Yep, but the Elan UI is easy for customers to learn, and works great in almost every residential job, and even light commercial jobs. It isn't Crestron...but neither is Savant.

CGAV as a Crestron dealer you need to look nowhere else.

Educate your builder and keep it moving.

Is the builder the one really asking for savant? Or is it his client that wants it?

+1. You can't tell me there's anything more worth doing than DM. Develop or buy a great UI, and with solid programming I'm sure you'll win the builder over. Anyone that has issues with Crestron 99.9% of the time it's awful programming/shitty UI related.

I will say that we recently switched out a EAP600 wireless solution to a Ruckus R500 solution and we haven't had all of dropping connection from the host anymore which is huge!!! HOWEVER, we were told that even though the SUR500's do not have a 5GHz chipset, that enabling 5GHz causes a lot of issues. So we disabled the radio as well so I'm not sure what actually fixed the problem.

I don't mind Savants remote for the price but they need to have a better "House" solution. A remote with an iPod in it is not the answer IMO. You still have to deal with poor charging times and the fact they take forever to charge after they've died.

I think Savant's hardware is great. I do have some issues with their cluggy programming software and their poor profiles. Custom or repeatable custom work IS NOT easy either. Other than that, I'm very happy.

I think this has been dropped. Replaced with a wi-fi handheld remote. I cant verify any of this at the savant website though because they dont want you to know what they sell...i guess.

From EH. No idea if this ever shipped but it looks better than the iPod-dock-remote.

[Link: electronichouse.com]

As a Crestron dealer, I kind of get the situation you are in. I have seen several 6 figure projects taken out of the market by Savant in the last few years. The brand itself has some recognition in the end user community, and in my market the rep firm directly markets Savant to the builder/architect community, then funnels those leads to their only dealer. The "story around the campfire" is that that dealer does all of the projects at huge equipment discount prices (as in, cost + 10% markup), which is fine for them because it's a 2-man shop working out of a garage and a van. Unfortunately, a few of them have gone badly and have led to clients wanting them ripped out.

Crestron also has a degree of brand recognition among end users, but it has always been negative in my experience. Too many dealers that didn't know what they were doing in the building boom pre-2008 have really put the brand in a bad spot in this market...too often I hear "I see you are a Crestron dealer, I had that in my last house and it never worked right", and have to get past the objection that I wouldn't have to deal with if I was selling Savant.

the silver one has its own issues....

I always say savant is a great product if the client has deep pockets. I have been doing savant for many years and there are a lot of little things you need to know or you will have service calls. The some of the biggest downsides with are

If the client says I need the final part of install for March. You order all the gear and there is a construction delay . And you don't finish the install till June. You purchased a license x.xx and now they are on a x.zx . Client has to buy a upgrade to get x.zx . And it's not cheap.

Clients with kids is tough also. Savant tracks all it power and input states so if a kids starts messing with tv inputs to connect his phone to the tv . The next user will have to hit the off button to get the system to send the full macro. There are ways around this but you have to know what your doing and really know the software.

If you ordered a System/License at x.xx and then x.zx came out, you were not forced to upgrade to x.zx. x.xx ran just fine I have plenty of systems that are running happily on 4.3, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 etc etc etc

and even if you did feel the need to upgrade, the upgrade license is a fraction of the cost of the full license.

Pretty sure all 6.x systems were given a free 7.x upgrade license as well...


Savant may charge a lot for the initial pro license.. But they have always been reasonable with upgrades.

This thread was about savant. [Link: remotecentral.com]
I believe it would be a colossal error to take on savant (or any) for one system.

PM me. I'll fill you in.

How did you get 8 systems out there before realizing its a bad idea? How does the programming change in 6 months?

I've been a Savant dealer since 2010 and the programming has been the same since before that. Yeah there's been software releases with new features, but the programming is still done the same way.

As far as customizing the programming, our approach has been that if ordering a new car. I don't get to choose the shape or layout of the dashboard. The only thing I get to choose are the options or packages included and colors. The controls in a Chevy look like a Chevy as do the controls in a BMW or any other manufacturer. When you customize everything, how do you expect your new tech in 5 years be able to fix it or even train the client on how to use it?

For too long we have wasted time on customizing programming cuz we can. And now after having customized systems in the field for 11+ years, RTI, AMX, Control 4 and yes I did Phast in a previous life, I love having to not customize programming.

We're much more profitable with Savant, there's less training time, less call backs and much more stable systems.

I think this is a great response and it was the approach and reasoning we switch to Savant as well. I will argue the Savant should make simple modifications to the UI much easier so that you can stay within their boundaries but have the same Sony BluRay populate the proper commands for every job. Other than that, there is a lot of ability to customize Savant but you REALLY have to know what you are doing! But yes, not having to obsess over the UI is a nice thing...

Customising GUI's is a lovely thing to have the ability to do, when customers see our website I have images of a few of the previous GUI's I have done at home.

Normally they comment that it was looking at those helped them decide to use us in the end, but when I do my GUI which I do for everyone of my customers, as it is easier as I have all the templates built, they never comment on the different looks they saw through out website. They are happy they have a easy to use working system.

I always explain that the RTI system installed in completely customisable, and only a few customers makes comments like can you change the background, or make a button bigger, or move the common used buttons for ease of use. But never anything drastic.

I gave up with closed box systems as we always out grew them, or needed to tweek something here or there, and it always ended up being more work than necessary when it's all built for you.

My systems are essentially all the same, but I have customised them to be the same, I have taken feedback from previous customers and always attempt to better the user experience when using a system as much as I can, but essentially they are all the same.

Customising a UI is not the best or worst thing about a system, nor is it the ability not to do it, it's how the system is finally used by the customer and is it self intuitive enough.

I have removed Crestron, AMX, Control 4 and URC all at the customers request because they didn't like the way it worked, looked or it was too complicated etc. Each of them now enjoys an easy to use RTI system.

Pretty sure the faults of those systems were not from the manufacturer, but the installer and programmer not meeting the needs of the client.

Impaqt , how much is a firmware upgrade on crestron, RTI , urc or amx. You know the answer to that question.