ISY994i IR/PRO: Network Home Automation Controller - Compatible with Alexa/Google Home

I bought this a year ago. I started to transition from the normal Insteon hub to this controller but got a little intimidated by the setup. That being said, I wasted a year using an Insteon hub with NO flexibility. Once I put on my big boy pants and jumped in, I regret not doing it sooner! It wasn’t hard once I started.You’ll have to buy a hub that plugs into the wall for the connection and control of Insteon and X10. X10 is a single direction communication and I have not found how to poll/query X10 devices. I stopped using them a while ago, but I wanted to try in case I needed to grab one in a pinch. On a side note - X10 does not dim easily. Dimming requires multiple dim commands to be sent. Oh well - X10 is very old technology.There are software modules that have to be purchased to expand the capabilities of the unit. For example, I’m using the climate/weather module. It’s a one time purchase that allows me to set up routines where inside lights come on earlier on overcast days based on the light level obtained from a local weather station. I’m sure there’s a way to accomplish this locally, but for the cost, it wasn’t worth buying more hardware. There’s another to allow for full remote access and Alexa integration. That one is a recurring cost ($12.00/year) which makes sense since this unit is acting like a mini server that does connect the UD hosting service.The unit will work right out of the box (once everything is linked up and hub is plugged in) without the extra modules. The modules are upgrades that just add to the functionality.The programming for scenes and actual scheduled programs was my initial intimidation factor. There are plenty of resources on-line beyond the on-line manual itself that really help. Once I started, it was much easier than I expected.The greatest benefit I see is the sunrise/sunset offset that can be used. I had to use another time zone for my Insteon hub so that lights would turn on before it got too dark. Due to this, my outside lights turned off too early. This system allows for whatever offset (on before or after sunset or sunrise or both) you want to use. Another benefit is a loss of power feature. If power goes out, there is a setting that runs the programs that should have run during the outage to bring everything the current lighting settings. Insteon - no go. It starts back at the time power was restored and does not do anything to ensure lights that were supposed to be lit are actually turned on.Customer service was great. I had a small issue yesterday and emailed the support desk. I got an answer 20 minutes later with the fix that I just happened to also find on-line. Great customer support.I have not used th IR part of this yet. I want to program my TV remote to run some scenes (control a lighting sequence), but just haven’t tried it yet.Once the unit is in place, there’s no need to touch it. Everything is remote access.That being said, Univerasal Devices does have a remote admin and dashboard that is java based. They have an applet that is available so the reviewers saying it won’t run under Windows or current browsers are uninformed. The applet has to be installed and launched from the desktop. It won’t run natively under any iOS device. I actually used a remote app to remote back to my PC a few times to make minor adjustments to the programs.All in all - this unit is great and worth the effort to set it up. If you’ve ever had the Insteon hub go out and be told you have to start over registering your devices and starting over with programs, you’ll really like this device to be able to back up, restore and control your house. Worth the money for me!!

I bought this as a replacement for the Insteon Hub and an old PC running HouseLinc software. I have well over 100 Insteon devices and found that the limitations in HouseLinc were becoming obstacles. And while Insteon Hub works well and easy, it does not support some of the timing sequences I want, such as turning off a device 20 minutes after a manual switch is activated. I've kept the Hub in service for what it does well, and the ISY994i is doing the heavy lifting now. I found it to be easy enough to program, but it took some time to learn how to get it all working. There are still quite a few odd behaviors that I need to iron out. I was not aware that the help system is mostly written about 8 years ago, and there are gaps in what I can find to solve issues. Overall I'm OK with what I have, but will continue to use the Hub app for a few things that it does well, such as reporting on Leak sensors and other "alarm" conditions I have set up using Insteon door open/close sensors.

Cannot make it to work, was able to connect to the controller to the PC but no further. Does not recognize the line modem or x10 devices. Extremely poor documentation and software, does not provide a sample or how to connect the most basic configuration conroller-modem-x10 device. For almost $400 for the controller and modem, excuse me, I expect better.

Had to replace a defunct unit I had been using for about 6 years. This unit arrived as the basic ISY994i, not PRO, not IR, not X10. Not a big deal, but had to spring for the extra $30 to upgrade to PRO module. The other modules are extra too. Buyer beware, ask first. Would be 5, but -2 stars for misleading description that cost extra money to fix.

I am using a Universal Devices ISY994i to replace an ActiveHome Pro CM15A to control X10 devices throughout my home. (It does not include motion detection by itself so I could not rate that.) I am impressed by the very extensive feature set (primary manual, which is called Cookbook, is over 660 pages), and by its reliability controlling X10. The user interface for programming the device is intuitive and capable - operational success feels like instant gratification. In addition, Universal Devices Tech Support has been excellent for me. When I reported a problem (the only one I've had so far), Tech Support responded in less than an hour and to everything I had written. Each interaction with the Tech Support person handling this problem was rapid, intelligent, well informed, and productive. Half the problem turned out to be my mistake and the other half was resolved in the next build (Release 5.0.15A).