But with C4, you can add whatever sensors you need and program accordingly for the lighting reaction.

C4 can basically make caseta do whatever we need it todo. The driver acts just like it was a control 4 device so with C4 at the helm it's very powerful. Which is part of why I'm having such a hard time with this. Aside from them looking fugly there really is no reason not to use these. :/

At some point the industry is going to have to look at the lighting pricing and adjust acordingly. Especially with all of these IoT devices.

Guess my client I integrated these into had the pro bridge, was very simple!

Yeah, you know Lutron could "easily" elaborate on Caseta to go over 50 devices, make the dimmers look better and keep all the extra stuff that makes it cool, but seems like they would really start to shoot themselves in the foot on what I'm assuming is a pretty profitable RA business. I wish they had structured Caseta to unclude better margins for integrators!

I see what you mean about pricing, but don't fully agree.

If people want a system that requires more than 50 devices, it's going to cost more. If they want a system that is properly designed and doesn't have a bunch of battery powered 'oops' keypads, it's going to cost more. If they want a clean-looking single gang keypad that controls everything in a given area and not a whole bank of retro-fitted wireless keypads, it's going to cost more.

Cheap lighting control isn't going to be perfect - it's going to 'work'. It'll be good, but it's probably going to feel cheap for a while.



Caseta is for electricians.

This is what i was getting at with my earlier post. Lutron has any and all features anyone could ever want in their lighting system...but...you are going to have to use the right product. If you want cheap and easy and available at Amazon...go with Caseta. If you want a bunch of features and Control4 integration go with something that has been built for it like RA2 or QS.

In a 1%er home obviously caseta wouldn't work. It's the wrong product. But if someone is looking into getting started with lighting control then it's a great cheap option. The client I'm going to be providing it to has a modest 2600 sq.ft home, mid century modern and a very open concept. Even if we did every single light in the house he would only be at 37 devices. When caseta is almost 3x cheaper then the cost of RA2 or C4 lighting with a control system at the helm it will be no different. He's spent a lot of money with me in the past, but he just couldn't wrap his head around the cost difference, and I couldn't lie to him. In this case it would make sense.

Technically Lutron shot them and us in the foot by bringing caseta to the market and having good marketing. Normalally I would have quoted C4 or RA2 buttttttt..caseta fit the bill, perfectly. Know how he found out about it? Was looking at C4 lighting link, then went to FB and saw an add for caseta.... :(

I just did a job with 41 caseta switches/dimmers/picos.
We also set up scenes to do lighting and turn Sonos on for the dogs when she isn't there. She loves it and it works great.

That is a hidden plus. Scenes also include turning on Sonos...

My response isn't about being in a 1%'ers home. Its a response to this specific thread/application and someone elses comment on Caseta. You want the Toyota Yaris pricing with the BMW Appearance option. Therockhr wants the Toyota Yaris pricing with an MSport upgrade option.



Want to know what switches look the best? The ones that don't exist. I haven't seen a switch or dimmer in 5 years because we put modules in the clients utility closet so all they see is a keypad. But that comes at a higher price.

Caseta is cheaper and limited by design. It's meant to compete/eliminate with the other crap products at home depot and at amazon. Lutron knows that they aren't going to sell a RA2 or QS system to someone with a $500,000 house...But they know that the guy with the $500k house is going to want lighting control so rather than let some other company make money...Caseta!



If Control4 is marketing Caseta i would be very afraid to sell anymore Control4 lighting because it would make me think they are ready to stop production.

If Caseta is fitting the bill perfectly then the house doesn't require C4 or RA2. If Caseta handles 99.9% of what the client wants then it's not a Caseta project and the client has to decide if hes willing to live with the limitations or pony up the $ for the upgrade. It's human nature to try and buy champagne with beer money.

We use a ton of the wall mounted controllers. Caseta doesn't have them. You can use a pico, but you are limited to 4 scenes. Caseta is great for the money, but we are still using Ra2.

What he said was (rephrased): after looking at the C4 lighting on their website, the customer started getting the targeted ads about lighting control. Which Lutron has the most money invested in, so he saw ads for Lutron's Caseta lighting control everywhere.

Or Illumination! This is what irks me - they've *HAD* all this stuff for a LONG time, but they're either 'improving it' or still charging an arm and a leg for it! So maybe I do agree a bit more with 3PM than I thought. Reel in the prices JUST a bit, and make it up on volume because it'll only be used for 50+ device systems...? I don't know.

Yesterday I was working with a decent sized Lutron system (~75 devices) in a house that was built in about 2000. It was put in with an Interactive processor, and a couple years ago we swapped it out for an Illumination processor when the original got unstable. We didn't go QS because the programming couldn't be converted (at the time, anyway).

You know what? This old junk still works great. The Savant, and the iPads it runs on, weren't even dreamed of when this stuff originally went in, but it all works together very well. I had to do some troubleshooting and wanted to turn on individual loads in real time. I don't spend much time in Illumination, but had no trouble figuring out how to do this. It was way more intuitive than D3, which I like and use a lot more. I really hate seeing good ideas get abandoned.

So much stuff is getting cheaper and easier (even if the quality wanes). Electricians are rapidly moving in on what was the integrators' turf, and with the way the licenses are structured (in FL anyway), they can do all the stuff they did before, plus more of what we do. Lighting control and audio distribution used to be mainly in the integrators wheelhouse. Sonos and Caseta and all this other IoT stuff has changed that. The exclusivity of integration is going away, so how do you stay specialized?

AFAIK Lutron can't pixel Control 4's website the way it's being described. Either Control 4 is working with Lutron or he clicked on a Caseta link without realising.

Facebook can.

But you still need a Lutron main repeater (ra2) so can talk to the lutron sensors, yes?

I use lutron ra2 sensor and upb lighting and it works GREAT! LOVE IT. Course if the budget is there, its Ra2 ALL THE WAY.