RyanE

This is my #1 reason why I don't like cloud-based solutions.
They can stop working out from under you, on the whim of someone in accounting at a corporate office miles away from you, and no accountability from the manufacturer when this happens...
For garage doors, nothing beats hard-wired sensors and a hard-wired relay connection to the door open / close button on the wall-mounted GDO controller.
No latency issues, no cloud issues, no firmware version issues...  Easy to setup, you don't need anyone's permission, just a little soldering to a couple of contacts, and installation of door position sensors on the rails.
Mine ALWAYS works, and since I have 2 sensors on the door, I know when it's fully opened, fully closed, and somewhere in-between those 2 states, and knowing that allows me to also know definitively when it's opening vs. closing.
RyanE

Thanks Ryan. It is good to know that. I also do not believe I can tell the difference.   

Got a Z2IO, had a remote soldered while back got 2 nyce sensors and haven't looked back. 

Keep in mind that the HC800's audio outputs are not Hi-Res audio, so any services that provide Hi-Res audio will not be the best quality they can be when using the HC800's audio outputs (Qobuz, Deezer, etc.).
One of the big advances in the EA (Entertainment and Automation) series controllers is the Hi-Res audio support, as well as lower noise audio paths and other audio quality improvements.
I'm at an age (and the tinnitus doesn't help) where I can't really tell the difference, but if you're an audiophile or have invested in higher-end audio distribution, that may be important to you.
RyanE

This is my #1 reason why I don't like cloud-based solutions.
They can stop working out from under you, on the whim of someone in accounting at a corporate office miles away from you, and no accountability from the manufacturer when this happens...
For garage doors, nothing beats hard-wired sensors and a hard-wired relay connection to the door open / close button on the wall-mounted GDO controller.
No latency issues, no cloud issues, no firmware version issues...  Easy to setup, you don't need anyone's permission, just a little soldering to a couple of contacts, and installation of door position sensors on the rails.
Mine ALWAYS works, and since I have 2 sensors on the door, I know when it's fully opened, fully closed, and somewhere in-between those 2 states, and knowing that allows me to also know definitively when it's opening vs. closing.
RyanE

depending on what kind of garage door opener you have you may not even have to solder. I didnt. I have a hard wired relay from an io extender to the garage door main unit and a hard wired sensor from the garage door to the io extender (except for my basement garage door that has the sensor going through the security system). works perfect. Search on this forum as there are multiple threads on how to do this.
Although if you have the liftmaster you may have to solder to an opener.

This is my #1 reason why I don't like cloud-based solutions.
They can stop working out from under you, on the whim of someone in accounting at a corporate office miles away from you, and no accountability from the manufacturer when this happens...
For garage doors, nothing beats hard-wired sensors and a hard-wired relay connection to the door open / close button on the wall-mounted GDO controller.
No latency issues, no cloud issues, no firmware version issues...  Easy to setup, you don't need anyone's permission, just a little soldering to a couple of contacts, and installation of door position sensors on the rails.
Mine ALWAYS works, and since I have 2 sensors on the door, I know when it's fully opened, fully closed, and somewhere in-between those 2 states, and knowing that allows me to also know definitively when it's opening vs. closing.
RyanE

The EA-1 is newer but it doesn't have all of the outputs that the HC-800 does.  For example, dedicated audio outputs.  You need these to feed an amplifier to play music from music files on your network, or for streaming audio sources like Tidal, Amazon Music, Spotify (via Spotify Connect) or Apple Music (via Shairplay). The EA-1 also does not have ports for relays or sensors which you may, or may not, need. But the HC-800 does not give you on-screen info if you are on the latest Control4 OS, which is OS3.  I continue to use an HC-800 as my main controller but I have several other controllers as well, both HC-800s, an EA-3 and an EA-1. The main reason for the other controllers is IR blasting and audio outputs.

As Control4 is a dealer-installed system, your most direct route would likely be to get a Control4 dealer involved.
There are several here on the forums who do help owners get their systems 'under control'.
Once it's up and running, as a homeowner, you can purchase Composer HE, which lets you do most everything a dealer can do, except for adding new devices / drivers to the system, and some other related limitations (creating bindings, etc.).
RyanE

Not really. Today cellphones are bought out right w 0% financing 

Control4 does not provide tools to decrypt even your own drivers, and Control4 will not decrypt drivers for partners (dealers or developers).
RyanE

I'm mildly disappointed.
RyanE

https://imgur.com/PU9cHD4
RyanE

My take is once you've used one, there's no going back, you see the value.
So there's going to be few if any with a negative point of view.

There really are only 3 negatives.
1. my phones in my pocket - the retort - your phone your pocket, what about guests, kids, does all the family live that way
2. money - which is a negative to everything, and to each justify their own
3. wall cosmetics - well, maybe, but since it can replace a whole bunch of other wall clutter (alarm, tstat, switches, pool, etc), it's a poor argument.

Which they do now with 8inch T4s

I think the 'big win' for touchpanels for intercom use is that it's always in a consistent place, and on the 'right app'.
As an example, I can call my kitchen touchpanel from my phone when I'm in a different country using Control4's intercom, even if I've taken my iPad with me on vacation.
Those at home while I've got the iPad can still answer the chime doorstation calls, and don't have to find their phone, etc.
It's always on the right app, it's always on the right version, etc.
RyanE

I don't have any touchscreens. It's purely a cost thing. Just out of reach for my budget. They would be useful in the spots where I have alarms keypads now; laundry room coming from garage, master bedroom and walkout basement entrance. It's one of those things I can live without but if I had the coin to spare I would purchase 3 of them.

Had to count - personally I'm running 7 t3/t4 screens. 3 are certainnly the most heavily used, but 6 og them are used very regularly (as in multiple times per day). The 7th currently in the laundry room as half a test and obviously doesn't get used unless there's laundry to be done, which isn't every single day.
I recommend having at least one per 'heavy traffic' area. So well placed locations, usually where there's a 'hub' of rooms or hallways.
Most used screen in my house is on the side of a closet, which is in view of the kitchen, dining and living room, where the hallway to 3 bedrooms start and the stairs are.... more 'touches' a day then I can begin to count.
Second and third (depends on time of year which) are the one at the patio doors from the kitchen to outside and the one at the basement landing (open to hallway to laundry and bedrooms hall, rec area, family room and office/games room). Well behind the first, but still couldn't tell you off hand how many times a day it is used because it's too much to bother to count.
How many or exactly where will depend on house layout, and also (harder to pin-point) how the locations are being used. They're faster, more responsive (no way the iPad app is more responsive) and....ALWAYS READY.
 
CAN you do without - sure. But it's just not as convenient no matter how you cut it. If it's worth it, well that is up to the individual to decide.

Setting aside budget considerations.  Having a touch screen in each room that has audio makes for a much better user experience in our mind.  With more and more audio services being online, the interface is a critical piece when being able to select/browse music.  Drilling down through menus is so much nicer on a large screen or putting in username/passwords for online services.  These are things that can't be down with a wireless/wired lighting keypad.
Having the touch screens in large common areas is a great option too. 
I love my Control4 system and the DS2, but there are times when the phone doesn't ring when someone pushes the doorbell.  I find it works much more consistent with the touch screens.  When the phone does ring by the press of the doorbell, I have to answer the phone, then I have to unlock it for the intercom app to start and then it takes a few seconds for the video to start working.  It takes a few moments and sometimes, people have already walked away from the door.  
As much as people always say they have their phone with them.  That's usually not the case when people come home.  A lot of people put the phone down and walk away.  Sure it's somewhere in the house but if they need it fast, they can never find it.
As good as the Control4 app is, it takes a few moments to load the system settings each time it's opened.  If you are on the edge of your wifi coverage then app can sometimes take several attempts to reload if it detects the cellular connection, switches back to wifi, switches back to cellular connection.  
Having a touch screen that is always ready when you need it to be is huge win for user experience.

It’s not that hard to open the remotes including the 250”s as well, you just need to have the proper tools, I had opened 5 260 remotes, cleaned them from battery leaks, and changed the LCD on 3 of them as well.  If you have any iFixit kit for phones repair then you have it all …

You can send an email to universal_minidriver_dev@SnapOne.com, with the details of the mini app you would like to see created.
You must include the device-specific "App ID" for the service, and a link to the URL for the service, so that artwork can be obtained.
Follow this link for an exported knowledgebase article that shows how to obtain the "App ID" for the requested service:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h578590j8jyjdku/Obtaining App IDs for creating Universal Mini-Drivers.pdf
RyanE

The layout will always be a double high button on the bottom and 4 single high buttons above that.  Dealers cannot change that.  You can change the functionality of the buttons, but not the layout of the buttons. 

Actually still using this one in a guest bedroom - have expanded my C4 system quite a bit since this post.  No problems so far (other than it being dropped and shattering the screen - see here).
 

If I recall correctly, someone posted a repair of a remote that was doing something along these lines, where they opened it up and found that a surface mount capacitor had come off the board.
It's been quite a while, don't know if you'll be able to find it, and if you decide to take the remote apart, it's apparently pretty difficult to do without breaking the plastic tabs that hold the remote together, so you may want a backup remote (or a backup plan!).

RyanE

Agree,   As a customer I would run from this!