Lutron LUTRON CASETA PD-6WCL-WH Lutron Caseta Smart

I got hooked into home automation after solving a few very basic quality of life issues that dramatically improved a few problems in our home. I debated heavily between smart bulbs and smart switches before I purchased anything. After trialing these Lutron Casetas, I'm going (almost) all-in with Lutron! I own a 1985 home and was interested in modernizing the general lighting experience as one of my next projects. Lutron has an excellent reputation in the smart switching market and after using them, it's for a very good reason. These switches are a perfect addition where you want manual push-button light dimming capabilities. They can act as "fast" on/off, graduated dimming to specific levels or in my case, can be highly automated with external home automation platforms. They can also be used in 3-way applications, however, this requires the addition of a Pico remote. This makes sense to me so you don't get "smart tech fighting smart tech" in your lighting circuits. When do you want to avoid a dimming switch? In applications such as pumps, fluorescent ballasts, garbage disposals, most outdoor security lighting, locations you might use a smart bulb and ceiling fans. Basically, anything that isn't designed specifically to be electrically dimmed or lowered in voltage. These applications are better served by Lutron's on/off switches or even dumb on/off switches. The installation of these switches are fairly straight forward. You need a basic understanding of electricity, including the "load" wire and the "hot" wire. These particular Lutron switches don't require a neutral wire, but if you're going into smart switches, be aware that some models require it. I strongly recommend using Wago connectors for your retrofit, they are light years beyond traditional wire nuts. Other than this, installation is straight forward and requires only a few basic hand tools. I had a little bit of difficulty in "tight" switch boxes, but made it work as these are generally fairly slim smart switches. If you have appropriate dimming-capable bulbs, you will immediately be greeted by a super-fancy "dim-on" and slightly slower "dim-off" function when you press the on or off buttons. This is a "luxurious" experience out of the box and is one of the reasons I went Lutron. Let's talk about bulbs. If you're still pondering a smart bulb for your particular lighting application, this dimming switch might not be for you. In general, this switch will work best with a "dumb" bulb that can be properly dimmed. Smart bulbs don't handle the dimming effect properly, they aren't really "compatible" from a technology standpoint. So you really have to figure out your strategy going in and you might be better served by Lutron Aurora or Lutron's true on/off switches. Likewise, I've discovered in my installations that I needed to change some of my bulbs to ones that can be dimmed. You'll know this is the case if you have problems with "strobing" on power off or bulbs that don't fully turn off. In my case, this didn't really irk me because I'm adding dimming functions where it has never existed before. Pairing this dimming switch with the Lutron hub is crazy easy. Just press a button while you're adding the switch in the app. Likewise, I use Home Assistant as my home automation platform. Adding these switches was equally easy there. The current integration is super slick and requires very little actual effort. I have three rules for "critical infrastructure" in my home, which I'd classify lighting as exactly that. First, the technology must work intuitively, like a normal light switch would. Second, it has to work without any fancy "server smarts" or special networks in place. Lastly, it has to integrate with a home automation solution of my choice, I don't want to be forced into a particular cloud solution or app. These Lutron switches fit exactly these criteria and is part of the reason I didn't go with smart bulbs. For examples of how I use these smart dimming switches? I have motion activated lighting in my bathrooms, closets, entryway and stairwell. I no longer need to proclaim, "Turn the lights off" as I can now make that decision in an automated and unobtrusive way. I use the dimming functions to turn my bathroom lights on to heavily dimmed level during certain hours, so I'm not "blasted" by bright light if I use the bathroom at 3AM. I can keep a low power and dimmed "always on" outdoor security light, and then light everything up to full blast when my security camera's AI analysis detects a human. (No more rain or snowfall triggering a lighting "disco palace" in my outdoor lighting!) I also can much better tune the "mood" of my room lighting using scene concepts with this and other technologies. If you're in the market for smart switches, these should definitely be up for your consideration. A common complaint is that they are expensive, but they are incredibly reliable, fast and operate without any other technologies. They will add value to your home since they are true "infrastructure" and you can claim "home automation ready" should you go to sell your home. I am very glad I went the Lutron route overall and this review explains a bit of why I went "all in" with Lutron's smart switching.