Agreed upon "best" devices?

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21

(My Opinion based upon different devices I've used)

Light Switches - Lutron

Motion Sensors - Hue (zigbee) (ridiculously long battery life) next for a bit cheaper the Iris V3's if you want humidity readings if not V'2s

Power / Energy Monitoring Plugs - Fibaro Wall Outlet

Door Locks - Just about anything Zigbee

Contact Sensors - Iris V2's

Weather Station - WeatherFlow

Humidity - Iris V3's

Lux - Hue Motion Sensor

22

Good point about the IRIS sensors being rebranded Centralite. If current Centralite products are the same quality as they were during IRIS times, then they would be excellent quality. But current Centralite products are not easy to find, so I'm not sure what's going on with the company, their website is still active though. Smart plugs, water leak, and motion sensors are still available, but the keypad is out of stock everywhere (except used on eBay)....anyone knows what's going on?

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Centralite went chapter 7 or 11, basically bust, a few years ago. They were purchased and some of the newer products are being sold, that's about it.

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24

Owned by Ezlo. The same company that owns Vera. Who is funding this company? Full of meh products and the ones that work you can't find for sale.

https://ezlo.com/company/about-ezlo/

25

I've offered this advice some time ago, but feel it is relevant again here...

At least when I was starting out in HA a few years ago I always tried to start small with any new area in HA or new product type I was looking at. So if I was wanting to move into temperature sensors, or lighting , or contact sensors, etc, I would buy a couple from the product line or model I felt suited my setup, assess them once in place, then decide whether to proceed with purchasing any more or look elsewhere. This approach helped identify incorrect assumptions I had made or a lack of research, resulting on more appropriate purchases and/or alternate solutions being found. Either way, I was able to consider what my next move was without having outlaid any significant amount of money. I feel like this approach can help determine what products are "best" suited to an individual setup, which can have it's own idiosyncrasies in terms of other factors, devices, layout, etc.

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26

I agree with the earlier part of this thread.. there are certain brands and sometimes specific models of those brands that were or are decent but it depends on the use-case, experience level of the installer and environment/location they are in.

I've used and found to be reliable in no particular order:
SmartThings - Their buttons and various sensors like leak detectors have worked great over the years.
Aeotec - not including Nano dual switches. Jury is still out on the Aeotec Recessed Door Sensor 7 - I've had a few go bad.
Iris/Centralite/etc - Outlets (ignoring the ZW repeater bit), Motion V2s (hacked for usb power) - fast and reliable.
Sengled Bulbs - just work and do not repeat which is a great thing for a bulb. Have had one or two faulty ones but otherwise all good/reliable. Color/dimming adjustments may not be good enough for some situations.
Yale - specifically the Assure YRD256. Prefer using the Zigbee module but others have had good luck with ZW.
Dome and Econet Bulldog smart valves...

For switches so far it's been:

  • Zooz toggle style - Have used models from V2-V4, V2s have been working for 2 years or so at my house and still going. V3 & V4s are firmware upgrade-able. Have a lot of these installed at client sites. They too are working well.
  • Inovelli Paddle style - Have several clients with a few of these. No complaints so far. A large project is coming up that may include a bunch more.
  • Newer GE/Jasco toggles - have used these for bathroom Fans. Their outlets and other devices seem decent too.

Honorable Mention:

  • Ring devices. Repeaters are excellent for the price/features.
  • Ecolink - haven't had too much time with these yet but the contact sensor is great - very easy to hack. Added a small mercury switch to act as a tilt sensor.
  • NYCE Motion sensors - very expensive but fast and reliable. Excellent battery life.

Again this is personal experience - at this point in my HE ownership I have the know-how to deal with a variety of issues that may crop up so a troublesome switch for some might not be for me. This is particularly true of the Zooz toggles I mentioned. They work great but you have to pay attention to stuff like faceplate screw sizes, over-torquing and load. If handled correctly once installed they just work.

edit: So I did forget to mention Lutron.. I have some switches installed in my basement and use picos for various functions. It works great although I do not like going through the bridge and worry that Lutron "could" (no matter how unlikely) decide to go with a "partner only" solution.

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