Looking to install a number of Smart light Canless recessed lights in a new construction project. I have narrowed down the options to Juno Smart Wafer that connects via Bluetooth and operates on Zigbee, and Halo Wiz Pro which operates on Wifi. I see that there Hubitat has a built-in for Wiz, but I did see there are some issues with Wifi. Looking for some direction.
Which is better the better light system Juno Smart Wafer (Bluetooth / Zigbee) or Halo Wiz Pro (WiFi)
In general or with these bulbs in particular? I'm not aware of anything for the latter. In general, people tend to recommend against Wi-Fi bulbs only for a couple reasons:
- Many cannot be used outside the manufacturer's own closed ecosystem (i.e., only by using their app or approved third-party integrations, like Alexa or Google) -- and often this is cloud-based rather than local
- Some "consumer" Wi-Fi routers can only handle maybe a couple dozen Wi-Fi clients before developing problems (though this varies widly), even though the default subnet for most home setups should allow over 200 clients theoretically -- so a few bulbs may be OK, but filling your entire house with them might not work
Point 1 does not apply to WiZ because there is a Hubitat integration. This assumes the "Pro" bulbs behave the same as the "regular" ones, which I don't really know, but it says they are controllable in the regular WiZ app, so I would assume so. (Related to this point, their newer bulbs all seem to be trending towards Matter, where a vendor-specific integration isn't necessary at all. Some newer bulbs also have Matter firmware upgrades available. Either is something else you could look into as well.)
Point 2 isn't something that can be spoken to for sure without knowing more about your setup, but it's not a universal problem, and it's one you can fix if it is one for you.
Other than that, I'd mostly consider if any particular device has more appealing features to you, whether it's appearance, CRI, CT range, price, or other factors. You may also want to look into a bit more with Zigbee compatibility for that specific Zigbee bulb, as while most play well with the generic bulb/light drivers in Hubitat, there are some oddballs, and I might try one you can easily return before buying a bunch to fill your house -- just to be sure.
You can probably just skip to the end of the discussion. I have no personal experience, but I'd avoid the Junos unless you can confirm they have been updated and work correctly now.
That’s a shame, the non-smart version of their canless fixtures are nice. Good dimming and CRI, plus they fit almost anywhere.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm leaning toward the Halo WiZ with the WiFi, I'll have approx. 30 smart fixtures on WiFi, all other controlled devises will be zwave. I have a decent router, once the IP addresses for the lights are assigned I can make them fixed, that might help reduce future problems. I appreciate the feed back.
The Juno are nice looking and have great spec's. The other concern I had with the Juno fixtures is that their parent company is Acuity, which is a good brand who also make Lithonia canless fixtures. There are many dimmers that are not compatible with Lithonia's led drivers, such as Zooz. And Zooz are the switches I'm using for all other lighting in the house that is not smart lighting. I'm sure that there are some component cross over between the two brands.
