I’m a longtime home automation enthusiast and a veteran HomeSeer user with nearly 30+ years of experience in the space. My current setup provides fairly comprehensive control over the home—including locks, alarm, ventilation, blinds, and more. While I rely primarily on Alexa for daily interaction when manual control is desired, I also have robust web and mobile access.
That said, I’m now at a point where I value simplicity over tinkering. I’m considering migrating from HomeSeer (using HS3 and finding the migration to HS4 a bit problematic) to Home Assistant for a more unified and streamlined experience.
Are there any known providers in the Chicago area who specialize in HomeSeer-to-Home Assistant migrations and can offer ongoing support post-migration?
There are many excellent reasons for migrating to HA. As a former HS user, I can say without reservation that I’m happy I made the switch several years ago. But as the previous poster says, you need to investigate further if “minimize tinkering” is your key objective. There are constant improvements in the form of monthly updates plus multiple point releases, and while you can go a while without applying them, it gets progressively harder to catch up. This is a feature, not a bug! But some level of ongoing tinkering is pretty much necessary to maintain HA at this point.
All that said, it’s very easy to dip your toes and fire up an instance of HA on a Pi, old laptop, or other system you have available. It’s free, so give it a try and start to learn it’s terminology and way of doing things!
I have been a long time HS user and recently made the jump with Zero regrets so far. For me HS had stagnated and become expensive with plugins. For me it felt too much like an ‘old boys’ club with dominant figures in the community. Tinkering I don’t mind. I have been doing HA for 30 years now. I started with x10 and Comfort alarm systems, HA has progressed a long way. I’ve installed and used C4, Crestron, HS, Comfort, x10 along the way and had a very frustrated and patient wife, to allow me on my HA journey. I’ve looked at HAss for years but have been relatively happy with HS. There is no one pivotal point for my transition but boredom with an outdated and stagnant platform ( which although very solid) doesn’t feel like it has moved enough with the times, especially on its GUI and poor mobile interface. I guess time will tell if my decision was the right one.
