What am I missing out on when I add aqara devices to my zigbee Network whithout using the aqara hub?

[Hedda]

@L-earth

Now I plan to replace my tuya curtain switches for aqara Relais and I see that aqara devices have a proprietary hub. what am I missing out on when I add aqara devices to my Network whithout using the aqara hub? (I dont own one)
For example can I configure a t2 Relais from aqara so that it works with the phisical attached Hardwired Button that even when the zigbee network is unavailable (server down) without using the aqara hub ?

You can do all that (and more) with Home Assistant’s ZHA integration as well but it might be trickier to find and use the right configuration (as you sometimes need to figure out which attributes/entiries, etc…

Suggest reading this related community guide which covers this topic of not using proprietary hubs/bridges:

• Migrating from a Philips Hue Bridge to the ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation) integration

Also recommend that also read all these other Zigbee guides too to get better understanding and tips:

• Is Zigbee right for you?
• Zigbee buyer’s guide
• Zigbee networks: how to avoid interference and get the best range and coverage
• A to Zig - a Zigbee glossary
• Not many people know that - a random collection of Zigbee trivia
• How to set up custom device handler quirks in ZHA