upstatemike
Senior Member
I promised myself that once I got passed the phone system upgrades in November that I would finally make some decisions about how to move forward with my HA system.
I think the first decision (Insteon or UPB) is already kind of made. Since I already have a big investment in Insteon I would need a pretty compelling reason to replace it instead of leveraging what I have. While Insteon has its issue, there are enough things bugging me about UPB that I am not willing to pay a premium to switch right now. (Higher cost, double tap delay, no lights on secondary keypad buttons, don't like the tabletop controller options, no screw in lamp modules, etc.)
So the next question is what is my best control strategy for an Insteon environment? I could:
Wait for Rozetta to show up and use it with my Stargate. Problem is there is no confirmed date of when it will be available and no assurance that it will be a clean solution when it does show up.
I could use the free command line Insteon app to control Insteon devices from Stargate but this will not provide any feedback that could be used by Stargate to trigger things from manual Insteon switch presses.
I could upgrade my Homeseer license to 2.x and let Stargate control Insteon through Homeseer. It's $90 to upgrade plus $60 for the Stargate plugin plus $100 for com port sharing software (so I can still program Stargate without taking Homeseer offline). This is appealing because it is relatively cheap at $250 plus it opens the door to use Homeseer phone or migrate to an M1 or any number of other options.
I could move over to an Elk M1 and continue to use a hardware controller sytem. This would take care of Insteon and the support for ip cameras and wireless security is very much in line with some near term requirements I have. Also the touch screen is in a price range where I can seriously consider it. Plus the fact that RCS never did produce the touch screen for Stargate makes be more open to switching platforms. Problem is I really need the ability to do voice announcements through my phone system as well as kick off batch files on a PC someplace to fetch weather station info and control SlimServer. Until I can solve these two issue, the Elk is still a bit of a compromise. (The limited command set and small rules capacity don't help either). Also the Elk would be expensive because it would require a lot of expansion modules to duplicate my current Stargate configuration.
I could use the Elk with Homeseer to fill in the phone and TTS gaps in the M1. This would also let me migrate more slowly from Stargate to the M1 using HS as a bridge. This would be a pretty darned expensive route though with all of the cost of the M1 plus all of the cost of Homeseer. Also not sure what this buys me over just a HS plus Stargate solution. (Apart from the Elk touch screens which I really like).
If I decide to move to an M1 I also could consider CQC. This has Insteon plus Slimserver support which is pretty cool. No real phone page support though. I also feel there is a lot of touch screen and Home Theater horsepower in CQC that I would never use becuse I would be using the Elk touch screens and I don't need any HT automation. Plus I have to jump on CQC right away or it will move forever beyond my price range.
Another option that the M1 opens up is PowerHome. I use PowerHome to manage my Insteon environment anyway and I understand you need Dave's Insteon utility to manage Insteon links in an Elk. Unfortunately the phone page issue applies here too plus I tend to struggle some with the programming. The syntax of the commands looks like ODBC to me and I am not good with database stuff (or database looking stuff). I do better with plain old if-then-else command logic. I could probably get it eventually but it would be a steep learning curve for me. Plus, Dave is writing the M1 integration now but I don't know if it is weeks or months away so I am in the same boat there as I am with Rozetta.
This is what I need to sit down and decide now... which way should I go? Did I overlook any other good Insteon scenarios?
I think the first decision (Insteon or UPB) is already kind of made. Since I already have a big investment in Insteon I would need a pretty compelling reason to replace it instead of leveraging what I have. While Insteon has its issue, there are enough things bugging me about UPB that I am not willing to pay a premium to switch right now. (Higher cost, double tap delay, no lights on secondary keypad buttons, don't like the tabletop controller options, no screw in lamp modules, etc.)
So the next question is what is my best control strategy for an Insteon environment? I could:
Wait for Rozetta to show up and use it with my Stargate. Problem is there is no confirmed date of when it will be available and no assurance that it will be a clean solution when it does show up.
I could use the free command line Insteon app to control Insteon devices from Stargate but this will not provide any feedback that could be used by Stargate to trigger things from manual Insteon switch presses.
I could upgrade my Homeseer license to 2.x and let Stargate control Insteon through Homeseer. It's $90 to upgrade plus $60 for the Stargate plugin plus $100 for com port sharing software (so I can still program Stargate without taking Homeseer offline). This is appealing because it is relatively cheap at $250 plus it opens the door to use Homeseer phone or migrate to an M1 or any number of other options.
I could move over to an Elk M1 and continue to use a hardware controller sytem. This would take care of Insteon and the support for ip cameras and wireless security is very much in line with some near term requirements I have. Also the touch screen is in a price range where I can seriously consider it. Plus the fact that RCS never did produce the touch screen for Stargate makes be more open to switching platforms. Problem is I really need the ability to do voice announcements through my phone system as well as kick off batch files on a PC someplace to fetch weather station info and control SlimServer. Until I can solve these two issue, the Elk is still a bit of a compromise. (The limited command set and small rules capacity don't help either). Also the Elk would be expensive because it would require a lot of expansion modules to duplicate my current Stargate configuration.
I could use the Elk with Homeseer to fill in the phone and TTS gaps in the M1. This would also let me migrate more slowly from Stargate to the M1 using HS as a bridge. This would be a pretty darned expensive route though with all of the cost of the M1 plus all of the cost of Homeseer. Also not sure what this buys me over just a HS plus Stargate solution. (Apart from the Elk touch screens which I really like).
If I decide to move to an M1 I also could consider CQC. This has Insteon plus Slimserver support which is pretty cool. No real phone page support though. I also feel there is a lot of touch screen and Home Theater horsepower in CQC that I would never use becuse I would be using the Elk touch screens and I don't need any HT automation. Plus I have to jump on CQC right away or it will move forever beyond my price range.
Another option that the M1 opens up is PowerHome. I use PowerHome to manage my Insteon environment anyway and I understand you need Dave's Insteon utility to manage Insteon links in an Elk. Unfortunately the phone page issue applies here too plus I tend to struggle some with the programming. The syntax of the commands looks like ODBC to me and I am not good with database stuff (or database looking stuff). I do better with plain old if-then-else command logic. I could probably get it eventually but it would be a steep learning curve for me. Plus, Dave is writing the M1 integration now but I don't know if it is weeks or months away so I am in the same boat there as I am with Rozetta.
This is what I need to sit down and decide now... which way should I go? Did I overlook any other good Insteon scenarios?