So I am toying with the posibility of becoming a C4 dealer. Right now I do mainly RTI with a little URC thrown in. I'm a defunked Prodigy turned Crestron dealer. I know a bit about Crestron. Went to a lot of training, the most important thing I learned is that I'm not a Crestron dealer, my client list isn't there yet, and being a one man band, I just don't have the time to invest in getting good enough at it to do it professionally..

C4 however seems like a good fit, it's one of the few things I've been asked for more than once, and it really seems to cover what I need it to do, but so does RTI.

I don't want to consider Total Control, not in love with URC.

For those of you that have done both C4 and RTI, if you had to pick one, which one. I'm thinking along the lines of profitability, ease of deployment, reliability, support, sell ability, expandablilty, serviceability.

I want to hear from owners and installers / service folks.

Thanks

In before Tucker says go with TC :-)

I say do C4 man. There will be a million jobs that fit and so many to take over.

Tucker can say TC, he's ok with voicing opinions and not getting confrontational about it.

I won't take his advise.

I'm a dealer for both. Our market is predominantly commercial work (90%) with little residential thrown in (10%).

For our commercial jobs, it all depends on the SOW if I choose to quote either C4 or RTI. My biggest issue with C4 is it would be great to use in commercial because there is so much functionality but the drivers available for commercial gear, the way the driver proxies are setup and the fact that the GUI can't really be changed, sways me almost every time to RTI.

Now, I'm not talking about your typical hang and bang with some video sources thrown in. I'm referring to full blown Boardroom type installs with multiple displays, VTC and AC, lecture-capturing equipment etc. C4 just isn't there yet.

Most of these jobs go to RTI.

I will say that I love C4. I live with it in my home day in and day out. Other than the issues I posted above, there really isn't much that C4 can't do.

As far as serviceability and support, I'd say C4 is hands down much better than RTI. The great thing with C4 is (kind of like Sonos), is that you could install a single room system to get someone started and before you know it, the customer wants to expand the system. Even if they don't want lighting installed, throw a dimmer/keypad in. This usually gets the creative juices flowing and wallets opening.

We do C4 one thing I can say is don't try to cut corners. You need to make sure your zigbee coverage is good. Light switches aux controllers. Customers will get frustrated. Network is also key. Don't try to sell a job using smart devices either, good for distributed audio not for tv watching.

I dropped rti a few years ago in favor of C4.
I can't ever see going back to rti.
Btw the C4 remotes last much longer as well - not that it would take much.
When it comes to tech support C4 is way better and can actually help.
The only downside would be needing to become fairly good at doing networks as the quality of the network is very key

Went from big niles rti to c4.

It's not that you have to know networking, you have to use good networking stuff. Product has been great, software is very good, it sells, customers like it, included tablet license, off LAN access.possible and you can remote support, etc.

Go for it. Set it up at home and play with, use equipment with good drivers and stay inside the big box. Don't cut corners like yeah we can use your 1990s receiver, don't use the ISPs router, and don't over sell your abilities until your familiar with all of it.

Tech support is great when you need them, very patient and thorough.

Do you know what the minimum starting order is and minimum annual sales are? How rigid are they on these?

YOU BASTARD!

lol :)

Have been a dealer for almost 5 years. Several more bad processors, touchscreens, and remotes than I have had to deal with in almost 10 years of working with Crestron. It seems like C4 is also willing to open anyone with a pulse and a $1000 opening order in my market, so there is a lot of competition that is willing to discount it or sell 5000 square feet of it with an AirPort Extreme to run it. I have done a half dozen five figure cleanups of C4 jobs in the last 2 years, which is fine and nice to be the hero to the client, but I would have much preferred to take the whole six figures of the original project.

Dave we're a small two man shop that went from Elan (ugh) to RTI (constant failures) to C4.. haven't looked back in 5 years. There have been some issues here and there but mostly its been rock solid.
Like others have mentioned network and zigbee coverage are key to any successful C4 project. At this point networking and RF coverage should be second nature to any worthwhile CI so I don't see that as an issue.

Faster48- From a programming point how is C4? Can you modify things pretty easily on the fly? I have no idea on how C4's programming works.
I've recently installed three CCGen systems and find a love hate relationship with the software. It could definitely be me not knowing it fully, but what I've seen it's hard to quickly do some things without having to go a few steps back?
I'm in the exact same boat as Dave right now............any insight from your prospective would be great!! PM if you have other info you don't want to discuss in the forum. Thanks.

PSS- programming is stupid easy in composer. Even building and modifying drivers is as simple as it gets. I won't claim to be an expert driver creator, I have someone else do 232/IP drivers, but I have done them and even those are relatively straight forward.

Regarding too much competition I don't see it in this area. My understanding is our rep has been cutting dudes off rather than bringing new ones on. 3PM can attest to how difficult it was to get a dealership in this region (he ended up w URC). We actually get work taking over projects fairly consistently, including straight from C4 a few times.

Tech support is awesome and so is our rep. I'm stoked to have it but do wish for a more economy controller and color handheld remote.

If you are already a Crestron dealer, maybe do what I do. We are a small dealer fluctuating between 2-3 people depending on how biz is as well, so I never even think about programming a system. I sub it to a trusted friend who is an independent programmer. It's a win-win situation for me.