Re: XTB - the Future of X10 has arrived!

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"BruceR" <br@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:t8Ghg.147$MF6.64@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I would liken the XTB as to what the military used to (and may still)
> call a SLEP, or "Service Life Enhancement Program."  The pilots flying
> B-52s are (a lot) younger than their aircraft but SLEPs have kept them
> flying for many years beyond their planned retirement (the B-52s - not
> the pilots!).  The 52 year old B-52's may not be as technologically
> sophisticated as newer stealth bombers but they do serve their purpose.

You wouldn't want to be either one of them when they got angry.

> I view the the XTB as a SLEP that may enable one to squeeze a few more
> years out of their existing X10 installations.  It is particularly
> timely in that we are in the midst of a shakeout period of competing >
technologies where delaying commitment to one or another may be
> beneficial to those who have a working X10 system and can wait a bit
> longer.

I suppose I was a bit effusive in my praise but the XTB came at a time when
my family's facing some pretty serious price increases all across the board,
from gas to electricity to food to insurance and even property taxes.
Having something like the XTB allows me to spend $200 instead of $2K to
solve the majority of my X-10 problems.   That translates into a very nice
weekend getaway and that's got a lot of SAF.  Learning all new ways of doing
the same old things has very low SAF.  I know how much my wife dislikes
changing PC's, SW, cars, home theater equipment, light switches and TV/VCRs.
And car tires.  :-)

So the XTB allows me to extend the current interface for a few more years,
at least.  And to avoid what I lovingly refer to as the "stinkeye" when
something's gone so amuck that damage has occured. That's got a lot of "blue
sky" value for me.  X-10 is the devil you know . . .

> As I've said in earlier posts, the $1000+ I've spent converting to
> Insteon has yet to yield any real benefit over X10, although I think
> that will change when I have a RoZetta in the mix.  In the meantime, >
Insteon allows me to hedge my bet by acting as X10 devices too - I don't
> have to reinstall the old stuff.

That's a pretty useful feature, as it turns out for you.

If the XTB works as well for me as
> reported by others I'll have the best of both worlds: X10 commands sent
> from my "legacy" controller will reach everywhere they need to for
> reliable scheduled control AND, I'll have reliable manual control from
> Insteon controllers, keypads and switches using the Insteon linking
> technology.

May the Force be with you!

--
Bobby G.