It is getting to time for me to replace my old Insteon devices and curious what is "better" out there now. I have a few Shelly WD dimmers that have had some reliability issues-- about a 20% electrical failure rate. Not looking to spend Lutron money, but what is a good, reliable, and modern dimmer switch for 2026? I am looking for something that will realistically have a 10-15 year service life. The main issue for me on the Insteon front is just that I hate having the Universal Devices box with its own limitations as the gateway.
I use Zwave for my dimmers and have both Zooz and Inovelli devices.
Universal Devices has a superb customer service and I have used their boxes for many years. It also has a loyal and helpful forum of users.
However, I stopped using Insteon because of its limitations and now use Zwave, Zigbee, Wifi and Matter. When I switched to Home Assistant I dreaded missing Universal Devices' customer service (as HA does not have one), but after some 5 years of HA I realize that I do not need it and always get help on this forum from other users.
What are the indications that you should do this? Consider the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I don't like the HA Insteon integration (HA controls devices through PLM), nor do I like the Universal Devices integration (HA controls ISY994i which controls devices through PLM), but they work.
I've had my Insteon devices for more than 15 years. In planning for their retirement I found the cost to replace them very high. I ignored the one's that are cloud based. I got disillusioned with UD because they seem to be hooking the users into a never ending cycle of end-of-life(ing) hardware and requiring new hardware. When I need another switch, I go with Z-Wave. I've had a bad experience with Zigbee. WiFi devices tend to be cloud based and my Asus home router can only handle about 25 WiFi devices. I have not delved with Matter/Thread because it looks overly complicated.
Thus, I designed what I call the Universal Light Switch. The DIY cost is under USD$20. I've gotten to the proof of concept stage and it works well, but definitely is not prime time.
re: Universal Devices
Funny, I only found Home Assistant because my UD ISY died on me. In retrospect, one of the lucker things to ever happen to me.
All of my Insteon stuff is running off of @teharris1 's integration (via PLM however)
Same experience you have; everything hinges on the (unreliable) PLM with Insteon. A few of the devices are likely pushing 15 years, but most are closer to half that. The biggest issue is that when I put them in they were so supply constrained that I had to ration them and make a few bad decisions. "Modern alternatives" would obviate that.
I am a little hesitant to have everything in the house dependent on 2.5GHz which is one of my little concerns.
This is one reason why I have not replaced my Insteon devices. And they work when the controller crashes.
For simple sensors; relays, air pressure, temperature, humidity, etc. and some not so simple, like a power meter I am using MySensors which has a 250MHz option. And it's dirt cheap; one device is ~USD$8+sensor.
Let us know what you decide!
I keep my favorite devices as a curated list on my webpage. These are any and all devices I own and love which integrate with Home Assistant. If you’re in the US, check these out:
I would suggest NOT buying used from Amazon, especially dimmers. Happened to me many times that some scum swap-returned a switch as a dimmer.
Links are affiliate btw. Trying to keep the lights on 