Well I have been wanting to move to the hubitat for some time but I didn't have a solid reason other than i wanted local control.. Well my ST hub appears to have bit the dust, and Samsung's only recommendation was to factory reset and re add all my devices.. 75+ so.. I bit the bullet and ordered the hubtiat.. I figured I have to readd the devices might as well be something i can control.. yay me..
So hopefully ill get the new hub in the next few days and everything goes good.. I have used vera, ST, HA, and a few others so hopefully the hubitat is user friendly and easy to use..
"user friendly" is subjective, so I won't comment there. What is user friendly to one, is a pain to another.
Feel free to ask questions on here, though. There are usually multiple people that are happy to help!!
While waiting for your hub, it is also a good idea to inventory your stuff and verify that there is a built-in, or user developed, driver/app for all of your devices / integrations.
This community is an amazing resource, full of helpful users and Hubitat staffers that are eager to make sure your experience is a good one.
If you search through the various discussions, you will find great advice on how to perform a smooth migration. Excluding Z-Wave devices and Resetting Zigbee devices will be your first order of business as your old hub is dead. Build your z-wave and zigbee meshes outward from the Hubitat hub with devices that repeat RF signals to establish a strong mesh before adding a bunch of endpoint devices.
If you don't already have one, get either an Aeon Minimote (not made any more) or an Aeon Z-Stick ($40-45 ebay vs amazon)
There are so many threads here that begin "I am so frustrated with trying to join my..." and end with, "once it excluded, Hubitat inclusion was fast." -- The two Aeon devices are fantastic Excluders (sic) and you don't need to do anything to them out of the box. Exclusion is "universal" in the sense that all controllers can initiate an exclude against devices NOT on it's network! In other words, you do not want to invite me to your home because I'll have my Aeon Z-Stick in my pocket, in Exclude mode, and just walk around your house clicking buttons. Most will exclude.
The point was to drive home the fact that the Exclude does not need to be done by something already on your ZWave network. You do not have to join the ZStick (or Minimote) first, in order to be allowed to perform excludes.
For apartment dwellers, or anyone else with a ZWave hub "close enough" it can cause the same effect! Your neighbor, roommate, etc can be messin' 'round with their network and if at that time you... well, you get the point. Clearly it is NOT a likely event. We would have all heard THAT story, I'm sure.
I'm pretty sure this is the reason it's so complicated to get a device into Include/Exclude mode. Each individual engineering group within a company have, to their own level of paranoia, decided just how many clickies it takes.
I have one.. also note.. I sold some of the GE lamp plug in modules that I no longer needed and the dude said he was using a 2GIG alarm dot com panel and he couldn't do any excluding.. either that or he had no idea what he was doing.. I had to bring them back home and exclude them using the ST before he could pair them.. smh..
so.. I bit the bullet and ordered the hubtiat.. I figured I have to readd the devices might as well be something i can control.. yay me..
