Everything is now getting smarter, well except for me. However there are things out there like the Insteon that do make me feel smarter. Kits like this are hard to review because there are so many parts to these system. You might find a company who has a great camera, but their alarm is awful. You might find one that has an awesome thermostat, but their user interface stinks. So for this we are going to talk a little bit about this system and the kit for only the items we looked at. We really can’t talk about the other items and their quality.
OK setting up the hub couldn’t be any easier. I just plugin the provided power and cat 5 cord and downloaded the app to my phone. When I opened the app, I created an account in about 1 minute. The first thing that came up was a box that said to scan my QR code on the bottom of the hub and the system did the rest. Really it can’t be any easier.
The next item I set up was the camera. For some reason I couldn’t get this hooked up as easy. I am sure it was more of my set up than the Insteon system. There was even a video that takes you step by step on how to do everything for set up for the camera. I could get the camera to work on hard wire, but not wifi. I called the help line, but there was an 18 minute wait. Luckily I wasn’t busy and just had the automation system call me back. I did receive a call after 35 minutes. I also found out that this camera needs to be set up by the help line and can’t be done on your phone, at least at the time of this article. The gentleman was very nice and pretty much did everything from his side. He walked me step by step.
Next was the thermostat, not that I really wanted to deal with it, but though I would give it a try. I have it hooked up to my basement zone. The install was easy and was able to connect it to the hub easily. Now this isn’t my main thermostat, I pretty much set and forget this. My goal is just to kick on the heat if it drops below 65 degrees in the basement.
As far as the software app on the phone, it seemed very easy to use and set up. They have many different products and they are suppose to all talk together. However we only tried a couple of the items so its really hard to say if the overall system is worth buying. While some of the products we looked at seemed good and the user interface seemed well laid out, the long wait line for tech support was disappointing. I really would have liked to try this whole system with the lights, plugs, smoke and other items to see if this system is really a good value. I had a hard time finding any of the products on Amazon with over a 50% rating of 5 stars. While the color of the camera is off, I really do like the camera and the interface that goes along with it. Personally I think this system is a hit or miss. Don’t expect it to be as nice as the ADT system or higher quality system, but also don’t expect it to be one of the bottom line system. It’s really a nice middle of the road system that allows users to set up a system in their home that they can design around their needs.
Every thing is now connected to our phones, I run like ten apps on my iPhone to control my houses. Last year due to all three heaters failing in my shore house caused a hot water line to burst, we have a tankless water heater so I did not stop pumping hot water till fire department came a week and a half later and shut the water off. Before the winter I contemplated making everything automated but of course I got unlucky and lost a hundred grand. If I had a wifi thermostat it would have warned me that my house was 2 degrees. These things can really save you. I have honey well thermostats. My family owns a heating and air conditioning company so that’s what they recommend. Wow I get off topic. Lol
I am looking at getting something like this and this is one I would look at. Nice job Eric.
Upgrading the house eh? I still like my old school method of protection called REMINGTON 870!! This stuff is pretty good on a serious note, everything is going to connected security and lights and what not, gives you better piece of mind than just “Oh my god did i leave the toaster plugged in?” #TIACREW
I’ve been diving in to researching a lot of home automation stuff. This Insteon seems to be a pretty good line to be in. I think they use the open source zigbee for communication as well as being able to utilize z-wave. It is nice that the companies manufacturer this stuff is getting away from proprietary firmware.