Hi guys,
Am I the only one have big regrets buying the HE?
I have the feeling -nothing- is easy.
It's probably a great product if reading on github and watching youtube is a hobby, but for me this is not the case.
Disappointed...
I have no regrets.
In fact I recommend it to friends and colleagues.
What is the simplest thing you’d like help with ??
Have you settled on the type of devices you’ll be deploying ?
Assuming they’re on the Compatible list.
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Maybe something like HomeKit would be a better fit for you?
HomeKit is a pretty good product, it’s just limited but works.
I'm experimenting with Home Assistant for a specialist requirement at the moment and let me tell you Hubitat is a walk in the park compared to that!
Unless you need to do something out of the ordinary I don't see why you would need to get anything from github or watch YT videos. Mainstream automations and device set up in Hubitat is now very easy and well documented IMO. What are you trying to do that needs external video instruction?
I think HE isn't really easy at all. But...
There are NO alternatives that don't use the cloud which are any easier. So relatively HE is the easiest out there.
Once you setup the very basics (adding a couple of apps) and a Dashboard or two - it really does get pretty straightforward. The community is here to help too - everyone here is very responsive and very helpful...it's one of the best perks. I came from a Smartthings installation -- went from Rule Machine to Core to WebCore -- I can tell you that having the automation built into the platform is a VERY big benefit!
With HE, I jumped straight into Rule Machine for my automations -- BUT there are other apps that are easier to use and can do most of the automations that I needed (like "Hubitat Simple Lighting" and "Motion Lighting App") - I would start with these apps and then go from there.
Hope you stick with HE, I do not think you will regret it.
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For those of us that lived the market for the last 20 years of home automation Hubitat is a walk in the park. And to boot no need to sign up and give away your home data to some cloud service.
There is always a learning curve, and I guess a lot of folks want the world with just a single tap of a button that says "automate my home". Well there is a reason this doesn't work, device and home diversity. Each product looks at solving various things differently,
I had to account for this supporting various platforms from simple X10 to complex Crestron, but the concepts stay the same:
- Event happens do something
- Event happens and other things are in a state do something
- Make me a cup of coffee at 6:00 am and bring it to me (just kidding)
What has changed so much is that each device maker has their own software, web site, rules, and sometime great integrations and other none at all. Some want to own everything, others just play along with the market.
With all of that you may have to watch a video or two and try things out to make it work as expected. It's a learning curve and if you don't invest the time you wont get the expected results.
If you aren't familiar with home automations platforms in general, it can be quite a challenge to get started but you have tapped into Hubitat's greatest resource...the forum.
We have a very helpful community and the staff is VERY involved in the forums. As other have said, let us know where you are having issues and I'm sure we can get you sorted out.
Welcome to the community...I'm sure your disappointment will turn into satisfaction once you wrap your head around how things in Hubitat work.
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Start by asking the community to help you achieve an automation. This community is extremely insightful and helpful.
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HE is as easy as ST. If you are coming from Wink or another simplified home automation solution (HomeKit) then yes HE is “harder.” But realistically it is like going from an iPhone to Droid. Seems daunting at first but after you know the differences it becomes easy to use and operate.
The answers posted here are probably skewed since most of the few that have found HE not for them no longer frequent this forum.
That said, could you elaborate on what you were expecting? I don't know that I've spent much time at all reading on github, but I do appreciate the copious documentation on https://docs.hubitat.com, not github. And the YouTube videos done by Hubitat staff are a sign to me that the product is alive and well and has a future with engaged developers, in contrast to SmartThings. Just try to find a recent sign of life that SmartThings has a future.
Focus on one device type that you have and get it set up. Implement some simple automations. Ask for help in this forum.
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I came from Wink. Wink if you don't know was a very simplified hub. You had a list of supported devices, and some basic rule/automations (robots). You could not add any 3rd party apps, drivers, or write complex rules.
Hubitat is completely the opposite. You can do virtually anything you want on Hubitat up to writing your own drivers and app code. You don't have to do anything this complex, but you are able to.
So in my case, I was totally lost for a while on Hubitat. What is an app? How do I add one? What devices work? How do rules work? It was mostly an adjustment period. I think it is normal to be somewhat lost the first few times you use Hubitat or any new device for that matter.
I do think Hubitat could use some better documentation, and I think some of the language used in the UI is confusing at times. But all you have to do is ask on here and usually within a few minutes someone has an answer. The Hubitat team is pretty active on here, and the 3rd party app creators are also very involved on a regular basis.
Give the hub a couple weeks and see if you are still disappointed. My first few days I was not sure I made the right decision to switch. It got a little better every week, and now 6 months later I am quite proficient with the hub.
I agree that the "out of the box' experience with Hubitat has been a bit rough but it's gotten a heck of a lot better. As they shown off in a video they did a while back it's much easier to get started with some of the configuration items that they put a wizard like experience in the setup. There will always be some issues for folks that have complex setups that the built in automation will not accommodate and that is where you get into say rule machine. Too many just jump into rule machine without exploring the capabilities of the other apps which I am finding are becoming more powerful in each release. I would say now I am about 50 / 50 mix of default apps and rule machine rules.
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Generally, you are not going to find simple disappointed responses here. Sure, there are those that were used to one platform or another and for various reasons (typically what they perceive as a shortcoming) they may be disappointed. But what were your expectations?
Home automation is not easy if you have a complex setup in mind. As @mik3 suggested, if you're an iOS user, then HomeKit might be for you, but it too can be disappointing, depending on what your expectation is.
Did you start with the Hubitat Docs?
No regrets, not disappointed.
Such is life.
I have recommended this system to several friends. I have also told several friends, this system is not for them. Although, I tell the latter group, Home Automation is not for them.
