I can't decide!

[Kilkenny]

Should I go Elk, HAI, Honeywell, ?

Homeseer, CQC, Web-Link, Cinemar, etc?

UPB, Insteon, X10, Z-Wave, ?

Russound, OnQ, ChannelPlus, ?

I do know a few things though. I want to be able to buy and install lcd screens to run my stuff. Something similar to the Touchtronix lcd's. In other words, I don't want to be strapped to a hardware platform that I have to buy through an automation system. I want to be able to control lighting, hvac, security and cameras, audio, video and anything else I want to control with this system. I also want to put this thing together myself.

Is there a cheat sheet that shows what works best with what? I've read here that alot of you are Elk/CQC users, but I don't want that to discount my decision making as CQC is not cheap. Not all systems are the same, but it would be nice to see a materials list for some complete system setups.

 

[Rupp]

Elk, HomeSeer, and MainLobby make a killer application along with the Elk plugin of course. Then you can choose your lighting protocal of choice or choose the best of all of them since HS works with all of them.

 

[IVB]

There's also Girder/Netremote. Although it doesn't get a lot of play on this forum, it's still a very viable entry level solution.

Can't answer your question unless we know what you're trying to do though. Honestly, $500 extra is going to amount to nothing if you can't get it working. But, if you want to only do a little, overspending by $500 is a waste.

 

[Kilkenny]

IVB, Other than what I've listed above, what else should I add to what I want to do with it? Are you talking about detailed tasks? Also, was there a huge increase in price for CQC over the last year? Your very cool site shows it's cost at $200...which is much more reasonable.

Rupp, I thought Homeseer and Mainlobby both performed similar functions. What does one do that the other does not?

 

[Rupp]

IVB, Other than what I've listed above, what else should I add to what I want to do with it? Are you talking about detailed tasks? Also, was there a huge increase in price for CQC over the last year? Your very cool site shows it's cost at $200...which is much more reasonable.

Rupp, I thought Homeseer and Mainlobby both performed similar functions. What does one do that the other does not?

HomeSeer is more of an Automation Engine where as Main Lobby (while it does other things) is more of a front end interface. HomeSeer has it's own free touchpad interface but it's not the best interface that's ever been developed. There's also a newer plug-n-play touchpad interface called Maestro for HomeSeer. It's an out of the box very little user config required "pretty" front end for HomeSeer. http://www.harmony-home.com/

Here's a screen shot of my setup using the free TouchPad interface.

 

[drozwood90]

You can also just make your own webpages (which is what I did).

I use Audrey's as my touch screens, so I made custom 800x600 pages that shows exactly what I want when I want.

--Dan

 

[Kilkenny]

Rupp,

Can I use third party touchscreens with Homeseer? How do you mix in your audio controls room to room if you want touchscreen in some rooms but just regular (ie cheaper) controls in other rooms?

I still don't see what the reasoning is behind using MainLobby in addition to Homeseer. What does it do additionally that Homeseer can't?

 

[johnnynine]

When I first started doing my research as you are, it seemed at the time that the most outspoken users here were in two camps, those who use Elk/CQC, and those who use Elk/Homeseer/Mainlobby.

However after taking a closer look, there are users here with a huge variety of different systems, different configurations, different requirements, different budgets and so on.

Before you get too far into deciding what system you want I think most users here would agree that you should take a step back and do some research to determine what exactly you want out of your system, what you want to spend now, and what you want to be ready for in the future. But in doing so it is a good idea to look at all of the components you listed as well as others to get a better idea of how things fit together and what the possibilities are. Another thing to consider is how much of your system you want running on a pc and how much you want running on a dedicated piece of (non-pc) hardware.

I, like IVB use use CQC for the visual interface. You can get some ideas from my screen shots here. http://www.charmedquark.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=2473

I believe IVB also has a link to his screen shots in his signature.

 

[Steve]

Get an Elk M1, CQC, UPB and a Nuvo Grand Concerto. :unsure:

Seriously, as everyone else pretty much stated, they are all good products and work well, its all a matter of exactly what you need and how much you want to spend.

Good news is that there are a ton of threads throughout Cocoontech with pretty much everything you'd want to know about almost all of the products mentioned - good, bad and ugly.

 

[KevB]

kilkenny,

I'm in the same boat as you, you probably listed exactly what I am looking for...especially the fact that you don't want to be tied down to a certain hardware platform like touchscreens!

I was leaning towards HAI, but they honestly didn't offer anything more than Elk....actually less. My biggest beef with HAI is that they seem to promote the 'professional' install. IMHO the 'do-it-yourself' is better than the guy they just trained two hours ago to come in and do the 'professional' install on your house.

I am still researching the lighting automation part. I do think Insteon has a better platform 'on paper', but it seems as though UPB may be more realiable. Yet UPB may not be as responsive as insteon. Ug..and then there is which technology supports all my CF lights better?!?!

There's my rant. and i've still not bought anything yet.

JONNYNINE THAT IS SOME SERIOUSLY COOL STUFF YOU'VE DONE. wOw.

 

[Rupp]

Rupp,

Can I use third party touchscreens with Homeseer? How do you mix in your audio controls room to room if you want touchscreen in some rooms but just regular (ie cheaper) controls in other rooms?

I still don't see what the reasoning is behind using MainLobby in addition to Homeseer. What does it do additionally that Homeseer can't?

Absolutely. HomeSeer's interface is web based so you can you any device that has a browser in it. Touch screens, pocket pc's, cell phones, etc.

Main Lobby gives you that pretty interface as does Maestro.

 

[IVB]

IVB, Other than what I've listed above, what else should I add to what I want to do with it? Are you talking about detailed tasks?

Picking the right package is less about what specific bits of functionality and more about how you want to accomplish your goals as most of the market now offers 80% of the widgets you'd need to do your job. But, CQC also has some huge functionality guns that I'm unsure the competition offers, namely 1) *very* easy ODBC support for stuff like callerid logging, temperature logging, indirect outlook integration, etc, and 2)the ability to custom-create any template you want for a PDA/cellphone, and the ability to securely access it over a cellular network. I can do full control over Cingular, although honestly I mostly just adjust the HVAC/turn on&off lights/check security.

The way I look at the various players, they've each got their target market, and they're all legitimate choices:

Girder/NR: Great if you don't want to spend tons of $$, only have a single PC, and are willing to put in some serious techie elbow grease to reach your goals.

HS: Don't care about looks and are fine with a web interface, not sure how it handles multi-PC situations.

ML: Great if you are ok with an out-of-the-box look, and don't mind that theres not a ton of DIY folks who've done full house automation on these forums that you can guidance from. I'm pretty active on several forums, and i've yet to meet someone who's using only ML to do anything more than 1-2 areas of automation. I'm sure they're out there, but unless they're actually *on* a forum where I can ask questions, it doesn't really count.

CQC: Great if you're a little grander in your thinking:
- you don't want to be restricted to just a handful of devices to choose from per category (ie, there's something like 12 different a/v switchers I can choose from, so I can scout eBay for deals)
- want a little more handholding (through a *very* active forum, monthly user group webexes, or Dean who doesn't sleep).
- Have >1 PC or touchscreen that you want to control, so you need a true distributed network architecture
- you don't mind building the UI yourself (or copying either johnnynine/mine/someone else who's sharing their templates). It's clearly the most powerful, but will take some work to accomplish your goals.

Also, was there a huge increase in price for CQC over the last year? Your very cool site shows it's cost at $200...which is much more reasonable.

Ooops, need to update that. I bought CQC in 9/05, when it only had 30% of the functionality it currently does.

And reasonable-ness wise, the way I look at it, CQC finally tried to come in line with the rest of the market price-wise. Still fell short though, my post here on 8/4 at 11:15am shows how my price for ML/HS would have been $1500. If you're interested in doing complete home automation and want to reduce your risk, there's nothing simpler than having a single package that is known to do it all. No way am I playing games like this with the software engine that runs my house.
"oh, you upgraded to version <x> of the other software? We're only compatible with <y>" or "go ask <x> - that bug must be on their side".

I do enough cutting edge stuff, I don't need to take on any more risk than is needed. The extra few hundred bucks is worth avoiding the psychiatrist bills...

 

[IVB]

Is there a cheat sheet that shows what works best with what? I've read here that alot of you are Elk/CQC users, but I don't want that to discount my decision making as CQC is not cheap. Not all systems are the same, but it would be nice to see a materials list for some complete system setups.

BTW, not sure if you know about this, but i began writing up my stuff in this 1MB doc here. It's got the following "scorecard" in it, with a complete equipment list. My xantech is currently on it's deathbed, so i'm leaning towards the (grand?) concerto to replace it.

 

[Steve]

BTW, as for controllers, there is a pretty good overview comparison here that was done by a reputable firm.

 

[johnnynine]

JONNYNINE THAT IS SOME SERIOUSLY COOL STUFF YOU'VE DONE. wOw.

Hey thanks... wow, all uppercased too. :unsure:

One nice thing about CQC is that many members including myself have released our interfaces for personal use... FREE. You'll find many examples over in the CQC forums. Installing one or two of them can really help kickstart the learning curve.

Mine are available here: http://www.johnnynine.com/cqcdistribution/...eagreement.aspx