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[bvrwally]

I too had this opinion several years ago. I decided to give them a try and have a great results! I never had a run of good luck with (Radio Shack Crap) and associated this product with them! ie. X-10.

Saw the link to the cheap cameras and decided to give them a try. That was 3 years ago and I have had good results with them.

Granted, I still have issues with some of the software, ie. things radomly turning off and on, but that may be the result of noise on the local power company that serves me. You know the one that shut down the east coast and parts of Canada two years of go? Cleveland Electric & Iluminating Company!

Other than that, most things work rather well!

The new problem that arose this evening is the patio lights keep cycling on and off and going from bright to dim? This all since installing I-Witness? More tweaking to do on my part I guess? Oh, did I mention, I programmed the timing of the outdoor lights for certain times of the evening to turn on and they never do? I'm very satisfied with the cameras tho, ' caught the neighbors doing all kind of weird sh*t! They still do not know they have microphones in them! I'd wish X-10 would add the feature of sound recording to them!

B.W.

OP:

3 of my cameras wont work, I have tried two powerhorns and Never got them to sound, the door sensors say the doors are open, they are not.   I am beginning to think this is all chinese junk.  What do you think?

Re: Are all x10 products cheap junk? [2 of 5]

Re: Are all x10 products cheap junk? [3 of 5]

Re: Are all x10 products cheap junk? [4 of 5]

Re: Are all x10 products cheap junk? [5 of 5]


[TTA Edit #2: Experiment to determine whether or not DELETING the OP (*AFTER* copying it into Reply #1) in 'Highly-Viewed' / 'Highly-Replied' but currently INACTIVE threads from LONG, LONG AGO (I'm starting with ~2 years) will allow current ACTIVE threads to appear in the Top 10 Topics (by Views) section of the Statistics Center (aka More Stats) Page.]

[TTA Edit #1: Experiment to determine whether or not SPLITTING 'Highly-Viewed' / 'Highly-Replied' but currently INACTIVE threads from LONG, LONG AGO (I'm starting with ~2 years) into parts will allow current ACTIVE threads to appear in the Top 10 Topics (by Replies) section of the Statistics Center (aka More Stats) Page.

NOTE: I *WILL* address the <BR> problem...]

[timothy]

Yes, X10 is junk.

my lamp module wont go above 75%, sure
software repots 100% but a quick check with
my multi-meter proves it wrong.

My transcever hs quit sending x10 over the
power lines, sure the RF still works, and it
can recive, it just wont send.

my other reciver keeps "jamming" the system.
every now and then nothing works when its
pluged in.

both of my cameras are screwey, well the
power packs that is, the camera part works
fine. sometimes it will just switch over to
the one cam and stop accepting x10 commands.

The only thing that seems to work right is my
pc module, but its not much good when nothing
else works.

[timothy]

Well I forgot a few things:
-no sound from my cams.
-6-in-1 remote always lost codes (no matter
what brand of aa's I used)

I have no clue how I forgot this one because
its the reasone I came here.

My motion sensor recently stoped working (yes
new aaa's have been tried)

The Whole Setup Is Under A Year Old!!

[tha18 7um]

Great, so i decided to check here before I
checked the support... so would you pretty
much say Im screwed? I bought the package
that was like $600... the two flood cams I
have outside work whenever the hell they
want, sometimes they stay on all night long
and sometimes they will not turn on... the
sad thing is that I bought the package
about a year ago and I have still not set
up ever cam yet, so chances are that I will
run into more disappointments... I could
have spent that same amount of money for
two IP Cams with 1000 times better quality
overall...

[brewswain]

We ought to file a Class Action Lawsuit
against X-10.   ALL   their products are JUNK

[thedanc]

If you are used to driving a BMW, or at
least a good Toyota, you don't understand
the farfigneugan experience (however that is
spelled) of the early Volkwagen bug.

This X10 stuff is not professional quality.
You certainly don't see the military or any
serious security agency taking any of this
to the battlefield.  This is all in the
hobbyist spirit of Radio Shack and the
Volkwagen bug.  It is all very quirky and
the only documentation you can hope for are
these forums and outside party books from
amazon.com like "Easy X10 Projects For
Creating A Smart Home".  These books are to
X10 what the Haynes manuals were to bug
repair.  This is a fun hobby with a lot of
pretty cool practical applications for cheap
if you are wise enough to buy things on sale
and in bundles.

The VW bug can never be a BMW.  A bug is a
bug.  It is a quirky hobby car that you can
use for basic transportation.  

[ian]

Well honestly, it is Chinese junk for sure
and each piece is probably marked up about
500% even on the best sale. That said the
company stinks too and they have a horrible
way of handling people and policies.

The stuff can be made to work (most of it
anyway...stay away from the floodcams for
ex). What you have to know is you are
dealing with a complex mixture of Infra-
Red, Power Line Command, Radio Frequency,
Video and Personal Computer. Each of these
has its trouble areas and signifigant
potential for failure in certain
environments. Now put them all together
without 100% understanding of each pieces
limitations and interactions and you will
be really way over your head.

To top that off the stuff has a pretty high
rate of being defective and/or failure, and
a lack of support and documentation.

Set your expectations appropriately low and
definitely buyer BEWARE!

[Vic_Tim]

SIMPLE...YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

[sherry]

If you think a Toyota and BMW are good
cars, you are an expert at buying junk!

[barrington]

I have bought 4 separate 3-cam systems, and
have them all running and monitor them from
every TV and computer in the house.

I also have floodcams and dedicated VCRs
for recording.  I have not had a single
product fail or have to be returned.  I
monitor the cameras remotely with the Pan &
Tilt Pro.

I am curious why people can't get something
so basic and simple to operate.  They
probably get frustrated at
the "complicated" programming steps and
then call it junk rather than admit they
cannot perform something so simple.

Yes, their people are insulting and rude,
which will be their demise, but the
products have been working well for years
and years.  I still have plug in
controllers from my first house I bought 20
years ago.  Junk doesn't last that long,
but back then their customer service people
were more professional.

[Brian H]

True on the older items. The newer stuff is
not as well made in my opinion or QC is very
low.

[jorge]

Yes, I'm forced to concur. I had the
multi-camera system finally working,
when a power brown-out stuck all power
supplies in Channel 1-A. The result: an
unusable multi-image on my monitor. A
friend technician checked the Power
supplies and testified to the fact: All are
stuck on channel 1-A. Solution? Get new
power supplies, considering the cameras
were working fine. The hitch? Well... X10'
support says the Power Supplies are
NOT available as replacement units.
Want new ones? Buy the whole thing
(camera and all) again!  So much for that!

[ian]

Jorge,

If you are looking willing to go through
the hassle what you can probably do is
complain coherently about the lack of being
able to do anything with your old cameras.
Convince the rep (you may have to consult
supervisor, good luck) that you deserve
some recompense for this inconvenience.
Tell them you will buy the cameras if they
will make a good deal (they have alot of
ability to come down in price)...they will
probably expect you to buy the new stuff
and pay for an extended warrantee
(increases their profit margin) and they
will take care of you. The power supplies
are like $20 apiece list anyway and you
should be able to replace three cameras for
if you are lucky $100.00. The deal could
look something like Buy 1 @79.99 get 2
free, add the extended warrantee and there
you go.  

[-Dan]

It is odd that they said you cannot get
replacement power supplies.  I have received
two replacement power supplies already.

I bought a 4 camera system and every camera
worked with every power supply except for one
power supply that did not work with ANY
camera.  I told them this and they sent me a
replacement power supply for free.

[thedanc]

Barrington - I'm fasincated by your story.
My x-10 stuff all works too although it has
had documented quality issues.  See the rants
on Multiview for example.

The key question though is why you have 12
cameras set so you can watch them on each TV.
Is this just a cool toy or do you have real
concerns about your neighbors?