Is the ELK 1M Gold long in the tooth?

[ddennerline]

I wish Elk would not have a spent a ton of money creating yet another wireless security protocol and instead built better wireless gateways. They should have released a Zigbee radio. The M1XLZW device support has not been updated since release. There is still no 100% accurate temperature/humidity sensor available.

 

[mikefamig]

I personally run Elve - although I do so little with it... 

W2P - do you worry about security on Elve being that it is web based? Life could become very interesting around your house if they ever got hacked.
 
Mike.

 

[pete_c]

Here in current home went from software lightning automation (and other software stuff) to the HAI OPII panel.  (been using Homeseer here since late 1990's). 
 
That said the software always complimented the hardware. 
 
The base hardware when it was implemented always did a fine job by itself relating to the "heartbeat" of the home.
 
I did utilize much remote stuff for a bit mostly because it was "fun" to monitor and occasionally control; but really it was not used for function.
 
There was no need for me to enable remote console control via the internet; so that has typically been in the off mode. 
 
That said certain events do trigger and talk to my phone whenever I want; its a one way conversation.

 

[Del91574]

I wish Elk would not have a spent a ton of money creating yet another wireless security protocol and instead built better wireless gateways. They should have released a Zigbee radio. The M1XLZW device support has not been updated since release. There is still no 100% accurate temperature/humidity sensor available.

If I remember (not checking Elk's site) they used to speak Zigbee and connect via an XSP and appropriate firmware.
 
Plenty of ways to do temperature and humidity, but the problem is going to be scaling on the M1. Not really a robust BAS.

 

[tmbrown97]

W2P - do you worry about security on Elve being that it is web based? Life could become very interesting around your house if they ever got hacked.
 
Mike.

Elve isn't really web-based; I mean I think it has a web component available, but I don't have that exposed to the internet at all and I doubt I'm even running it.  I haven't deployed any UI from Elve; I just do some rules processing on the back end, and for that I find it works quite well.

 

[drvnbysound]

Unless you have very sophisticated use-cases along with multiple household triggers (i.e., like doorbell/camera/TV use-case), I see little need for external rules controller. If you take a look at the ElkRP language, it’s fairly robust ladder logic language. With only 26% memory used, I believe typical setup HA for controlling lights, thermostat, fans, and locks is possible using Elk exclusively.
 
From my understanding, the ISY is only required because SmartHome did not invest in building a robust installation program similar to what is provided by UPB. UDI spent a ton of energy and money making Insteon easily consumable. UDI decided for economic reasons to add a controller/rules language. I suspect that once the ISY network is properly configured, the ISY rules language is not required.
 
Instead of thinking about Elk/ISY integration as a hack, understand every lighting technology requires a hardware installation/setup program.

 
My camera/DVR is a completely separate system. But my Elk [directly] interfaces with the doorbell (via Elk-930) and with the TV (via XSP). I wrote the rules to do this within Elk directly.

 

[fleetz]

Integrating my 4th M1 into my daughter and SIL new house build which has just started.

Never gave not using the M1 a thought.

Maturity
Stability
Versatility
Expandability
Programmability
Control
Support

The fact that M1 is 10 or more years old is a big tick in opinion. Comments about them not coming out with new products in recent times I find somewhat irrelevant as when you have virtually all bases covered either with ELK/Ness offerings or 3rd parties it is hard to come out with something new.

That said in recent times touchscreen keypads and more interfaces to 3rd party products that are relevant have been released. So the product continues to grow.

I am of the view that the M1 product platform that was developed way back when is still as relevant today as when it was first conceived.

Support for the product is second to none...

Fleetz

 

[Del91574]

That is all well and true, and I've installed many M1's/EZ8's but there's a bunch of features I would love to see Elk/Ness address and integrate that their competitiors on lesser products offer. Hell, even if they'd take care of the bugs and get modern 2 wire smokes UL listed.
 
Don't get me wrong, they went a long way with the GE and Honewell RF but I think they could've done a little more with Honeywell's bidirectional devices and then look into a wireless keypad or some other peripherals to fill out the line further. The rest can be tweaked on the software/firmware side.