My setup (in the UK) is all Zigbee and (touch wood) has been stable for a year. I too didn't want to break the bank.
All my repeaters are Ikea smart plugs. They're cheap & play nicely with everything, including Aqara.
Primary movement sensors are Philips. Not cheap but super reliable & they have a short cool-down time. Other movement sensors are all Aqara.
Temp/humidity sensors are Aqara.
Door/window sensors and buttons are a mix of Aqara and Sonoff.
Smoke alarms are Heimann.
Roller blind motors are AM43 from MoesHouse on AliExpress.
No-neutral switch/dimmer modules are Samotech. These hide behind wall switches (I use Click GridPro retractive switches) but you need a fairly deep pattress box to fit them in.
For smart bulbs I use a mixture of Philips Hue (expensive) and Ikea Tradfri (cheap). Due to possible mesh issues caused by smart bulbs these are ALL connected to a Philips Hue bridge (2nd hand off Ebay) and controlled with Hubitat using a really good integration app.
For the TV & IR side of things I use a Logitech Harmony (now discontinued).
Smart heating: Tado. It's a stand-alone system that has a Hubitat integration. It wasn't cheap but has smart radiator valves as well as room stats. You can set both the temperature and schedule for each room individually. It's also able to modulate the combi boiler & uses weather compensation.
This company, click4electrics are now doing some nice zigbee outlets which for the basic white ones are only slightly more expensive than smart 'plug-in' outlets.
They also do some nice 'metal front' outlets that are more expensive but do look nice.
All we need is for them to start doing some nice light switches/dimmers.
Salus SP600 give power reporting. Ikea outlets. Both give power reporting and repeat.
I have some Hue strips paired to a Hue bridge and integrated into HE and these work nicely that way. As for bulbs in general, I keep away from them as I want to control my bulbs via the switch AND using automation. It is easy to turn of the switch to a smart bulb rendering 'dumb'. Just my preference.
Lights - Fibaro Dimmer 2. Standard switches replaced with MK grid plates with retractive switches. I like that there is no reliance as such on the hub. I have manual control at the switch but all lights can still be used in automations and report their status for viewing on dashboards etc.
Table Lamps, appliances - Fibaro Outlets. I use the power monitoring to trigger notification rules for my none smart washing machine.
Garden lighting, water features - Fibaro Double Smart Module & Fibaro Double Switch 2. I use these where it's not a plug in device and have also added retractive switches for local control - again so that there's no reliance on the hub.
Alarm System, Bed TV - Fibaro Smart Implant. Great little device. 2 inputs and 2 outputs that can be configured separately. One monitors the set status of the alarm and can also arm/disarm it in automations.
Curtains - Qubino Flush Shutter. I've fitted motorised curtain tracks from M systems with Dooya motors. I couldn't get the Fibaro equivalent to work properly with these motors. Also fitted with retractive switches for local control.
Garage Door - Fibaro Shutter 3. I pulled out the standard controller and wired the motor direct to this with local switches.
Motion Detectors - Fibaro. I have a few of these for motion lighting. I've recently fitted two in external enclosures front and rear of the house to monitor light levels for use in rules for curtains, blinds and outside lighting.
Contacts - Neo Coolcam and Aeotec. The Neo Coolcam are great contacts and fairly cheap (£18.99 Amazon UK). I needed the Aeotec specifically as it has a terminal input so you can connect any volt free switch to it. In my case I use it to connect a micro switch that monitors the lock on my bi fold doors.
Roller Blind - Zemismart AM45. My only Zigbee device. Blinds are not very well catered for in Z Wave (at least in UK frequency)
On top of that I have my alarm (Honeywell Galaxy) connected via Raspberry Pi and an MQTT integration. As a security installer I've added a lot of devices to the alarm in order to use this integration as I can use all of the devices already on the alarm for lighting and other automations such as turning off radiator valves when a window is open longer than a minute or so.
Ive read alot about how bulbs destroy your mesh but i have 32 ledvance gu10 rgbw zigbee bulbs in my garden which is about 1/3 of by zigbee devices and everything is hunky dory not had any issues, i have put 3 zigbee repeaters spread across the back of my bungalow dont know if that's saved me from issues or not
I also have a BOB (roborock S5 Max hoover) which is wifi but integrated into Hubitat if your looking to get SWMBO on board with automation i highly recommend it, he hoovers when the house is empty and trundles back to his dock if we come home before hes finished never see him.
In my wifes words when i bought him why have u wasted all that money on a stupid hoover thats just going to get in the way, fast forward 1 week the wife said im putting the dyson on facebay as we dont need it any more a slice of humble pie??
Some bulbs are ZLL based. They make bad repeaters and messengers. They do not play well with ZHA based zigbee devices (sensors and what not). When the bulb goes into low power mode it stops repeating and anything routing through it is dead in the water. It is recommended that you keep bulbs on their own hub (either a hue bridge or another hubitat). The exceptions to this are Sengled bulbs (as they don't repeat) or zigbee 3.0 bulbs. Or you can use Lifx bulbs (best of the bunch)
I have samotech 323 dimmers (no neutral) and they've been amazing. Also I have around 12 Xiaomi Aqara, buttons/contact/motion sensors and they've been rock solid for 3 years, presumably because I have 3 IKEA tradfri outlets keeping them stable on my mesh. I have smarthings outlets, water sensors, motion sensors and contact sensors, these have all been rock solid but are twice the price of Xioami. Others I have are Lidl livarnolux bulbs and ikea tradfri bulbs and these have also been fine plus they're dirt cheap. Also I have 9 IKEA Fyrtur blinds which have been brilliant with @a4refillpad driver. Finally, I'm very pleased with the Konnected set up which integrates with my conventional house alarm and also doubles up as additional motion and door contact sensors. I like my alarm Arming automatically when we leave the house or when our nighttime routine runs.
Another UK Hubitater joining in. My kit's roughly 50:50 Z-Wave and Zigbee, built up in a semi-organised (at best) way as requirements, devices and preferences have evolved. Originally it was more Z-Wave, mainly because there were no other options available at the time, but in recent years more Zigbee kit's become available and that's become my preferred system (due to a combination of price and less pairing hassle).
On to specifics - assume no problems unless anything's specifically mentioned:
Light switches - mainly Fibaro Dimmer 2s, fitted behind the sockets. Deep backboxes are needed for these, which was something of a hassle as our house started with shallow boxes in cinderblock walls (hammer, chisel, and later Ryobi mulitool FTW!).
Starting over I'd probably look elsewhere for reasons of price and Zigbeeness, but these were the first major components I incorporated and at the time there weren't many other options. That said, once paired I've had no problems with them so no gripes on reliability.
Motion sensors - originally all Sonoffs, as these are nice and cheap, but I have had some reliability problems plus a few of their features are limiting (fixed retrigger period, and unstoppable LED flash when motion detected). Switched to the more configurable Hue's in bedrooms where <ahem> nighttime flashes aren't welcome - these are larger, but take far heftier batteries so should need less maintenance too.
Buttons - cheap but effective (but butt-ugly) Sonoffs for single buttons, a much prettier 4-way Yugusmart button with high WAF for her bedside use.
Contact sensors - Fibaro on external doors (more for lack of alternative at the time), Sonoff internal.
Plug sockets - a bit of a random mix; the Ikea ones are fine, as long as you can live with the lack of a physical on/off button, SmartThings is my current preferred option.
Bulbs - the Ikea ones have done the job nicely.
Blinds - only started dabbling with these recently, with mixed success - don't give much weight to what I have to say. Have only looked at Zemismart Tuya ones so far, and the main issue's been a combination of limited (but improving!) driver support plus uncertainty in the capabilities of what one's actually getting (down to a combination of my own lack of familiarity with the area and patchily translated Chinese adverts/specs).
Plenty of info to digest here.
I was going to buy in bulk, but I think to be on a safe side I'll start off low and build up in case I do run into any issues.
Watch this space, I'll be back with another 100 questions!
I'm in the UK. Personally I would avoid Aqara, they are cheap but you'll spend half your time reconnecting them, I've moved to Aeotec SmartThings, pricey but have had no issues with them https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08RG96JNQ
As for lighting, I used standard dimmable bulbs with Shelly Dimmer 2 units behind Scolmore 3 position retractive switches, much cheaper than smart bulbs and easy to use from the switch. I have no neutral and mine work fine without the 'bypass'.
Harmony Hub is my fav.
a slice of humble pie??
