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best online sources for X10 products?

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BDSampson

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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I almost fell for the X10.com Nov. 12 sales that were supposed to end at
midnight: 65% off this, 70% off that...what a surprise, they are still in
effect today, and these prices still seem to be high. Are there other
online sources for XCam Anywhere, motion sensors, and other products? Or
maybe different brands that work with X10 system? Thanks.

Ido Bar-Tana

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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X10 is pretty much as low as you can get. Try their overstock page for the
common modules.
Other than that, Try my page on my web:
http://www.geocities.com/ido_bartana

specifically:
http://www.geocities.com/ido_bartana/referenc.htm#Where to purchase X10

You may find some good deals on Ebay:
http://search.ebay.com/cgi-bin/texis/ebay/results.html?query=x-10&ht=1&maxRe
cordsReturned=300&maxRecordsPerPage=50&SortProperty=MetaEndSort

Although by the time the bids mature, and including the price of shipping,
the order reaches or exceeds the X10.com prices.


BDSampson <sam...@springnet1.com> wrote in message
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John Warner

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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Smart Home seems to have some reasonable deals on certain items (e.g. a
6-pack of IBM-logo'd lamp modules for $29.99 = $5.00 each).

http://www.smarthome.com/hotdeals.html

John

Fringe Ryder

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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I posted a full price-comparison a month or so ago. Do a DejaNews search
on me in this forum, and you'll find it. Depending on what you want and
how you want to buy it, your best bet is either....

x10.com if you actually want their special deal at the moment
smarthome.com if you get some of their special deals.
WorthDist.com if they have what you want.

WorthDist has the lowest regular prices, but not a large selection.

SmartHome has better regular prices than X10, and has some good deals (such
as the closeouts), plus they show equivalents that they have overstocks of.
So, for example, you could save a bit on the X10 brand of an appliance
module, or you could get one at about 40% off with the Magnavox label on
it.

X10.COM has the highest regular X10 prices I've seen outside of Radio
Shack. Even Eagle Hardware charges less (in their "security" section.)
BUT some of their deals are pretty good.

For example, I wanted some SlimFires and some new SlimLine wall switches.
A month ago, every full-priced item (remember, these are a high full-price)
got a free one of each. So, I got two SlimFires and two SlimLines, each at
$19.95 list and at least $15 elsewhere if they were even available, for
buying some other items at list. Effectively I spent perhaps $40 for stuff
that would cost me at least $90 elsewhere.

(One problem: The SlimFires don't have good range; we've gone back to the
larger AA-powered keychains. But that's not a pricing issue, just a
performance one.)

Their current deal (outside of the intro special) is a free SocketRocket
(incandescent lamp module) and a free PalmPad (like their generic X10-only
remote, but classier) with any purchase over $25. Unfortunately, our few
incandescent lamps all have integrated dimmers and we already have five
remotes... these things add up quickly... plus the item -I- currently need,
the RF Extender, is $65 at X10 and only $50 at SmartHome.

So these deals can be good, but they can be utterly useless too.

FWIW, by my count, the "Last Day for This Deal is X" tends to be extended
for around two weeks per deal. They may occaisionally lack such a special,
but I haven't noticed it. So I'm waiting, hoping a better one comes along.

"BDSampson" <sam...@springnet1.com> sez:
>I almost fell for the X10.com Nov. 12 sales that were supposed to end at
>midnight: 65% off this, 70% off that...what a surprise, they are still in
>effect today, and these prices still seem to be high. Are there other
>online sources for XCam Anywhere, motion sensors, and other products? Or
>maybe different brands that work with X10 system? Thanks.
>

- EMail must delete "delete" embedded in domain


John Warner

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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By the way - if you "subscribe" to the X10 newsletter on X10.com, you'll get
daily email with pointers to deals you can't get to from their regular web
site.

When placeing an order with X10.com, spend the time to get the best price
and promotional freebies - I've seen cases where the same item has 3
different prices and/or set of freebies depending on which page you order
from...

The promotions on X10.com right now are the worst they have been for a long
time (two freebies per order). Often, you get two freebies per item and the
freebies change every few days. I ordered three wall switches at the full
price of $12.99 each but got 3 EaglEye MD's ($24.99 each) and 3 Slimfires
($19.99 each) free with the order! The prices change regularly also - the
Home Director kit has been as low as $35 but is currently $49 less 12%...

John

BDSampson <sam...@springnet1.com> wrote in message
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Brian Karas

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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Since we are specifically addressing pricing...

Worthington _used_ to have the lowest prices, but we offer lower
pricing on most items. Yes, some are higher, some are the same...

Although it's not all on the webpage, we do have a very very large
selection of home automation pieces and components.

I also try to offer as much free advice and value-added services as I
have time for.

I suppose I may end up on a bit of a rant here, but for most newbies,
I would recommend shopping in the following order, for the following
reasons:

1) Smarthome.com
Their website kicks ass. Their prices are not the best, and we all
know that. But, they offer pictures of everything, excellent
descriptions, and good customer service policies. These things don't
come for free, so don't expect them to have the best prices all the
time, although they are very competitive. If you like being able to
see and read about what you are buying, and you like to shop on the
web, then buy here.

2) FutureStandard.com
We offer 90% of the products Smarthome offers, plus hundreds more that
they don't. Our target is the more advanced DIY'er who doesn't need
as many pictures or descriptions. We offer (IMO) excellent product
return/replacement polices, and a number of things that require some
assembly for the hardcore DIY and geek market. I also try to answer
every question I see that I can provide some intelligent non-biased
info on. This takes time, and time=money. If you have a lot of
questions, and/or want to know how or if things will work together,
ask me, and then buy from me :) If you like having the resources and
info that we are providing (mailing lists, tech tips, software, new
products, etc)...

3) WorthDist.com
Worthington offers a lot of products, and if their prices aren't
always the lowest, they're pretty damn good. You won't find many
posts from Worthington here answering questions or providing info.
Also, you won't find alot of FAQ-type info on their webpage either.
However if you don't need all of these things, then this is good place
to shop.

Most newbies, however, need some help getting started and this is
where SmartHome excels, and where I (hopefully) excel here. If you
support the people that support you, then things overall will work out
better.

BTW, I also feel compelled to state that while not mentioned above,
BassHome.com offers great prices and a lot of help on-line and
off-line as well. Their target is moreso security, based on their
background, but they do offer a lot of home automation stuff also.
Any newbie interested in security should camp out at basshome.com for
a few days and absorb the information provided there :)

[] [] Fringe Ryder <fri...@fringedeleteweb.com> was saying:

>WorthDist has the lowest regular prices, but not a large selection.

--
Check out the CPU-XA mailing list and tech-tips at FutureStandard.com
Home Automation and DataComm FAQ's, equipment, tools, and more available at:
http://www.FutureStandard.com

BDSampson

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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Thanks guys, for the suggestions. Does anyone know if items can be
purchased separately from their kits, such as the XCam regular camera or
XCam Anywhere camera without the video senders, or the PC interface without
the rest of the ActiveHome kit? Maybe I'm just not searching in the right
place.

Fringe Ryder

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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I knew you'd pop up.

I included Future Standard on my comparison before. I ran into a few
problems:

1) Terrible web implementation. It was down much of the time, and had lots
of dead links. As I said, this was perhaps a month ago (check the survey
for date), and it may now be better, but it was useless then.

2) As far as I could tell, which wasn't much, you have either a very poor
selection of X10 equipment or a very poor web design for getting the
customer TO it.

I sent an email about this, and never got a response.

Additionally....

Future Standard did not have the lowest price on any common item in the
survey. For example...

Lamp Modules: SmartHome has Magnovox (I think) units a buck under the
Future Standard price.

Appliance Modules (2 pin): Fernbrook is over a buck cheaper.

Future Standard also did not carry, or I could not find, many of the RF
units, Leviton, or PCS stuff in my survey.

In fairness, Future Standard does have the best price on the SwitchLink
rockers in the survey. However, I don't use those and doubt a newbie is
looking for a $70 switch.

(A note about the survey: I defined what -I- considered to be relevant and
common X10 equipment for MY house and surveyed it. Mostly real
rocker-action Decora switches and RF remotes, but also most of the basics.
There were about 20 items in it. Companies found included X10, SmartHome,
Future Standard, Fernbrook, HomeTech, and MouseHouse. Radio Shack doesn't
carry hardly anything, so they weren't included.)

- EMail must delete "delete" embedded in domain


Neil Cherry

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Nov 14, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/14/99
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On Sat, 13 Nov 1999 18:29:37 -0800, Fringe Ryder wrote:
>I knew you'd pop up.
>
>I included Future Standard on my comparison before. I ran into a few
>problems:
>
>1) Terrible web implementation. It was down much of the time, and had lots
>of dead links. As I said, this was perhaps a month ago (check the survey
>for date), and it may now be better, but it was useless then.

Brian has since fixed the web pages, they are working properly.

>I sent an email about this, and never got a response.

I've sent email to Brian (the info address on the page) and it worked
just fine (though I'm not saying that you did not have problems). I do
not work For Brian, just a satisfied customer.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry nch...@home.net
http://members.home.net/ncherry (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52 (Graphics GB)


Richard Malcolm-Smith

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Nov 15, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/15/99
to

Look on ebay - IBM have dumped there stock of the activehome units and
lots of people are auctioning them off for ok prices

hairremov...@gmail.com

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May 3, 2013, 7:34:48 AM5/3/13
to
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