John Baumeister
Q. I am building a house and have come across a few home automation systems. Price aside, what do you feel is the best overall product for the value; Control4, Crestron, or Lifeware? - Glenn
A. Since I am a dealer for one of those home automation manufacturers, I will refrain from saying one is better than the others (How can I not be bias?). But I can offer some advice for finding the right system. However, this requires your due diligence as a consumer. I would go to Cedia.com and type in my zip code to find the closest electronic system contractors in my area. I would pick three of them after reviewing their services through their web site. Set up a meeting. You will instantly know who you feel comfortable with. Instead of going to their showroom (which should work and look nice), ask to see two homes that they have done. At the homes, test-drive the systems. Does it do what you want it to do? Then call the manufacturer to see if they can recommend this particular dealer. Don’t forget to ask the dealer for references of people who have that system and reach out to them.
There are many variables in automation systems. However, there are even greater variables on the Electronic System Contractor you choose. Think about automation systems as ingredients for a meal. Are you hiring a cook or a chef? A chef can create many things from a few ingredients. As well, they have a menu and a recipe. A cook will serve up what they can. Value comes from a good manufacturer and a quality company to be your advocate to design and implement the system.
I like how the question was stated to list the systems that can automate a house starting around $15K for a bare-bones system.
What about the systems like HomeSeer’s PRO-100 controller that handles multiple technologies and costs a small fraction of those other three? Their DIY software has thousands of users worldwide (according to their website) so it seems their professional stuff should have been considered.
I appreciate the suggestions. While it’s unrealistic to expect our pros to write an extensive comparison article on home automation tech and features, I can assign this topic to one of our expert writers. Thanks again.
Agree with Kevin. While the advice to seek a professional is important, it would have been nice to get a comparison of the popular home automation technologies and features (i.e. z-wave, insteon, adoption/popularity, reliability, user friendliness, web / Internet friendly). Really poor answer.
You can not be bias because you are a professional writing for a vender neutral publication. If you can’t answer the question without bias, then there must be someone on staff who can. While good information, it in no way provided an answer to Glenn’s question. I would love to hear a legitimate, non bias answer to this question.
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funny.... picture is running mapthis! (homebrew running on a hackedpsp).. this is… 
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Sadly, the question was not answered at all. Everybody is so busy spinning their own BROAD ADVICE that they all forget about us small consumers and how we need HARD-CORE, FACTUAL COMPARISONS that nobody seems to give. But, I can answer it because I have suffered through 20 years of trying to find such a Holy Grail; and, sadly, I am still looking. Crestron comes the closest; but, its biggest problems are very high cost, long wait times for product, only Crestron Dealers can order product, only Crestron Dealers can program software, NOT Macintosh compatible at all, high cost for any programming and software fixes which never seem to end, some system glitches that have not yet been fixed. I have not tried Control4 or Lifeware, but I do know that Control4 is also a company proprietary deal, like Crestron, so you cannot do anything on your own and definitely not on a Macintosh. It also requires only Control4 Remotes and Dealers. In the past, I have also tried out SmartHome X-10 devices with Indigo Software on my Macintosh. The Indigo software is fabulous and just keeps getting better. The problem is the SmartHome X-10 hardware, which is so crappy and failure ridden that it totally overwhelms the great software to make the whole system terrible. Believe me, I spent about $15,000.00 dollars on their junk and replaced every light switch in my large home, only to find myself stuck with junk, that continues to constantly malfunction and is, after 4 years now, starting to fail completely. Insteon is supposed to have fixed all the hardware problems; but, I simply do not trust them since they left me high and dry with all their junk. I also had ELAN control touch panels for a couple of years; but, they are not compatible with hardly anything, so I finally scrapped all 6 of them and went with Crestron instead. The Crestron ones work great, most of the time. Good luck!