Should i buy a hubitat? (AUS)

I've spend some time testing with home assisatant, and while it is great, i simply do not have time to spend writing code to get everything to work. I'm looking at hubitat to try and make the process easier, faster, simpler. But i have a few questions i cant seem to find answers for, and reviews online are confusing.

Because i live in Australia we dont get nice things like SONOFF switches, so i would have to buy NUE switches, but this doesnt seem to have any native integration. So would i end up just writing code or drivers and stuffing around like home assistant anyway?

Do i still need a hub for everything if it has built in Zigbee? I have a bunch of zigbee xiaomi sensors at the moment.

I'm building a new house so im looking a smart devices for everything, smart locks, lights, roller door, irrigation, washer, dishwasher etc etc. Am i going to have to buy hubs for everything?

Any advice appreciated.

I'm also confused why the AUS hub is more expensive? Is this just the standard "Australia" tax?

Cheers!

Welcome.

Make sure you check out the Aus/NZ category. Australia - Hubitat

Recently Nue switches 1/2/3/4 gang have been added as a native driver, and Kevin from 3aSmartHome has provided a number of products to Mike Maxwell for integration. Kevin also has SmartThings drivers available for most of his gear, so custom drivers are also possible to port over.

Building a good mesh (zigbee or z-wave) really depends on how each device behaves. Xiaomi sensors (custom drivers available) do not behave well unless you have good repeaters available, typically that means you'll need to have some IKEA tradfri repeaters (available now in Oz) for those sensors to work well. Most people seperate their zigbee lights off onto another hub, like a Philips Hue or second Hubitat to avoid repeating issues. Light bulbs tend to not have a very large buffer and so messages from sensors often get lost and it creates an unstable mesh.

I'm slowly building a guide for us with AU/NZ products, but just ask in our AU/NZ chat for advice on particular products and there will be plenty of advice there.

The AU device is more expensive as they need to provide an extra Z-Wave dongle to support our frequency in Australia. Same for EU/UK and elsewhere. I've suggested to the fellas that they add the Hubitat hub to Amazon Global Shipping which will make the process a bit easier for AU prime customers to get as well.

I'd definitely recommend HE in AU, even though we don't have the breadth of devices here. It's still a great system, one that's improving all the time.

Glenn.

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thanks so much mate, will take a look at that! If you're building a guide for AUNZ products that would be amazing.

It really is an awesome community here. Not to say that you won't have any issues/frustrations, as the product is still pretty new and the team is quite small, but the Devs are very active and are constantly looking to improve the platform. I'd say that the learning curve is a little steeper than some would have liked, but you certainly don't have to write code if you don't want to, but you CAN if you do. Which is nice from a flexibility point of view. :grin:

Yes. If you're just getting started, I'd strongly suggest spending sometime reading up on the various topologies and practices available.
Such as;

  • using "Smart light globes" VERSUS using "Smart switches"
  • " Wifi devices", Zigbee and Zwave devices
  • Read up about building out Mesh networks as they're only as strong as their weakest link

and don't forget to visit and cross reference any intended device with the "Compatible Device list" :slight_smile:

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Hi there from Australia. Came across this thread from 2019. What is the biggest change since then? Any new buyers from Australia?

The single biggest change is the release of the Hubitat C-7 hub. It’s 700 series Z-wave radio allows for the country specific frequency to be selected via software. Thus, no external Z-wave usb radio is required.

Plenty of Antipodeans here :+1:t3:

There seems to be 56 of us in the Aus/NZ Group but perhaps there's more.

I bought a C7 and it arrived in August to replace my Vera Plus and Vera Edge controllers (which I had for about 2-3 years).

Honestly, it has been the best hub purchase I could have made. It's fast and stable and very well supported, plus there is an app or driver for just about everything mainstream.

I've tried Home Assistant, OpenHAB, and HomeSeer (which I bought) and abandoned them all.

Hubitat is just great and im glad I moved my ~40 odd z-wave devices and 1/2 dozen Zigbee devices over. learning RuleMachine was honestly the hardest part as I had been spoilt by Reactor on Vera. :slight_smile:

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You can use these well supported community drivers with the Nue switches. Also they have a few more features that the native/inbuilt ones don't so I highly recommend.

I have this zigbee doorlock it's great, for garage door controller I use this and for internal/external automated blinds I use this all supported on Hubitat.

About the bond hub, do you need to place it in the room with the blinds? So multiple bond hubs required? How does the RF work if it's not in the room? I did look on the bond hub website, but it's sparce on details.

No a single bond hub covers up to 2500 sq. ft. I have mine installed centrally in our house and I have zero issues with it communicating to 6 ceiling fans, 8 somfy indoor blinds and 3 somfy outdoor shades.

image

What kind of technology does it utilise? Is it like garage remote controllers?

RF so yes.

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Was curious as to which door lock you had? the link no longer works. Thanks

You might be best to post your question on the Aus/NZ thread, not sure Jason is around on the Community any more.

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