I’ve been using ZigBee, but some of the devices I’m looking at only offer Z-wave connectivity. Can I get recommendations for a reliable Z-wave hub? Thanks.
How much you wanna spend? There is lots of budget levels on this topic.
Eaotec works fine for me for long time already, wasn’t expensive.
I’m looking for something I can pick up on Amazon for less than $100.
I’ve been using the Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 and so far it has been very reliable.
Just looking at Amazon, there’s also the newer and cheaper Aeotec Z-stick 7plus which should work with hass as well.
Also depends on where you live. Different regions are using different frequencies for Z-wave, due to local regulations.
Ah, yes. I live in US.
Thanks. While looking at Aeotec I also noticed their smart hub which would also replace the ZigBee stick I’m using. Anyone have experience with that product?
no experience, but smartthings is a cloud environment… not sure if you can leverage local zwave on that hub without the smarttings platform. That would be a little missing the target.
That is actually the SmartThings hub, abandoned by Samsung and subsequently absorbed by Aeotec. Cloud-based and thus would be slower and easy to break (… also subject to when some company management decision to discontinue the cloud offerings).
I would just focus on USB z-wave dongles if I were you.
Just curious - Could you help elaborate your HA setup as of today, and what kind of z-wave device you are trying to get?
Thanks, I won’t consider the hub then. I’ve decided to try the Nortek dongle, which promises both ZigBee and Z-wave (I can send it back if it doesn’t). I plan to set up two Z-wave devices, a water shut-off actuator and some motorized shades. right now I use ZigBee door and window sensors for my Alarmo system. I will post my results with the Nortek dongle.
Nortek with 500 series chip? Or is there a more modern one?
500 series. I couldn’t make it work with ZigBee or Z-wave, so back it goes.