Have a C-5, looking to expand my HA but it's been a while

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So, I bought a C-5 a long time ago, and I'd switched to it from SmartThings. I moved over everything, got it all setup, and for the last 2+ years I've just been replacing batteries for the most part. However, I have more HA equipment I'd bought back then just sitting in boxes, but I kindof feel it's not the way I want to go anymore (my Zooz stuff was fine, but never "great").

Back then, there was a not-insignificant amount of firmware issues and there were inroads being made for upgrading OTA. The big one for me was the Iris plugs, and mine never got the "good" firmware. Also, hub migration was not possible as far as I knew.

So, sitting here with "old" basic automations, on an "old" hub, with "old" stuff in boxes, I'm wondering what my logical path should be? Should I be going clean-slate and offloading me hub and ~10 switches/dimmers to replace with something like Innovelli? Does that move me from ZWave/Zigbee to ZWave/Zigbee/Matter? Can my Google Nest help in any way? Do I still need the Philips hue bridge? Has anyone ever figured out presence that actually works without needing Life360 or similar? Have they ever figured out verbal announcements (check sump well)? The 2 times that worked with Chromecast Audios was amazing.

My equipment is Zooz ZWave switches/dimmers, Zooz ZWave power bar, Innovelli Zigbee switches/dimmers, Aeotec HEM (the dinosaur age one, finicky), Schlage ZWave locks, lots of PEQ motion/water leak sensors, a Leaksmart water sensor, Leaksmart water shutoff. In the end, I'm probably looking at ~100 devices including bulbs, so maybe my current hub is sufficient. I also access it via VPN/VLAN, so I don't care about remote management, but I do want ability to get notifications (currently broken, so I'm not sure if that's a dead feature or something isn't setup).

Oh, and do Aqara devices work with the newer hubs? Because I had a pile of those that never worked more than a day.

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nothing wrong with the c-5 hub. while there are the c-7, c-8, and c-8 pro hubs, with the exception of the c-8 pro, the others only offer expanded radios (c-7 allows 700 series z-wave, c-8 allows 800 series z-wave)

in regards to your situation, if it works, then being "old" shouldn't matter. even when firmwares are released, unless it's something you can utilize, or a major security concern, there's no immediate need to upgrade

Zooz is a pretty big name, and from other posts have heard nothing but good things from them. the c-7 hub might help with the firmware upgrades (not sure if the c-5 is capable of it), but if you have a system and it's working (despite how tedious it may be), why change it?

in regards to notifications, do you have the mobile app installed on your device? and rules set up to send notifications? if so, you should be able to receive notifications (i receive notifications from my c-5 and c-7 hubs with no issues)

aqara should work natively, they were added in an older firmware, so may be something to look into upgrading if you are on an older firmware with customer drivers

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I'm not worried about security; I know my ZWave network is susceptible because of a few devices. It's a lot easier to just smash a window then bother trying to hack smart stuff to ... turn on my lights?

I want to change the system because my automations are REAL simple and I still have to reboot my hub every few months. I figured this was just weak hardware that has since been upgraded, but that doesn't generally seem to be the case. I think I'll probably just have to make a list of the things I want this thing to do, and then just search the forums for when that started being a thing. I know interrogating the ZWave network for repeater information is a C-7 thing, so maybe that alone is enough.

Thank you for your response. I've gotten a lot of relatively reliable years out of this hub, and maybe I can move it to the workshop or something if I ever get motivated. I think I have too many questions for one post ... just need to get after it myself.

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Lol.

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Uh, is that "lol, that's not that often" or "lol, that's a lot"?

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In general you probably don’t need to worry too much about OTA firmware updates for your devices unless you know you’re dealing with a situation for a specific device that has a fix in an updated firmware.

Aqara zigbee devices have never been on the hub’s compatibility list, I doubt they ever will be.

This is probably a digression (wrt the topic of the OP) not really worth pursuing, IMO.

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Personally I'm not into replacing working devices. If they're problematic, then I would upgrade too.
The Inovelli Blue seriees would be my personal preference for Zigbee switches. The Inovelli White series is Thread only, so you would need a device that can act as a Thread Border
Router. Depending on which Google Nest device you're talking about. The first generation Google Nest hubs cannot function as a Thread Boarder Router. Hubitat Elevation hubs don't have the ability to act as Thread Border Routers. The C7 (still in Beta for Matter), C8 and C8 Pro can connect to other Matter devices via IP, so if you have a device that funcitons as a Thread Border Router, that is how you could connect Thread devices to Hubitat.

I still use mine. My preference is to keep those Zigbee bulbs on their own network. Some say they don't have a problem. History tells me different in my home. Besides, I like the apps available for the Hue Bridge. It's not broken, functions great, so I'm keeping it just as it is.

I use Echo Speaks, or I use Alexa routines. If you're not an Echo owner then I don't have a good answer for you on that one.

I have three of the v1 Aeotec HEMs. Chatty, but I don't find them finicky. Two live on my secondary C7 hub and the third is joined to Home Assistant. They're good devices. In fact I have no issues with these and others with later generations seem to have lots of problems.

I have two. They're fine. There's an issue with disabling Description Text Logging, but I wouldn't be concerned with that. Mike Maxwell will have that fixed in the next release.

I have one, but never installed it. Good device though. I instead use Moen Flo. There's a community driver for it, but communication is cloud-based. Very relieable cloud service though, as one would expect from such a product.

@kkossev Has done some work with drivers. Some say they don't have any issues with them on C7 or C8 hubs. Personally, I decided long ago I wasn't going to fiddle with them on HE anymore. They're great devices, with excellent battery life and their very small. Didn't want to give up on them and I had heard they were very stable on HA. They are in fact 100% rock solid on HA. So all of my Aqara/Mijia Xiaomi devices, in addition to some IKEA devices, are joined to Home Assistant and I use Home Assistant Device Bridge to bring their states back into HE for automation. I've been using this setup for over two years and it's solid. No drops EVER.

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this

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This is fantastic, thank you.

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One thing to be aware of, you cannot pair Iris V1 to a C8. It seems to be capable of migrating these devices, but if they fall off the mesh, need replacement, or you just wanted to add more of them, you cannot add/re-add.

I have a ton of Iris V1, so I am keeping my C5 around just for those and some cloud based automations that seem to be chatty. Meshing the two hubs is pretty seamless, and it is nice to have a second hub to isolate problematic devices/apps.

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I have 8ish of those Iris plugs, and mine are Ox20015010 FW I think which is the medium-bad firmware. Once upon a time, I wanted to verify which FW I had, and someone said they could do it via their driver, but I don't think it ever happened.

Edit: he did add the functionality. Yes, mine are 20015010 (medium-good).

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Are you referring to the gen 2 Iris plugs (3210-L) that had issues working well as z-wave repeaters with older firmwares?

If so, they still work perfectly fine as zigbee switches (and zigbee repeaters). I have several paired to my hub that are pretty old.

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I have mostly removed them all from my house because of failed automations, or not needing them. However, I completely forgot that these had both inside. Yeah, I had once-upon-a-time used the ZWave part, but I excluded them a long time ago back when I found out updating the firmware was essentially impossible.

Sorry, I am conflating things and making errors. I have forgotten a lot.

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that was my bad, i was used to seeing aqara in the releases, but those are custom drivers, not native

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