Help me choose dimmer / button, newbie

I appreciate any help. I've used a Sengled and Hue dimmer. Both are OK but the Hue isn't quite working well yet.

This looks interesting as a simple button. On and off is all I need most of the time. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D19YXND?pf_rd_r=CM6EE58SZDCKYFG9F6PM&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8

I bought this by mistake, Amazon said it was Zigbee https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLAXFQ0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Is it good enough to merit getting a hub?

But what I really want is this TRÅDFRI Remote control - IKEA but I know Ikea and Hubitat aren't friends yet or possibly ever. That design is just perfect though.

Lutron Pico remotes are probably the best button controllers available for use with Hubitat.

They do require purchase of the Caseta Pro Bridge. However, the wireless protocol they use (Lutron ClearConnect) is so reliable that several members of the Hubitat community have switched from z-wave and zigbee switches for lighting/fans to Caseta switches, dimmers, and fan controllers.

I would recommend not purchasing the Xiaomi Aqara button controller. Xiaomi's Mijia and Aqara devices use a non-standard zigbee protocol and do not work well with Hubitat. I had ~60 Aqara devices paired to one of my Hubitat's, and would not recommend anyone else do it!

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How about this? (similar styling)

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+1 on the Pico remotes. It's an expensive investment to start with because of the SmartBridge Pro, but the Pico remotes are a solid/reliable/tactile button.

Read more in my write up here where I compare the Pico remote to the Sengled remote (and the Lutron Aurora).

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Lutron reliability is "legendary", and has a price to go with it. The aqara button you linked works okay. Much better, is the zigbee 3.0 compliant aqara buttons, in 2,4 & 6 button flavors. I just bought another 6 button(handles 32 actions), but who can remember all that.

I'll add my "yes" to the "yes" votes above. :slight_smile: Lutron isn't usually cheap, but Pico remotes are an exception. The Smart Bridge Pro (or RA system if you really want) that you'll need to get started isn't cheap, but Pico remotes are so cheap that if you get enough, you'll probably make up whatever difference in price, and it opens up the possibility to use other Lutron products in the future (like the Caseta dimmers) if you want. I tried lots of button devices before these and was never happy with anything until I used these. I resisted for a long time, trying pretty much any reasonbly priced button device out there. If you only need one button, the second-happiest I ever was was with the SmartThings (2018) Button, but those have been hard to find lately, possibly because ST's hardware business is in a state of flux.

If you like those that much, I'm pretty sure they work with deCONZ (and probably other Zigbee implementations), which can be integrated with Hubitat via a community driver. But that requires a deCONZ "server," which can be any computer that's always on or (what most people probably do) a small device dedicated to that purpose like a Raspberry Pi, plus the purchase of a ConBee stick (about $41 USD). I'm exploring this option for other purposes myself (Hue Bridge alternative for non-Hue-compatible lights like Sengled) and will get around to testing this sometime...

But it would probably be easier to get something natively supported.

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If only Hank made Zigbee devices. I'm building a Zigbee mesh and I know that the z-wave range is good enough but it just seems counter to use it. That's my quandary with Lutron as well but with Lutron there may be enough stuff to justify it.

I just missed out on getting some new Samsung buttons. They went on clearance at Best Buy but you have to get them locally as the stores aren't shipping them.

Deconzing for Tradfri is too much. Hopefully Hubitat will get Tradfri working one day as Ikea and a few others seem to be using a similar standard.

I might try an aqara button anyway if I see one cheap just to know what it's like.

So far I have Hue and Sengled dimmers and oddly enough Hue sucks. The Sengled uses a custom driver but is working fine.