I started back in the X10 days and later added Insteon with X10 on Universal Devices. I’m seeing its time for change and have decided to go with Home Assistant. I have a lot of automation and some integrations (such as Davis Weather (API V1), Ecobee (Homekit Hub), and OpenSprinkler) that I’ll get to later on.
I plan to start Home Assistant with some Matter devices to replace several of my near death Insteon controllers, and integrate a Home Assistant Green with my EISY Home. If anyone has any wisdom to share on their transition from Universal Devices (to do and not to do) I’d appreciate it.
Some initial devices I’m planning on starting out with are outlet plug-ins (dimmer & non dimmer), and something that does both low voltage relay and contact closure sensor (similar to Insteon 2450).
A few years ago I transited from UD to HA. Basically I excluded all my devices (mostly Zwave) from UD and then included them on HA. It was a lot of work, but worth it. While the customer support from UD is superb, and extremely helpful while on UD, I do not miss it as this forum has been very helpful and after several years my HA has been stable. On UD, while its forum is great and friendly, it was often not sufficient and I needed customer support to bring my Eisy back to life.
BTW I dumped Insteon years ago. Its supporters love it and swear by it, but my experience was not good. Nowadays, I have Zwave, Zigbee, Matter (wifi and thread) and wifi devices. HA is great.
I’m pretty much going to start the way you did. Its just that right now I only have x10 and Insteon. Everything has been very reliable, but they are ageing out. Replacements are pricey and there are some not so positive comments on their adoption of newer protocols. Overall UD has been great. It just seems they are having a tough time moving forward.
My “Green” arrives in three days along with a few Matter wifi plugs to set up my initial Hello World scene. I suspect Matter wifi should cover most of the connections I need, aside from door & leak sensors, though I suspect I have more to learn.
I’m looking forward to HA. From what I’ve read, especially being able to transition my Davis weather station and Ecobee over, they already have a lot of what I need covered.
UD is for Insteon enthusiasts and other technologies have been added. However Insteon remains the main reason for people to use UD. I have no experience with Insteon on HA, but other than Insteon HA is much better than Eisy. For a while I used the UD Integration on HA and kept my devices on UD, but when I transferred all to HA I did not look back. UD’s main business is for energy companies and their customers. The home automation is an add-on business for UD. I admire the devotion and customer support of UD but for people like me, HA is the present and the future.