Best Of

@ardichoke said:
I think you might have just sold me on Iris... I just wish they had support in ifttt.com.

Check out SmartThings too - here's their IFTTT channel. It's Zigbee, Z-wave and Wifi compatible and has a pretty active community, and no monthly fee. The monthly fee is what turned me off of IRIS (a false economy, when considering how much time I'll have to invest into OpenHAB).

I have the IRIS system from Lowes. It is compatible in many cases with smartthings. It also runs in the cloud. What I like is that Lowes only charges $9.99 a month to get all the advanced features. I have a smart Plug which turns on and off lights or devices, monitors electrical usage, acts as a repeater, and monitors temperature. I have 10 door and window sensors and glass break sensors. Alarm system and touchpad lock. Also garage door control and watering system control.

I chose IRIS because it is compatible with all the communication protocols. Z-wave, Ziggby, Wi-Fi, etc... I have it setup so that it senses when anyone leaves or returns (key tags). If you are last out of the house it will check locks and if unlocked will lock all doors and if it works it will arm alarm system 10 minutes after you leave. If a problem it will message/email you. When I return it senses it and unlocks the door and turns off alarm. If somebody tries too many codes in the lock or tries to force the lock it calls the house with a warning message, calls/texts both of us and calls the neighbors.

I also have the fire/CO detector which if it senses a fire it unlocks the doors and notifies all the people on your list. A lot of good automation, has great range. Easy to use and setup. Has a good assortment of decision rules and getting better.

I really like it.