This Smart Home Control Panel Cost HOW MUCH!?

The Rithum Smart Home Control Panel is a competitor to the NSPanel Pro, that allows for centralised control over your smart home device, but it comes with a pretty hefty price tag, let's see if it's additional features can possible make it worth it and if we can get it working with Home Assistant!

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[Phettsack]

No home assistant integration and a horrible price. No, thanks.

[christiaanprenger]

I have this Rithum display at a central location in my livingroom / kitchen. I absolutely LOVE this display. It just always works perfect, is super responsive and has excellent software support. Even my wife is enthousiastic! Yes the price is high but you get quality and reliability. Thats worth something. Cheers

[wagnerfontes]

I was considering the NS panel a little expensive... But this Rithum thing is definitely not in my shopping list. I'd better print a stand for an old phone and configure my dashboard. OK, not the same, but will do the job.

[husseinj]

Rithum has tap gestures and is super responsive means that it is not more annoying than a normal light switch and why it can't really be compared to slow devices that have multiple "clicks to action" like the Sonoff NS Panel. It's clearly not designed for Home Assistant in mind, and if you use HA you will want to use something else for sure. I have Lutron RA2 in my Living Room, Tado Heating and Sonos Amp with a pair of big speakers and Rithum can control all of this on it's own in a matter of minutes with no Raspberry Pi's, no server software and no automation code. Costs the same as a couple of Lutron Pico faceplates, it's reliable and my mum can use it when she comes over with no instructions. Worth it!

[jerseyman]

The product has a lovely look and feel, and is not aimed at the HA or "Roll your own" market, more high end fit-and-forget installations.

[dvwebster]

Clearly the Rithum Smart Home Control Panel is *NOT* a competitor to the NSPanel Pro, or indeed any other DIY enthusiast alternative.

I think it is aimed at professional installers wanting to offer their clients a lower cost and simpler solution than the likes of Control4, Crestron, Savant etc. Such clients may already have invested in Sonos (which alone may have cost around £250-£1300 per room) so the £250 for an in-wall touch panel that controls whole home music with cover art displayed in colour (and perhaps controls other devices, such as Hue lighting, also not a low cost system) without expensive new wiring, does have appeal and commensurate value.

BTW such mid-tier professional installers will want a margin and so too will the product distributors, so inevitably the price will be higher than for a product sold directly by a manufacturer.

[paulh]

Have it now for I think 1, 5 year or maybe longer. Still love it! Using it for the lights in the livingroom/kitchen and for Sonos. Kids knows how it works, it's great.

[roodynewbie]

Pfft. I currently have my son's old fire tab 7 kids edition on the wall for my control hub. Definitely works perfect for that application and they're easily found dirt cheap used.

[petercook]

This doesn’t really comply with UK wiring regulations either-An obstacle may be removed without the use of a key or tool but shall be secured so as to prevent unintentional removal. As demonstrated-unintentional removal is achieved quite easily

[ArabianBytes]

Insanely expensive. Aliexpress alternatives with android so much better. Am still holding my breath for shellys control panel. I don't get this, at this price point I'd just go proper Luton or philips....so agree, great video.

[jamesderrick]

* Phase conductors seem accessible without the use of a tool so can't meet BS7671 for UK use.
* No HASS integration.
* Requires a Neutral wire (so hard to fit in the UK)
* Silly price, plus pricey app store.
Nope, nope, nope, nope! 🤦

[brianmorgan]

I went with the Sonoff NS Panel Pro. At the $78 per panel, its a no brainer.

[kleeenco]

Shrink wrap licenses were really big in the days when software was sold on CDs. I am not sure if they ever were able to legally enforce it though.

[johnrostron]

Interesting comments about the price. If you compare it aginst Control 4 or similar products it seems more reasonably priced. It looks like a quality product, but the biggest downfall to me is the lack of integrations; fine if you have SONOS for example, but there are other home media solutions available.

[JamesMossR]

Insanely expensive, no native Home Assistant integration, just unclip to expose mains connections?!...I'm already out, but thanks for showing us and a great honest review as always.

[gordon]

To be honest, I am having a problem seeing the point of these.

If you already have all your stuff working in HA you could make dashboards for each room and take a tablet from room to room, or just leave them there mounted on a wall. But half the advantage of automating things is that you don't have to keep getting up to change things via a button, hence we all use remotes on our TVs now rather then telling the kid to get up and change channel.

[zht]

For my curiosity. If this type of device with the same look and user experience as Nest Thermostat or Ecobee, will you be willing to pay 250 pounds for it and deploy them in every room?

[MrSpleenboy]

For that price, you could buy a zima board, pop home assistant and an OLED display on it, slap it in the wall and you'd still have change left over...
Hell, you could buy a not quite new iPad or android tablet, and embed it in the wall, running as a home assistant dashboard for the same price. You'd have a bigger display too...
I'm sure other examples could be made, but it does kinda highlight the insanity of their price point.
Frankly, I thought 90 quid was a bit much for the NSP Pro, since it's as laggy as it is

[jameswoodhead]

To be honest, I don’t think the price is too bad We fit the higher end products, whole home computerised lighting systems you consider the costs involved in the systems. This device gives something in between Crestron, control 4 and a do it your self option if you think that an 7 button wall plate can cost £240 +vat with no screen and will do nothing with out £1500 of kit behind it to make it work. We just did Crestron system for 3 tv some heating and ac control and to integrate with an existing computerised lighting system and the kit at cost was £8000 we also have to pay £250 for the licenses to integrate with some companies, API hence the charges for some of the apps on the App Store. Anyway, just some thoughts easy to think that £250 is a lot of money which it is but when compared to the high-end systems, these devices mean that if you were just doing one room in a house and wanted to be able to integrate a few things together, this is an off-the-shelf solution and it works well. Keep making super videos. Kind regards, James

[Ranjitzu]

I'd buy ONE of these if I ever would, to have as a Desk Panel at my desk or Livingroom table - I would not buy one per room, tho I would with the NS panel buy ONE Pro Panel and have on my desk, and then buy the Light switches with screens to the other rooms, I think I could live with the lag.