I have dozens of non plus dimmers and switches due to my early adoption and none pair easily and once paired they don’t report so I left them on ST.
I just had a power outage and three of them died on the same day due to the abrupt restart. It’s the smart home god’s way of telling me to get off my keester and finally replace them. Big sigh... but it is time. Lutron is the way I plan to go based on the advice of this forum.
FYI, as hypothesized elsewhere in this thread, the difference isn't really Plus vs. non-Plus; the timeline for when Plus became more common and eventually required for certification just happened to nearly coincide with the expiration of this patent and the manufacture of devices that therefore began to include this feature. I think Plus became required a short time after this, so some classic devices do indeed support this (beyond those that had always paid to license the patent).
They all don't, which is why I asked. Seems some report back on/off physical changes and others do not.
All of that is true. I guess that was over simplified wording on my part.
I don't remember GE actually releasing any zwave standard devices that supported report back, but maybe they did. Not like I spent a lot of time looking into it once the zwave plus models were released.
Do you think the z-wave based dimmers, switches and fan controllers will reach the performance of Lutron. I would love to switch everything out for Lutron but that would be quite costly. I'd rather stick with z-wave and swap out the older non-plus over time.
Probably not.
But I don't think that's the right question. The right question, in my opinion, is whether zwave plus is fast ENOUGH and reliable ENOUGH for your uses.
It is for mine.
FWIW, I too had a few non-Zwave plus GE dimmers, and I found the Zooz line to be quite suitable for replacing them, typically at a much lower price than GE or the Lutron solution often suggested.
They are a little odd for 3 or 4 way dimming solutions, as there is no add-on switch, so dumb switches remain in the configuration and act as simple on/off switches. But other than that, so far, they have been reliable, simple to install, and comparatively inexpensive.
S.
So I have a mixture of GE and Lutron Z-Wave Plus dimmers, outlets and switches. Only thing to be take into account is the Lutron (non Caseta) dimmers and switches will need a firmware update report back status. I learned that the hard way.
Feature wise I see zero reason to buy lutron zwave plus dimmers and switches. Unless they are substantially cheaper, I would stick with GE/jasco if you are going to go zwave plus.
Some like zooz. I had multiple bad experiences with them, but your experience may be different. I also had many 3 way switches, and wanted full dimming capability on every switch - not just some.
Inovelli is mostly vaporware still (aka you can't readily buy them today without unknown wait). If their stock situation changed I would be very tempted to try those if I were starting from scratch. The feature set is nice, price is excellent, and they look good.
Homeseer never interested me. I didn't feel the need to pay their premium for the LEDs and scene capability.
Are you referring to Leviton Z-Wave Plus devices? I don’t believe Lutron makes any switches and dimmers that use any RF protocol other than their own proprietary Lutron Clear Connect.
Yes. I regurgitated the wrong name from the previous post I guess.
Yes Leviton!
I bought two Inovelli switches when they first came out. They died after 6 months. Not good.
I have over 50 GE/Jasco switches that for the most part work great. Mix of Zwave and zwave-plus. Will look into Zooz for replacing my non plus switches because I just spec’d Out the cost of Lutron Casetta replacement for them all and it is a big pill to swallow.
Edit...
Just checked and lack of almond paddles and no 3-way dim control make Zooz a non-starter for me.
Yeah, that three way dim control is the real deal breaker for many. I find I rarely use the dimmer switch on the wall anyway, but in the one place I do, the GE with an add-on switch is the bees knees.
S
Ken - I have some GE Z-Wave Switches (mostly Z-Wave, a few Z-Wave Plus, even a couple new in the box, IIRC.) If you're interested, PM me and I'll take an inventory. I believe I have a bunch of almond paddles for these.
FYI, they had different firmware, but I think most or all of the (current or at least recent) Zooz switches use the same manufacturer as the first generation of Inovelli switches, or at least that was true at one point. Assuming the hardware was the problem, that may not help. 
(Not that I've heard lots of people having problems with either.) The new Inovelli switches use a different manufacturer, so I'd be curious how reliability compares. What was the warranty, and did you pursue a claim if within?
That stinks, my inovelli plugs have been perfect, and I'm expecting the same whenever my switches(12) show up 
. Based on info here and on ST the Inovelli devices are very good, albeit stock issues. I love how polished their drivers are, and the company is very responsive, IMHO
If starting from scratch I would likely go with Lutron but I have several grand invested in z-wave already.
The GE in-wall dimmers, switches and 3-speed fan controllers have all been good. I’m also using a few GE exterior switches to control landscape lights and 40amp for my pool pump.
My only issue is the speed and some of the non-plus not reporting back when there’s a physical change.
Rather than replace all the non-plus what I decided to do is swap out each room’s primary in-wall dinner. That way when it’s physically changed any rules, scenes, etc will get triggered.
I’m also looking into a scene wall switch like the Eaton.
Also remember that the (non-motion) GE 14xxx series switches and dimmers support double tap events, too. A lot of people use that functionality as a scene controller. Granted, you only get double tap up/down (2 buttons), but it may be useful.
The new Enbrighten 4xxxx series switches and dimmers actually support triple tap as well (and pre-setting on/off dimmer levels - finally!). So you get 4 buttons. I have a user device driver published on here that supports the double/triple taps on those devices.
This is the model I developed the driver with:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RRD92T8
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