Can Vizia truly interoperate with other zwave components?

[pkshiu]

I have several intermatic dimmers, modules, controllers in the house. Now that Vizia's stuff is out, I am thinking about using them instead. Will they component interoperates? Can I fully program the Vizia into the network using my intermatic master controller? Or Can I switch to use the "seems better" Vizia controller/programmer to program the intermatic stuff, etc?

If not, what are the limitations?

Thanks,
P.K.

 

[upstatemike]

Be sure to check out the new stuff from Cooper before you make a final decision about Vizia.

 

[twilo123]

Mike, i can't seem to get a hold of the Cooper line. Have you found anyone specific who is carrying it yet? i have only seen it at an Expo. I have spoken to various people at Cooper and so far i can't find any distributors who carry it. The do look very nice but i would like to test some of them out.

The vizia line has been the best i have found so far until i saw the Cooper line. Aesthetically the Cooper line looks great but i am not sure about actually trying them out. having the dimmer as a 2nd toggle is much better than the built in ones from what i have found. clicking noises on some of the lines are annoying too, especially on 15amp switches. Another thing I found is the 4zone controller from vizia has rocker switches instead of push buttons like the scene controllers from vizia and cooper. i prefer the rockers over the push buttons for 2 reasons. 1 - i can just hit the rocker left or right for on/off instead of having to push a button possibly twice just to turn on/off. 2 - i can manually dim.

vizia's line is nice if you don't mind the decora rocker style they use. they make a small click on the regular dimmer/15amp when using them but nothing as annoying as the intouch 15amp switches.

you also might want to check out leviton's acenti line in Q1 08. they will be adding z-wave to that line too. they have a unique style.

Be sure to check out the new stuff from Cooper before you make a final decision about Vizia.

 

[Rupp]

Mike, i can't seem to get a hold of the Cooper line. Have you found anyone specific who is carrying it yet? i have only seen it at an Expo. I have spoken to various people at Cooper and so far i can't find any distributors who carry it. The do look very nice but i would like to test some of them out.

The vizia line has been the best i have found so far until i saw the Cooper line. Aesthetically the Cooper line looks great but i am not sure about actually trying them out. having the dimmer as a 2nd toggle is much better than the built in ones from what i have found. clicking noises on some of the lines are annoying too, especially on 15amp switches. Another thing I found is the 4zone controller from vizia has rocker switches instead of push buttons like the scene controllers from vizia and cooper. i prefer the rockers over the push buttons for 2 reasons. 1 - i can just hit the rocker left or right for on/off instead of having to push a button possibly twice just to turn on/off. 2 - i can manually dim.

vizia's line is nice if you don't mind the decora rocker style they use. they make a small click on the regular dimmer/15amp when using them but nothing as annoying as the intouch 15amp switches.

you also might want to check out leviton's acenti line in Q1 08. they will be adding z-wave to that line too. they have a unique style.

Be sure to check out the new stuff from Cooper before you make a final decision about Vizia.

http://store.homeseer.com/store/Dimming-Wa...itches-C64.aspx
Rich wrote a mini-review of the new Cooper line here:
http://forums.homeseer.com/showpost.php?p=...amp;postcount=1

 

[politics123]

I have a bunch of stuff (ACT, Intermatic, Vizia) that I acquired while evaluating which I liked the best. They all work well together. The Vizia stuff has good 2-way features that the other products don't support, but I can easily turn on or off the other switches from my Vizia controller.

 

[Squintz]

I have a few Vizia RF switches and a Few Intermatic Switches and a Few ACT HomePro switches. The switches all work with together. I did just watch the Vizia RF EZ-Learn videos from their site which is supposed to make you an expert on their lines of devices. I came away from watching those videos still a little confused. They claim that you need to use their Vizia RF Remote control in order to get the best features from their devices. However, I used an Intermatic USB stick and have no problems with their devices. I've also used them with ACT controllers with no problems. Granted I've never used the two way feature of their devices. So I think the best answer I can give you is that yes they are all interoperable and work well together but you may want a specific feature of Vizia RF such as the Two-Way communication and that probably does not work with your Intermatic remote. This just means you won't have the feature.

I am a big fan of Vizia RF and if I had the money I would put all Vizia RF in my home. But they are expensive. So I would second looking at Cooper. I saw those at EHX Spring 2007 and really like the look a feel. I can't speak for the functionality tho since I've never researched or used them.

 

[twilo123]

the Coopers are looking to be more expensive than the Leviton's i believe. we'll see how this plays out. Leviton will be coming out with the Acenti z-wave line early next year too so i am looking forward to trying them out also.

i agree the Coopers look nice but each design has it quirks. Hopefully Cooper has learned from some of the other manufacturers.

also note that their handheld remotes do not support thermostats like a zth100 and right now they only have split z-wave receptacles. their usb stick will come with a flavor of homeseer i believe.

I have a few Vizia RF switches and a Few Intermatic Switches and a Few ACT HomePro switches. The switches all work with together. I did just watch the Vizia RF EZ-Learn videos from their site which is supposed to make you an expert on their lines of devices. I came away from watching those videos still a little confused. They claim that you need to use their Vizia RF Remote control in order to get the best features from their devices. However, I used an Intermatic USB stick and have no problems with their devices. I've also used them with ACT controllers with no problems. Granted I've never used the two way feature of their devices. So I think the best answer I can give you is that yes they are all interoperable and work well together but you may want a specific feature of Vizia RF such as the Two-Way communication and that probably does not work with your Intermatic remote. This just means you won't have the feature.

I am a big fan of Vizia RF and if I had the money I would put all Vizia RF in my home. But they are expensive. So I would second looking at Cooper. I saw those at EHX Spring 2007 and really like the look a feel. I can't speak for the functionality tho since I've never researched or used them.

 

[pkshiu]

Thanks for the info. I am going to mix in some Vizia and see how well they work. Funny thing is that I personally do not like the Leviton UI, the rocker plus dimmer thing (We have the normal dimmers as well elsewhere) but everyone else seems to like it, and get confused with the intermatic style UI (press and hold). I guess dimmers are still not a "normal" thing for the "average" person.

 

[twilo123]

you will find a lot of people including myself who do not especially care for the rocker's on the levitons. it becomes a matter of the lesser of all evils so to speak. i do find that elderly enjoy only having to remember 1 button though so i guess there is a market for just about anything. the press and hold style dimmers are usually not very intuitive. on the homepro's you have to click really fast to shut them on/off otherwise you will dim. what ends up happening is people never totally shut their lights off when they leave room and they stay on at about 5% wasting energy. people aren't used to having to click so fast. you can program them differently but most people don't want to have to do that. it should be intuitive right out of the box. the Intouch IMO have their own set of issues. i watch people usually have to click a couple of times to work the dimmer. if they just hold the button on the 1st click they usually don't get the dim to function. sometimes out of frustration they wind up clicking 3 times to try to get the dimmer to work and it just winds up turning off of course. So IMO is it definitely better or at least easier to control the dim function when you use a seperate toggle. in fact i don't know why they don't just use a slider like most dimmers on the market today. it drives me crazy that they try to reinvent the wheeel when they have been perfecting it for so long as it is. it's like taking 2 steps back to me.