The Best Whole Home Smart Lighting Solutions

In a previous blog post I gave an introduction to smart lighting, recommending some great products to get you started. Now it’s time to get our hands dirty and list the best options for when you’re seriously serious about making your home’s lighting seriously smart.

Lutron

When it comes to great switch and dimmer hardware for making your lights smart, Lutron is one of the undisputed leaders. From the HomeworksQS system for very large complicated homes, and RadioRA2 system which is great for retrofits, to the more mass market consumer oriented Caseta system, this stuff just works. Perfectly. Every time. With any type of Lutron system, you’ll get great in-wall dimmers and switches, the ability to have extra table top remotes, and even the ability to add additional components like controllable shades. Best of all, all three systems provide the capability for 3rd party integration so they work great with Josh.

Vantage

When you get into the realm of lighting control for high end homes, decisions often get made based on taste. Vantage provides lighting control systems very similar to the HomeworksQS and RadioRA2 systems from Lutron, but they have bit different style available in their keypads. Some like them better than the selection available with Lutron, and so pick this also solidly reliable system based on its aesthetics alone.

Insteon

Switches and Dimmers from Insteon not only communicate wirelessly like some of the other systems here, but do backup powerline communication. This means it can actually send data along the same wires that distribute 120V AC power in your home! Insteon is a much newer company than either Lutron or Vantage, but is quickly catching up them in its capability. However, you may find a good bit less choice when it comes to product design.

Of course there is a never ending (and growing) list of options when it comes to smart lighting, but these are some of the best options when it comes to picking an integrated system for being able to control all of your lights in a home.

This post was written by Tim at Josh.ai. Previously, Tim was an engineer at NetApp before joining the Josh team where he works on interconnected device control. Tim has a masters degree in EE from CU Boulder, enjoys microbreweries, rides his bike to work, and loves everything outdoors.

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