Newer Z-Wave devices usually support double-tap and triple-tap via Central Scene. This has created a see-saw situation between advanced users and people who only anticipate simple on/off. The special tap sequences are not supposed to affect the attached load. This means there’s some additional delay while the switch determines exactly what you’re trying to signal. This delay might confuse the naive user. In fact, if I tap (fast) repeatedly, the switch will never turn on. All the taps are consumed as central scene events. Jasco decided to ‘fix’ this problem by always turning the load on/off. That’s not what the advanced user expects.
I have little faith in Z-Wave “certification” if that’s even still a thing.
I never owned a Z-wave device but I had some bad time with zigbee products from various manufactures. The inconsistency and limitations of functions drove me crazy to the point that I sold all my zigbee devices and switched to wifi devices with esphome. The difference couldn’t be bigger not only in terms of reliability but specially functions, customizability and usability. It doesn’t matter if it is a jasco (no idea if they even have devices supporting esphome), sonoff or athom device - thanks to esphome they can exactly behave in the same matter. No need also to trust the manufacture regarding updates or bug fixing because this is all handled by esphome.
I have nothing against Z-Wave as a communication protocol. The Jasco hardware is also OK-- except for capacitors failing on the relay switches. The fault lies with Jasco development and support. They just do stuff on a whim and then play dumb. I was one of the first people to report a problem with the LED indicator on the 55258 / ZW4002 fan control. I doubt Jasco support even had a device to test. They just blindly read from a script saying everything if fine. It wasn’t until Linus’ rant that Jasco woke up. In the case of the fan control, I’ll bet they deliberately disabled the LED because some customers said it kept them up at night.
I wish there was open-source Z-Wave firmware. As far as I can tell, the hardware platform is not locked down. Something like ESPHome where you can decouple the inputs and outputs with your own logic in between. Of course, that would be a “certification” nightmare…
Sadly this is not limited to jasco at all. Even the very few manufactures who care a bit typically quickly stop the further software development (might even include bug fixing) when a new iteration of the same device is released. Nowadays where it is already common to change a phone every 12 months (or less) and manufactures release new (often only slightly changed) devices at a high pace it’s not uncommon to buy a hardware which actually is already EOD.
Which is the only straw to hold on in reality.
If you trust manufacturers, they will abandon you sooner or just a little later - that’s for sure!