Why We Use Lutron
Between Bruce, Seth, and I, we have around 60 years of combined experience in lighting controls.
We’ve witnessed numerous trends, transitions, and unsuccessful experiments over the years. While some other companies (we won’t name names) often made us feel like we were beta testing their latest products, Lutron has remained remarkably consistent. They remain the undisputed leader in lighting control, offering the best balance of luxury products, design-friendly finishes, and budget-conscious control solutions.
Lighting control has changed so much over the last few years. With the proliferation of LED lighting solutions, the lighting control space has completely transformed from being a fairly straight-forward category to a very complex category.
Dimming technology can be forward phase, reverse phase, ELV, MLV, 0-10V, DMX, Dali, and a whole host of other alphabet soup acronyms. It can be mind-numbing and hard to keep up with, particularly for folks that don’t spend all day thinking about lighting control.
Luckily, we spend all day focused on lighting control and know that Lutron offers solutions for nearly every lighting control challenge, with products that elevate the entire category.
A Variety of Solutions
Lutron has a few different families of products. On the low-end is Caseta, which is the direct to customer lighting control product. It’s set up through the Caseta app and is designed to be very straightforward. If you’re comfortable with a DIY project and the limitations, it’s a solid choice. We find that the lack of customization, limited color choices, and the low maximum device count is too limiting for most of our projects, but it’s still a nice product family for the right client.
The next level up is Radio RA 3, an updated version of the highly popular Radio RA 2 platform. Radio RA 3 requires a professional installation company like us for full functionality, and brings with it greater scalability and customization options over Caseta. The keypad finishes are much improved and can be custom-engraved, plus you gain access to the Suunta dimmer and keypad line, which looks fantastic.
For luxury projects, we lead with the Homeworks product line. Homeworks includes all the benefits of Radio RA 3, plus numerous classic keypad options, such as the sleek Palladiom line and the timeless Alisse line. It also opens you up to the Ketra line of light fixtures, which is the best LED lighting fixture on the market today.
One advantage of leading the lighting control industry is that other control vendors go out of their way to ensure compatibility. We integrate Lutron products with our Alarm.com, Crestron, and Sonos installations. It makes our life as integrators a lot easier, as we feel confident that it will “just work.” We don’t have to jump through hoops to make different systems work together.
Lutron also has deep connections with the design/build community, so our interior designer and builder friends can feel confident that they have the right solution for them too. With an array of colors, finishes, and designs, Lutron controls integrate seamlessly with any décor. It’s a luxury investment built to last, backed by a brand that’s been an industry leader for over six decades.
Lutron is the gold standard in luxury lighting control systems, trusted by integrators, homeowners, and designers alike for its reliability, elegance, and unmatched user experience. We’re proud to be Lutron dealers and love hosting in our Ketra-certified showroom in downtown Vancouver. Lighting is best experienced in person, and we are the only Ketra showroom in southwest Washington, so come see us.
