Hi
I currently have a hub and devices running through my SmartThings app.
It’s mostly movement sensors and a few smart plugs which are located in a second property in the US.
I use it to monitor and movement and control a few things remotely.
The devices often drop offline and it’s a pain to try to keep everything running from afar.
I’m looking to replace everything and start with a new ecosystem as I know SmartThings isn’t really supported anymore so I’m wondering if anybody here has advice as to whether Hubitat would be a good replacement or whether some other ecosystem might be more reliable?
I used to use the Smartthings IDE which allowed me to log in and force a reset of offline devices but that seems to have been shut down now.
Many thanks in advance
Much of it will depend on what you intend to do and what devices you want to use.
I was one of the early users of SmartThings and I transitioned over to Hubitat and, for my applications and devices, it works very well. I was never able to run SmartThings fully local due to two applications that had to run in the (now gone) dev environment and a couple of devices that would not run locally. All my key automations run locally on Hubitat and that has pretty much eliminated latency issues.
I don't administer my hub remotely - since that seems to be an important requirement for you it would be good to get some feedback from some users who rely on that feature.
Thanks very much.
The automation is less important to me than a solid reliable ecosystem
The remote part is only to be able to fix things if they go offline ultimately.
Fundamentally I just want some movement sensors and door open/close sensors and that’s about it
Thanks for your reply
Most of my automations are motion sensors triggering switches or dimmers. All my switches and dimmers are Lutron Caséta, most of my motion sensors are Zigbee but I have a few Z-Wave. I am retired and thus able to travel - I leave the house in the hands of a non-technical house/dog sitter for up to six weeks at a time. We've been doing this for several years now and had zero problems with the Hubitat (or the Lutron, for that matter).
What devices (make & model) are you using?
Thank you very helpful
I have an Aeotec Smart Home Hub some of my sensors /window sensors are SmartThings and some are generic branded Zigbee compatible
None of them seem to stay connected to the hub for more than a few months. I don’t think it’s a WiFi issue but that’s possible
We might need a little more information about the devices you have, as in quite specific manufacturer and model number...
Do you have any Zigbee devices that are plugged into mains power? (i.e. normal wall electrical outlet) Most mains powered Zigbee devices also act as Zigbee repeaters to strengthen the Zigbee mesh network, thus allowing battery powered Zigbee devices (door/window contact sensors and motion sensors) to have an easier time staying connected.
Also, it is important that the 2.4GHz WiFi channel used by the home WiFi router/access points be configured to 'play nicely' with Zigbee devices. Always force your 2.4GHz WiFi network to use channels 1, 6, or 11 with a 20MHz channel width. This then allows for Zigbee to operate without interference on Zigbee channels 15, 20, or 25.
Told you we were a detail-orientated bunch... 
We are obviously all Hubitat fans on this bus. I switched from SmartThings to Hubitat a few years ago. From what you describe I think you will be very happy with Hubitat. It was also very cool for my smart home to remain functioning when the internet went down. I am not an expert.
Thanks very much. I’ll definitely give it a try
Thank you that is super helpful
Is there any advantage in Z-Wave over Zigbee or vice Versa?
I hadn’t considered using a wired Zigbee sensor before, they are currently all battery
I use Zigbee (mostly) motion sensors as the Zigbee motion sensors I have tried seem to be just a little bit quicker to respond than the Z-Wave motion sensors I have tried.
Zigbee sensor devices tend to be slightly less expensive than Z-Wave devices. Zigbee devices historically have also been faster to respond (as mentioned by @Eric.C.Miller already), although that may no longer be the case with modern Z-Wave devices.
I made the decision a few years ago to remove all Z-Wave devices, which for me were switches and dimmers. I replaced all of them with Lutron Caseta devices, which have been 100% reliable and very quick. No regrets whatsoever.
I use a bunch of Zigbee motion, contact, and leak sensors throughout the house, along with a about 8 Zigbee outlets that act as Zigbee repeaters to make a very strong mesh network. Most all of my Zigbee devices are old Lowes Iris v2 devices, which were OEM'd by Centralite. Once Lowes decided to shut down the Iris home automation platform, I was able to buy many of these Zigbee devices at a significant discount. Thus, I have not needed to shop for any 'new' Zigbee devices for quite some time.
Z-wave for me has longer range as it operates in a lower frequency (9xxMHz vs 2.4GHz for Zigbee). I use it for some outdoor gate sensors that I doubt Zigbee would reach. Z-wave is also more immune to interference from wifi (again, because completely different frequency). That said, I try to use Zigbee where I can as it just seems easier to deal with. My motion and leak sensors are all Zigbee. Most of my contact sensors are Zigbee, and all my "wall wart" outlets are Zigbee. I haven't really had many issues with Z-Wave in general, but every time I add or remove devices I seem to end up with "ghosts" that need further effort to remove. I'm sure it's something I'm doing incorrectly, but with Zigbee, I just never have to worry about it.
