I’m new to the forum and even newer to HA – in fact I haven’t even installed it yet.
But I am currently outfitting my new (to me) house with lots of smart devices and since I will definitely be a HA user once I get my house in order. In the meanwhile I’m trying to make sure any device I buy can be integrated into HA someday.
Thermostats were a challenge. I have baseboard heaters so I need line voltage themostats which really limits the options a lot. I evaluated Mysa and Sinope themostats and ended up buying a few Wifi-based units. Like them a lot, however I’m worried about HA integration potential and, even more so, wondering if I’d be left in the cold if Sinope goes away down the road (or if they decide to change/monetize their cloud service “Neviweb”).
My current dilemma is whether to continue to buy Wifi units or if Zigbee themostats would provide more future-proof options.
I have a bunch of Z-Wave stuff (from years ago) where I used a Micasaverde Vera so I’m familiar with how that setup works.
Can anyone help me out with the merits of going Zigbee over their Wifi units, especially in the scenario where Neviweb goes away?
For starters, I can’t wrap my head around how the themostats would get an IP without Neviweb app. Currently the app discovers the newly powered-up device and I enter the SSID/password in the app. Without Neviweb, I’d have no way to come back from a factory reset.
With Zigbee themostats and the Sinope gateway I’d perhaps be in the same boat. The Sinope gateway has no RJ45, so I assume it gets its IP via pairing through the Neviweb app. But would it be a reasonable assumption that, down the road if Neviweb goes away, I could buy an alternate Zigbee gateway and pair to the Sinope themostats and then bring into HA?
Thanks for any guidance you can provide. I’ve tried researching my concerns but between my ignorance of Zigbee and Home Assistant I’m not able to get the kind of confirmation I need to spend $1500. I’ve had chats with Sinope who have really responsive customer service, but I didn’t get the warm fuzzys I wanted. In particular he said (and I don’t understand why) that HomeKit would be my only option to get my WiFi units talking without Neviweb; I told him I’d rather live in a tent with no home automation than bring Apple stuff into my house.
Much appreciated!