Hi all, had a question due to some devices becoming very annoying recently: is anyone using the IKEA Dirigera for both Zigbee & Thread devices at the same time and, if so, is the experience stable?
I currently have 67 devices on my Z2MQTT network with a USB stick and 9 on the Thread one with a Google Nest Hub and, especially the Thread devices just work...not well, not updating in HA for hours at a time, then coming back, then dropping off again, it's overall a very frustrating experience.
I've made sure to have different channels for Zigbee, Thread & 2.4GHz WiFi, so not sure what more I could do...out of these 76 total devices, 60 are from IKEA and I already have a Dirigera hub I picked up cheaply, what do you think, would it be worthwhile to pair all the IKEA devices to it and just keep Z2MQTT for those 16 devices that would not be pairable to the Dirigera?
One other aspect is that the blueprint for the Bilresa scroll wheel+buttons seems not very good, it's fine for on/off/scenes, but dimming via the wheel is done very jerkily, not sure if it's due to my Thread network or just too difficult to implement it properly outside IKEA's own software.
Well, I can now answer my own question and YES, it is absolutely worth switching to the Dirigera.
Some points to consider:
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I've accumulated devices from various brands over the years, but as of 2026 IKEA kinda sells everything I need and they are also the cheapest option (at least besides some no-name crap coming via the slow boat from China), so it's entirely possible to go all-in on their devices
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I'm adding all the devices directly via the IKEA app and using the Dirigera HACS integration, because they are a combination of Zigbee & Matter, so at least some of them would have to be added via the IKEA app anyway
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The Dirigera HACS integration has just one problem for my use case, in that the Tradfri 0/1 remotes only give one type of command regardless of which button is pressed (or how long it's pressed), so they can't do different things...other IKEA remotes I have do have the full functionality, including the above-mentioned Bilresa scroll-wheel ones, which control IKEA lights perfectly, including smooth brightness scrolling
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I added any control I could directly within the IKEA app, it works great for IKEA remotes with IKEA lights and figured it's the most direct way for them to interact, although adding automations for them in HA is also perfectly fine
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The firmware updates for all devices in the IKEA app work fine, whereas trying to update battery devices in Z2MQTT is A NIGHTMARE TO BE AVOIDED - in the past I have always required many, many attempts and keeping the device next to the goddamn Zigbee stick in order for Z2MQTT updates to work. From my point of view, while updates in Z2MQTT work fine for powered devices, they should drop support for battery device upgrades, because whichever way the implementation was done, it's really not good
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I know there were some complaints initially about Matter connectivity even with the Dirigera hub & IKEA's own app, but I have personally had 0 issues after a week, devices do not drop off in either IKEA's app or HA
So yeah, overall from my point of view it's highly recommended to go mono-brand for these things in 2026 and not rely on open-source direct hardware integration, because issues abound.
I also saw quite a difference recently in ZHA vs. an Aqara hub for Aqara devices, they work much better with their own hub and even expose more data, like a sensor which I never even knew had atmospheric pressure readings, because Z2MQTT had no implemented support for that aspect. In previous years mixing & matching was pretty much inevitable due to lack of alternatives & often expensive pricing, but now it's not the case anymore, so I will definitely avoid it.