Your experience please......re:Crestron

[Pensive]

Hello everyone

I don't know if this is the right place to ask.......but I am installing lighting control/HVAC and a distributed audio system in my home.

I have been to two companies so far, one which provides its own EIB lighting/HVAC control system and will also provide crestron kit to serve for the audio, but with two separate control plates on the wall (Multifunction LCD plates for lighting+HVAC, Crestron adagio APAD for audio).

The other was Crestron themselves, who wish to provide the works, of course. However, I am wary of attaching all the lighting, heating, and blind control all to the CresNet system, as I have heard "things".

I have heard nothing but glowing reports about EIB, its wiring is simple, and cheap, and its absolutely rock solid, tried and fully tested across Europe. I am leaning towards that direction for the mission critical functionality in my home.

Imagine if the touchscreen crashed and you couldnt turn off your bedroom lights, or open the blinds? or turn down the heating? I do not want that situation to arise......and the EIB based control side of things will save me a lot of money as well.

Can anyone recount their experiences, good or bad? I would like to hear a range of experiences, as there is a significant amount of money involved.

Many thanks

Jamie

 

[BMXTRIX]

Jamie,

As a Crestron programmer I strongly recommend that you look for individual top shelf components to handle the duties that they were designed for. For example, I have used Lutron Homeworks, Spacer System, Radio RA, as well as Vantage products which all can control lighting, then Crestron to interact with them.

With Vantage, their keypads were put in place throughout the home to give a similar style to all keypads, and then Vantage and Crestron communicated with each other to give the final result of whole house audio. Seamless blending is the key and a good custom installer can make it all work flawlessly.

As for using 'Crestron' for everything, it is not something that I typically recommend as I do believe that there are either better, or cheaper/similar solutions from many other companies out there which will give you more bang for your buck. BUT: Actually being able to use things is CRITICAL to a nice system, especially with whole house audio and video. So, I would not typically put a panel on the wall next to a keypad, but would have keypads control things everywhere, then enhance their operation with panels in key locations.

I am not at all aware of EIB... go figure. I also am not aware of what issues you have heard with Crestron. In my experience Crestron is one of the few highly proactive customer service companies in the world. Top shelf stuff and when a product is defective, you are typically covered under a 3 or 4 year warranty and in the first 90 days or so they will advance replace most items that need to be fixed. That is a sign of a company that actually cares. Of course, there is a price tag involved.

Jandy pool/spa controls, multiple choices for lighting, HVAC? multiple choices!, security? multiple choices! The bottom line is that a repuatable dealer will definitely be able to help you get the best of everything for your dollar (pound/euro?) and will work out the initial bugs so you have a stable long term system.

 

[pikers]

"Issues" with Crestron solely result from an organization over-promising functionality that their programmers cannot deliver on. As a product and support company, they are unmatched in whole-home automation. Worth it if you have the scratch.