Customer Reviews

Lutron MAW600H-WH Electronics Maestro Duo Dimmer, White single pole switch

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My electrician told me that I must have a lot of money to waste as he installed these switches in our remodel.

If you live alone and never entertain this is a great product. Guest don't tap, they punch and break them. Children tap them and say, "wow" then tap, Tap, TAP too hard and break them. Visiting in-laws and the elderly need help operating those "crazy light switches." Yes, I've heard granddad say I should just get a $.79 switch that works.
After 7 years living with Lutron Maestro dimmers installed in my homes bathroom 6 of 7 have had the main tap pad punched in and broken.
Only one switch has survived from the initial remodel because it is in the far corner of the room controlling the lighting in an always on art nook.

Take careful note of the reviews. Only the new installs are getting high reviews. The folks that have lived with this product a while are throwing away hundreds of dollars in switches and shopping for a different brand.

UPDATE: 9/2/2010 After Contacting Lutron.

In all fairness of my critical review Lutron has came through making good on 7-8 year old dimmers. The following is the return e-mail I received from Lutron. I'll give them 5 stars for service.

"Thank you for contacting us. We did have a higher than anticipated rate failure in certain date code for Maestro Dimmers. The good news is that the design for this switch has been changed and the problem have been fixed. We do offer a standard one year warranty for all wall box products, but for this product defect we do offer to replace all Maestro Dimmers in your house at no charge. Please e-mail us back or call us with a list of the Maestro dimmer models and colors. Upon receiving this list we will send new replacement dimmers with prepaid return shipping label to send back the old ones. We apologize for inconvenience this may have caused. If you have any additional questions, please contact our 24/7 technical support at (800)523-9466.

This dimmer will change your life ! It can be chained together for multiple switching locations. The wiring is much simpler than other 3 way or 4 way switches. The features are amazing. Push & hold and it will delay turning off the light from 10 - 60 seconds. It remembers the last dimmer setting. I build high end custom homes and this is the state of the art in light switching. Nothing else compares. You get a lot of Bang for your Buck !

Review of Lutron MAW600H-WH Maestro Dimmer

I have installed and used many different makes of dimmer switches. The Lutron Maestro is the best I have seen for a number of reasons.

It is the most pleasant and intuitive dimmer I've ever used. The gentle fade-in and fade-out when simply turning the lights on and off is worth the price even if you never dim your lights. (It is possible to use it as a simple on-off switch in just this way, if you wish).

The delayed turn-off feature is intuitive, and practical. I use this feature every day when leaving the living room to head upstairs, and in the bedroom to give me time to get into bed before the lights go out.

The Maestro comes with an improved cover plate, that hides the screws you see on a standard plate. This is a nice touch, and it does look better, but it's not the main reason I love these dimmers. Note you can still use this dimmer with a standard cover plate if you desire.

Most dimmers make a faint humming sound, that is most noticeable when set to the dimmest light level. While the Lutron also hums, ever so faintly, it is most quiet brand of dimmer I have experienced.
By the way, most people will never notice this sound (in the Lutron or even other louder dimmers). I just happen to have very sensitive ears. For those of you that hear this hum, you can minimize it by installing the lowest wattage bulbs that are acceptable (in other words, don't put in a 100 watt bulb if you are always going to dim it way down to the equivalent of say 20 watts, use a 60 or 40 watt bulb and you will get less hum dimming it to 20 watts).

I have found these dimmer switches to be about average as far as installation goes - no better and no worse than any other dimmer, and just a tiny bit more trouble than installing a basic on-off switch (because the switch body of the Lutron - and any other dimmer switch - is more bulky than a simple on-off switch).

I recommend you try out the "demo" provided on this web page as it gives a reasonably accurate example of how the features of this switch will work. You can try out the delayed off feature, as well as others using your mouse to simulate tapping the switch.

My wife was quite skeptical when I bought our first Lutron Maestro, thinking they were just an expensive gadget. Now she is a convert, and insists on Lutrons for every often used light in the house. Thus far, we've installed 8 of these (and counting...). We even use them to control some of our outside lights.

If you are sensitive to ergonomics, and lighting, I highly recommend this dimmer switch.

------- End of review, some thoughts about efficiency following -----

By the way, with regards to energy efficiency, some have pointed out that one ought to use smaller bulbs, or even fluorescent bulbs. Others have implied that a dimmer "wastes" power by shunting energy to a resistor. Unfortunately, energy efficiency is not as simple as some people think it is.

First, the good news. You may rest assured modern dimmers do not waste much power at all, indeed they are almost 100% efficient. Also, the more a light is dimmed, the less energy it consumes.
Almost all the energy that is "wasted" by a common incandescent bulb is converted into heat. This means during the heating season a light bulb does not waste any energy at all because every bit of heat produced offloads your standard heating equipment (in other words you furnace doesn't have to run as much). This is a happy situation, since incandescent bulbs produce some of the best quality light you can get, especially halogen bulbs (which I highly recommend). Lastly, bulbs last much longer when they are run at reduced brightness (which reduces bulb replacement cost). So, in summary, during the heating season all your energy will be put to good use, regardless of how inefficient your lighting is. Just enjoy.

Now for the bad news. During the non-heating season, when excess heat is undesirable, the low efficiency of incandescent bulbs is a problem. An incandescent bulb that puts out 4% of it's energy as light, and the other 96% as heat isn't such a good idea. You may actually be paying twice for the inefficiency if you are running air conditioning since your AC will have to run longer to absorb the excess heat from your light bulbs. This nasty effect is reduced by the fact that the non-heating season coincides with longer hours of daylight, so you won't need to use your lights as much. Lastly, as you dim a bulb, it becomes less efficient (that is the amount of light per watt drops).

I use this and the Lutron Abella Dimmers, which complement conventional switches (smaller opening), in several rooms of my home. Know that the Maestro delayed-turn-off lasts about 10-15 seconds, the Abellas have a 20-40 second delay (time to cross a room). The adjustable dimmer rocker switch on this Maestro is a little bit easier to reach out and change, but with either switch, you'll get used to it.

Lutron dimmers illuminate, and extinguish, lights in a brief, steady action, so you don't have the "shock" of the instant on or instant off of conventional switches. Depending on the application, this is one of the best selling points. The ability to reduce the brightness is said to save electrical expenses. And as said, you can have a choice of dimmed setting of "full bright" when you turn the light on. Likewise, you can switch lights from "full bright" to "dimmed" setting by tapping the button twice (one starts the "turn off" the second sets to dimmed setting), and the lights will not go all the way out, and then come on again. I use these dimmers for most of my overhead lights, and always use them in the kitchen and dining rooms.

Added feature: programmability. You can set a preset "On" setting (default is, turns on to the brightness previously set when turned off), the duration of the "fade on," and the duration of the "fade off." Lutron's instructions provide suggestions for these: faster turn on for kitchens or the first light turned on in a room, slower turn on for auxiliary cabinet lights, artwork lights, etc. These settings are very easy to set, and you can restore the factory defaults in 15 seconds. ... Does ANY other digital dimmer provide for such flexibility and personal customization? I sincerely doubt it.

Very smart little light switch.

WARNING: you usually cannot use these with CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps), a specific dimmer model is necessary for those.

This dimmer works great! It's intuitive and easy to use, and it looks great too.

Don't believe the reviewers who claim this dimmer won't save energy. Being somewhat skeptical about those claims I used a Kill-A-Watt (P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor) to measure the energy consumed by a 40W light bulb connected to this dimmer, and there's no doubt it reduces energy use. Significantly too, if you dim more than just a little bit.

Does it reduce energy use by as much as Lutron claims? Will it extend the life of your light bulbs as mush as they claim? Who knows... but it will reduce your energy bill and look good doing so :)

I was hesitant to purchase this since I read some reviews that it does not work with hunter fans. Hunter also e-mailed me and said this switch absolutely does not work with their fans. Lutron tech support saw no reason why it wouldn't, and it turns out it works PERFECTLY with my hunter fan. Apparently the only hunters this does not work with is the hunter originals from 20 or so years back. Hunter has their agenda I guess, since they make their own janky switches. Lutron tech support is the best I have had in a long time and can't remember the last time I have gotten someone on the phone that actually knows what they are talking about and isnt just reading from a computer trouble shooter. Their tech support is 24/7 and all american. Highly recommended light switch and any Lutron product!

These dimmer switches are deluxe. Works fine for my 6 inch recessed ceiling lights, 6 total, two per dimmer. Although incandescent dimmers may go the way of the dodo bird, as florescents are the wave of the future, I am able to throttle down the lights enough that the three hundred watt draw goes to about 100 watts and the lifetime of the bulb is increased. The dimmers slowly dim when turning them down or off, but seems a little fast on the dimming to get you out of the area before it goes total dark. Has small pilot lights the give you a cue for the settings of dimness or brightness one desires.

Great dimmer switch. I installed this in our theater/entertainment room. I love the double-tap to make it go full brightness. I love the delayed off for exiting the long room so I can still see and get upstairs, esp after watching a scary movie :). Highly recommend.

I've had several of the Lutron Maestro dimmers in my home and love them. I have one in my kitchen that gets a lot of use and has stopped working (spring broke) from all the use after about 5 years, so I went and bought this one as the description of the model numbers from Lutron and on Amazon is a little confusing. There is a 3-way (2 separate switches to control one light) and a single pole (one switch for one light) version of this model. The only catch is it's the same model number MA-600, adding W and/or WH on the model is just packaging type and color. The only way to tell the difference is Lutron says on the package if it's a single pole or as they call a 3-way is multi-location. This one is the single pole NOT the 3-way multi-location version.

I purchased this switch to replace a round push-in style dimmer which had broken. I received the dimmer and installed it in about 15 minutes as mentioned on the packaging. As I was installing within a 2-gang panel, the included screwless plate required simple removal and placed to the side. In a normal install where you use the plate, this is still required. The screws to attach the switch to the box are included as well as a wire nut for the ground wire. While the ground wire is included, it appears to be loosely attached and may come off if the switch is moved to another location. I would suggest Lutron include a ground screw as is standard with most outlets and switches. Finishing up the install was simple and the completed switch fit neatly inside of a non-Lutron 2-gang face plate.

Once installed the dimmer performed as expected providing dimming, time delayed off, 2-click full on, and progressive power off (all with synced LED indicators). While all features work as expected, the press buttons do seem to have some 'play' but they always appear flat at the front. These switches also look great with the Altus SSK-1-WH10 15-Amp-120 Volt/277V Decorative Single Pole Switch, 10-Pack, White (and face plates from same brand) I bought at the same time.

Overall definitely worth it any I plan to buy the maestro timer from the same brand.