Smart Light Switches: I'm rethinking EVERYTHING!

Now that I’ve used Lutron smart light switches for a year, let’s talk about how well they are working and if I have any regrets about spending too much money…
(affiliate links)

DISCOVER MORE

FOLLOW ME

0:00 Intro
0:27 Lutron 1 year later
1:39 Kasa: still really solid
3:12 Don’t sleep on Zooz
5:10 Lutron regrets?
6:30 We can’t talk about this…

----------
MUSIC

Doctor Momentum by Slynk
The End by EVA

[SmartHomeSolver]

My daughter said to tone down the dad jokes… it’s a parent she doesn’t get it.

[anisboubaker]

For me there are two main requirements for smart switches:
- They must continue to work if everything network goes down, to actually act as a normal switch
- They must be secure. I can’t put an unknown brand inside my walls. These things tend to get hot and an overheat might start a fire. So I tend to stick with brands I trust.

For me Lutron fits the bill and I don’t mind paying extra.

[Conundrum]

I went with Lutron a few years back. Essentially zero issues, and one of the big reasons I went Lutron was it didn't require a neutral wire which I didn't have in many gang boxes. Many of the others required a neutral wire to work.

[GreedWillEndUs]

I've installed 30+ Kasa Switches in my house and personally never had to reset any of them, that said they're so much snappier using Home assistant locally instead of the Kasa app. Highly recommend them.

[dparke]

Great video! Glad Kasa is finally getting some credit. I made the switch from Lutron to Kasa switches after realizing the Kasa does the same thing for half the price plus Kasa dimmer switches remember the dimming settings! Even non smart dimmers have this feature but $60 Lutrons cant? I have 15 Kasa switches in my home and they’ve been rock solid. Great alternatives if you want to save the money

[dreasunshine]

Thank you for showing the reset tab on the Lutron. After 3 1/2 years of zero issues, I could not turn my office light off today. That was the easiest fix! I was worried I would have to rewire it, or buy a new switch. It took seconds, and it's back to fully functional.

[smarthouseonthepraries]

I installed a few Lutron light switches with the pico remote in our last house over seven years ago. The remotes were still working after seven years on the original batteries, not one issue. We sold our house last May and are building a new house on the prairies, yes it will be a smart house and I will be posting videos. I decide to go with Lutron because of their reliability and their hub, 7 years of dependability is hard to knock. Depending on your network wifi items can add up in a hurry and the majority are using 2.4g not the most ideal situation. The pico remote also has a pedestal available which sits on the night stand in the bedroom, perfect for a senior getting up at night. Yes there are cheaper options out their but reliably and quality are two things that I want in my smart home.

[Necropheliac]

I got the Kasa switches and I’m so glad I did. Our whole home gets controlled by HomeKit with Siri so we just wanted something that works with HomeKit without a hub and we figured we’d give the Kasa a try since it was cheap enough to toss if it doesn’t work. Turns out, it works great. No problems at all and does exactly what we wanted it to.

To be quite honest, we automate about 90% of the light usage, with the available automations in HomeKit, and also with motion sensors. Physically Hitting light switches is kind of rare any more.

[feigley]

Most of my house is controlled by Lutron switches - lights, a shade, and ceiling fans (31 devices, not including remotes). I started with them 7 years ago and have never had to restart switches or replace any switches or modules. I like the way every switch and lamp module ramps the lights at the correct rate so they all reach the desired brightness of a scene at the exact same time, no matter how different the brightness of each one was to start with. Also, the remotes and schedules work even if the internet is down. They’re just engineered well and thoughtfully designed.

[davewilson]

Anyone who is screwing cloud-dependent hardware into the walls of their home has obviously never owned a cloud-dependent thing that turned into a brick because its maker went bankrupt/got bought/changed its mind. I wrote off Kasa as soon as I found out how it works. After buying an older home that needed a lot of new light bulbs, I started putting WiZ bulbs in every socket. The result is marvelously flexible (I decorated for St. Patty's Day with my iPhone) but requires a lot of thought about WIFi and some consideration regarding switches.

The Zooz Zen71 has worked great for me (in part because I do have neutrals in all my boxen). They cost a lot less, have a high WAF (''cause they look "normal") and have been perfectly reliable. With smart bulbs I don't need dimmer switches but I do configure Home Assistant and the Zen71s to work together, so that a long press on the bottom or top of the Zen71 produces a dimmer or brighter light. Double-tap to turn all the lights in a room on or off. I also set them up to keep power supplied to the WiZ bulbs, which helps them stay online and react quickly, but if I ever want to reboot a bulb I can run a script to interrupt that power briefly.

IMO in the 2030s we won't be installing a lot of new Z-wave but who cares? Lutron isn't necessarily future-proof either. I won't regret having installed 700-series Z-wave because it works - just as well as a light switch, as they say.

Agree with others that the Ye thing didn't age well - since folks are still finding this vid, maybe you could consider giving that bit a quick snip.

[DanielDar]

I have lutron and kasa and I prefer the kasa 100% because of the form factor. The switch is way easier to press, like a normal switch, in the lutron you have to look to press the specific part of the switch.

The only advantage of the lutron are the pico remotes

[austinbeachy]

I have 6 kasa switches, including a motion sensing bathroom light switch and I have not had to reset any of them over the last two years, they have worked great!

[johnstancliff]

I just went with X-10... they have been around since 1978 and I've had zero problems with them.... excellent product!

[GEORGEEEJ]

We installed TP-Link switches with the Kasa app. Our landscape, front porch, various indoor lights, and lights around our RV cover, and our Christmas lights during the holiday season. Everything works perfectly. I like that they adjust automatically to the daylight hours throughout the year.

[marlonfowler]

I use Kasa and have them all over my house. They’re priced at anywhere from $12-$17 (usually Amazon, and while on sale) and they work very well. I’ve had them for at least two years. The dimmers are usually a little more.

[dilvishpa]

“We don’t know what the smart home will be like in 5-10 years”. Truer words have never been spoken. I automated my home in 1998. The technologies are now all obsolete. My recommendation is that you wire your house for traditional dumb switches and outlets, and substitute with non-cloud dependent devices where you want automation. That way you can replace any device easily with different technolgy. I have seen too many beginners (myself included) abstract their lighting through use of in-wall controllers and remote receivers that do the switching. That type of configuration is a nightmare to replaceor return to traditional wiring with dumb switches.

[truthandlove]

I've had the casa dimmers and regular switches for about 2 years or so now and they are indeed 90-95% reliable. Honestly worth it.

[emmgeevideo]

I'm building a "mother in-law" house in my back yard. The darn thing has 22 switches. I want it to be very smart and I'm getting Lutron. This review cinches it for me. One thing you don't want to have to fiddle with is light switches. I've owned my home for 39 years and have gotten used to "turning on a light" without thinking. I don't have to worry about rebooting a light switch or learning how it works.

I added some Lutron switches a few months back to my main house with HomeKit to learn how to do scenes and automations. Lutron works like a champ. In my case I'm spending 100s of thousands of dollars on everything else. An extra thousand will get lost in the noise. When I do my 10 year test, I will forget how much extra they cost but I'll bet I remember if they were trouble-free or a PITA.

[Jesse-kfik]

I went with zooz all over my house and I’ve had no problems with them for 2 years now. Love the scenes and I use them a lot and my wife also uses the scene controllers.

Through software I use a bond hub and use the zooz controllers to toggle the fan on and off. Works great.

[coachjones]

I use the Kasa switches. For me the cost difference was a no brainer and the switches have worked flawlessly. The only issue I have had was in the setup of a Kasa 3-way kit on a 4-way connection. I had to buy a dummy switch that has no function and it was a bit of a pain getting the wiring right, which would have been easier with Lutron, but now that its set up it works exactly as I wanted.