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Hi. I don't really know if I can post it here since there is no "Product Review" forum in here.
Today, I've received a package, which contained INSTEON-enabled ControlLinc Tabletop and LampLinc V2 Dimmer (3-Pin).
About the ControlLinc, it has 5 pairs of on/off buttons, 1 All On/All Off butons, and 1 dim/bright buttons. It's also good-looking, but the LED tends to be a bit too bright. About the size, it's not that bad but it may need to be reduced just a little bit; however quality is the top priority for SmartLabs, an inventor/developer of Insteon protocol. I will talk about that on a moment...
Now, as I move over to LampLinc V2 Dimmer, it's a nice looking module and it comes with an Always On outlet, which is useful for connecting anything such as a Telesensory MiniViewer. It has a set button and a LED status light for letting me know when I'm linking/unlinking two devices. Plus, it's also dimmable, so if the light is too bright, I can dim the light with any controllers such as the ControlLinc.
Let's talk about Insteon. As quoted from the website: INSTEON
With Insteon, I can create scenes, add sensors, I can control thermostat (only if I own a house), etc. Insteon is very reliable, so at about 50 milliseconds, if I press the on button, the lights will come on! Instant Notification! Speaking of 50 milliseconds, it can be hard to see a delay from the instant when I press the on button to when the light comes on. If something goes wrong, like an RF signal that can't reach the LampLinc, the powerline can go there and repeat the signal. Thus, the ControlLinc acts as a repeater! Of course, _ALL_ devices are peer-to-peer:
...so no need for complex network controllers and routing tables!
So, how does it work? Well, Devices can be linked. For the purpose of my review, I've got a ControlLinc and LampLinc as mentioned above. First, I hold down the first ON button for 10 seconds. This will take a while but the LED light won't blink unless you left the button off after 10 seconds. Then, I hold the set button in the LampLinc for 3 seconds. The lamp will flash twice and I'm set!
To compare Insteon to X10, well, Insteon is a robust and reliable protocol. With X10, I have to have a central controller and I'm limited to 256 logical devices. The problem with that is if apartment A has a lamp module set to A5 and apartment B has a lamp module set to A5, when I turn on my lamp, both apartment A and B's lamp will turn on, making the neighbor think that "hey I don't want the light to come on unexpectedly...I'm about to change the house and unit code..." This can happen because both of the apartments are sharing the same power line. Worse, somebody could play with the house/unit code, which my lamps and appliances can act in such a wierd behavior... Compare this with Insteon! Insteon has a 24-bit network addressing -- up to 16.7 million devices! It is affordable and doesn't require a PC for basic home automating.
About "scenes" I've mentioned, in a living room, let's say I have:
For the side of the room:
For the coffee tabletop:
...that sits in top of...
And for the sides of the TV:
Let me show you what I mean:
OK so let's say I have a KeyPadLinc (with 8 buttons) connected to a Back Box since I can't replace a wall switch with my own in an apartment.
Here's what I'd set for 8 buttons:
1: Family (like for conversation)
2: TV
3: Movie
4: Intermission
5: Reading
6: Good Night
7: Good Morning
8: Leaving Home
For scene 1 - Family:
Tabletop Lamps: 87%
Side Lamps: 100%
Front Lamps: 75%
For scene 2 - TV:
Tabletop Lamps: 35%
Side Lamps: 25%
Front Lamps: 45%
For scene 3 - Movie:
Tabletop Lamps: 7%
Side Lamps: 0%
Front Lamps: 0%
For scene 4 - Intermission:
Tabletop Lamps: 15%
Side Lamps: 50%
Front Lamps: 25%
For scene 5 - Reading:
Tabletop Lamps: 100%
Side Lamps: 75%
Front Lamps: 25%
For scene 6 - Good Night:
Tabletop Lamps: 10%
Side Lamps: 5%
Front Lamps: 10%
For scene 7 - Good Morning:
Tabletop Lamps: 50%
Side Lamps: 60%
Front Lamps: 50%
For scene 8 - Leaving Home:
Tabletop Lamps: 0%
Side Lamps: 0%
Front Lamps: 0%
As you can see, all of the scenes, depending on whether I am watching a movie or TV, or if I need to put the movie into intermission (pause) mode, this would make it look nice for the whole family and all of the scenes can provide ambience for the whole room.
If I build a home automation server shown here, this would be great as for the "good night" scene, I could randomly dim/brighten the lights in a range of 0 to 12% (when I program a .net Framework application with C#) and do more with the movie scene, like have the sidelights dim to 15% and have it off after 15 minutes to 0% -- just like in a movie theater!
To end my review, I'd have to say that I'd really recommend Insteon to others who have X10 devices such as lamp modules, controllers, etc. and never fear -- Insteon is compatible with X10! But for me, I don't like X10. One of the reason is with the stick-in wireless wall switch, when I take it off, I didn't realize the walls have been painted; by doing so it damaged the paint in the apartment. Another thing is with the CM15A computer interface and central network controller. It didn't work anymore, meaning that my laptop doesn't recognize it anymore and I won't be able to control the lights and appliances. Insteon is reliable, and by the looks of "Insteon" (INST-EE-ON), "Insteon" means "Instant On" so had it not be reliable, it wouldn't be called "Insteon" if there's a delay of more than 200 milliseconds.
So, here are my pros and cons of Insteon devices I've reviewed:
Pros:
Cons:
Oh, and why not watch the holloween videos! If you can hear, enjoy the music and sound effects! Have fun!
Thank you for taking your time on reading my reviews! I'll give a score of 9.9375/10 (or 15/16 if you'd like to call it that way...I'm a math freak
). 
Today, I've received a package, which contained INSTEON-enabled ControlLinc Tabletop and LampLinc V2 Dimmer (3-Pin).
About the ControlLinc, it has 5 pairs of on/off buttons, 1 All On/All Off butons, and 1 dim/bright buttons. It's also good-looking, but the LED tends to be a bit too bright. About the size, it's not that bad but it may need to be reduced just a little bit; however quality is the top priority for SmartLabs, an inventor/developer of Insteon protocol. I will talk about that on a moment...
Now, as I move over to LampLinc V2 Dimmer, it's a nice looking module and it comes with an Always On outlet, which is useful for connecting anything such as a Telesensory MiniViewer. It has a set button and a LED status light for letting me know when I'm linking/unlinking two devices. Plus, it's also dimmable, so if the light is too bright, I can dim the light with any controllers such as the ControlLinc.
Let's talk about Insteon. As quoted from the website: INSTEON
With Insteon, I can create scenes, add sensors, I can control thermostat (only if I own a house), etc. Insteon is very reliable, so at about 50 milliseconds, if I press the on button, the lights will come on! Instant Notification! Speaking of 50 milliseconds, it can be hard to see a delay from the instant when I press the on button to when the light comes on. If something goes wrong, like an RF signal that can't reach the LampLinc, the powerline can go there and repeat the signal. Thus, the ControlLinc acts as a repeater! Of course, _ALL_ devices are peer-to-peer:
...so no need for complex network controllers and routing tables!
So, how does it work? Well, Devices can be linked. For the purpose of my review, I've got a ControlLinc and LampLinc as mentioned above. First, I hold down the first ON button for 10 seconds. This will take a while but the LED light won't blink unless you left the button off after 10 seconds. Then, I hold the set button in the LampLinc for 3 seconds. The lamp will flash twice and I'm set!
To compare Insteon to X10, well, Insteon is a robust and reliable protocol. With X10, I have to have a central controller and I'm limited to 256 logical devices. The problem with that is if apartment A has a lamp module set to A5 and apartment B has a lamp module set to A5, when I turn on my lamp, both apartment A and B's lamp will turn on, making the neighbor think that "hey I don't want the light to come on unexpectedly...I'm about to change the house and unit code..." This can happen because both of the apartments are sharing the same power line. Worse, somebody could play with the house/unit code, which my lamps and appliances can act in such a wierd behavior... Compare this with Insteon! Insteon has a 24-bit network addressing -- up to 16.7 million devices! It is affordable and doesn't require a PC for basic home automating.
About "scenes" I've mentioned, in a living room, let's say I have:
For the side of the room:
For the coffee tabletop:
...that sits in top of...
And for the sides of the TV:
Let me show you what I mean:
OK so let's say I have a KeyPadLinc (with 8 buttons) connected to a Back Box since I can't replace a wall switch with my own in an apartment.
Here's what I'd set for 8 buttons:
1: Family (like for conversation)
2: TV
3: Movie
4: Intermission
5: Reading
6: Good Night
7: Good Morning
8: Leaving Home
For scene 1 - Family:
Tabletop Lamps: 87%
Side Lamps: 100%
Front Lamps: 75%
For scene 2 - TV:
Tabletop Lamps: 35%
Side Lamps: 25%
Front Lamps: 45%
For scene 3 - Movie:
Tabletop Lamps: 7%
Side Lamps: 0%
Front Lamps: 0%
For scene 4 - Intermission:
Tabletop Lamps: 15%
Side Lamps: 50%
Front Lamps: 25%
For scene 5 - Reading:
Tabletop Lamps: 100%
Side Lamps: 75%
Front Lamps: 25%
For scene 6 - Good Night:
Tabletop Lamps: 10%
Side Lamps: 5%
Front Lamps: 10%
For scene 7 - Good Morning:
Tabletop Lamps: 50%
Side Lamps: 60%
Front Lamps: 50%
For scene 8 - Leaving Home:
Tabletop Lamps: 0%
Side Lamps: 0%
Front Lamps: 0%
As you can see, all of the scenes, depending on whether I am watching a movie or TV, or if I need to put the movie into intermission (pause) mode, this would make it look nice for the whole family and all of the scenes can provide ambience for the whole room.
If I build a home automation server shown here, this would be great as for the "good night" scene, I could randomly dim/brighten the lights in a range of 0 to 12% (when I program a .net Framework application with C#) and do more with the movie scene, like have the sidelights dim to 15% and have it off after 15 minutes to 0% -- just like in a movie theater!
To end my review, I'd have to say that I'd really recommend Insteon to others who have X10 devices such as lamp modules, controllers, etc. and never fear -- Insteon is compatible with X10! But for me, I don't like X10. One of the reason is with the stick-in wireless wall switch, when I take it off, I didn't realize the walls have been painted; by doing so it damaged the paint in the apartment. Another thing is with the CM15A computer interface and central network controller. It didn't work anymore, meaning that my laptop doesn't recognize it anymore and I won't be able to control the lights and appliances. Insteon is reliable, and by the looks of "Insteon" (INST-EE-ON), "Insteon" means "Instant On" so had it not be reliable, it wouldn't be called "Insteon" if there's a delay of more than 200 milliseconds.
So, here are my pros and cons of Insteon devices I've reviewed:
Pros:
- "Insteon" -> "Instant On!"
- Reliable
- Compatible with X10
- Peer-to-peer networking
- Easy, convienent, and secure
- Insteon has 24-Bit Addressing Pre-Factoried by Insteon (no need to set it yourself)
- Always On outlet for ApplanceLincs (not reviewed) and LampLincs
- Built with Quality in mind
Cons:
- I don't have any issues with Insteon but the ControlLinc V2 can be a bit smaller than that (but no big deal) and (though not mentioned in the review) it's nice to be able to have dim/bright buttons for all 5 pairs of on/off buttons.
Oh, and why not watch the holloween videos! If you can hear, enjoy the music and sound effects! Have fun!
Thank you for taking your time on reading my reviews! I'll give a score of 9.9375/10 (or 15/16 if you'd like to call it that way...I'm a math freak
).
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