zlacker

Yep same. Wall switches work fine. Manual thermostats work fine. Fuck spending all that money on such trivia and time keeping it programmed and updated and dealing with stuff like the subject of TFA.

I walk into a room, I turn the lights on. I leave the room, I turn the lights off. I have no need to operate lights in rooms that I'm not in.

>>SoftTa+(OP)
> Wall switches work fine

Yes but it's nice to have extra functionality.

I use the wireless Hue dimmer switches, the batteries last a long time. I have one on my coffee table... it's nice to dim lights for multiple lamps from the couch, or adjust the colour temperature. My wall switches have no dimming dial, nor do my lamps. I can't go back to non-dimmable lamps.

>>SoftTa+(OP)
Writing that blog post probably took more time than I spend on light switches in a year. Now buying, installing, configuring, fixing and tweaking takes probably 100x times more. Not to mention time spent on a shrink coach after these things drive you mad.

>>exodus+bC
Dimmers can be fitted where existing light switches are, and lamps can be fitted with dimmers, either mounted in or on the lamp, or online with the power cable.

It's just a different type of consumer luxury or hobby, unnecessary but also fun and rewarding.

I do hardware modifications and small electrical upgrades / changes myself, it's cheaper and I find it enjoyable and rewarding. Most recently I fit a dimmer to a high velocity ducted workshop fan, so now it has full variable speed control, as it's quite powerful and all the CFM isn't always required or desirable.

>>SoftTa+(OP)
This thing is basically a hobby, so I understand if you have no interest with home automation. That being said, I prefer using smart wall switches than smart light bulbs. I think smart light bulbs are wasteful (more expensive than standard light bulbs, and you will be throwing out a perfectly good zigbee unit just because the LED died). The only benefits seems to be dimming and color changing, but I don't have the need for them because I can just use some night lights for that purpose (also with ZigBee switches). With smart wall switches, everything still behave exactly like before (heck, you can even still use your old switches, just wire them into the small ZigBee switch module), but now they're accessible for tinkering via Home Assistant.