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[davis1221]

I am new to X10 but already enjoying a couple of items I have purchase.  My questions has to do with X10 vs. X10 Pro.  Is there a difference?  I purchased my first X10 products from Home Contols.com and saw that it was X10 Pro.  Is one better than the other or may produces a better signal.

Thank you,
Stephen

[vhoang]

Exact same product wrapped in a different shell.   

http://kbase.x10.com/wiki/Pro_Part_Numbers

Another X10 trivia:

There's one more less known shell for X10 product that you may bump into
in the future if you look carefully.   It's identified freewire by Black & Decker.

While the trasmitters use a frequency of 418 instead of 310 like you'll see from
general X10 products, powerline modules's electronic are all made by X10 and
will respond perfectly to regulay X10 PLC signals.

[Brian H]

Freewire as you said is X10 compatible powerline signal wise, but not remote wise.
An X10 remote and transceiver can control a freewire powerline module and a Freewire remote and Messenger Hub can control X10 powerline modules.
I do like the Freewire wether resistant outdoor module. Also the Freewire messenger Hub can do things like a Scene where you can add 4 X10 Addresses to a single button. The remote also can do all 16 units of of house code set on the hubs dial.

[dave w]

davis 1221
As vhoang stated; X10 and X10 Pro are essentially same. However (unless X10 changed their operations) X10 Pro does goes through a burn in at the factory and suposedly more stringent testing compared to standard X10.

[davis1221]

Thanks.  I was just about to ask the question about the difference in reliability.  X10 Pro generally cost a little more and I don't mind paying it if it is better especially since I have heard that some people do have problems with there x10 product reliability. 

Thanks,
Stephen

[dave w]

davis 1221

FWIW

My experience with X10 has been IF it works "out of the box" it will continue to work satisfactorly for years (PLC stuff only, I have no cameras, etc.).

One exception is the wall switch module(s). The push ON push OFF switch is not the best design. I have gone so far as to replace the switch with a push button.

On the plus side; I have several Lamp Modules and one old "toggle" style wall switch module that are pushing 25 years old.

The statement of fairly good reliability, excludes the ubiquitous phase coupling and interference problems which really are separate problems outside of X10 Inc's control.

[JimC]

Dave w said

My experience with X10 has been IF it works "out of the box" it will continue to work satisfactorly for years (PLC stuff only, I have no cameras, etc.).

Dave,

This is so true. I have had very little X10 stuff fail over the years including their cameras, and I have several of them. 

Jim

[davis1221]

So I guess the bottom line is that if I wanted to purchase the x10 products from x10.com vs. say homecontrols.com (x10 pro) then I am getting the same product but for lightly less cost. 

Thank you for your help.  I am looking forward to using these products.

Stephen

[KDR]

Does anyone know if the RF devices get better QC and tuning then standard X10. Has anyone tested to see if the Pro works better?

[CobraCats]

THe modules we get from our supplier are x-10pro and I have not had any problems with any of the modules I have installed (once I get them working).  Keep in mind I started adding these modules about three years ago, but that is still a 100% success rate.

[Puck]

Does anyone know if the RF devices get better QC and tuning then standard X10.

IMO: Because the Pro devices would still have to be compatable with the Non-Pro's I can't see any advantage in improving the RF quality. Improving the accuracy of the transmitter's frequency wouldn't justify the added cost since the receivers would still have to have a wide front-end bandwidth for the Non-Pro transmitters.