Review on 🏠 Upgrade Your Home with the Leviton VRPA1 1LW Capable Appliance Module! by Ashton Dahmer

Testing Leviton VRMX1 and GE 12724 Smart Dimmers, I found that Leviton didn't dim as low as GE. I tested both Philips 65W (9W) dimmable LED switches with Warm Glow bulbs. Results: The Leviton's minimum brightness (using the physical switch itself) was around 9-11 lumens, while the GE's brightness was reduced to 3-4 lumens using a light spectrometer. I know this may not sound like much, but the perceived difference between the two looked dramatic, where the Levitons appeared to only be about 30% dimmed, while the GEs came closer to actual dimming at 5% . Dimming via apps (I use Smartthings) didn't affect the lighting. I also found that lightbulbs are absolutely essential. I've replaced Philips with 65w LED dimmers from Sylvania, Cree and Utilitech and none of them compare to Philips if you need proper dimming. Others have also reduced the brightness to around 11-13 lumens. And the Sylvania even had flicker on/off. When comparing response times between switches back to the hub, I didn't see any difference. Both were very responsive. Even when using light switches in custom scenes, there was no noticeable lag with switches of any brand. I have to admit that in all my scenes something else turned on the light (e.g. opening the garage door turned on the light in the garage), but not the other way around. So I'm not the best judge of this "immediate status update" that Leviton reportedly has on GE. As for the physical switches themselves, I also prefer GE's physical dimmer switches over the Leviton as they seem to be more continuous and easier to use in dimming levels compared to the Leviton's tiny knobs. One note: GE doesn't have a dimming level LED compared to the Leviton. I also prefer the up/down switch on the GE over the "fixed down" switch on the Leviton as my brain is already used to the up/down switch being off. Not critical, but these little things may matter to some buyers. Hope that helps.