What happens when our gear is obsolete (not EISY)

[andrew77]

I've thought about this for a while. 

I have a Harmony Hub that links my EISY lighting scenes with A/V programs (lighting scene comes on when I tell Alexa to turn on Apple tv downstairs etc)

Harmony are not a company anymore if I'm not mistaken. At the least they don't support or make the Hub anymore.

Insteon went down as we all know but thankfully came back. 

I guess when my Harmony Hub dies I'll probably buy new gear (sound docks etc) as opposed to the gear I have now (available receivers, etc)

I fear the day insteon doesn't make devices. I'm probably not alone in having a significant investment in their switches)

I see the EISY has many plugins so I'm assuming that'll be a life saver(?).

What are other set ups/ options? How do you guys have your systems set up and running?

 

[larryllix]

I use mostly WiFi bulbs now, a few Insteon plugins with lamps, Insteon door sensors, and a few WiFi Christmas light strings.

Matter devices are coming into being everywhere and ISY is working on supporting them big time. My next jump will likely be a WiFi Matter system.

I did a short stint with zWave with a half dozen devices but it felt like X10 back in the 80s and now sits in my junk box.

Sent from my SM-S711W using Tapatalk
 

Edited December 9, 2024 by larryllix

[Guy Lavoie]

Stocking up on spares is a significant part of my strategy. Watch for people swapping out devices that you use and score some deals.

[paulbates]

I'm not worried about insteon. The i2 protocol remains highly functional and the 3 ways I have will work when I sell this house even if there's no isy or plm. I plan on my eisy being there a long time and should be able to leave everything here when I sell it like my last house. My last house was all set up when insteon went dark a few years ago. It never affected me.

The gray area for me is in the technologies supported by plugins (and not the plugins themselves).. companies jump into ha/cloud support haphazardly and then pull the rug out (nest, myq).... or change security interfaces in unexpected ways or throttle connections to the point of affecting functionality (long list).

I'm a lot more cautious and less ambitious now about which vendors and capabilities I'll trust to be there for me and feel relatively safe with insteon, yolink and ecobee.