Thanks, how long has the default driver been out? I was using erocm123 driver for the child devices, but I see you also have that with the default driver.
I'll give it a shot,
You're not polling them correct?
I'm going to guess 2 releases.
Correct.
Okay, thank you. I had originally used eric's driver. And you're correct, now it reports physical events, but it's still slower, at least for me, to report in the app,than my zigbee plug devices, but at least now I can reliably capture the event.
I think it's true that ZWave is slower to "start" than Zigbee.
I base that on some Motion Sensors... I have 4 models: Aeon MultiSensor6, Dome, Iris v2 and Iris 'v3'
The Iris (zigbee) are faster than the Aeon or Dome. I have two places in my home where I can "surprise" a motion sensor... I know exactly where it detects me. One spot has a Dome, the other has Iris v3. When I cross the invisible line and am looking directly at the Sensor, the Zigbee LED blinks faster.
More specifically, the time before the LED comes on, is longer on ZWave. From the time the LED does come on to the time the automation reacts, seems similar. But there's that lag from the time I cross the line to the LED coming on, that I'm calling startup (exiting sleep, energizing the radio.)
Okay, that was a long read. Can someone confirm a recap:
ZWave (not ZWave Plus) devices do NOT report physical on/off (or likely increase/decrease as well for dimmers).
ST polls all ZWave devices to get their status - very frequently?
ZWave Poller app was added to HE to all configuration of polling of needed switches and polls each one every 10 seconds.
I have several automations that are based on physical switches and they are not working (I know why now). I tried ZWave Poller for 7 devices and observed it does poll them every 10 seconds (except one that won't respond - but is online and controllable).
However, as soon as I start the Poller app, it seems to bog down my system or network and now my motion lighting automations take FOREVER to activate - not good when the wife walks into the powder room and the light won't come on!
So couple of questions - am I reading correctly that ZWave Plus devices DO report physical changes?
What about ZWave wall outlets? I have one I'd like to poll, but poller won't list an "outlet" as an option. Do the ZWave Plus report when the switch is manually changed?
How does Zigbee factor in? It appears Zigbee devices DO report physical, right?
Thinking I need to replace 4 switches and an outlet - haven't found a Zigbee outlet anywhere though.
Most newer zwave+ device should report correctly.
Unfortunately, it is not all of them, as I have found some examples that do not...
You likely should ask folks for a device you are considering if it works to get the experience of the HE and community with that particular device.
Yes, in general, Z-Wave Plus devices are much better behaved than older Z-Wave devices. However, there are some devices (e,g, Leviton) that need a firmware upgrade to get them to behave correctly, I believe.
Yes, Zigbee devices report physical status changes, and are usually quicker than their Z-Wave counterparts.
This is where the rabbit-hole begins... 
I recently decided to migrate all of my wall switches and dimmers to Lutron Caseta, using the Lutron Caseta SmartBridge Pro (note, it has to be the PRO model as it supports LAN based Telnet integrations which is what Hubitat uses.) I had a mixture of GE/Jasco Z-Wave and Z-Wave Plus switches and dimmers. I grew weary of fighting the exact same problems you're experiencing. I chose Lutron becuase it "just works" all the time, every time, without fail. I have been very impressed thus far. My home lighting now has many more automations than it ever did when I was using SmartThings. Back then, reliability just wasn't good enough for me to not have to troubleshoot the system continuously. My family wouldn't tolerate my 'hobby' any longer. Now, with the Hubitat/Lutron combination, my wife is asking me why she still has to turn on the lights in certain rooms manually. Blank Check Issued!!!
In your case, replacing just the critical switches and dimmers with Z-Wave Plus versions may be good enough. I have some GE/Jasco Z-Wave Plus Switches (no dimmers) that I'd be willing to sell if you're interested. Two are brand new in the box, and I think I have another ~4 that I recently replaced with Lutron Caseta.
When I saw your post on the other thread where you mentioned GE/Jasco dimmers/switched I cringed. I believe I have one more to replace before they are all gone from my network.
It's the older models that are an issue, the current lineup, both Zigbee and Z-Wave report correctly without being poked...
Cringed - yea! I have 7 fans, 7 switches, ~30 dimmers, and ~70 outlets - ALL Jasco Zwave (not plus). I got into this game a couple months too soon 
.
I think I have my decision - I'm replacing five dimmers/switches with Zigbee and one outlet with ZWave+. I figure with the Zigbee I can toss my plug-in zigbee outlets (plugged into a zwave outlet) that I have spread around the house to "help" my Zigbee devices (door/motion/vents) that can't report directly. Oh well.
Appreciate the advise all! @ogiewon - appreciate the offer, I'd take you up on it, but I think I'm better off with going Zigbee.
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Yeah, I had the older ones. Some of the first home automation devices I bought . . . after SmartThings.
Why not a humidity sensor like this one? This way you can have the fan stay on for as long as it takes to bring the humidity down to normal levels.
Because we don't support these devices as they aren't Zigbee ZHA 1.2 compliant...
@mike.maxwell - looks like I need to bookmark the "supported devices" page! I'm a recent WINK defector and just got my HE yesterday.
Allow me to replace the Xiaomi with the below conversation....
FYI: I put a "2.5" in, I believe, a "Fade dimmer over" command (e.g., "Fade dimmer to 0 over 2.5. minutes"). It didn't gripe.
But, java got super pissed off by the invalid numeric value.
There is a LOT covered in this thread! I just moved a number of things over from ADT Pulse. Including some old GE/Jasco switches.
Is there some documentation somewhere that more concisely explains what devices have the "odd' behavior (e.g., not reporting physical on/off changes) and the special "rule manager" actions needed to workaround the stupid patent and other problems?
Thanks!
Honestly it's pretty much limited to old ge switches and dimmers.
Any of these devices that are not zwave plus are going to be problematic.
There's a Built-In App called Zwave Poller. Use it ti identify your antique 
ZWave devices and it will poll them once in 10 seconds, extending that time if there's no response.
Remember, it's polling 24x7 and thus that last thing at night 'turn everything off' or that morning 'turn stuff on' will be competing with the poller for a 'communications slot' on the Mesh.
That sounds like a good idea. What should I use to identify the "old enough to need polling" devices?
Is that EVERYthing that uses the "Generic Z-Wave Switch" and "Generic Z-Wave Dimmer" (as opposed to the "... Smart ..." ones)? Or do I need to somehow dig deeper into it (or even do experiments)?
Somehow, frequent polling of a bunch of devices seems less than ideal. While, spending $50/switch ALSO is less than ideal!
Apparently unfortunately, I got started on all this about 10 years ago--so I even had (may have?) some of the VERY early GE/Jasco switches with pigtails! And I have several of about every generation after that!
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And, the very sad (and expensive) answer is that nearly ALL of my switches, etc. are problems. I apparently have 26 switches, dimmers, plugs, and an outlet that are problems. 
That's about $1,450 worth of problems. Ugh.
And, I really don't want 27 polling calls going out every 10 seconds either, as mostly I do NOT manually hit all those lights.
Thanks!
You’ve hit all the critical points, well done.
SmartThings polls everything, for example, need it or not. As you note, only devices where the physical change alters an automation, needs to be polled.
You can thank Lutron because they had a patent and GE Jasco didn’t choose to pay and so those older devices don’t report.
The Generic SMART drivers don’t support polling so, yes, use the ones without Smart in the name.
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