What are some contact sensors with the longest battery life that isn’t the ecolink devices ?
Don't know about the Ecolink ones, I have Xiaomi mija ones and they are still running on first battery (almost 2 years now). Reporting in HE 100% battery... 
As long as it works 
+1 for the Xiaomi’s
If connected properly, these little sensors are fantastic.
There were some issues in the past (on ST, but got fixed) but in HE they’ve been rocksolid.
And yes, battery life is outstanding.
You didn't specify zwave or zigbee, or price, so:
http://nycesensors.com/products/ncz3011/
Small in size, 5 year battery, zero compatibility issues (unlike Xiaomi). Obviously make sure you get the HA version, not C4 version.
The Dome DMDP1 has the best separation gap for the magnet of 1". Battery life now after 1 year still at 100%.
I would definitely stick with Zigbee, they are going to report faster than Z-wave sensors. I've heard many good things about these too, and they're a little cheaper than some of the other options out there.
I have these sensors all over my house due to the size. At least 25 for sure. They are great sensors and quite reliable but battery life sucks. They last around 4 to 6 months. Amazon listed the wrong battery type. The sensor uses CR2032 and not CR2.
It looks like I want the MCT-350 not the 340.
5 year battery life sounds amazing.
Now to find a place to purchase.
They are all over eBay... But as always, caveat emptor.
These look new, or at least I have not seen them yet.
They are pretty new... Why they chose a 1/2 size AA battery is beyond me, though... Not exactly readily obtainable.
I have four of these, installed 15 months ago. All have been working fine and all are still on their original batteries... Oddly each has only generated a single battery report (on the day of installation) and all still read 100%. Not sure what to make of the battery reporting; some of my other sensors seem to be sparse in their battery reporting as well but these are in another league.
No real loss; I've been conditioned to basically ignore battery reporting in all my battery devices, Zigbee and Z-Wave alike. Whenever I install a battery operated device though I do keep track of the battery install date and subsequent replacement. If I can't get at least a year out of it (with a few exceptions-- ST multisensor, 5-6 months) there is something wrong; either with the sensor or its installation in the mesh (too many retries needed to communicate) or possibly the battery itself.
All good info! The MCT-350 looks very appealing. I'm debating to kick off a purchase of one to test.
I'm constantly having issues with my Ecolink devices. Even after the update to the generic z-wave driver, I'm still getting the odd double open or double close events.
I've even tried a custom version of the ST driver modifying the code, and I'm still getting the odd double events.
I tried out a simple ST Multipurpose sensor and not once did it report twice. However, the battery life on those suck.
I see a report on them from a ST user here: Xfinity / Comcast Visonic New MCT - 350 Sensors are Fantastic - Deals - SmartThings Community
This is interesting.. Look at the notes for the battery life.
Is it typical to have less then a 20% signal in a zigbee setup?
There is no typical.... It can definitely happen, though, depending on hub location, materials of construction of the home, distance, # of repeaters, etc.
Not sure what you have against the Ecolink. I have had a few of them for 3.5-4 years, and in that time I just replaced the batteries this Spring. The batteries weren't even totally dead, but they were getting to the point where I wasn't comfortable with them.
They are throwing double closes and opens once and a while.
And what I mean once and a while about every 3-5 door opens.
Do you run into this?
I have a bunch of Quirky Trippers that are going on 3 years (anyone have more? I'll take them off your hands 
), but the rest are Iris contact sensors (v2+) and they're running maybe 6 months to 1 year between battery changes. They report temp changes though (they're chatty) and the Trippers don't, so that likely plays a part. They've been quite reliable, but can't touch what the old Trippers are getting on button cells.
Edit: @mike.maxwell any way we can get the Quirky Tripper fingerprint added? It’s working nicely with the built-in driver.
{"01":{"endpointId":"01","profileId":"0104","inClusters":"0000,0001,0003,0500,0020,0B05","outClusters":"0003,0019","manufacturer":"Sercomm Corp.","model":"Tripper"}}
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Iris Zigbee contact sensors are great and have a super long battery life replace mine about once a year. You can buy them on eBay.
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