I was originally going to order the GoControl CECOMINOD016164 HUSBZB-1 USB Hub until I realized that it doesn’t have very good drivers for Windows 10. Plus, then I would have to also deal with USB Passthru —> serial com devices for my HASSIO Ubuntu VM.
Could someone recommend a fast easy-to-setup Z-wave Plus / Zigbee hub I can just plug into Ethernet… and Home Assistant detects it automatically just like my Phillips Hue Hub? I’m just trying to void any unnecessary hassle if I can at all avoid it. I already have a Wink2 hub… But the performance kind of sucks on it. Plus, it appears they’re going out of business.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: It looks like the Samsung SmartThings V3 is a good candidate. Are there any drawbacks to using the Samsung SmartThings V3 verses the HUSBZB-1 USB Hub? There is also the Hubitat hub. It would be great to hear from people who actually own the latest version of these hubs.
I’m looking for a hub that has the least amount of hassle to get up and running with reasonable performance and reliability.
I went down the route of a cheap Z-Wave USB (cost me less than €5) and a Deconz USB Zigbee. Both were added to Home Assistant within seconds and the Z-Wave and Deconz add-ons picked them up straight away and I was able to start adding devices within minutes.
Much cheaper than another hub and saves having to use a separate app to add devices etc. Smart things is also cloud based. So think if your internet it down it wont talk to HA.
There is a compromise to be made between fast and easy setup and and reasonable performance and reliability.
SmartThing has the fast and easy setup but as you noted, the cloud dependance makes it very poor in performance with lags and reliability due to reliance on a lot more connections. I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
Hubitat was birthed from a bunch of users who couldn’t bear the SmartThing cloud dependance and is a much better choice. It is based on the same structure (sharing the same integrations and drivers) with a slightly different UI. There is a HA component for it I believe.
The two best zwave controllers at the moment are HomeSeer3 (2) and Z-way(1). They are the most feature complete and stable ones. Unfortunately, no component is available to bridge them over in the plug and play fashion you are looking for. Hubitat is a distant next choice.
For Zigbee, I would put Hubitat and Deconz as the best options. Both have components on HA so you should be covered.
Don’t touch Smart Things. If you look at the integration page you’ll see that it is IoT class: Cloud Push. That IoT class means:
Integration of this device happens via the cloud and requires an active internet connection. Home Assistant will be notified as soon as a new state is available.
If When their service goes down, or your Internet goes down, you lose access.
If you really want a hub, then ensure you get one that’s purely local. The Hubitat custom component is purely local. Alternatively look to Zigbee2MQTT and Zwave2MQTT so you can run those controllers centrally.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I took the time to learn how to use HUSBZB-1 with my HASSIO Ubuntu VM on Windows 10. It wasn’t as hard as I thought. I can use both zwave/zigbee devices with great performance… without depending on the cloud. The HUSBZB-1 seems like a great choice for Home Assistant.
Completely agree… If you can go with a localized version without having to rely on yet another standalone controller software for the wireless stack, go for it! It has its limitations but should be plentiful and simple/stable for most setups!
Hubitat was my path off of Wink 2 and it’s been great and super quick behind HA. I would not want Hubitate as my front end, but it was great to pull in all my Wink Zwave pieces as well as a few zigbee bulbs from the Quirky / GE days.
