Why the price increase on unboxed LZW31-SN? Plans for other unboxed?

Digital Lounge
#1

Have been slowly investing in Inovelli switches, already spent about $600, have another $600+ to go. Just noticed that the price for the unboxed LZW31-SN just went from $29.97 to $32.97. I realize $3 (10%) isn’t a whole lot, until I multiply that by 16 (the # of additional dimmers I need to buy). What’s the reason for the price increase?

Also, are there any plans on offering unboxed for the other switches? When purchasing an entire house worth of switches, all of that packaging and instructions aren’t needed. How about repeat customer discounts, referral bonuses, or quantity discounts (5+, 10+)?

2 Likes
#2

Hey @bradwest414 – great question. The $29.97 price was never meant to be a permanent price for these and we also introduced refurbished switches into the mix and put those at $29.97. They’ve been tested to work perfectly so I’d say it’s actually more of a guarantee than the unboxed as those come straight from the factory.

As for other unboxed options, not at this time. The reason why these are unboxed is because we ordered way too many Holiday Packs and so we just started breaking them apart to sell the components individually (hence the unboxed).

We don’t plan on making that mistake again, so I wouldn’t count on any more unboxed options coming.

Do you feel the value for what you’re getting is too low compared to the competition (serious question)? If so, we can see about ways to remove options or take out other components to get the costs down – the fact of the matter is we just can’t afford to purchase 100’s of thousands of devices at a time to get the big quantity breaks that other companies get so we have to compete in other avenues, which has been our via our firmware.

Hope that gives some context – we do try to offer sales every now and then – I’d encourage you to sign up for our email list and/or check the community every so often – I try to keep up to date.

Thanks again for the support and have a great day!

3 Likes
#3

I could have sworn the refurbished Red Dimmer was $31.97 this morning :slight_smile: No issues buying refurb now that there’s a true price differentiation.

…Ahhh that makes sense! Now I feel like I got a deal! :money_mouth_face: I was kinda scratching my head wondering how much packaging cost haha

Taken slightly out of context, but same. LOL! This is the real reason I asked. Don’t ask, don’t receive, right? :wink:

Serious answer: If they were more expensive, I’m not sure I would have placed my second order earlier this month. The time investment in how to leverage the “differentiating” features & firmware feels comparatively high and has certainly been a source of frustration.

[rant]
I had to teach myself about the many ways electricians can vary 3-way wiring setups in one brand new home. Finally have all but 1 wired correctly.

Red dimmers are causing 3 of my rooms with new LED light fixtures (not bulbs) to stay on dimly when turned off, which didn’t happen with my old Cooper Z-Wave dimmers they replaced. Even though each fixture is 30W according to mfg, I guess I’m left paying $15/circuit and more time trying to wire in bypasses?

In another instance, the cheap recessed light bulbs are causing that issue, and I was excited to eventually replace the bulbs with Hue and disable internal relay, but have recently been reading about what a headache that actually is to successfully program, and the LED functionality that is lost.

In my 4-way setup, sometimes the light turns off immediately after it turns on to full brightness, but it depends on how the 3 other dumb switches are set. More time wasted troubleshooting & forum reading… still not sure if it’s a wiring issue or firmware bug?

But if it was firmware, I can’t OTA those updates without buying a $45 Z-Wave Stick (and more time), I also have to worry about checking back in here for driver updates that are different from Hubitat built-in ones. That’s weird by the way, why would they not use the ones from the manufacturer?
[/rant]

I also acknowledge that - vs other z-wave switches - I’ve saved $ not having to buy Aux switches (at a small feature cost). And that I can set dimmer minimums, and I have faith that one day I’ll get the kinks out and figure out how the heck to get notifications to work. I appreciate that the basic switch operation is mindless - none of my guests has questioned how to turn on/off the lights with your switch.

Rant out of the way, I enjoy the flexibility and features of the switches, and in general, I think your products are pretty cool. More Inovelli switches are in my future :slight_smile:

TL/DR: I’m cheap and not afraid to inquire about deals; The price point seems “just right”; Frustrations with the red dimmer, but I’m working through it.

#4

Are you using the dimmers in a non-neutral setup? Just curious because you said that it is a “brand new home” depending on where you live current NEC requires a neutral in all switch boxes.

If you are using existing dumb switches you must have a neutral, correct?

#5

Brand New & all boxes have neutral. Ran into several different wiring scenarios of where the line came in and where/how the 3 way loads were connected. Also, frustratingly, the line sometimes was located in the “opposite” box of where I had envisioned the smart switch to be :-\