[Archived]

a good bang for the buck. Sorry. But you upgrade old, heavy and outdated Crestron equipment.

Unless, you also update/upgrade the Crestron programming, using the iPad will just be cosmetics.

However, having said that, I went for the upgrade to iPads and I and my wife love it. It is much more compact than the 10 inch Crestron screens we had before and also a heck of a lot less in weight. Our Crestron panels were old enough (2007) that we could no longer replace the batteries. So, unless, the panels sat on the charging base, they became useless in just a few minutes because the batteries went dead.

I should add that we had some Crestron programming updates done at the same time, so our system has become a lot more useful.

Overall cost was about +/- $3500 plus the cost of 2 iPad Mini’s bought on eBay. So, say about $4,000 – is this worth it to you? That is a question you have to answer for yourself.

For us, we do not regret having spent the money.

And, for what it is worth, you could use the iPad for other tasks as well. We do not. Ours are dedicated to the Crestron system. We do keep one in the living room area and one in the bedroom. They automatically bring-up the Crestron control panel when switched on.

Cheers,

Ronald

[Brady]

Don’t have a Marathon but our upgrade was worth every cent we paid for it & I would do it again in a heartbeat.

It is 10 times more responsive than the ugly old clunker boxes that I was sooo frustrated wth all the time…. difference in daylight and dark.

Also has many more features than the old boxes had and you can customize the features you want too… or at least I was able to with Jeff’s tech guru.. who was a Jeff’s place !!

I highly recommend the upgrade !!

Edited: as I forgot to mention it was done at Jeff’s shop in Vonore,TN …. the guru he used is brilliant and will work with you to customize certain features…. he did an awesome job for us !!

Cheers, Diane

[Archived]

I agree with Diane as just finished the upgrade to IPad airs and no comparison to the old Crestron system but it does take a new processor to interface to the crestron system which as experienced, increases the speed….

[Archived]

Nobody agrees with me, but I would pay serious money to get rid of the Crestron and replace it with switches conveniently located through the coach.

Except for controlling the audio visual systems from one remote I am still searching for justification for Crestron or any system that replaces it.

Am I the only one that has seen the lack of support on every single system on every single conversion after a relatively few years? Our coaches are described as million mile coaches, but every one now has 50,000 mile systems.

[Archived]

Jon

you would need to throw that flip phone away to feel the love!! iPads worth more than I paid……

[Archived]

Brady,

We will have to agree to disagree.

While I had my previous coaches I never once wished I had Crestron or its equivalent. And amazingly I was able to turn lights on and off, move the shades up and down and do all the things Crestron does.

As to my flip phone, I agree I should get rid of it. I spent almost an entire week in New Orleans, and not only never carried it, it was never turned on.

[Archived]

Jon, I will stick my neck out and mostly agree with you! I’m in software, have been for 25 years. Technology changes very quickly. A coach built today could have outdated technology before the end of December! Converters are sold on new fancy technology but they lack the forward thinking of how to update /change that technology. Marathon will not release their Techlink /Crestron code so you either pay Marathon big $$ or you totally reprogram and keep source code.that decision making mode right now.

We use the clunker remote to turn TV on and volume and i use it to lower shades. But we most likely will be in Vonore

[tom]

and I like it. The Crestron controller is bulky and too heavy to carry around comfortably, and the one in the bedroom is difficult to access unless you are lying in the bed. I wanted to buy an Ipad for the coach anyway, so we went forward with the project.

The conversion was initially pitched by a service center that did some work on my coach right after I took delivery, and before I had any bus ownership experience. The service center was confident that they could obtain the necessary codes from Marathon and program the system. They provided an estimated cost for the conversion. As it turned out, they were very wrong on both issues. I ended up having to take the coach to Marathon for the programming, which cost me more money and more time.

While I like the converted system, I cannot say I would have proceeded if I knew how much money it was going to cost in the end. By the time the service center figured out that they could not program the system necessitating Marathon’s involvement, I was already committed. I also had to pay Marathon to program for a new TV in the bedroom. If you are thinking about changing any electronics, do it before you get the system programmed.

[Archived]

Colt,

That’s the part that bothers me with Marathon. They won’t release the source code so you have to go back to them for any new electronics. If you reprogram the entire crestron, you can have the source code and change TV’s and programing yourself or find someone reasonable to do it. Marathon is just not reasonable on their reprograming costs.

It’s not rocket science. If I had 3 months to dedicate to Crestron, I could get certified to program. I just do not have the time..

[Rudy]

As our coaches age and move through owners they are going to turn into disasters because the cost to upgrade and keep them current and working is going to cost the same for a 25 year old coach worth less than $100,000 by far, or a relatively new 10 year old coach. We know the guy who bought his coach for less than $100,000 is not going to fix it when it quits. Hell, right now there are guys changing TVs who won’t spend the money to get the Crestron upgraded on their 10 year old coach so they don’t have to have a bunch of remotes laying around.

It is not exclusive to convertrers, although the conversion part is unsupported far sooner than the chassis. Try to get a DDEC I replaced or repaired now.

The folks buying the new coach don’t care. With almost $1000 per day depreciation if they find they have to upgrade their electronics and it is not covered by warranty the cost is unimportant. The second owner may not even care. But somewhere in the chain of ownership these systems are going to be seen as a detriment.

[Archived]

Tom/Bill

Agreed that Marathon programming charges are high. I did consider re-programming the entire system. Our IT guy knows a guy who is Crestron certified. However, he doesn’t know anything about a bus, and I was reluctant to conduct any experiments with him. Keep in mind that I was headed to Marathon because I had already gotten involved with the service center who ultimately demonstrated that they did not know what they were doing.

Marathon justified keeping the source code secret/proprietary as necessary to protect “the integrity of the system” so any Marathon service center could re-program the system as necessary. I am sure that was not the only reason….

[Archived]

Colt,

so if you had to do over, would you have Marathon do it and just bite the $$$ bullet?

[Peter]

Jon wrote: “As our coaches age and move through owners they are going to turn into disasters because the cost to upgrade and keep them current and working is going to cost the same for a 25 year old coach worth less than $100,000 by far, or a relatively new 10 year old coach.”

The phrase you wrote that I have underlined is awfully harsh. Did you really mean that?

We have a Liberty Elegant Lady with Crestron and quite a few (but in my opinion not enough) of those cool little Sunmulon switches. Jeff Rowe has been very helpful in getting me to understand how the Crestron system works. The “brains of the Crestron system” (a computer as I understand it) is now coming up on being 17 years old. Other than my trusty HP-12C financial calculators, I’ve never owned another computer that has lasted that long and has been useful that long.

My only complaint about the Crestron system in our coach has already been mentioned. The single screen in the bedroom (on the wall next to the left side of the bed) is in a very awkward place unless you are lying on the bed. I wish Liberty would have installed a bank of Sunmulon switches on the wall in the bedroom that also controlled the lights in the bedroom. Since I don’t sleep on that side of the bed, a second Crestron screen on the right side of the bed woudl be very handy.

I’ve read that Prevost owners appear to be using their Crestron systems to operate their TVs and entertainment systems. That is apparently not the case with our coach as I can’t find anything about TVs or entertainment on the Creston screens. Even our neon isn’t on the screens. Once we update the TVs and install a Blueray player, we’ll probably operate them with one of the device remotes or a good Harmony. Our blinds aren’t part of the Crestron system either. We use those handy Hunter-Douglas remotes to operate the blinds.

[Archived]

I have one of those sub 100K coachs and I can tell you that it gets nothing but new parts from Prevost when it needs them 🙂 Whoever did the conversion did it well and did it with fairly simple systems that lend themselves to easy maintenance. The engine is pure mechanical genus that won’t win any races up a hill but if it breaks I’ll probabaly be able to fix it myself on the side of the road.

Now that said, the previous owner(s) did not do my Prevost electrical systems it any favors – those sins I’ll attempt to reverse during my ownership.

I looked at buying a 2001 XLII over the summer and I can’t imagine the tasks you guys have in front of you to upgrade house systems. I made up my mind right then to stick with my simple coach.

Now, I realize that simple is not really the point of a modern coach/ conversion or likely the people who buy them. I hope you guys will consider “doing no harm” as you upgrade / repair:) It will make the life of the next owner(s) so much easier. (selfless request from one of those potential next owners)

[Archived]

Dick,

Here is the bad news……….at some point your Crestron display is going to puke or need batteries or somehow not function. I believe Crestron has stopped supporting the early versions (mine is in that category I think) and you will be out shopping for an ipad to replace it. along with paying Jeff and Andrew a sizable sum to keep things working.

The good news is your coach has not reached the market value yet that will make you start thinking about spending what it will take to keep things going. Every single one of us is staring at the prospect of having a system or device that will fail and will have to be changed or updated in some fashion. The folks who are into technology are well aware of how quickly technologies change and become obsolete.

If you want any proof, see if you can get your dash radio repaired. With a few minutes of searching it will become clear after just a few years the manufacturers will expect you to throw it away and replace it with a new one. The only difference between that example and the Crestron or similar systems is the obsolesence just takes a little longer.

And none of that reflects the cost of reprogramming.