Ring works every time? That's an insane statement.

Set aside the two I have sitting next to me that I had to eat the price of which is the profit I'd make selling 20 of them. Let's talk about using them as a visible camera on your NVR, integrating into any control system, latching a gate or Abby other integration. Also how they look. Frankly, we aren't in this business to sell people the cheapest thing. We are in it to sell people the item that best fits their needs. And to make money. Ring is sometimes one of those.

the problem is this damn industry is soooooooo slow to catch up. There are so many people that literally sit there screaming to the world that our solutions are better and exceed the IOT devices. that line is blurring, and very rapidly. The second amazon opens up integration for ring its game over for every other half assed door station out.

I have a client that has the 2500 C4 door station. He sent me a question asking if he can communicate two way with his phone. He cant, and asked why I didnt offer a ring like his frind has at a 10th of the price. And this is a guy that spent over 100k on his system.

anymore lately im having to defend the products of our industry then sell them. Granted now im able to say most devices I can integrate via C4 and give them one app, but still doesnt help with the IOT devices like ring. The in wall ring looks really nice BTW.

im starting to run into 2 people now. Our type of clients like usual and then our type of client that is halfway aware of the IOT sphere. its getting frustrating.

I bought a Ring when they first came out. Worked pretty good, but the way they mount sucks. My father-in-law came to ring the doorbell and knocked it right off.

He denied doing it........until I showed him the video. That was the last time it worked.

LOL! pretty much!

The answer is "We sell reliable functionality, not the latest flavor of the month features. If you want the latter, you are free to do it yourself. If you want reliability, we'll sell you that."

If someone else wants to sell them flavor of the month stuff, they can deal with the support issues, on the lower revenues they'll have from installing that stuff to begin with, right? How long is that person going to be a competitor working like that?

You know what the problem with that statement is now these days. So much of the more expensive stuff we carry, is no more reliable anymore than the DIY stuff.
Nothing worse than saying that to a customer, convincing them to buy your product, then shortly after you install it breaks or has problems.

That's become true with diy products that have been around for a while now too.  Dollar for dollar, Harmony now offers a lot more for the same price or less than URC, and URC reliability has gone down while Harmony has gone up.  I have not sold a Harmony, ever but everytime I get a call about a dim screen or buttons that down work, or remotes that reboot constantly (that's just CCP, not even TC issues), I ask myself if I'd be better of just selling a Harmony, inputting stuff into a wizard and 10 minutes later giving it to the client and be on my way.  Frustrating.

Hey guys,

Wanted to jump in on here. I know for many of us on here, we have our favorite control systems but I do think there is a market for DIY/DIFM type products, which is also helping to grow consumer demand for categories like lighting, audio distribution, thermostat control, etc. Many of these products are as reliable or more, especially when installed professionally. The RMA rate for Harmony on professionally installed remotes is less than .5%.

I was brought in at the beginning of last year to help build out the professional services channel at Logitech. In most scenarios, you can program a fairly robust system. Entertainment control obviously, but lighting, thermostat, wireless audio; we cover most of the main areas clients are looking for. I agree we sometimes have a perception of DIY from some installers, but our Pro remote is only offered through distribution, and we now offer a lot to support our dealers. We've added "monthly" webinars where myself and Pike (13 year Harmony programming guru) actually walk through live programming demos based on dealer requests. We also have a new eLearning site, demo programs, and the ability to update your client's programming offsite in our dealer portal.

I've got plenty of dealers that still carry other lines, but see the opportunity in using Harmony to help penetrate the $5k-$15k market, where clients are asking for brands like Harmony, Sonos, Nest, Lutron, Hue, and Ring by name on a daily basis.

Goldenzrule, others, feel free to reach out with any questions.

Enjoy the day,

Is Logitech still using a cloud based wizard software to program their remotes?

It seems they have stopped using that approach.

Frederick

There is a walkthrough that guides most general programming, but a dealer has the ability to further tweak things as needed, adding delays, custom macros, IR port assignments, and other commands we need that the average consumer install doesn't require.

Part of our benefit is that we typically code all the backend work for the installer. We work with the various manufacturers to make sure we know the power on delay for a TV before you can hit the input command, so you don't need to figure it out yourself through trial and error. Plus our ability to scan the network for devices saves time over adding the products manually, especially for IP enabled devices, since you don't need to find and enter Mac addresses.

Our dealer portal also allows you to consolidate all of your clients into one location, and update/sync programming remotely from a mobile device.

Let me know if I can answer any additional questions.

Admit it..That's cool.

harmony is starting to sound better. Is there the ability to rearrange buttons and add new ones? Who distributes Harmony pro in canada?

Thanks Hasbeen.

We are definitely trying to respond to the market and dealer needs. It's a new market out there, and we feel like we have a product that's in a strong position to help dealers build a profitable business, while offering consumers a strong value proposition as well.

Let me know if there are any additional questions. I'll keep monitoring the thread.

Brett