Re: Current mid-range technology?

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

Russ in San Diego <russgoog@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>I was describing some of my X-10 setup (installed many years ago, when
>X10.com was heavily promoting the stuff, and you could get tons of it
>REALLY cheap) to a contractor friend.  He seemed very interested in
>knowing about it for other customers.  I warned him that he probably
>ought to stay away from selling X-10 to customers, because it's so
>dicey and unreliable.  I'm ok with it for my usage, but I wouldn't
>feel comfortable recommending it to a non-hobbyist who can't handle
>the fussiness and frustration.
>
>Any recommendations as to what's a reasonably priced and reasonably
>reliable equivalent technology these days?  Is Insteon significantly
>better than X-10?  What else is out there?

Insteon reliability is good but it's pricey compared to X10 (and it seems to
be a bmoving target with new devices being introduced to 'fix' earlier
flaws. You should also look at UPB (again, pricey) and ZWave (I'm not
impressed). You should also be aware of Jeff Volp's XTB devices - I haven't
kept up with revisions - they boost X10 signals to about 25-30Vpp which most
who've tried it say makes X10 nearly 100% reliable.