Available color overlays for paddle switches was one reason I went Ge/Jasco. My house uses ivory devices.
I see the merits in both .. And since there are devices unique to both protocols, I try to maintain a strong mesh in both protocols ... Repeaters for both protocols in every room
I'm in this same boat, and have a mixture of zigbee and z-wave. While I have had to splurge a bit on repeaters, I prefer that and having the flexibility of picking the 'best products' people are recommending v.s. having to make trade-offs between the two standards.
But to each their own.
For in-wall switches I went the Lutron route (even though I had to buy their pro hub) because of a few things;
- They seem to do the best for old houses that don't have neutrals like mine.
- They "just work" really really well
- I like how the dimmer/switchers look
- The pico's are magical controllers for various reasons (put them up as a wall switch, or next to your bed or couch as a normal control).
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Expensive on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-DL15S-1BZ-Decora-Lumina-Switch/dp/B07BK9RLBW/
I got one cheap on eBay. Only issue is when the bathroom fan get turned on and off fast, it goes into lockout mode. Doesn't usally happen from automatons since the fan is on for a long peroid.
That is a high capacity device though, that is rated for 15 amps. So, the device is ZHA 1.2 complaint? I don't see that mentioned in the listing. Are you able to get energy usage data from it as well?
That doesn't answer any of the questions I asked. But thanks.
This is my preference as well. Although it makes it harder to create a strong mesh for zigbee, a few repeaters will do that for you.
+1 this. I bought all of the switches and dimmers I could from several nearby Lowe's when they were on clearance for $5-10 each. I wish I had know sooner how much faster these are than the z-wave devices. I replaced some of my z-wave plus switches and dimmers with these and there is no comparison.
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Lutron is the correct answer (even though it’s not zigbee).
I don't understand the fascination with Lutron in this community. I have a mix of zwave, zigbee and Lutron. I don't find Lutron to be superior. Plus they're ugly and require a bridge.
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Ditto what Doug said.
I haven’t tried any zigbee in-wall switches but I have tried a variety of z-wave (plus) ones (GE, Homeseer, Zooz, Inovelli) and Lutron is superior in EVERY way except perhaps the physical look of the switch.
I keep seeing hyperbolic statements like this. I mean are you talking about reliability, radio strength, longevity? What exactly do you see superior? Given that my HS and Jasco/GE switches have performed as well or better, and had decidedly better longevity. So except that, and the ugly look of them, and the fact you need a bridge, I just don't see it. I simply can't agree.
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Yes all of the above. Speed, reliability, and consistency above all, but also ease of pairing, ease of 3/4 way setup, Pico functionality, and not having to do unpair/re-pair process once a month when it craps out. I’m sure I forgot some advantages. Lutron just works. You don’t see a lot of posts about people having problems with Lutron. Z-wave, on the other hand - you see them daily.
Dang it. I spun the wheel of fortune and ordered one of these for $21.27. It has arrived, and like has happened several times before, someone had replaced their Z-Wave switch with a Z-Wave Plus and returned their old one. Can't fault Amazon too much for not recognizing the difference. Jasco uses the same model number (ZW3005) for both, and the switch looks exactly like the picture on the box. A closer look shows the missing Plus (item I received on the left, a real Z-Wave Plus 14294 on the right).
Z-wave has nothing to compare to the Lutron hybrid keypad that I have seen (included custom engraving). That is the primary reason I switched to Radio RA2.
For a bonus add the Pico line up (love the night light Pico for guest room night stand control!)
And as @CrazyIvan said I have never had any delay or misfire with Lutron. I cannot say the same for my old Z-Wave setup.
So.... I am a longtime Control 4 user. It's a great system but, I am gravitating to DIY with Hubitat b/c tired of multi thousand dollar upgrades. I have a very large house ( >6000 sq ft.) I see everyone recommending Caseta, and I have used some with a Wink hub ( sad story on that) and they work nice. My problem is range. It looks like both Caseta and Zwave are very limited to 30' through walls and 60' with open space. I would need at least 50' if I could locate the hubitat in the center of my house, but that isn't likely. Zigbee on the other hand ( same protocol as C4) is more like 150' range? Does this mean I should only look at Zigbee for my lighting?
Lutron is pretty conservative when it comes to range. They do however have 2 products which can be used to extend the range another 30 feet. They have a dedicated extender for Caseta ( PD-REP-WH) and then the plug-in dimmer (PD-3PCL) which can do double duty as a dimmer and extender. According to the faq’s on casetawireless.com these two can be placed in series to extend the range to 90 feet, don't know of anyone doing this though, was under the impression that you could only add one extender, but this shows otherwise - https://www.casetawireless.com/faqs
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I had z-wave GE switches in my old place AND had the "traveler" wire. They all worked perfectly fine with SmartThings hub. They were probably at least $35+ at various times pre-2019.
Recently moved and now looking at Hubitat because the new Samsung-owned ST app - totally BLOWS with disconnects and latency - done with a that cloud dependency.
Buddy of mine has Wink - DEAD because of cloud dependency.
Started taking a chance on the Lutron Caseta PRO because I think it will still work if the cloud is dead - but could be wrong...
Z-Wave should be fine for wired switches that have a traveler wire.
I'm personally leaning towards Zigbee for everything else.
Either way, none of it is too cheap and it's an investment.
