One of my friends has a house full of a mix of really old X10/Insteon devices. They are going in the trash and a new Hubitat is in route as we speak. Personally I have been using GE/Inovelli ZWave stuff in my house for a while and love both. But this person needs to replace a ton devices so we are trying to keep the cost reasonable.
Looking for feedback from everyone on who makes the most cost effective of each of the flowing categories that are still reliable, UL/ETL Listed, and work great with Hubitat. At this point we don't care about any advanced features like power monitoring or scene support, just on/off/dim. The basics. We are also not married to WiFi, Z-Wave, or Zigbee but unless someone has feedback otherwise it seems like it makes sense to pick one of the two and stick with it so the network is the strongest possible.
Keep in mind we are not looking for the cheapest junk possible but, if one brand is as good as another and we can save $5/device it would add up quick.
Plugin Module (Indoor)
Plugin Module (Outdoor)
In Wall Outlet
In Wall Switch
In Wall Dimmer
In Wall Fan Controller
As I would always say you get what you pay for. For in-wall switches I usually recomend:
Inovelli
Zooz
GE/Jasco
Always make sure the are the the most current ones for GE/Jasco and that it say Z-Wave Plus on the box since there are still stock in the market that is selling the older switches
When it comes to wall outlets I have stopped using those devices, I used to have them for X-10 but when converting I decided to go with ZigBee plugs and dimmers since ZigBee does a better job of self healing moving a plug from one location to another over Z-Wave.
I picked up a lot of Centralite ZigBee Appliance and Dimmer modules for about $15 each when they were being cleared on on EBay and other sites. That model is really no longer available. I am experimenting with Z-Wave again in this space since it seems the new radios are able to ping and re-route without doing a full Z-Wave network repair. But this is the Centralite replacement I am now using on many projects:
But for most lamp based lighting applications I am now using non-repeating ZigBee bulbs like Sengled. They have many types from fixed color temperature to RGB and their prices are much better than others out there.
I recently moved from Smartthings to a Hubitat Hub and here's what works for me:
Replaced four single-pole wall switches with Zigbee switches by Inle (were on sale for $17 US at Amazon). They are not the highest quality but they appear to work flawlessly for the last month.
I have three Securfi Peanut wall outlets which act as Zigbee repeaters as well as power monitors. They are a little bulky, but have been very reliable for the last two years. Cost was $18 US from Amazon. If I needed more outlets, I'd probably go with the Centralite mini smart plugs for $18 US from Amazon as they are smaller (but don't have power monitoring, I believe).
I also have two IKEA TRÅDFRI Zigbee signal repeaters which I bought from IKEA for $13 US. They also have a 5V USB port for charging devices.
For smartbulbs, I'm using the Sengled non-repeating lights which paired very easily with the HE hub and seem to work with out any issues. The cost was $10 US for each bulb.
If you have access to Costco, they currently have excellent pricing online for Honeywell dimmers switches and outlets. these switches and outllets are the same as the GE jasco switches and they are Z-Wave plus and they work very well. At 49.95 for a pair, it's hard to beat that price\performance ratio. Also since you're buying from Costco, they have extremely easy return policies, if you run into issues now or in the future. They also have an outdoor plug as well, IIRC.
They also have 2 packs of Hue motion sensors and button controllers cheaper than elsewhere, and 4 packs of CT and RGBW bulbs (although still not exactly cheap).
If I had to do it all over, I would go with the Enbrighten Zigbee 3.0 devices for everything:
Except where I have zigbee bulbs. In my opinion Zigbee has a substantial advantage over Z-wave, in both speed (2.5X the speed of the 100k Z-wave plus) and ease of replacement/reinstallation in the event of a hub or device failure without needing to buy a premium backup service. You can also have multiple Zigbee meshes on different channels if need be (with multiple hub setups).
FWIW, for in-wall outlets, I've been impressed with the GE/JASCO/Honeywell lines.
I have been gradually replacing my plugin plugs (mostly Samsung Zigbee) with a mix of Jasco Zwave plus and Zigbee outlets. I like them much better than any of the plug-in modules. For my money, a plug-in module is an ugly eye sore that is only used when it can be hidden behind something, or when I just haven't spent the money yet to replace it.
WiFi seems to always be cheaper but Z-Wave Plus is more robust and does the repair Z-wave was missing. The problem with WiFi is drivers. I think zigbee items are usually cheaper but not always. I used the Cree zigbee bulbs which wre $10 but are now $12 retail however I sometimes see them on eBay for less. I forget if they repeat. It is mostly switches and plugs that have repeaters.
Sengled are $10 om Amazon.com so that might be a better choice these days.
Yes, but with zigbee, you can take a regular database backup, restore it to another hub, and just rejoin the devices. The zigbee devices will be recognized and fall right back in to all rules. Z-wave plus cannot do that.
