We don't own a videogame system. We do, however, own a 6-year-old who WISHES we owned a videogame system. So, every so often, he and I go to Best Buy to try out some games on Kinect or Move, and to look at electronics.
Tonight, the little guy needed a break from his packed-away house, so inbetween Star Wars Kinect sessions at BBY, we noticed a large in-store display for home automation products, among which were Smarthome's Insteon line, which were running full "Lutron RadioRA2" style lighting control (granted, with a little less style) from an iPad. With a central controller costing $99, keypads at $49, and dimmer switches at $29.
I don't think I could have been more sold. It was, essentially, what I'd been looking for in a pro-install system, but designed to be added to existing homes, and controllable via iOS.
And keypads, for full "scene" control! This is absolutely essential to Project 1 - overhead lights fade out, front-wall sconces turn on very dimly, showtime.
After doing some research online, I see that the switches communicate via RF and powerline, which makes sense. I do, however, see that I'm going to need some more education in terms of which switches and controllers I'll need to purchase.
Does anyone have any experience buying, installing or using a Smarthome Insteon system? I'm really only interested in the lighting aspect, as our security system is already installed. I am, however, really, really interested in that lighting system.
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