Hallowe'en Automations

Of all the "home automation" folks that I've met, I've found that most of them are big Hallowe'en enthusiasts, too. It's certainly one of my favorite holidays, and using home automation equipment for spooky purposes is a lot of fun.

I guess Smarthome has noticed the intersection of interests, too. They have a special Hallowe'en store that is stocked with several interesting items. The glowing footprints look pretty cool (and you can control them with the addition of an X10 module) and I'd like to sample a few tracks from the Haunted Circus CD.

Comments

[jcm]

I'm new to your blog and noticed this Hallowe'en entry including Smarthome. Trying to get feedback on Smarthome/INSTEON before I make any purchases, etc. Among other things, I'm looking into their Keypad Linc. Any experience with that, opinions to share, etc.?
Thanks.

[Gordon Meyer]

Hi, jcm -

Smarthome has one of the best reputations in the Do-It-Yourself home automation realm. Good, quality, stuff. And Insteon is catching a lot of attention, although it's so new that it's hard to say what it's long-term reliability is going to end up being. But everyone, including me, is hopeful and optimistic.

I'd say go for the Keypad Linc. The smart thing that Smarthome did (no pun intended) is included support for X10 too. So at the very least, if you're not ready to fully jump on the Insteon bandwagon, you'll have a pad you can use as an X10 device, and it's almost certainly a good one.