I'm not trying to extol the virtues and vices of either format. However I was recently looking for a Z-Wave Plus Plug in dimmer. I found GE has moved this type of device to Zigbee. And most of the new "small" sensors (i.e. Temp/humidity, buttons, contacts) seem to be primarily Zigbee. Many of the in wall dimmers seem to be going to Zigbee.
Has anybody seen any more formal indication of a trend to Zigbee. Or does each have its place?
From personal experience it's certainly true at least - I've recently discovered I have more Zigbee devices than Z-Wave.. Not sure how that happened. Most of my light switches/dimmers are still Z-Wave but most everything else is Zigbee - Locks, bulbs, motion / temp sensors, some relays etc.
In case you haven't heard about the chip shortage, 700 Series Z-Wave chips are back-ordered at least a year from Silicon Labs (who is the only source). They are supposedly telling manufacturers to re-engineer their products based on the new 800 Series, since it will be out in the fall.....
That all makes sense (for better or worse!), but it's interesting that Zooz seems unaffected ... They don't seem to have any big inventory issues and they're even cranking out all-new 700 stuff lately.
I wonder also if this is a pre-positioning move to support the newer technologies such as Thread, Matter, etc. Zigbee plays a huge role and with some software/firmware changes these devices would probably play in the future ecosystem better.
This thread below is a very interesting thread to read. Lots of inside information as to the challenges they are having when it comes to sourcing zwave chips and how long it will take. This specific post has some interesting charts related to sales that may support your claim.
Personally, I've been trying to find certain zwave products that last year were easy to come by. Now I'm seeing them sold out everywhere.
I also have been noticing that zwave devices have been rather difficult to source.
So difficult in fact, that recently we did an all zigbee installation (for the first time).
In the past, there used to be some categories of equipment (lights, thermostat, etc.) that was difficult to find in Zigbee. Now, that seems to have gone by the wayside.
It's still the case that in light switches there are few zigbee alternatives, but more are coming on board all the time.
This trend tends to degrade a key competitve advantage that Hubitat has - it's flexibility in dealing with both zwave and zigbee in a flexible manner.
Much prefer Zigbee for all the usual reasons (single frequency worldwide making sourcing devices easier in Asia, incredible range of devices, no security set-up headaches whatsoever).
Download the Hubitat app
