It is really only a few ms different in communication time, so as long as it is working reliably (and not constantly changing routes) I really don't stress out about it.
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Out if my 3 Schlage be469zp's, one still goes through a nearby enerwave outlet...
Same...I have one super stubborn light switch that is about as far away as possible in my house from the hub, that is taking this leisurely route. It still responds quickly and I don't notice any latency, but the routing and the reported speed still make me crazy. I've run a repair on it, maybe it will figure out it's not that far from the hub at some point... 
Maybe if you have some not in use repeaters, you could put one in between the hub and that switch then re pair the switch?
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The thing is it's going through an Aeotec and a mains switch now, so it is finding repeaters, but just taking a lazy-crazy path. That's Z-Wave...I've run a repair on it and we'll see if it "normalizes" at some point.
But as I always tell others, if it works, don't worry about it, and it's working just fine. Z-Wave multiverse magic...
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funny thing for me was repair wasnt doing a thing - for whatever reason when I was hitting "configure" on the device page is when it found a direct route ~ but like I was saying it didnt stick for long
I tried swapping out the stock Zigbee antenna with the L-Com Zigbee antenna @lewis.heidrick had linked, and saw zero improvement in lqi for routers on the same floor, and decreased lqi for all routers on the second floor and in the crawl space. I put the stock antenna back on. Every Z-Wave device I have is directly connected @100k except for four first generation First Alert Z-Combo detectors that are at 40k directly connected.
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You guys remember antenna toppers? The styrofoam balls that would be on the ends of antennas?
Imagine one on your Hub's antenna.. a spherical ball would allow you to visualize the direction and intensity of the RF off an imaginary antenna.
Now imagine a donut and stick the antenna through the donut hole. That allows you to visualize the direction and intensity of the Antenna that come with the Hub. The "vertical" intensity has been reduced.. as compared to the sphere.
If "vertical" is upstairs/basement, then a higher gain antenna would reduce the intensity of the RF going up/down. You could hit a more distant device if it's out there horizontal to the hub.
You only get the sphere's worth of RF energy.. how you shape that energy is antenna dependent.
TL:DR
Predictable RF behavior. What's less predictable is the impact on specific devices and their physical placement. Devices in the room directly above or below the Hub would be impacted less than devices above but further out.
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Mostly predictable behavior with the L-Com. What I didn’t expect to see was a slightly reduced lqi for a Zigbee plug in the garage that is roughly the same elevation as the hub (< a foot) and around 40 feet away and only slight increases or no difference for other devices on the same level. Nothing to be upset about with incost/outcost =1 for all but one of the 16 devices in the neighbor table with the stock antenna. While watching the Zigbee logs (like you do), I realized that I never saw rssi numbers this high on my C-5. I have a device reporting -18! I also have routers listed on the neighbor table that are on the far side of the house (above the garage). They never showed up on the table before.
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This is an underrated statement. Early in my career, I was able to observe testing in several RF anechoic chambers. My house looks and behaves nothing like that.
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So on a ranch style home, no basement, higher gain antenna would generally be "better" as it would squish the donut flatter and wider, correct?
Yes, in general.
I may have had the same results with the stock antenna. I only threw the full wave antenna on there because I already had it, so why not. I'm not campaigning for folks to swap the antenna out...my whole post was about the case which lets you add a cooling fan. I probably should have just posted it on its own.
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No, that’s not the cause of your illness.
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Made some quality-of-life improvements while I was at it. Added holes for the antennas and widened the fan header hole so I don't have to disassemble the connector to get it through. Also added a hole for adding an external WiFi antenna. I haven't printed it yet to test fit but if you want to try it out it's available here: Printables
I'll be adding a fan cable clamp that presses into the fan header hole at some point to fill it in.
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I'll let you know in the morning.
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The holes for the antenna are just a bit too far from the bottom. Probably need to shift towards the bottom by about 1/8" or so.
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Ok, I'll get it fixed up tomorrow. I have a print running now so I can get it dialed in with some calipers.
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