Smart Light Switches: I'm rethinking EVERYTHING!

My daughter said to tone down the dad jokes… it’s a parent she doesn’t get it.

For me there are two main requirements for smart switches: - They must continue to work if everything network goes down, to actually act as a normal switch - They must be secure. I can’t put an unknown brand inside my walls. These things tend to get hot and an overheat might start a fire. So I tend to stick with brands I trust. For me Lutron fits the bill and I don’t mind paying extra.

Great video! Glad Kasa is finally getting some credit. I made the switch from Lutron to Kasa switches after realizing the Kasa does the same thing for half the price plus Kasa dimmer switches remember the dimming settings! Even non smart dimmers have this feature but $60 Lutrons cant? I have 15 Kasa switches in my home and they’ve been rock solid. Great alternatives if you want to save the money

I've installed 30+ Kasa Switches in my house and personally never had to reset any of them, that said they're so much snappier using Home assistant locally instead of the Kasa app. Highly recommend them.

I went with Lutron a few years back. Essentially zero issues, and one of the big reasons I went Lutron was it didn't require a neutral wire which I didn't have in many gang boxes. Many of the others required a neutral wire to work.

Thank you for showing the reset tab on the Lutron. After 3 1/2 years of zero issues, I could not turn my office light off today. That was the easiest fix! I was worried I would have to rewire it, or buy a new switch. It took seconds, and it's back to fully functional.

New to home automation. Your channel rocks. Love how the family, especially your wife are part of the videos. Super cool bro.

Ive had these for over a year and absolutely love them. Has never failed on me yet.

I have almost a dozen Lutron switches and dimmers and a couple of KASA plugs throughout the house. Both have proven to be very reliable. They seem to play nice together however I let Alexa do all the heavy lifting. It was great to see the other options. I need to keep those in mind.

Most of my house is controlled by Lutron switches - lights, a shade, and ceiling fans (31 devices, not including remotes). I started with them 7 years ago and have never had to restart switches or replace any switches or modules. I like the way every switch and lamp module ramps the lights at the correct rate so they all reach the desired brightness of a scene at the exact same time, no matter how different the brightness of each one was to start with. Also, the remotes and schedules work even if the internet is down. They’re just engineered well and thoughtfully designed.

You've made some really good commentary for people looking to start a smart home. I see Matter/Thread being the start of a new version for smart homes. I think once it rolls out we'll have a better understanding. I've seen many videos that don't even mention this change and how it will affect switches.

Your videos absolutely crack me up. As a dad with 5 kids always testing the smart home stuff to their breaking limits, I get it. And my wife just sort of puts up with me installing stuff to “make life easier.” Thanks for making fun and informative videos.

I installed a few Lutron light switches with the pico remote in our last house over seven years ago. The remotes were still working after seven years on the original batteries, not one issue. We sold our house last May and are building a new house on the prairies, yes it will be a smart house and I will be posting videos. I decide to go with Lutron because of their reliability and their hub, 7 years of dependability is hard to knock. Depending on your network wifi items can add up in a hurry and the majority are using 2.4g not the most ideal situation. The pico remote also has a pedestal available which sits on the night stand in the bedroom, perfect for a senior getting up at night. Yes there are cheaper options out their but reliably and quality are two things that I want in my smart home.

Every switch in my renovated condo (2 years ago) is a Lutron Caseta and I don't regret the choice or the cost for a second. I have a number of Pico's around for other smart bulbs and tableside usage. I wasn't very price-sensitive but enough so to skip Radio Ra2 (Ra3 wasn't available then) and I'm okay with that (though a friend of mine just installed Radio Ra3 because he likes the switch's UI better). My shades are Lutron Serena. I use a Caseta Pro hub with Hubitat and it all works well together. Highly recommended.

I have Kasa switches and I never had to reset them except for one time when we were having reconstruction and was creating new wire boxes in certain areas of the home. I love these smart switches.

I went with the Kasa switches for most of my house. I had about 34 of them. They worked well, until I started adding more smart devices to my house (granted, I did not know much about Zigbee and Z Wave at the time and thought everything should go through wi-fi). It seems that when you have "too many" competing devices, they start to lose connection quite often. Also, when using Home Assistant automations to trigger other switches (i.e. bathroom exhaust, vanity, and mirror switches), there is a good 2-3 second lag and sometimes doesn't even work! I've switched some of these to Treatlife which uses Tuya, and they seem to be more reliable than Kasa. And with the Local Tuya integration, they work even better.

Nice video! I have Kasa switches and plugs throughout my house and they've held up pretty well after 5 years. Some switches occasionally disconnect from my network but they're usually the ones w/spotty connections. As for long term support, these are made by TP-Link so that's comforting.

Lutron since 2017. Rock solid. Virtually zero issues and we use it daily with Alexa, the Lutron app, HomeKit and Siri. When the network is down, the buttons work perfectly. I cannot speak to Kasa, but I have zero regrets about deploying Lutron switches all over the house. When my rent houses become vacant, I plan to deploy Lutron switches there as well. Yes, it's more money. But the company has a stellar reputation, and the products are rock solid and the app well supported.

I went with Kasa partly because of your past video, following up with some of my own research. I've got 3 Kasa switches in our house now. I've had to reset them a few times but it's really a painless task for the most part. For the cost difference, I'll put up with it. My daughter and her husband are about to move into a new house and want to "Smart it up". I will recommend Kasa to them.

Another good video, Reed. I've used Enbrighten Z-Wave for a long time, but if I were changing I'd go for maybe an Enbrighten Zigbee which can pair with SmartThings, an Echo 10, and Echo 4th gen and more. As long as they can get into a Homebridge-compatible Plugin they're easy to add to Homekit, too, without losing functionality in other systems. The Embrighten stuff isn't a lot more inexpensive than Lutron. You'd better be ready to spend some $$$ if you choose Hue and Lutron, but things will work over the years. Oh, I just remembered I might try Aqara, too. They are really starting to get interesting and although they don't seem to have a dimmer yet, they do have a Zigbee switch that pairs with their hub and works with Homekit, too. So many choices.... So many ways of personally justifying what we each choose to do, too!!