Insteon, Z-Wave and Zigbee, oh my. (Which technology should I be using to replace my X10 light switches?)

April 4, 2008 10:37 AM

Which technology should I be using to replace my X10 light switches?

I have a mix of light switches, outlet panels, appliance modules, and lightbulb socket switches that are X10. They don't work very well, and I'd like to replace them with some new technology.

It seems to be very difficult to get an objective answer on what the practical difference between Insteon, Z-Wave, Zigbee, etc... is.

The Insteon stuff seems most like X10 and pretty flexible, but some reviews seem to indicate that the components are shoddy, which was a big problem with X10. Z-Wave doesn't seem like it's really taken off, and there don't seem to be any actual Zigbee products I can buy yet.

So... are you using any of these?

What's the best way to decide which one to go with?

Do some of them work better in different kinds of environments?

Are there independent reviews? Most of the information I've found is from people who are selling products of one or another of the technologies, which is hardly impartial.

posted by Caviar to technology (4 comments total)

Echelon/LONWorks is another product you could look into, unless they've gone out of business.

My impression (based on having looked into it a few times over the years and given up repeatedly) is that you basically have three choices. X10 is cheap, crappy, and readily available. The other power-line-communication systems are pretty much all technically superior, but are expensive, or have few devices available, or aren't sold to anyone other than contractors working on corporate buildings and rich peoples' houses. And the third option is old-fashioned low-voltage wiring to each switch or device from central controllers, which works fine but requires you to pull new wire everywhere.
posted by hattifattener at 11:13 AM on April 4, 2008

When I started working on my home automation project last year, I bought samples of several different protocols, just to see what would work the best in my house. (If you have the ability to perform similar testing, I would highly recommend it.)

I really wanted X10 to work, since it was so cheap, and there were so many different products. But, it just wasn't reliable enough, and modules would regularly not receive the on or off commands.

I can't intelligently compare and contrast the different technologies, but I'm sure that you can find way more information than you could possibly want or need at cocoontech.com.

I also have tried out Insteon and UPB (Universal Powerline Bus). Of these two, I like the UPB best for my basic light switches and outlets through the house. UPB is very configurable and it always seems to work for me. I still use x10 for motion sensors, remotes, and other items where 100% reliability isn't really necessary.

I can't say too much about Z-Wave, except that I was warned away from it for reasons that I can no longer recall by the brainy folks at my local automation store.
posted by mattybonez at 1:15 PM on April 4, 2008

I'm in a rush so this isn't going to be a well-cited response. I went through the same decision process and ended up with Z-Wave. Zigbee didn't really seem like the leading candidate for home automation at the time and it seems that that is playing out. I'm seeing Zigbee in stuff like robotics and other specialized applications, but haven't seen it much in home automation products.

Thus it was mostly down to Z-Wave vs. Insteon. After a lot of reading, there were a couple of reasons I went with Z-Wave. First, it's a standard, not a brand. Insteon is (as far as I'm remembering this without looking it up) SmartHome's competing brand of wireless home automation gear. It's a little cheaper, and was quicker to market with more products, but it's just one brand. That was kind of a downer as I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket. Then, I saw several mentions from contractors (ie. people implementing these systems for a living) about the reliability of Insteon vs. Z-Wave. Apparently Insteons aren't quite as robust as Z-Waves, and there were people talking about needing to replace 2-3 out of 10 Insteon devices in any installation after a year.

If you're using home automation software that works with both, then it may not really be an issue. Also, my hardware is with an eye towards using it with Linux MCE (when I've got that spare time/$$) and there are already significant efforts with that software and Z-Wave.
posted by stephthegeek at 10:26 PM on April 4, 2008

Oh and as for impartial reviews, I find the HomeSeer community to be a great resource since it's large and works with both Insteon and Z-Wave, even though I don't use their software.
posted by stephthegeek at 10:29 PM on April 4, 2008