On July 14, 2018 at 04:56, Nick-ISI said...
I’m sorry but I don’t think you can compare lutron and Somy from a control perspective. You might be able to “interface” to somfy with all manner of control protocols, but what you can actually tell the blinds to do is not in the same ballpark.
I am not a Somfy dealer so I admit I may not be aware of all of their offerings, but all the Somfy motors I have ever dealt with just go up or down when power applied or stop when it’s removed.
With Lutron I can tell the motor to go to a preset position and it will drive to that point and stop. This means I can provide buttons that send Roman shades to midway points that stop in the right position for the folds to look their best. I can do this with a whole wall of shades and know that they will line up every time. AFAIK this is not doable with Somfy motors.
I replaced some worn out Somfy motors recently and I would still say they are noticeablylouder than the lutron ones.
Does that include the Somfy quiet series? I ask because I don't know, I have not heard a Lutron motor and then a Somfy 506 motor (which costs more) within a reasonable time frame (let alone an A/B comparison). I do know both are very quiet - specs on the Somfy 506 says 38dB. I remember when you operate it in the room, you can hear it but it has to be quiet in the room to hear it.
Draper has a lot of control options, also with presets. I have only done a few systems over the years and none of them had demanding applications where multi-shades had to line perfectly up every time over years of use. So it maybe that Draper doesn't have as precise control over the shades as Lutron with its presets, I would have to play with that. So on an install where that was paramount, that may be a check box for Lutron that can't be ignored.
Like I said, I'm not saying Lutron shades are not top notch. I'm just trying to understand the mentality that Lutron dealers have, that there is nothing even close. And I think that is just not correct.
