Best in wall Zigbee switches?

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.

Yes, this is 100 percent local, all communication between Hubitat and the pro bridge is local, no cloud.

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I hear you but it's certainly possible that the Lutron-side may have a "phone-home" dependency. Guess we'll have to see especially when you have a closed system.

From what I understand, they still may wax candles so there is hope!

A fire walled Caseta Pro bridge continues to work just fine with Hubitat.

Obviously, the Lutron mobile app no longer works.

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Does anyone know of zigbee wall switches that have a similar feature set to Inovelli Red Series switches? I really prefer zigbee over Z-Wave but those inovelli's have a lot going for them imo.

Do the Hue motions require the Hue hub?

Off topic, but no they do not.

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I meant to post this is The Best Zigbee Motion thread. Thanks for your answer.

While not really a switch, I’ve been eyeing the RGB Genie Zigbee controllers. They are for controlling Zigbee bulbs and relays, but run on 120V and are repeaters.

Could you use this to control wired overhead lights and wirelessly control RGBW undercabinet LED strips? If so, this would be sweet for my kitchen to give physical control over my LED strips. For instance, power and dimness are shared for all devices, but the color wheel only controls the UC lights. Or do these not have any relay or dimming circuits built in?

I don't think these have any local control. Virtual only. Look at the back of them, line and neutral terminals only.

RGBG

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You are correct. Line passes through.

But they could be used to control a zigbee microcontroller as well as some smart lights. As long as they’re both supported by Hubitat that is.
Probably would want the zone controller


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OOF, sounds like making an already expensive switch even more so. I love the design don't get me wrong, but from scratch this is at least a $100 switch.

Yes, but you’re saving all that money by having standard lights in your kitchen