Home automation - why?
I am failing to see the interest in having tons of IOT devices to manage, connect, segment, etc… Why would someone want to do it? To be clear, I have friends deep in it but… I still don’t understand. Can anyone try to explain the magic I am failing to see?
Edit: Thank you all for sharing your experiences! The ones I found more interesting are those that can easily translate in reducing or tracking consumption. The rest I hear but makes more sense when I look at it from an hobbyist perspective.
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Unpopular opinion: home automation is overblown. Except for the disabled or edge cases the convenience these solutions add are comparable to the inconvenience they bring (added expensive, harder to maintain, repair, replace, etc).
I'll get out of bed to turn off the lights.
Ironically, IKEA of all companies has done it right. Their smart lighting is price comparable to dumb lighting, and works out of the box. Even pairing an additional bulb to an older controller is fairly painless.
Under the hood, however, they are using ZigBee. This means they are cross compatible. You're not locked into their ecosystem.
Basically, you can have something as simple as a drop in lamp bulb, that can be turned off or on with a little remote. If you want more capabilities, it will scale with your desires, including playing nicely with other brands.
Most heavily advertised home automation is a steaming pile of shit. It's mostly to try and lock you into their ecosystem and either sell your data, or show you adverts. Hobbyists can go DEEP. There is a useful middle ground however. It just gets quite buried in the noise.
I don't think that's unpopular at all. I think there's a handful of vocal folks who are really into their hobby. Props to them, but the effort/reward ratio isn't there for most of us.