The price of a decent 944 has gone up too they used to be a bargain but now people want to swap stuff into them so the prices seem to be creeping up.
I like the idea of automatic lights but I don’t trust wireless locks and such. Keypad lock sure but I don’t need to unlock it with my phone.
I’m easily entertained.
I’m easily entertained. I’m in the process of buying a house so I like to watch the show to get ideas on stuff. That’s where the bidet research came from. The one guy said he used them in Japan and insisted on having one when he bought a house. Of course none did since it’s the US but he added one to the house they ended up buying.
I love how some of them are like “I’m a butterfly scientist and he is a dog walker and our budget is 1.2 million”. I like to see what certain amounts of money get you around the country too.
944's are nice if you can find an unmolested example. Unfortunately, most have been crudely modified and crap.
I bought into the auto lights pretty heavily (x-10) many years ago and, aside from the glitches, I found that it wasn't really useful.
I now have motion sensing lights outside and a more modern version of x-10 for a couple of lamps where the on/off switches are in inconvenient locations. I have a connected thermostat for my geothermal system. Nothing else is automated and, quite frankly, nothing else needs to be. I'm not even sure I need the connected thermostat.
While all this stuff makes for nice toys, think very carefully before you spend money on it.
What I did do is add occupancy sensors for my walk in closets so I don't need to worry about those lights and I put vacancy sensors on the bathroom exhausts. Subtle difference between the two - an occupancy sensor turns on when you walk in and turns off when there is no movement for a set period of time, while the vacancy sensor does nothing until you turn it on and then it turns off after a set period of time (mine are set to 5 minutes) after no movement is detected.
don't get sucked into "this is a bunch of fun stuff" but consider carefully how you will use it.