Has anyone else here done much home automation stuff?

For over a decade now, I've been a huge fan of it. Since my freshman dorm when I put the string lights on an X10 controller, I've been hooked, but have always gone the cheap route and just lived with the results.

X10 has always been the brand I've gone with, despite their stint in the early days as the worst advertiser on the internet, and their web site which remains one of the worst sites ever designed. The whole reason? Cost. I can get X10 products off of an ebay store for ridiculously cheap prices.

But this has meant that the results aren't always great. There are quirks in the system all over the place, whether it's lights that take a few seconds to get the signal, or lights that sometimes turn on but sometimes don't. At the moment some remotes are working but others aren't, and I have lights downstairs that turn on and then immediately, but slowly, dim to their dimmest levels.

So I'm looking at alternatives. The problem is that everything I'm seeing is going to cost me a freaking fortune. I haven't come across a single system in which I'm going to have to spend at least $50 for a single piece. I currently have upwards of 35 pieces in my X10 system, between light switches, lamp modules, remotes, and receivers. Those actually didn't cost that much. The aforementioned ebay store sells a lamp module for about $6, for example. I know I'm not going to be able to find something that cheap, but I'm willing to spend more, even if it means I have to pare down my system.

I'm done with the powerline X10 system, so it and Insteon stuff are out. I'm looking at stuff like Z-Wave, but as I said before, it's just too expensive. Any suggestions?