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[X10Zone]

Read this topic at: this link



Knightrider Edit:

the article located at
http://www.x10community.com/x10zone/2006/04/my_experience_with_smarthomes.php
is no longer a valid link and was removed

[Jordi]

The first paragraph in this “review” is very misleading.  The author states “(X10 doesn't need a transceiver/repeater like the two that are included in the INSTEON starter kit). X10's starter kit will cost you $38.97. That's an EVERY DAY price, compared to INSTEON's $99.99 sale price”

What is the first troubleshooting mantra for everyone who has had X10 problems – Add a coupler/repeater.  I had to add one with only two X10 modules.  The X10 XPCR from X10 will set you back $127.14.  Add this amount to the $38.97 the author lists as the equivalent X10 starter kit and the actual X10 price is $166.11 or $36.11 more than the Insteon package.

I am still using X10 instead of Insteon, but if you are going to do a comparison, make it an apples to apples comparison.

[Dave Rye]

I suspect that the installation of an XPCR repeater was overkill for a normal home. The XPCR was developed for large commercial installations. The XPCP coupler would probably have done the job. It's only $35.71. So that's $74.68 for the X10 kit vs $129.99 (or $99.99 on sale) for the INSTEON kit. And that's assuming that you actually need a coupler. If you don't, and most X10 users don't, then X10's kit is $38.97. SmartHome however forces you to buy the two repeaters by including them in the starter kit, and so is ALWAYS way more expensive than X10.

[arf1410]

I attempted to add this comment to the "Us vs. Them" post, but it says "reply at this link" and I go to that link, and it send me back to the original.  Dave Rye (to be clear, an X-10 VP) spends a lot of time stating X-10 vs Insteon, implying those are the only choices.  I have a lot of high end X10 stuff in my house, but the reality is it is a dieing protocol with poor reliablity.  Every time a new electronic device - from a PC down to an LED nightlight is installed, reliability goes down.  It is just not practical to install a filter on every device.  Nor do I know a single person with a reliabile X10 system who doesn't have numerous filters and a whole house coupler / repeater.  Even most people I know with all those add-ons do not have reliable systems.  I have also heard Insteon does not work well either.  Here is a reponse as to why Leviton, which acknowledges X10's life is limited, choose to go with Z-wave after careful analysis -

"Long explanation, the easy answer is Z-Wave works and Insteon is glorified X-10, 120KHz burst noise at zero crossing.  The RF phase coupler is kind of cool but they don’t have a mesh topology, data rates are slow and RF other than pier to pier doesn’t work. "

Smith-Corona may still be claiming the typerwriter is better than the word processor, but look at them now ...