I need 2-3 compatible plugs to power a few lamps we have in the house. All of our other lamps are using the Iris Smart Plugs, but those are pretty pricey. Both my z-wave and zigbee networks seem pretty solid, so I don’t think I need to spend that much money to get the plugs and add to the mesh. Are there any cheap but reliable WiFi plugs out there I can use?
I’d like to avoid z-wave because, and correct me if I’m wrong, but adding z-wave devices that don’t support z-wave plus would decrease the overall performance of any other devices that connect through that non-plus device in the mesh.
Z wave is, per the standard, backwards compatible. Having some Z wave classic devices on your network should not in any way impact the overall performance. The range is shorter for a Z wave classic device, but as long as it can still reach the next one, it should be fine.
I suppose theoretically you might hit the four hop limit because of the shorter range, but if there is an alternate route using a Z wave plus devices, then that route would be chosen.
I just don't see it as being a practical issue in terms of affecting your other devices.
Zwave plus devices do have technical advantages over Z wave classic, no question. But as long as you have enough Z wave plus devices to create the pathways where you need those specific features, there shouldn't be any harm in adding additional Z wave classic devices to strengthen the mesh where needed.
Speaking just for myself, if there's a budget issue I would certainly choose zwave classic over Wi-Fi pocket sockets. The Wi-Fi devices are much more likely to degrade your Wi-Fi network then the zwave classic devices are to degrade your Z wave network, just because of the way the different topologies function.
