Hi,
Hoping to get my hodge podge of hue and tradfri bulbs setup with my new HE hub that has just arrived.
Ive read that to control my hue bulbs it is best to do this by hue hub integration with HE.
If i want to also control tradfri bulbs, is it best to connect:
Directly to HE
to hue hub first, then HE
Or connect to the tradfri hub then to HE somehow?
Thanks
Personally I prefer all my bulbs connected via Hue. You never know if someone's gonna accidentally switch one off etc, and I like to use them with Hue scenes as well
Personally, I keep all bulbs (mix of hue and tradfri) on the hue hub then control them via hubitat. Having bulbs in the control mesh (directly linked to hubitat) was resulting in sensors dropping off randomly.
Obviously everyone's mesh is different, this is simply observed behaviour on my set up.
Like @Inge_Jones, I also prefer my bulbs on Hue. I have various reasons for this: it's a lighting-oriented system so very easy to set up, it has some features that Hubitat doesn't ("native" Zigbee scenes, and devices like remotes/buttons that are also on Hue usually work even if the Hue Bridge is offline, in the hopefully rare event you have either Hubitat or Hue offline), and it avoids possible mesh issues if you connect Hue bulbs (possibly Tradfri, too; I don't know that anyone has checked) directly to Hubitat.
The biggest downsides are that it's an entirely separate Zigbee network (repeaters for one don't work for the other; try to use different channels for each, too, and avoid Wi-Fi frequency overlap if you can) and that Hubitat's native Hue integration relies on polling to get device states, so it's not instant like a direct Zigbee device would be (but at least two community integrations exist that can get instant status updates from the Bridge, or in most cases this really isn't an issue if you change the devices from Hubitat for the most part or don't have a reason to care, like a Dashboard you're displaying the device on).
Thank you everybody for the replies 
The problem you ran into is definitely a common one when using bulbs paired directly to HE. Most (not all) make crappy repeaters (especialy when someone turns off the fixture and cuts power to the bulb) and many folks have noticed a marked improvement in zigbee stability (myself included) when they got those bulbs off their primary mesh network and onto one dedicated to bulbs.
I have been considering getting some Hue bulbs and during my research on here everyone says to run the Hue bridge as it responds faster compared to directly connecting to the HE. Even if the HE asks the Hue for a light on it is supposedly faster to have it separate bridges. Not sure how that logic works but that is what I have found over and over when learning on here. They also said you can't do the mood thing without the Hue bridge.
I don’t think faster would be possible, but I can’t tell any difference between the speed of Hue lights on the bridge vs Sylvania lights on HE when turning on/off. When I tried some of my Hue lights on HE, it defeated the reason for paying for Hue. They work so well on the bridge; reliable, smooth, always in sync, Hue scenes are stored on the bulbs, they don’t turn on in the middle of the night if there’s a power flicker, etc.
Not taking anything away from HE. The Hue bridge is made to do one thing; get the absolute best out of Hue lights and dimmers, with firmware custom tailored to do just that.
Yeah I don't have one but have been looking at Hue and everyone was saying it is faster to use the Hue bridge which makes no sense to me. Everything I have is plain z-wave to the HE, but I wanted to explore the color options so I have been researching. I am with you that it makes no sense LOL
I never noticed much of a difference in responsiveness so much as a significant difference in reliability. With bulbs that route in the mix with other non-bulb devices my zigbee mesh was less stable. Getting the bulbs on their own hub made both the bulbs and the rest of my zigbee devices more reliable.
You can sometimes find the 3 Hue rgbw bulbs with the Hue bridge included on sale. If you are a Costco member they have good prices on their website for Hue. Online availability is always changing from week to week, so you never know what they will have. Lowe’s (in NC at least) has most of their Hue lineup on sale online. I bought a few of the 100 watt equivalent rgbw bulbs since they were so cheap 
.
I am finding that the cheaper bulbs the reviews people complain there isn't a w led in there and it makes the color temperature funky. I found on Amazon some LED strips from Sengled and the starter kit was cheaper than the strip by itself. It comes with a zigbee remote, hub, and then the strip that is zigbee. I don't need the remotes as the HE is going to do that part and multiple will be used in one scene so now I have some "free" zigbee remotes!!
Download the Hubitat app
