Does anyone know of a zwave RGBW bulb that isn't a PITA? I have tried all of the bulbs listed on the compatibility list. They all suck. Zwave packet death - just huge amounts of packet noise for no reason. Example, 1500+ packets to a Inovelli Bulb Multi-Color LZW42 that is idle? Really. in less than a half hour. The new 2.2.5.119 log additions are fantastic - great job Hubitat team!!! Thank you - better instrumentation on the dash, easy as heck now to spot sloppy devices and apps. Wonderful. In the new log; devices - all four of my RGBW bulbs are at the top of the demand on resources list. They suck. I use a packet sniffer to read the zwave packet traffic and all the Zwave RGBW bulbs pump out relentless "unrecognized command" errors responding to hub messages. chews up packet throughput bad. Looks like all the brands listed on the HE compatibility list are killing or have killed their products. I found this one, but not on HE comp list. https://www.amazon.com/Oomi-Z-Wave-Colors-Whites-Dimmable/dp/B072XKTSDB
i have a 100% Zwave network with 100+ devices. Solid as a rock, other than color bulbs. They all blow and it looks like everyone is getting out of the game. Any suggestions are welcome! thank you. jj
If you haven't updated that Inovelli bulb to the latest firmware, I'd try that first--it's supposed to reduce a lot of traffic compared to the original shipping firmware (not sure if they started putting this on factory-new units at any point yet or not, but that's also possible). Those are my favorite Z-Wave bulbs in terms of color, color temperature, level, and lumen output; many others have limited range in one or more of these aspects or are too dim (Hank, I'm looking at you). But there aren't a lot in the first place, and I can't say I've tried a lot (including the Aeon, the only other I can think of off hand).
I really prefer Zigbee bulbs, but I also prefer to keep those off Hubitat and on my Hue Bridge (not restricted to just Hue bulbs as some believe), where things like Zigbee group messaging (Hubitat actually supports this), Zigbee scenes (Hubitat does not natively support this), and HomeKit support come for free, to say nothing of the mesh problems many can cause if mixed with non-bulb devices. A dedicated Hubitat would also work--I'd just avoid mixing. But I suppose that's not what you asked for, and I don't have much to add there. 
Not that there is much to add, given the limited selection I'm aware of...
Thank you. You bet - first thing. FYI I just ordered 4 Ommi bulbs - what the heck. Bezos is awesome for making it easy to test relentlessly and not get out of your PJ's. I will keep you posted. Wish it was as simple as going Zigbee but it wont work without more devices to form a robust mesh just using the four bulbs. Too far in with Zwave - worst case perhaps the HE guys can suppress the messages to the device that cause it to flood back with 'unrecognized command' errors. Appreciate your response - good thoughts. j
OOMI == rebranded Aeotec
Thank you! That is actually good news. It of the four brands i have (yes all 4 are different, test and compare before commercial application), Aeotec is the best. I have had zero problems with it, and of the 4 it does not misbehave at all. Aeotec if you buy through them or Amazon shows unavailable. I hope they are Aeotec! I appreciate the tip! jj
I brought some OOMI dimmer switches cheap from aliexpress and obviously could not get them to work (running home assistant at the time). Re flashed them with aeotec firmware and hey presto.
Shame you cant get any more
Just replaced all 5 of my EU-Oomi bulbs, since none of my other nodes ever chose one of them as routing device.
Had to find out then that they announced themself as "non repeating slaves".
Also colors are really poor and dim.
Now I have some Aeotec RGB and Multiwhite bulbs, which are doing at least ok but make excellent repeaters.
I have given up on Zwave RGB bulbs. Just ordered the Philips Hue kit and 4 bulbs - go to at least get the benefit of not having massive packet noise loading up the network. I have been in home automation herd core about 3 years. Wink, Smart Things, then HE - done, the quest is over. When i moved to HE 2 years ago i standardized on zwave. Nothing against Zigbee, they both have their ups and downs. Zigbee plays in the congested 2.4 spectrum and as it is with all your WIFI devices 2.4 throws farther than 5 because the higher the frequency the more signal attenuation you get with walls. Zigbee is wonderful, unlimited hops - to be honest if i started over zigbee for me know would be the better solution. It is more about mesh density than anything. I have 100+ zwave devices, had no idea 3 years ago it would grow to that - and it will continue to grow, not done yet. As dense as the network is now - i would be better off with Zigbee. When i started and they mesh was not as robust, zwave worked better. it plays in the 900 spectrum, much lower frequency then zigbee - hence - you can build a reliable mesh in a large space with fewer devices using Zwave - throws farther and harder than zigbee at 2.4. If i knew then what i know now i would have bought 20 zigbee devices instead of 2-3 at a time and just gone all in starting with building a dense enough mesh to cover the property with consistency, then it would just get better and better adding 2-3 devices at a time over time. I would find a deal on basic wall wort zigbee switches on day one and start at the hub - building outwards - and plug 20 of them into every lamp i could see from edge to edge. Build a foundation then the density grows as you add and with it reliability. The other thing i like about 802.15.4 (Zigbee) is unlimited mesh hops. Zwave chokes at the 5th hop by design. With the density i have now of 100+ i can see with a packet sniffer many times it reaches 4 hops, but that over a few days (and it helps if you go to HE devices and turn the device on and off repeatedly until the AI figures out the best route - you will notice the response time change and get faster and faster with each cycle as it learns. usually 5 -10 cycles and it will be lightning fast thereafter. this i do do with any new device, or all if i make a major infrastructure change (move, add or delete multiple devices at the same time) and run zwave repair.
