Re: best deal on lutron radio ra?

["wkearney99" <wkearney99@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > X-10 will die a slow and deserved death.
>
> It's already been doing that for what, 40 years?  And yet it's still the
> most widely used technology in the HA industry.  :(

Yeah, and shit's the most widely produced substance on earth.  Quantity
doesn't equate to quality.

That the market hasn't chosen something better has had many reasons.  Most
of which could probably be summed up by price.  X-10 survived because it was
cheap.  Damn near anything else could succeed even if it only 'sucked
differently' but it had the same price-point.  Sadly most other efforts
failed to hit the right price point.

But what really sucks about X-10, beyond the incredibly annoying
inconsistencies in operation, is their feel and operation.  The buttons have
always felt cheap.  That they didn't WORK reliably is one thing.  But that
they failed to work in ways people expect is even worse.  Those ugly-ass
buttons, the remotes you have to press, and press, and press, modules
flipping on/off seemingly at random.  Noise and phase voodoo, it all adds
up... to a BIG negative.

I want some dimmers that have good button feel, work in scene configurations
and actually work reliably.  This most certainly ain't X10.  None of the
aftermarket swtiches work any better because of their dependence on the X-10
protocol and other powerline stuff seems no better.

I like that Radio RA has a friendly set of dimmers and scene controllers.  I
can put 'em on the wall and have to do nothing for normal people to use them
without instructions.  Sure, they're expensive, that's what I asked the
question.

If/when/ever zigbee gets off the ground and someone makes decent switches
and scene controllers then I'd certainly like to take a look at it.
Economies of scale, open standards and a wide-range of participating vendors
are all prime reasons to look forward to it.  Z-wave seems like a fine idea
but I've seen the switches and didn't like them.  Nor are there any in-wall
scene controllers.

Meanwhile I've had 15 years of putting up with X-10 and I have no desire to
continue.  I want something that just works, if it costs me a lot more then
I simply want to find the best deal.

-Bill Kearney