I want Hubitat company to grow and prosper

@Royski had an issue with his zigbee stick not long ago and ended up swapping it out.
Obviously, doing that requires you to rejoin everything again.. not sure I want to spend the time doing that unless I have to.
Although I do have a couple of ā€˜spareā€™ ones, if I have to do that then I might look to see if there is a compatible better usb stick.

Andy

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On this, does anyone out there know if there is a 'more powerful and compatible' zigbee stick that we could use? (If such a thing exists).
Lets hit google and see what I come up with. :wink:

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In view of the fact that the zigbee ā€˜drops offā€™ when the hub is stressed, it got me thinking about power to the usb port..
I wonder if a powered usb hub would make it more stable?
I might well try this just for fun.

Andy

I haven't hit problems yet, but mind sharing links to these in the event I do eventually hit this?

I have a virtual ā€˜switchā€™ driver which I created a while ago.
So you can schedule it with RM if you wish or put it on a dashboard for manual use
With this you can reboot/shutdown the local hub or a remote hub on the lan.
Iā€™ll release it when the website is open

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Here you go. :slight_smile:
Scheduled reboot.

DB unavailable.

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I think if more people start expressing this desire, as they have very recently, it will happen.

Hubitat has a great reputation for supporting a wide variety of devices, and that brings customers in... The lack of platform stability will ultimately push customers out.

That is the reason I'm not constantly generating negative posts on the matter is because I know ultimately Hubitat HAS to find and fix the issue. It is key to their survival.. And with a new CEO and new hub on the horizon, I know they are planning to stick around for a while.

It's just a waiting game for now...

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I think both you and @Cobra have hit the nail on the head. Because there's a significant number of users reporting the need to reboot daily, stabilizing the platform has to be an issue of the highest priority for Hubitat.

I just want to point out that the vast majority of their efforts may already be devoted to resolving that issue; however, it is extremely unlikely that we'll see a public statement to that effect because of its impact on sales over the short term, which are likely needed to make payroll, restock hubs etc. etc.

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Maybe... Maybe not. Only they know - anything else is just speculation.

I've (many times) seen companies not work on the "top priority issue" the hardest for many reasons - schedules, deadlines, project/contractual commitments, etc.

They've already said they are working on it, though, and they also want it fixed. So we don't need to speculate about that part! :+1:

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I've also been hit by the "slowdown" issue.
I've dealt with it by:
-getting another hub in play
-rebooting on a regular basis
This seems to be a "temporary" fix to the issue.

Like everyone else, in my humble opinion, this issue has to be the number one thing that all support people should be working on. Even in a "all hands on deck" mode .

I'm also frustrated like every one else.
However, since I have seen these guys give so much of themselves, and since they have come so far, so fast, I'm willing to give them some more time to get this problem under control. My patience isn't unlimited, but I'm willing to give them a lot of time to wrestle this issue to the ground.

Besides, I've already tried HomeSeer, Home Assistant, Vera, SmartThings, etc. I'm really emphasized text*tired of another HA product going into (and never coming out of) my drawers.

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I've worked in software for almost 20 years now. I've worked for companies as small as 4 employees, as big as 30,000 employees. I've had roles from intern through executive positions.

Here's the reality:

You must do both. Saying "now more stable!" doesn't sell. People assume the device works. However having your customers say "it falls apart constantly" won't sell either. You need to be working towards greater stability AND new functionality. If you can't do both simultaneously the product will fail because others will continue pushing their products forward while you're stuck trying to add stability. Look right now, you've got ST adding a local rules engine and extolling the virtues of local execution. There is an area they are catching up to HE. At the same time they announced almost a dozen new integrations. How many first party integrations has HE introduced in the last year? I believe it is 0 (technically -1 since they lost Nest support). I love HE but let's face it, the web UI looks like something out of the late 90s, the mobile app has the minimum functionality to consider it functional, etc. It doesn't have the feel of a polished application. If they want to become the market leader with the kind of people who buy ST or Wink (e.g. not people who want to invest time in learning Groovy or even RM) they need the UI to be simple to use!

If you want to be successful and grow you need a stable platform that has the killer features everyone ones. Otherwise there will be someone new tomorrow who disrupts the market and you're left in the dust.

Things I can all but guarantee we'll see:

1.) Increase in hub price -- why is it so cheap? They keep cutting the price. Are they having trouble selling it? As someone who invests in companies all the time when I see them cutting the price left and right like HE is I get nervous that it isn't selling and the management thinks price is the reason. You don't have to be (and shouldn't be) the cheapest game in town if you're the best. People expect to pay more for the best!
2.) First party accessories -- Wink, SmartThings, Homeseer, Amazon, etc. they all have first party Zwave/Zigbee devices. Why? Additional sales! Hell, I threw away my ST hub over a year ago. Since that time I've spent more money on ST devices than I've given to HE just by buying ST sensors. Do you think ST cares I bought an HE hub? I've actually given ST MORE money since I switch to HE than when I was an ST user and guess what, I'm no longer using any of ST's cloud services so their margins are even higher! They pay a third party manufacturer to build the devices, slap an ST logo on it and enjoy the markup!
3.) Some kind of subscription service - The market for HA equipment right now is way too small to forego a recurring revenue model. Cloud infrastructure costs money! Cloud platforms for dashboards, integrations, push notifications, etc. Each of those things results in a growing expense as sales grow. They need some way to recoup those expenses.

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I for one haven't had any slowdowns like every one is talking about.
I have four hubs. (Hubconnect).

1: Controller Hub with most of the rules. Also Lutron, Google and Alexa Integration.
2: Zigbee Hub with Z-Wave radio turned off.
3: Z-Wave Hub with Zigbee radio turned off.
4: Testing / Experimenting / Development / Whatever App Hub. No Radios turned on.
5: Smarthings with nothing connected.

Only about 100 device though.

I do agree that there should be more on-line (LAN-WAN) devices (services) able to connect. For example Smart Life, maybe also Bluetooth Devices while you're at it.

But a main focus of HE has always been privacy and local control. So far, in my opinion, they are doing a damn good job at it.

I've had my struggles connecting devices, for example my Z-Wave hub is only 6 feet away from my back door lock. I put in the recommended repeater about 1 foot from the Hub and it still didn't work most of the time. Then I put a (Inovelli) Switch about 10 inches from the lock and it works perfectly.

**

I personally hope these guys don't go away, because Hubitat Elevation is doing it's job at my house.

**

No performance or freezing issues for me either

31 - Z-Wave devices
23 - Zigbee
Echo Skill
Device Watchdog
Echo Speaks (3)
Life360
Unofficial Ring Connect
Inovelli Dimmer driver
27 - RM Rules
No personal or custom code other than noted above

C-3 Hub
Current FW

Running smooth as silk

Sure hope I didn't just jinx myself
Rick

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good point!

  • Any wonder why the general population has been slow on the HmAuto uptake?

  • That's a significant knowledge base that an annual user/developer conference could capture.

  • Says a lot that you and others have taken the leap onto HE. Also reminds me of all those platforms I looked at and said, "nah, not yet...can't justify the time & $"

  • I'd gladly pay a modest subscription AFTER six months of building out a useful automation environment and verifying that this platform is solid.

Not really relevant to my original commentary but a few have commented on the quality of their Hubitat hubs so I'll chime in with my feedback.

My hub has been running great lately which I primarily attribute to swapping out of a older z-wave non-plus devices. I also believe Hubitat is the best consumer HA hub (that I'm aware of) available today.

Again, my original comment not related to the current quality

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Love this product. Has a Home Assistant feel/customization to it but is a product with a support team and excellent core usability out of the box. If the UI was a bit sleeker they'd appeal to an even wider more "average" consumer.

I've had one unexpected lockup in a ~year of ownership. Otherwise things have been great for me so far. 3 story home filled with Z-Wave switches everywhere, Lutron integration for Pico remotes and lamps, Zigbee locks and some repeaters, water sensors and Envisalink alarm integration. 2 dozen automations and a bunch of apps installed. No slowdowns detected.

I had 4 older non-plus GE switches. Replacing those with some new Inovelli Red dimmers was a game changer for my Z-Wave mesh. That alone sped things up considerably and new devices pair much faster then they ever did previously.

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Which hub model do you have ?

What was your feel for homeseer ?

Iā€™m always intrigued with comments that a company canā€™t survive without a subscription model. Heard it in the Wink forums as well. I have a house full of products that donā€™t have subscriptions. I think Iā€™ve bought one blender in my lifetime.

On the other hand most of these companies sell multiple products. Even so, there was a time they only had one product. Certainly this is a critical time. A single product can be a fickle income stream - especially in young marketplace that is still trying to establish a mainstream presence.

I agree with one of the comments above - we, as users, are spending greatly more on related products. So how can Hubitat tap into a larger slice of that pie? As any business they need to solidify their revenue stream. Hopefully they have a plan to do so.

On a related note I installed a hub with five Inovelli switches and five GE plug in modules at my parents house. I expected quite a bit of resistance but they couldnā€™t be happier. Sure I did the initial setup and rule creation but David (91) says he prefers controlling the lights through the web page.

They have a good thing going here. Hopefully they will continue to evolve and thrive.

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