I am looking to buy a z-wave stick for two primary purposes. First, to be able to update z-wave device firmware and second, to analyze and diagnose z-wave mesh issues. Another requirement is that I use a Mac and do not use MS Windows.
So what stick does everybody recommend and what software do you use with it?
Thanks for the advice
I guess "best" might mean something different for everyone. 
For your purposes, you probably don't need a new-ish 700-series Z-Wave stick, but if you think you might ever use it for something in the future where that matters (e.g., some day build a Z-Wave network using it as your controller), you might just want to start there now. But if that's not part of your criteria, a 500-series stick would work just as well. However, unless you're able to find a 500-series stick for pretty cheap (maybe used), the price difference isn't that significant from what I can see.
So...then restricting ourselves to 700-series sticks, ones I can think of are the Zooz ZST10 700 (not to be confused with the 500-series ZST10, so just check before you buy--or not if you don't care), the Silicon Labs SLUSB001A or SLUSB7000A, and the Aeon Z-Stick 7. You probably can't go wrong with any of those, but the Aeon is hard to find right now and is probably the most expensive. The SiLabs ones are usually pretty cheap (check DigiKey or Mouser), but Zooz is usually a pretty good deal as well--and it likely has an antenna tuned specifically for US frequency, which the SiLabs "reference stick" (with software-controllable frequency) might not. So, perhaps it would be the best for your use case--but I don't think you can go wrong with anything you can find.
Regarding software, many people use Z-Wave PC Controller for firmware updates and Zniffer from the same software suite (Simplicity Studio from SiLabs) for sniffing. However, these all require Windows. So, if you aren't willing to set up a VM for that, you'll need to use something else. I'm not sure what else is out there for sniffing or if that's really your goal when you say "analyze and diagnose." Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is ZWaveJS2MQTT, which I'd probably run on a separate device if I could but would probably also work inside Docker or another supported method on your Mac. This has a built-in "control panel" you can use for firmware updates and whatnot, or odd tasks you might need to do like joining S0 devices with a secondary controller.
Thanks for the info... I think that I would go with a 700 series just looking down the road. I have a windows VM on the Mac but I really just hate Windows. Sniffing would be something that I can see using as well so that is a consideration. Taking Mac out o the equation, which software suite do you find is the most intuitive and functional?
Easy to take the Mac out of the equation, since I'm not aware of anything that runs natively--at least if you don't count web-based solutions that can be served from one, like ZWaveJS2MQTT. 
I haven't played around with ZWaveJS2MQTT too much but find it pretty intuitive. However, my use of it has been limited to joining devices for firmware updates (using it as a primary controller--its own network) and minimal testing of some Z-Wave devices using Home Assistant as the primary front end (again using it as a primary controller). I once tried to use it is a secondary controller on my Hubitat network, but I couldn't find a way to join it as such from the ZWaveJS2MQTT UI, so I used PC Controller, and then afterwards I don't think it got new/removed node updates in ZWaveJS2MQTT, so it didn't work very well for that purpose. It's possible ZWaveJS or ZWaveJS2MQTT have changed since then (or maybe I was missing something?), but they're fairly new and I wouldn't be surprised if that just isn't a use case they've designed for (yet?).
Also, contrary to what the name might make you think, you don't need MQTT for ZWaveJS2MQTT. My Home Assistant integration was done over its websocket interface instead (though either works), and you don't even need that: you can just use it as a front-end/control panel for ZWaveJS, which is all you really need for firmware updates--just a UI for a Z-Wave controller.
PC Controller isn't super-intuitive, but if you just follow directions, it isn't hard. However, it's more just meant for testing and development, from my understanding. Unlike ZWaveJS/ZWaveJS2MQTT, it's not really meant to act as a Z-Wave controller for real-world use. But it does happen to be quite useful for firmware updates, which I think is what most people here use it for (or as a secondary controller to join problematic S0-only devices).
I've never seen anyone use anything besides Zniffer for Z-Wave sniffing, and that needs Windows...so I can't speak to anything there. Casual Googling suggests it might be possible to do this with Wireshark and special hardware (maybe even what you'd use for Zniffer as long as it's flashed with the right firmware?), but, again, everyone I've seen on this forum has just used Zniffer. I won't be much help there!
This does require you to flash the stick with a different firmware. I was not able to use my flashed Zniffer stick with PC Controller to remove a ghost node. Unless I am mistaken you will need 2 separate sticks for these use cases, I use an Aeon Zstick with PC Controller. One other nice feature of the Zstick is its battery powered and you can exclude devices with it which has come in handy many times like when I moved from ST to HE or from my HE C4 to the C7.
Yeah, I didn't make that clear--it is special firmware either way (just don't know if that special firmware also works with the other method I casually Googled but don't know anything about). You can technically switch back and forth if you have the "original" firmware or can find one that works (I think the site I got the Zniffer firmware from had the "regular"/controller firmware, too? but I'm not sure if that works across all brands/models).
Definitely easier to get two. And just in case it doesn't work to switch back, if you do get two sticks, I'd pick the less valuable one for sniffing. (I've avoided flashing my Aeon Z-Stick Gen 5+ for this reason, under the assumption I might some day use its button to exclude or include devices without a hub, even though I have yet to do that...nor have I ever flashed a 700-series device, if that firmware even works for those.)
Others have said this I think, but you will end up needing two... one to run Zniffer and the other to use as a secondary controller. Zniffer requires you flash the controller so it basically becomes a dedicated Zniffer dongle.
I have the Silicon Labs stick. Others really like the Aeotec stick because it can be used as a mobile inclusion device. I assume it has a battery and some sort of button... never played with it myself. But that does seem useful.
I'm with you on Windows, but alas... Fusion!
Download the Hubitat app
