It has been nearly 18 months since we made the switch from Iris to SmartThings. With no regrets and a bright future ahead, we have never looked back. Things have changed over those 18 months, to be sure. For Iris anyhow, despite how much they have changed, they have remained the same. Promises of a better and brighter… Read More »
Engadget today published results of their research of the top 20 Smart Home systems and named SmartThings as it’s recommended pick. The news shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who uses Iris, but the real shock was that Wink was named runner-up. Sadly, Iris did not even get a mention. No system is perfect, but Samsung has chosen to open… Read More »
In the first part of this series we chronicled the instability, the frustration, and inability to achieve any sort of stability with the second generation of Lowe’s Iris. Problems seemed to be everywhere. Some issues were serious, like presence sensors dropping off the system and scenes failing to run to completion. The presence sensor instability had a nasty habit of setting the sirens off at 3am, or… Read More »
After growing increasingly frustrated with the evolution of Iris V2, the IrisUsers family has decided to part ways with Lowe’s. Don’t get me wrong, I love Iris, and so does the family, or at least we used to. V1, the original Iris was great, especially for its time; plus it was everything that the new Iris is not. It was stable,… Read More »
If you haven’t already heard the news, Lowe’s today sent an e-mail to all users with an active Iris V1 hub. The news wasn’t good. The Iris V1 shutdown is scheduled to take place on June 30th. Like the Revolv hub, Iris V1, the original but more feature complete and stable of the Iris systems will die June… Read More »
Cellular data service for Iris has been discontinued according to a recently e-mailed announcement from IrisByLowes. The notice warned that on June 30th all cellular backup service plans would be turned off. It also stated that current USB modems will not be supported but new modems will be free when the replacement service is launched. In their Cellular FAQ, IrisByLowes suggests some costly workarounds for users who want or need to have… Read More »