I bought a Hubitat C-5 hub back in early 2020. I've 84 devices including some virtual ones. I've 38 rules and everything is running smooth. I don't experience any noticeable lag or issues. My system is humming along perfectly. I recently upgraded to Hub Protect+ so I get cloud backup should things ever go wrong. I'm not done growing my network. I'll be adding more bulbs, switches and sensors as time (and money) allow.
What are the benefits of upgrading to the C-7? I saw it on sale recently on Amazon and almost bought it. Also, if I get the C-7, are there any benefits to keeping the C-5 running? perhaps as range extender?
I think the main change on the C7 is just upgrading it to the 700 series zwave chip. So you probably would see little to no benefit unless you have newer 700 series devices you want to include with S2 security.
My understanding is everything is the same except the zwave radio. So as long as everything is running good then dont worry about it.
Supposedly zwave 700 has improvements to range and power consumption. It also makes S2 mandatory for the device to support and allows for using SmartStat to add devices with QR codes.
Those things wont really change how the hub works though for most people. If you were to get a second hub then I would use it as a staging place to setup/update devices before putting into production activity.
S2 isn't mandatory on the C7, you can choose to add S2 devices with or without security. See below from the Z-Wave pairing flow on the C7 w/an S2 device:
S0 devices are joined to the C7 w/S0 security enabled by default and you don't have a choice to include w/out security unless the device itself has a pairing option built in by its manufacturer that allows pairing w/out security. There are a relatively small number of brands/devices that use S0 security that support pairing w/out S0.
Regarding the original question, the "If it ain't broke" recommendation above would be my suggestion as well, unless you want a second hub to extend your reach a little to more remote locations in your house/property. Hub Mesh is a great sharing option that allow you to treat all your devices on multipe hubs as if they are on the same hub. So that might be useful, but I would not recommend getting a C7 and moving everything to it.
Except that smart start isn't working again. It's been fickle enough I just include the old-fashioned way. I don't need the 30 minutes of frustration first before going back to do it the old way any way.
To the Original question. If you need the benefits of the Z-wave 700 chips, then it might be worth it, but if not (for instance you are heavily into Zigbee), there really isn't a reason to. If everything is working as you expect and need it to, there really isn't much reason to upgrade.
