Re: No more X10 at Radio Shack?

["Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> When you buy a car, you understand it
> needs oil changes and periodic maintenance.
> Some of them don't even work perfectly
> "out of the box", and have to visit the
> dealer several times to get their quirks
> ironed out.

This is where we disagree, Jeff.  I've purchased three new cars and two new motorcycles in the past three years.  All of them
require periodic oil changes (something I choose not to DIY).  None of them required any tweaking "out of the box" to be able to use
them.  In fact, if I had to make changes to other things or buy a piece of test equipment just to make a given car work, I'd never
buy that make again.  I expect that what I buy and/or install will work without having to modify the rest of the house.

> So if one accepts this from a $20,000 item...

Ah, but I don't.  I bought an Odyssey van last year.  It has satellite radio, a touchscreen GPS navigation system and lots of other
cool stuff.  I expect it all to work first time and to give little or no trouble for the three year period that I normally keep a
new car.  If I had to bring it in for service several times in the first month I'd have been sorely disappointed in the product.
The same applies to HA products I sell to DIYers.  I expect the client to be able to use them by simply following the directions
and/or discussing them with me.  If a product failed to function repeatedly (as most X10 stuff does) I'd feel obligated to issue a
refund.  Like most retailers, I don't like issuing refunds if I can avoid it.  I also don't like having to deal with problems from
cheaply made, unreliable products.  As such, I simply can't recommend X10.

> why bitch endlessly when one has to
> do some maintenance to keep X10 running?
> Provide a decent signal level, and it
> works fine.

Part of the problem is that many X10 transmitters simply don't provide a strong enough signal.  The other, as you have often said,
is that other normal pieces of household equipment can absorb the X10 signal.  This means that any X10 system can fail later due to
users plugging in a new PC or whatever.  To me that's just not acceptable.  You've been working with X10 a long time and are able to
fix these problems as they arise so I can understand your position.  For me and for many of my DIY customer though, this amounts to
a lifetime of whack-a-mole service issues.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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