Insteon vs Vera - Honest opinions please

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Hi, my boss mumbled something about insteon and I did a bit of a google, but couldn’t find anything concrete. So I have a few questions;

Is Insteon a hybrid/wired system? EG: is there any cabling involved?
Is it “2 way”? EG: Vera/Z wave sends a confirmation back to the controller the event tripped or didn’t or failed
On price point for (typically) GE Z wave devices vs Insteon devs, which are typically cheaper?
Can the Yale Z wave lock work with Insteon?
Compared to Vera, how “user friendly” (advanced user) is Insteon?

My reasoning behind this is, as the installer, I want to provide a quick install time, remote scene programming and ease of use for the client. IMHO Vera does this like a house on fire! I am always still learning however, so this is for the “long run” as it were, I feel learning Vera is the best course of action.

Also “Pro’s and Con’s” would be appreciated too.

Thanks!

Jim

2

I’m not an expert, but I did have some Insteon devices in my house before I switched to Z-wave. Still have them in a box to sell them one of these days…anyway, here is my best effort to answer some of your questions.

Is Insteon a hybrid/wired system? EG: is there any cabling involved?

Isteon is a combination powerline and RF system. It uses both for increased reliability. There is no special “cabling” required; it will transmit over both the powerline that it is connected to as well as via RF.

Is it "2 way"? EG: Vera/Z wave sends a confirmation back to the controller the event tripped or didn't or failed

Yes, it’s 2 way communications.

On price point for (typically) GE Z wave devices vs Insteon devs, which are typically cheaper?

Hard to answer as there are more manufacturers of Z-wave devices, so more price points to choose from. As far as I know there is only 1 Insteon manufacturer. If I remember pricing from my Insteon days I think the Insteon and GE prices are similar, but there are more expensive and less expensive Z-wave devices than GE.

Can the Yale Z wave lock work with Insteon?

As far as I know it cannot.

Compared to Vera, how "user friendly" (advanced user) is Insteon?

In my opinion Insteon is much more user friendly because it’s a much simpler system. It doesn’t need controllers like Z-wave systems so there is much less to setup. On the flip side you can’t do the sophisticated controls Vera can do unless you do use a controller.

3

I had some Insteon stuff before I bought my Vera. It kinda sucked. Only one company makes it, and if they go under, you’re screwed. With Z-wave gear, a bunch of companies are making compatible devices, there’s a greater selection, and Z-wave has addition features like power reporting that Insteon doesn’t have.

There was a problem awhile back with a bunch of the Insteon switches not working properly. Some people were treated nicely when trying to get them replaced, and many others were not. Search the cocoontech.com forums for information on Insteon. I believe there was another incident where one of the components in the switches was changed out, and they didn’t not have it recertified with UL (which could present insurance issues if your house burned down from one catching on fire).

4

Wow! Very insightful! Thank you so much. I will stick with vera, as 2 key points hit it home. I like the idea of more than one manufacturer making parts and I rely heavily on all the advanced features of Vera.

Thanks again!!