This pages says they are now available in some stores. http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/products/131110/32724/
Anyone near one of the stores that have them?
Anyone near one of the stores that have them?
Even Staples getting into HA
- Thread starter Automate
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wkearney99
Senior Member
Very odd selection of locations, none near here and not many appear to be near areas were stuff like this would likely have a lot of traction. I mean, yeah, there's going to be interested folks everywhere. But if they want to move product those don't come across as high-volume markets. It'd be a shame to see them bail on the effort due to lackluster rollout numbers based on poor market selections.
Or maybe that's just a side-effect of the online database and lack of live integration with the website...
Or maybe that's just a side-effect of the online database and lack of live integration with the website...
wkearney99
Senior Member
Or the managers don't want the perceived (likely?) headaches of dealing with the support and returns?
It's certainly an odd fit, staples and automation stuff. Makes you wonder what sort of hassles they ran into trying to get it going with more likely retailers like the home improvement stores or even places like BestBuy...
Even more curious is there's no info on the HA1000 device on the Linksys website beyond a page that looks more like a press release than anything else.
It's certainly an odd fit, staples and automation stuff. Makes you wonder what sort of hassles they ran into trying to get it going with more likely retailers like the home improvement stores or even places like BestBuy...
Even more curious is there's no info on the HA1000 device on the Linksys website beyond a page that looks more like a press release than anything else.
wkearney99
Senior Member
Hmm, interesting. Well, if someone comes across some PDFs of the manuals or other technical info it'd certainly be nice to read up on it, the Hub, that is. The rest of the stuff seems pretty well covered elsewhere, besides the Lutron "Caseta" dimmers, that is.
wkearney99
Senior Member
I believe it's the Zonoff stuff that's running on the hub. http://www.zonoff.com/blog.html
For anyone nearby, it appears they're going to be at a Philly area meeting on 12/4:
http://www.zonoff.com/1/post/2013/10/mike-harris-to-speak-at-startup-grind-philadelphia.html
For anyone nearby, it appears they're going to be at a Philly area meeting on 12/4:
http://www.zonoff.com/1/post/2013/10/mike-harris-to-speak-at-startup-grind-philadelphia.html
wkearney99
Senior Member
Not until there's at least some documentation online for it. No specs anywhere?Automate said:
EricHacker
New Member
I am close to a store selling it, so I bit. Short version is that it is very immature in capability and parts are very buggy. The Android client likes to crash and lose state often. For things like Hue and Dlink cameras, one is way better off using the direct interfaces rather than using the Staples Connect one.
I'll try to write up a more in depth review soon.
I'll try to write up a more in depth review soon.
wkearney99
Senior Member
My biggest question is which shade systems will it work with, and how many of each device will it support? Hunter-Douglas, Lutron (Serena or QS)? How many of each? It matters in that I'd like to pull the trigger on buying quite a few shades and would welcome being able to use the lower price-point Serena units, but not unless ALL of what I need could be handled through it.
EricHacker
New Member
The only shades that it says it supports are the Serena shades. According to the FAQ ( http://staples.serenashades.com/resources/ ) there is no limit on the number of shades. I don't know enough about the Lutron radio control system to validate that.
I haven't tried to add a non-supported device yet as I'm still waiting for one to be delivered. Of course the radio has to be supported, but there might be other issues as well, especially at this point in development. The system is set up to strongly suggest the user use the preferred brands and specific products sold at Staples. If you add a device manually, you get a choice of four "protocol adapters": Zwave, Phillips Hue (through the Hue bridge), Lutron and Dlink (over IP).
I did install a Schlage Appliance module that was cheaper from Amazon that the GE one at Staples, but it was obviously the same module so I just told the system it was the GE one when I added it.
I haven't tried to add a non-supported device yet as I'm still waiting for one to be delivered. Of course the radio has to be supported, but there might be other issues as well, especially at this point in development. The system is set up to strongly suggest the user use the preferred brands and specific products sold at Staples. If you add a device manually, you get a choice of four "protocol adapters": Zwave, Phillips Hue (through the Hue bridge), Lutron and Dlink (over IP).
I did install a Schlage Appliance module that was cheaper from Amazon that the GE one at Staples, but it was obviously the same module so I just told the system it was the GE one when I added it.
Well that FAQ is just the standard Serena FAQ that assumes you have not integrated the shades with a hub. So the information is not accurate.
There looks to be an undocumented cloud based API. However it doesn't seem like any local control is possible since the information given is that when your internet goes down, the apps don't work. As for triggers and schedules, not sure.
Also presumably it supports shades that can be integrated through z-wave such as the somfy z-wave interface and various z-wave motor controllers.
There looks to be an undocumented cloud based API. However it doesn't seem like any local control is possible since the information given is that when your internet goes down, the apps don't work. As for triggers and schedules, not sure.
Also presumably it supports shades that can be integrated through z-wave such as the somfy z-wave interface and various z-wave motor controllers.
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