Trying To Decide Which High-End Automation System We Should Use - Crestron Or Control4?

As we are getting more into the Home and Commercial automation field, we need to decide on what should be our top tier product. The two candidates in the forefront are Crestron and Control4 (we had looked at Savant, and Elan but something about them didnt really click). Had anyone installed them and can give input? Maybe a different system? This would be for commercial use as well as high-end homes (15ksqft and larger).

Some of the pluses and minuses we have come up with:

Crestron - Dealer only and harder to become a dealer so a user cant purchase upgrades elsewhere

Control4 - While dealer only, you can purchase items from Best Buys Magnolia and there are tons of dealers.

Crestron - Harder to set up but more flexible

Control4 - Easier to set up and easier to give your end user the ability to make minor changes themselves

Crestron - More powerful but a bit more expensive

Control4 - About 10% cheaper then Crestron

For both of them, we may end up using Lutron lighting

Thank you

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Shannon Davis

IPVMU Certified

Ahh to be in the residential or even commercial market in this day and age and do automation. I did this back in the 90's with X-10 devices and it was a real pain. Obviously with the technology available today this is much easier, robust and definitely reliable. I have seen the two products you mention but no experience. I have dealt with high end PLC systems than can do anything and everything which is essentially what these systems are. They just make the programming of how to control what much simpler instead of Ladder Logic.

Just a thought but is it worth saving 10% on the Control4 if you must buy from Best Buy Magnolia and thus would be competing with many dealers. Also how long is Best Buy going to be around? You can easily overcome the 10% price savings.

I wish you well in your new endeavor.

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Undisclosed Integrator #3

In reply to Shannon Davis

I believe BB will be here for the long run. Once thought to be killed by Amazon for sure, now they have a partnership, who would have thunk it (at least on the TV side). Alot of people still need to see and touch electronics before buying, especially TVs. With price matching and even free 2 day shipping, BB is here to stay.

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Undisclosed Integrator #4

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #3

Magnolia actually sells very little C4 now. I believe the are focusing more on Savant. If you look for C4 dealers in your area, most likely your local Mag store has only authorized status, which means they sell less than $75k a year cost.

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Undisclosed Integrator #1

In reply to Shannon Davis

Thank you. My concern with best buy, was more that a consumer can go buy it also not direct to dealer only.

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Undisclosed Integrator #2

I have used Control4 and I like it. I have found it to be very reliable and no real issues. That being said make sure you have a solid network as a backbone, most issues seem to be related to that, and always check driver availability before installing a component.

I am using the Zigbee switches/dimmers but if you are doing new builds they also have hardwired options.

I do not have any direct experience with Crestron to compare.

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Undisclosed Integrator #4

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #2

I cannot plus one this enough! I can't tell you how many times we get called out to remove a Control4 system and after a day on site they love it again! Bad networks are the bane of any automation system, and they are all too common! In fact, if you go Control4 I would HIGHLY recommend the Pakedge cert they offer be one of your first steps for your techs. Even if you don't use pakedge that's a really valuable class.

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Undisclosed Integrator #4

Control4 is a great product, and some of the best integrations you can do involve their lighting. I would recommend strongly that if you adopt C4 you at least try their lighting, it's pretty bullet proof with tons of integration potential. If you think you'll have a higher mix of commercial installations do Crestron. As you stated, your biggest issue is going to be programming. Control4 programmers are pretty common, Crestron not so much. In my market they get paid with bags of gold. All that said, in my market C4 is definitely a bit over saturated. Be prepared to spend alot of time and money doing a certified showroom if you want to stand out. I'd consider Savant as well, as they do have a nice product but don't have the competition issue C4 does.

Full Disclosure: We are a C4 shop and we dabble with URC Total Control and Savant as well.

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Undisclosed #5

IPVMU Certified

I sent my brother-in-law your question, since HA is his main gig. This was his response:

C4 is all we sell. The person asking about the systems makes good points.

Creation will be more customizable, but far more difficult to program. Because it takes much longer to program it is far more expensive. Its not uncommon for us to be 1/3-1/2 less vs Crestron for a comparable system simply because of the more expensive parts and the 2-4 times programming charges.

With so many people deciding that “ok” is good enough, and the proliferation of IOT/DIY smart home products out there, it’s going to be an uphill battle getting Crestron into anything but the highest end projects.

The only other point that would have me concerned is Crestron not pushing residential anymore. They don't even bother with CEDIA or CES. They have stated their only desire is ultra high end and commercial.

On the commercial side though, C4 can’t even begin to compare. I struggle finding a simple and elegant solution using C4 in bars/rest. We do have third party software and hardware to help now, but again we’re adding cost to get to the same spot.

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Undisclosed Integrator #4

Tell him to look into SAVI, it's great for bars/restaurants and runs on a C4 platform. It's the system top golf uses.

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Undisclosed Integrator #1

Thank you.

We were looking to use this in houses that are spending $75k+ in low voltage so Crestron would be great with that.

I guess it's worth maybe carrying both.

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Michael Miller

Elan Home Systems is another option. It's been a while from my AV days but Elan and Crestron Systems was our go to.

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Undisclosed Integrator #1

In reply to Michael Miller

Which would you say has kept up with the times more?

Thank you

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Sean Nelson

Nelly's Security

probably an amateur question but what does crestron and control 4, etc. have over an extremely much less expensive home automation system like samsung smarthings paired with an alexa? i can turn on my tv, listen to sonos and have all the regular home automation like lights, garage door, thermostat etc., arm my alarm

In other words, what can these systems do that you cant with a basic cheaper zwave hub?

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Michael Miller

Its all about reliability. Smarthings works but it might only work 9 out of 10 times. Crestron and Control 4 will work all the time.

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Sean Nelson

In reply to Michael Miller

Nelly's Security

i expected an answer like this. However, I dont find that to be true at all. I think the problems that most people have are during the initial installation process and that probably has alot to do with DIY user error.

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Michael Miller

Having worked with Crestron, Control 4, ELan and more plus having used all kinds of Zigbee and Z-wave products I have to disagree.

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Undisclosed #5

IPVMU Certified

My experience as a HA end user who 10 years ago bought a top of the line c4 system from a family member (see my first post), is more inline with Sean than Michael.

When I got the system initially, c4 and crestron and a few other similar, channel controlled offerings were the only game in town. But slowly, especially in the last 3 years, their functionality has generally been surpassed by direct manufacturer offerings.

It may be that c4 et al are still more reliable, at their much higher price points one would expect that, but the biggest hurdle is configuration as Sean says.

IMHO, C4 et al are being disrupted and are under pressure to justify their model. Though I don’t think they are in imminent danger of being displaced altogether, as the niche market will always be better served by them.

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David Matyas

I have dealt with HA for a while and I belive that I can mimic almost everything the higher end brands can do with the cheaper stuff and for myself I would do that. (the exceptions are Intercom and nice GUI). BUT as an installer I can't feal comfortable with these other brands and their support

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Sean Nelson

Nelly's Security

I think there will probably always be a market for this stuff for the high end home buyer who wants everything completely setup for them. Folks who wont flinch at the cost of a $20-30k or up system.

However, for anyone who is remotely cost conscious, i agree with you, this is being disrupted.

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Undisclosed Integrator #7

•Jan 07, 2019

Unreliability ( customer calls) kill dealer interest of installing non-pro systems. Biggest culprit - randomly/regularly pushed firmware updates by cloud based providers resulting in customer calling dealer. Pro systems are reliable because they are predictable; dealer controls firmware update decision (“not cloudy”). There is no substitute. Customers find is worth it.

And yes, advances in cloud voice are beyond C4 & Crestron & ELAN; and all have Alexa Skills available for integration. Win, win.

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Undisclosed Integrator #6

I have not worked to set up any of this so I am not the best to answer. However, we use Crestron regularly for the ability to view video of installed CCTV on any TV in the house by only having one viewing PC. Additionally Crestron allows them to do all of the stuff they do via mobile and tablet applications which I am sure is common now but was not the case 5-10 years ago. It is possible these systems are just the way it was before smart devices were everywhere.

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Jeff Dallmann

•Jan 07, 2019