ISY994i IR/PRO: Network Home Automation Controller - Compatible with Alexa/Google Home

I bought this a year ago. I started to transition from the normal Insteon hub to this controller but got a little intimidated by the setup. That being said, I wasted a year using an Insteon hub with NO flexibility. Once I put on my big boy pants and jumped in, I regret not doing it sooner! It wasn’t hard once I started.You’ll have to buy a hub that plugs into the wall for the connection and control of Insteon and X10. X10 is a single direction communication and I have not found how to poll/query X10 devices. I stopped using them a while ago, but I wanted to try in case I needed to grab one in a pinch. On a side note - X10 does not dim easily. Dimming requires multiple dim commands to be sent. Oh well - X10 is very old technology.There are software modules that have to be purchased to expand the capabilities of the unit. For example, I’m using the climate/weather module. It’s a one time purchase that allows me to set up routines where inside lights come on earlier on overcast days based on the light level obtained from a local weather station. I’m sure there’s a way to accomplish this locally, but for the cost, it wasn’t worth buying more hardware. There’s another to allow for full remote access and Alexa integration. That one is a recurring cost ($12.00/year) which makes sense since this unit is acting like a mini server that does connect the UD hosting service.The unit will work right out of the box (once everything is linked up and hub is plugged in) without the extra modules. The modules are upgrades that just add to the functionality.The programming for scenes and actual scheduled programs was my initial intimidation factor. There are plenty of resources on-line beyond the on-line manual itself that really help. Once I started, it was much easier than I expected.The greatest benefit I see is the sunrise/sunset offset that can be used. I had to use another time zone for my Insteon hub so that lights would turn on before it got too dark. Due to this, my outside lights turned off too early. This system allows for whatever offset (on before or after sunset or sunrise or both) you want to use. Another benefit is a loss of power feature. If power goes out, there is a setting that runs the programs that should have run during the outage to bring everything the current lighting settings. Insteon - no go. It starts back at the time power was restored and does not do anything to ensure lights that were supposed to be lit are actually turned on.Customer service was great. I had a small issue yesterday and emailed the support desk. I got an answer 20 minutes later with the fix that I just happened to also find on-line. Great customer support.I have not used th IR part of this yet. I want to program my TV remote to run some scenes (control a lighting sequence), but just haven’t tried it yet.Once the unit is in place, there’s no need to touch it. Everything is remote access.That being said, Univerasal Devices does have a remote admin and dashboard that is java based. They have an applet that is available so the reviewers saying it won’t run under Windows or current browsers are uninformed. The applet has to be installed and launched from the desktop. It won’t run natively under any iOS device. I actually used a remote app to remote back to my PC a few times to make minor adjustments to the programs.All in all - this unit is great and worth the effort to set it up. If you’ve ever had the Insteon hub go out and be told you have to start over registering your devices and starting over with programs, you’ll really like this device to be able to back up, restore and control your house. Worth the money for me!!

The ISY994i is an excellent Insteon controller. The programming style exposed via the Java-based admin console is essentially an event-driven, algorithmic state machine (ASM), which is quite appropriate for the purposes intended. This style of control programming would be immediately familiar to anybody who has programmed a PLC (using relay ladder logic) or has done work at the microcode level on a CPU or other ASM-based controller. If this makes sense to you, then you'll have no problems getting the ISY994i to do your bidding. If not, then the out-of-box documentation will not help you, because there is none. You'll have to read up on the Universal Devices Wiki, but it should not be hard to pick up.My main beef with the ISY994i is that the administration and programming has to take place via a Java-based console. If you are on a Mac, where Java is no longer installed by default, then you're going to have to go through the trouble to install JRE, then fiddle with the sandboxing settings to get the console to work properly. The default sandbox settings will not allow the admin console to save backups, access the module store, etc.Use of Java means that you're not going to be able to program the ISY994i using your iPad or other non-Java capable client, which is a problem since it is in fact useful to program while moving around to check that things are working as expected. The console also insists on maximizing itself, taking over your entire screen. There is also no support for multiple users, nor is there support for multiple levels of access. This is not good at all, for obvious reasons.Despite the problems listed, I think the ISY994i does its job well and without fuss. I'd buy it again.

Cannot make it to work, was able to connect to the controller to the PC but no further. Does not recognize the line modem or x10 devices. Extremely poor documentation and software, does not provide a sample or how to connect the most basic configuration conroller-modem-x10 device. For almost $400 for the controller and modem, excuse me, I expect better.

Had to replace a defunct unit I had been using for about 6 years. This unit arrived as the basic ISY994i, not PRO, not IR, not X10. Not a big deal, but had to spring for the extra $30 to upgrade to PRO module. The other modules are extra too. Buyer beware, ask first. Would be 5, but -2 stars for misleading description that cost extra money to fix.

Would not reliably control the 2413S that I purchased with it and the interface is horrible. So I returned it. The 2412N I had before this still works fine.

I am using a Universal Devices ISY994i to replace an ActiveHome Pro CM15A to control X10 devices throughout my home. (It does not include motion detection by itself so I could not rate that.) I am impressed by the very extensive feature set (primary manual, which is called Cookbook, is over 660 pages), and by its reliability controlling X10. The user interface for programming the device is intuitive and capable - operational success feels like instant gratification. In addition, Universal Devices Tech Support has been excellent for me. When I reported a problem (the only one I've had so far), Tech Support responded in less than an hour and to everything I had written. Each interaction with the Tech Support person handling this problem was rapid, intelligent, well informed, and productive. Half the problem turned out to be my mistake and the other half was resolved in the next build (Release 5.0.15A).