Planning a new room and likely looking at Control4. 

 

Which lighting works seamlessly with this platform? I'd need RGBW downlights, along with control of RGBW LED strips.

I have been using Ctec mirror range over 1 year. They are doing great

Cool switches (thanks), but not at all what I need.

Only a few months late to the party on this one Marc, but I've had good results with Philips Hue and Control4.  Downlights, bulbs, strips and lamps, they all work with C4.

Yeah I think C4 is likely my way forward in a new build. 

Who's your retailer/installer in VIC? Have you needed any changes or updates to your programming since initial install?

How difficult was that and was it done remotely or did you have to have someone back out to do so?

I'm using Carlton Audio Visual for my C4.  The guys were great at getting it setup just right for me.  I'm a few hours away from Melbourne, so after the install of hardware any of the fine tuning and changes were easily done remotely. Note that I'm currently only using it for AV control, lighting and HVAC.

 

I've had maybe two changes made by CAV so far, both related to lighting. One was to have a lighting scene created, which you can normally do yourself if you have the 4Sight license, but C4 was having problems with their 'When > Then' service working at the time so they did this for me. 

 

The other change was after adding additional lights to my setup.  These weren't appearing automatically (not sure if they are meant to?) so couldn't access them via C4.  Both of these changes were done inside of 24 hours, I just emailed them with what I needed and they update it remotely. For small changes and updates there is no cost, and assume this is the case for most installers.  Super easy.

 

If it helps, I was very apprehensive about moving to Control4 initially, mainly because I wanted to maintain 'control' of everything in my system and make changes whenever I wanted to.  It turned out to be  a non-issue, it just works (well) and is more powerful and customisable then any other system I've had.  Plus compatibility and support for devices seems to be second to none.

Thanks so much - exactly the info I was hoping for. 

I've been with URC for a couple of years now, but sadly they are lacking plugins for some critical platforms I use (LIFX lighting, mainly). There's no dispute C4 has the widest compatibility of all (including LIFX).

 

I'm starting to lean towards Hue now though too, as LIFX as a company is a bit unstable, changing hands a few times. It doesn't give me confidence to reinvest heavily in the brand. I've replaced 3 generations of LIFX in this house already, and there was no upgrade (or discount) path to do that.

 

I know the C4 and CAV guys - so will definitely shortlist this for new build.
Cheers!