I’m looking for recommendations for quality and reliable LED strips. Local control only - ideally zigbee/zwave.
I couldn’t find any recent posts on this topic (for uk) and also the hubitat compatible list is pretty frugal.
I think the list of LED packaged with Smart capability is very slim. I have a strip of white LEDs that have a combination of warm and Bright LEDs controlled by a ZooZ RGB dimmer and a 24Volt wall wart. They have been running for about 4 years with no issues. They go on daily at "dusk" and off at 11:30 PM
In addition, I have LED strips under the lip of my stairs. They are run at about 2% PWM and are on 24/7. They have been there for 7 years. No issues although lately some are starting to look "warm" compared to others.
I've purchased about 10 or 12 separate LED strips from various ebay sellers, having various specs. In general I find them all about the same quality. (I've been in electronic mfg all my career).
I think for reliability the only time the mfg comes into the picture is for very bright LEDs, where heat dissipation (hence mechanical design) is important. The "typical" LED "strip" are all made with typical quality LED devices and soldering. Most of my LED strips have 3M adhesive.
I will say there is a whole different class of LED "strips" for the industrial market. These devices are mostly designed to be powered with controlled current. They can be purchased through electrical distributors such as Digikey.
For Colour, the best local in my opinion is Philips Hue with the Philips Hue LED driver (it makes a difference versus generic). They have the best CRI and very smooth dimming.
For white only, I like the IKEA Trådfri LED drivers, but others will work. These COB strips or similar are excellent. I'm in Canada and they're available. You might need to find another seller.
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I've been very happy with Hue strips for years, but recently adopted Kasa Wi-Fi Strips and they are in many ways better than Hue. Brightness, color, multi-color zones, and price. Most Popular Light Bulbs and Light Strips in 2023 - #3 by bobbyD
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I am very happy with COB Pixel LED strips controlled by Pixelblaze. This is a bit DIY project
but really easy to put together all components. Of course, there is a very nice HE driver
developed by @zranger1 The setup allows to control each individual LED in a strip.
I am running 7 different projects.
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Personal preference of course. I'd for sure be unhappy with the white rendering from RGBIC strips. Can't live with anything but Warm White or RGBWW strips for my home.
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I am happy with Aqara LED Strip T1, despite the misleading Matter advertisement.
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I don’t see anything that says it’s Matter capable out of the box. In fact, I think they actually did a good job of walking the line between marketing Matter capabilities and the actual requirements.
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That’s why I say the advertising is a bit misleading.
Most of the customers will stop reading after the ‘Matter’ word, and will skip the ‘… over Zigbee bridge’ part.
There are many Govee devices that support their LAN API. That allows it to remain local. I believe they have RGBICWW strip to give you the White only pixels.
Their M1 Strip is RGBICW and supports the LAN API. You can also get one that supports Matter as well.
Playing devils advocate but to me this says, it's Matter capable, but requires Zigbee hub if you want to use it as Zigbee device 
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My son has some LIFX strips and they look really good.
I purchased COB strips for my stairs. They look amazing, just like a lighted tube.
Purchased from this ebay seller
With the COB I've not tested full power use for more than a few minutes. For my stairs I usually run them at a 1% duty cycle so no worry about over heating.
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This really highlights that there are allot of LED's for different uses. Power consumption and length limitations are directly related to pixel density and voltage being used.
COB's are great so you don't see pixels because of how tightly they are packed, but because there are so many per meter power usage tends to be higher. 144pixel p/m with the ability to be tightly packed behind a diffuser and give good distribution. 60pixels p/m is where you start to have a decent chance of seeing each pixel unless the diffuser is reasonably deep. 30 and below means pretty no matter what you do the individual pixels will be visible unless there is allot of room to diffuse the light.
It is really about what are you using it for when it comes to pixel density.
I would also point out that just because pixel density is greater doesn't mean more light.
Yes. Marketing 101 
It is more light for sure. I replaced all my strips with COB. Almost all of them are Pixel LEDs.
If you can do basic soldering and don't mind wifi, wled and a cheap strip is the way to go.
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Or Pixelblaze
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I was considering this... However in Australia if I go the ws2812b option the suitable power supplies for a 5m length (300 led) pushes this option up in costs a lot.. As in the power supply costs more than the strip's and esp.
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If you want to pair white LEDs with Lutron dimmers go with flexfire. I used these under my kitchen cabinets and they look amazing.
