Would you buy homeseer again? Im too running bi3. Would be interested in doing this as well.
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I absolutely would buy HS again.
Blue Iris also.
Reasons:
1. I am on a metered satellite for my internet. It is relatively slow, has some latency, less than 100% reliable, and has a monthly data cap. So for those reasons, a HA system that relied on the cloud was not going to work for me. Also, I didn't want to put the reliability of my system into the hands of another group that managed the remote infrastructure.
2. I'm an old tech guy. My preference is to have more control over my systems rather than being limited to what someone else decided I would need to do. With HS, I am able to write my own trigger events, create my own scenes and decided what actions I want to happen. Very flexible and powerful.
3. I wanted an open hardware platform so that it could grow and be able to accommodate addition technologies in the future. HomeSeer on Win10 gives me the environment I feel comfortable with.
4. Integrating home automation and camera based security was very important. I had done it about 10 years ago using WebcamXP and PowerHome. It was just too early to get a stable environment and I had to kludge the interfaces together. Today with HomeSeer and Blue Iris, they fit together nicely and both are very stable under Win10. HomeSeer can trigger Blue Iris and Blue Iris can trigger HomeSeer.
5. HomeSeer has this notion of plugins to interface to other technologies. Want Insteon, get the plugin. Want z-wave, get the plugin. The plugins are written by community members and they have the ability to get compensated (via licensing) for their work. Make the best plugin for Insteon, you make more money. There are many plugins available. I'd guess over 100. For this reason, I believe that HomeSeer will be able to support most any new technology that gains traction and followers. Recently I got interested in Arduino controlled sensors. The first thing I did was to verify there was a plugin for Arduino. There were two to choose from so I'm confident I can interface and Arduino based device to HomeSeer should I ever want to. Much more to learn about Arduino first. And.... to come up with some real use cases.
6. My house is very remote so any idea of a remotely monitored system (ie. ADP) would have been no value plus it would have cost me monthly. I pay no monthly fees other than for the internet which I would have anyway.
7. I wanted for me to be able to monitor and control remotely. HomeSeer has an addition app development environment that lets you design a mobile app (phone or tablet) that integrates well with HomeSeer devices. I have built my own app and am pleased with it.
So, that is a long winded explanation of why I like HomeSeer. Hope it helps.
I really wanted it to work for me as the Fibaro seems to be at the higher end of the pricing curve for multi sensors. That being said, I have no complaints about the Fibaro. Its really tiny, so far it seems to kick data to the hub right on schedule, its ZWave Plus which makes it a little lighter on the battery usage, and it only takes 1 CR123 battery vs. the Aeotec that takes 2 CR123 batteries if its not plugged in.
