Re: XTB - the Future of X10 has arrived!

["BruceR" <br@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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.

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.

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.  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.


> On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 15:17:22 -0400, "Robert Green"
> <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> <MvudnRP6gru4SxjZnZ2dnUVZ_tudnZ2d@xxxxxxx>:
>
> <snip>
>
> Bobby, Dear Bobby, *Dearest* Bobby ;-)
>
> No need to be so defensive ...
>
> I've order one of Jeff's nifty X-10 amplifiers (sensu stricto)
> because it will neatly allow me to keep a couple of X-10 switches in
> service where running a neutral wire for INSTEON or low-voltage for
> hard-wired lighting is not worth the effort at this time. But I
> rather doubt that this is gonna solve the "fundamentals of how [I]
> live and work" as you wrote in your first post of the thread.
>
> To continue the alternative automotive power analogy used elsewhere
> in this thread, when I bought our family's shiny, brannew 1980 Dasher
> diesel wagon in 1980, it was wunnerful in part because it got 50 mpg.
> But when in 1993 I bought a second, used one, identical except for
> color,  for spare parts to help keep the first one alive, I didn't
> gush that others would/should follow the same path. Because just as
> X-10 switches -- amplifier or not -- are still tactile mush, slow to
> respond relative to newer devices, more easily confused by multiple
> commands, add noise to the powerline, have poor hash suppression, etc
> etc,  my then 13-year-old Dasher model was way long in the tooth and
> superseded by better cars for less money.
>
> Similarly, I still ride my 1972 Motobecane 10-speed bicycle most
> days. The light, purty new front wheel I recently treated it to cost
> bout as much as the whole bike did when new, but I don't recommend
> 1972 Motobecanes because [ add list of good reasons here]. If someone
> asked, me, I'd tell them to buy a new bike.
>
> Thanks for your (many, many! ;-) words and bon mots in this newsgroup.
>
> ... Marc
> Marc_F_Hult
> www.ECOntrol.org