RadioRa2 Select?

[Costa]

smart_home_guy, this is my opinion only on Lutron's strategy/market path:
One difference is size of the job. Caseta is limited to 49 switches (50 total devices includes the smart bridge). RA2 Select is up to 100, then off to RA2 (shift from DIY to dealer/service providers) for 200 devices and finally to HomeWorks up to 10k devices. RA2 Select provides the DIY project the ability to scale larger than Caseta, and still do the programming. All on their website so...

Additionally RA2 doesn't use the Lutron app so programming is considered only for dealers/integrators not a DIY effort. Backward compatibility to existing RA2 products allows a DIY upgrade in an existing home without a 'forklift' replacement of the original switch investment. I suspect a few dollars will be dropped from the Select dimmers when the full system is posted and starts shipping to help bring in more DIY folks and address the gap in pricing from Caseta to RA2 Select. App based products, integration with devices like Alexa, etc. for DIY integration, etc. are all a path forward for Lutron with the new customer expectations of 'apps for all'.

So basically the large jump from a room or two type project they've targeted with Caseta to a full RA2 has an interim step. Add to that the demographics of today's Millennial group who seem to be plugged permanently to their smartphone and you'll need an app based product. Caseta provided the shake out in a smaller impact size (less exposure to problems) to customers for Lutron of the new app based approach (Beta customers if you stretch it's meaning a tad). Seeing the demand and gathering the desired feature upgrades of that trial group was important for Lutron to then touch the RA2 residential market product, hence Select. Leave no one behind that is a current RA2 customer, provide a legacy bridge to the new app based products, keep the branding as well that is very successful for Lutron and you start to understand a very thoughtful strategy is being implemented that keeps the customer in mind and adds 'stickiness' to the installed base. There are a few more items I've noted in multiple forums, so I'll leave the rest of the fine tuning of differences to Lutron folks and experts in this forum.

BTW, I don't work for Lutron. I have been working in high tech for 25+ years including for companies that build the internet. I wish they all used this type of approach to migrate customers from legacy products to their new releases. Goodness knows I've tried evangelizing this approach to the ones I've worked for, they all seem to make the same mistake the first few times and then finally get with it. Lutron hit it right IMHO, take a bit of grumping about speed to market up front (read other forums) but in reality execute on a smoother path forward, the normal change management cycle is shortened. I suspect Select will quickly ramp up in sales for the DIY target market.

[SDR-Mike]

DIY homeowner here, halfway though my whole-house conversion to RadioRA2... still glad I went with the “real” version but I’m curious:

I am trying to make sense of RA2 Select and how much money it really saves. Aren’t you just replacing a Main Repeater and a Connect Bridge with the RA2 Select Bridge / Repeater?

Is this the only difference? Still uses the same (expensive) RA2 dimmers right? If so, it can’t be saving more than a few hundred $$, equivalent to the cost of a few dimmers at most. Is this really what people wanted? To save a few hundred $$ on a multi-thousand dollar project? (At the expense of key features like real keypads?)

Maybe I am confused... (please help!)

You are on track with this thinking. Also realize the programming costs. If you are going DIY, then it wasn't a consideration. For those paying someone for the programming knowledge, it can run a large sum of money.

[smart_home_guy]

Costa, SDR-Mike,

Thanks for your comments. It's starting to make more sense. I was focused mostly on the per-device cost, where RA2 Select seems to offer only a small benefit over RealRA2 if you're doing more than a few rooms, but there are also benefits in terms of programming simplicity, which impacts cost (professional install) and accessibility (DIY install).

Are there new dimmers being released with RA2 Select? I don't see any listed under the Lutron website's RA2 Select page...

[SDR-Mike]

Are there new dimmers being released with RA2 Select? I don't see any listed under the Lutron website's RA2 Select page...

All the dimmers and fan controls will work. Adding the new RRD-6ND to the mix for both RA systems at $139.00. Keypads and sensors and rollback are full RA2 only, as are the special devices for Inclusive users.

[Treason101]

In case of hardware failure or power surge, having a backup of the programming would be nice on a 100 device system; avoiding re-programming and a pissed off client. With the launch of RA2 select, is there any way of saving the programming from the RA2 select repeater?

[SDR-Mike]

In case of hardware failure or power surge, having a backup of the programming would be nice on a 100 device system; avoiding re-programming and a pissed off client. With the launch of RA2 select, is there any way of saving the programming from the RA2 select repeater?

All Lutron products have a 10 year non-volatile memory. Outages longer than that, the lighting control's memory is the least of your worries. For the power surge, I would defer to the tech support guys, but their should be a way to protect the RA2 Select main.

[Treason101]

Also, does RA2 select have the capability of fade and delay timers like is RadioRA2? Example: Living room dimmer is set to Delay: 1 minute, then Fade: 0% over 30 secs?

[Elevate]

I'm interested to hear this as well. I've seen all kinds of hardware talk, even sat through the Pro Webinar, but I can't seem to get any info on RA2 select software features. Delay and Fade are critical for one room media/theater solutions. After the retirement of the Spacer system, making this happen for $500-600 bucks or so has been impossible.

[Ehome]

How about hardware failures? But I answer the answer to Treason101's question will be: no offline backup.

[Ehome]

I still don't feel convinced about the reason for existence of this new Select line.
Lifting up the 50 device limit in Caseta would have the same effect, with less confusion.
No keypads and sensors: It's not on the same level with RadioRa in hardware neither feature-wise.
No need of software for programming only an app: it's like Caseta.
Devices available only from distributors not from retail, but no need for programming. Hm. Ok, this is a hybrid of both, so dealers can make business on the hardware but not on the programming (Like Caseta PRO devices)? Maybe, however if how many DIY guys will NOT hire the dealer for designing/'programming' at a case on a more than 50 devices system, even if it's something what can be done in the app.

We talk and exchange personal opinions about the justification of the Select, but I would like to see a really persuading brochure from Lutron, comparing the Caseta, Caseta PRO, RadioRA2, RadioRA2 Select systems. (I don't mention Homeworks since it plays in a whole different league)