitouch screens - simple big buttons nothing really fancy here).
 
Both the Leviton HAI Omni and Elk M1 series of panels were the first to combine security and automation in one panel starting in the 1990's.  With the adds of software you can remote control and utilize functions via the software GUI or software touchscreen.  (Here do both).  You can purchase a touch screen designer software for the OmniTouch screens.
 
I mention first commonly used combo panels as I had a primitive (to today standards) combination security / X10 with TTS panel in the 1980's.  Access / programming was buttons on the panel or keypad (no touch), 48 zones on the panel and TTS had to be put together by pieces of or entire words.  Children gave the house a name back then.
 
The OmniPro panel uses a serial bus (old and slow - always works though) for communications and optionally the network bus for communications to the panel.  This is a bit similiar to a typical automobile / aeroplane that utilzes a wired serial bus to the hardware.  (flaps and engine on a plane and engine stuff on an automobile).  IE: my automobile today with a mini PC connection can do everything but drive it remotely - IE: start, windows, lighting, hvac, engine diagnostics, et al.
 
Tinkering with automobiles when they were new (very low on the WAF to take apart the automobiles).
 
Curious if you are outside or inside of the US.  While both panels can be made to be utilized with non US voltages I have seen other choices of combo security panels in the EU, UK, Middle East, South Africa, South America, Central America, Pacific Rim and New Zealand and Australia.   Not sure of the interplay though with 3rd party software stuff.

That's good info RAL and Pete. Thanks for the overview and the opinions.  I don't plan on using the HA features, but do want information from the motion sensors.  Good to hear that the OmniPro is so solid, I feel like its overkill for my needs, but I will take a look.  

Here utilize automated security panel features for the basic heartbeat of the home.  Security, HVAC and scheduled lighting stuff for example. 
 
The software automation compliments the hardware automation with more complex variables and hardware and if then chooses along with stuff like using MS SAPI, Kinect (motion and speech), MS VR, Amazon Echo, cellular control.  Relating to the use of MS SAPI here I have an Irish female voice font talking certain automation things while concurrently use US based voice fonts and various languages.  IE: speaking in tongues?  Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German, French Canadian, French, Australian / UK english not all talking at once.  Echo gets boring with one voice font.  Mostly relating to tinkering though.
 
I try to be off net / cloudless with major dependencies on automation in house (ideally an AI entity in house would suffice). 

automatedux said:

My experience with Leviton z-wave products has been kind of sketchy.  Did you pick Elk for a particular reason?

Click to expand...

 
You probably shouldn't judge Leviton by their Z-Wave products. They don't control the fundamental technology in the case of Z-Wave, so they can only make products that use it. They have far more leeway in their own designs, and those are solid. 
 
But, anyhoo, either the Elk or Omni is fine from a CQC standpoint. Both integrate well. 

If you like the Omni, but don't need security and want to cut the cost, you can go with one of their lower cost Lumina or Lumina Pro panels. Basically all the functionality minus the security bits.
 
You mention wanting monitoring though, so if you want security but not as much automation, you could look at DSC or Honeywell security panels and skip the automation panel.
 
The security panels can usually integrate with automation (or in your case CQC), so you can see the sensors and use the information.  If that's what you are after, a security panel alone is a lot cheaper than something like an Omni.

I think that it's very important that Elk is friendly to the DIY'er as long as you buy the panel from an authorized dealer. My experience with them when I need their help was as good as it gets.
 
Mike.

The big thing to consider is the scalability of the install. HAI doesn't really get that. You need to buy upfront to get all the abilities and toys in the toybox. The only variable with Elk is either a M1 or EZ8 and when you start expanding the EZ8, it gets close to the cost of the M1, so that's the consideration.
 
I put it more as an Apple vs. Droid argument. Both work. If you want all your stuff to work reasonably well with the minimum amount of work, assuming you take all the parts out of the same box, it's going to be HAI. If you're ok with mixing and matching and brewing some of your own, or can understand getting data from X to Y, then it becomes more of an Elk argument. As far as security goes, honestly, Elk is more robust. Think of it as a security panel with automation features vs. the opposite.

I only have ethernet connection (no phone line in house) to CS currently and want to add redundancy with an uplink.  I do have an Uplink 2500 but I hear it will be phased out by CSs if not already?
I just read up a little on the C1M1 Elk communicator.  Should I go for that or get a Uplink 4500 or 4530 etc?
 
Any reason not to go with the Elk C1M1?

BulletHead said:

I only have ethernet connection (no phone line in house) to CS currently and want to add redundancy with an uplink.  I do have an Uplink 2500 but I hear it will be phased out by CSs if not already?
I just read up a little on the C1M1 Elk communicator.  Should I go for that or get a Uplink 4500 or 4530 etc?
 
Any reason not to go with the Elk C1M1?

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I don't believe that he C1M1 is not available yet.

mikefamig said:

I don't believe that he C1M1 is not available yet.

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So your're saying that the C1M1 IS available (double negative)?  where exactly?  

It's a typo, the C1M1 is not yet available as far as I can tell online.