An increasing amount of home users are looking into installing smart switches to control their lighting. Yet they find their existing light switches don’t include a neutral wire. While there are a few options for installing dimmable smart switches without it, let’s first find out if you have one.
Also, feel free to use our navigation or keep reading to learn more about the neutral wire.
In 2017, our homes deal with more data than ever before. Whether through a cord connection or WiFi, a regular home has a constant stream of information. This is doubly true for the smart home.
There are a wide variety of different data formats and protocols that are used to keep your smart home online and functioning properly. Many of these protocols interface well together, working together to provide the ultimate in convenience and home security.
In this article we’ll discuss the basics of smart home technology, and get into more detail about how your connected home stays online and communicative.
When someone talks about smart home lighting, the first thing that usually comes to mind is Philips Hue. Yet, Philips Hue is far from being the only option on the market. The Internet of Things offers us a great variety of smart home lighting solutions, like: Lutron dimmers, GE Link, LIFX, Lightify bulbs, and way more we cannot list. And even though Philips Hue is reputable and very well-known, in some cases it’s better to choose other brands of light bulbs over them. So, today we’ll compare Osram Lightify vs. Hue by Philips to help you make the right choice.
Every year that passes, more smart home devices get released. And it’s incredibly important to have a great hub that lets you easily control them all. So, when it comes to choosing between Insteon vs. Wink, for us the choice is obvious. And to make it easier for you, let’s guide you through the differences between these two smart home hubs.
To begin with, let us clarify that as of now Insteon offers 3 types of hubs: original Insteon 2242, Insteon Pro hub 2243, and the new Insteon hub 2245. The original one and the new one are very similar, and even though the original Insteon hub is officially discontinued, you can still buy it from Amazon. To learn more about the differences between the old and new Insteon hub, please refer to this article: Insteon 2245 vs. 2242 — What’s the Difference?
And then there’s a Pro version 2243. The Pro hub is very different from the original and the new one. The Insteon Pro hub is designed to be used specifically for Homekit devices. You can still control a few Insteon devices, but you’ll need to sacrifice Insteon cameras, motion and leak sensors in favor of Homekit. For a comparison with the Wink hub, we’ll take the most complete and absolute version of the Insteon hubs — the new Insteon hub 2245.
Wink hub also has two versions which are the Wink hub and Wink hub 2. As it usually happens, the newer version has better features and aspects, plus it’s been around for a while already. So, for our comparison with Insteon, we’ll take Wink hub 2. And if you’re interested in reading the differences between the two Wink hubs in detail, feel free to check out our Wink Hub comparison article: Wink Hub vs. Wink Hub 2: What’s the difference?.
If you’re choosing between the Insteon 2245 vs. 2242, or are looking to upgrade your Insteon 2242 to the upgraded 2245 version, then you’ve come to the right place.
With the Insteon hub, you can simply control your smart home devices from any smartphone or tablet, anywhere in the world. Both the Insteon 2245 and 2242 allow for control of Insteon light bulbs, outlets, wall switches, and thermostats. Whether you’re at home or away, you always have access to your home. And in case something goes wrong, you’re the first one to know thanks to instant email or push notification alerts. The alerts can be triggered via water leak, door and window, motion, and smoke sensors while you’re away from home.
Both hubs have almost identical features when it comes to Insteon device control, and yet there’re some technical differences between them:
As with any technology, there’s a lot of excitement when an upgrade comes out for an existing version. And with the Insteon Hub Pro, there was a lot of hype. Unfortunately, the Insteon hub pro version didn’t quite meet peoples’ expectations.
No products found.
Now, in a comparison between most standard hubs vs. their pro versions, usually the pro version has a few new features and a hardware redesign that make it stand out from the standard one. But, the Insteon hub pro is an exception. We’ve compared the Insteon hub vs. pro purposefully to warn you about the limited features of a pro version.
Both Insteon and Lutron are veterans in home automation scene. Insteon emerged from a home automation company that was created in 1992. And the Lutron company comes from the late 1950s, when its founder invented the dimmer. The fact that these companies have been successfully around for that long means you probably can trust them both when it comes to quality. And yet, when it comes to our comparison and choosing between Insteon vs. Lutron — we’d go with Lutron.
Before we get to all the differences between the two, let’s briefly look at all four of the Lutron and Insteon hubs. Each brand of hub has a “standard” version and a pro version. In this article, we’re going to compare the pro versions of each hub — the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro and Insteon Hub Pro. And, if you’re looking for a more detailed review on the “standard” vs pro versions, feel free to check out Lutron Smart Bridge vs. Smart Bridge Pro and Insteon Hub vs. Pro — What’s the Difference?.
If you’re stuck choosing between SmartThings vs. Insteon, our guide will go over the differences between the two and hopefully help you make the choice that’s right for you.
As home automation becomes more popular, there are more and more companies offering smart home products. The competition is unreal and, as a result, a lot of customers are getting lost in the choices. And because of the rapid growth of technology, some companies just can’t compete anymore and have to step out of race: Revolv is a perfect example. The hub didn’t look good to begin with, but the company had thousands of customers who were pretty unhappy to learn that as of May 15th 2016, the Revolv Hub would no longer be functional — and after years of use!
So, once you’ve started looking into home automation, it seems like the most important thing to do would be to analyze the company’s position. But, when we talk about SmartThings vs. Insteon, the two companies have been on a market for more than 10 years and seem pretty steady. However, as is the problem in this new smart home market, you never know when the next giant company might just go under and leave customers with useless devices.
But, let’s talk about positive things, like the differences between two great devices!
As smart home automation becomes more popular, more companies integrate smart home solutions. Nowadays, it’s easy to control your home remotely from your smartphone. But as it becomes more popular, it gets harder to choose between home automation systems.
Overall, it all comes to compatibility issues and number of options. Before buying a smart home automation system for your home, make sure it’s compatible with all your smart home appliances. So, as a result, you can control everything from one app, instead of downloading apps for each device separately.
Please Note: As of March 31st, 2019, Lowe’s is shutting down their Iris smart home platform. More information here.
So, there’s a lot of smart home systems, and it might be a bit difficult to choose the right one for your home. Today we’ll compare two systems and discuss what each has going for it. Insteon has been selling smart home appliances since 2012 and has really made a mark on the market. Whereas Iris, while owned by Lowe’s, is a younger smart home brand that has already built a trusted reputation with its customers.
The Iris smart home automation system is the only smart home platform created by a home retailer (Lowe’s). The Lowe’s company has nearly 70 years of experience when it comes to home improvements. With all the knowledge gained over the past 70 years, Lowe’s offers a great smart home solution — Iris smart home automation platform.
Homejell (https://homejell.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, Homejell earns compensation from qualifying purchases. All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only.
**Amazon, Kindle, Echo, Alexa, Dash, Fire and all related logos are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
© 2016–2022 Homejell
