Which voice assistant you recommend

Which voice assistant you recommend to use on c8 pro?

Depends on which "ecosystem" you have already invested in, and which assistant you prefer. Hubitat supports all three major ones - Google/Amazon/Apple.

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currently i use alexa linked to smarthings and i dont like alexa

Then you should consider one of the other two :smiley:

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not helpful!

How about telling us a little more what you don’t like about Alexa?

Or what kinds of mobile devices you use?

If you have iPhones and iPads, then there is a lot more appeal to Siri.

If you have android devices, Siri isn’t even an option but google assistant is, of course.

How do you already use a voice assistant with Hubitat? In what ways do you want to be able to interact with a voice assistant that you currently can’t?

Respectfully, there’s a lot more you can tell us before any of us can be very helpful.

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This is such a personnel question, many like Alexa (our family does most of the time). Apple is usually also a nice option and works good. The third one is one I personally don't like at all but does have a few people that like it.

All 3 work well with Hubitat so it really is up to you, what you already have might decide where you decide to go, if you are into Apple go that route as it it will integrate even better in the ecosystem you already have. If not you might want to get a Google Assistant via MArketplace to test it out before investing too much there as most I know that tried it did not like it at all.

If those are not what you want, well stay with Alexa even if you don't like it but my question is why is it linked to Smartthings, you should link it directly to Hubitat (unless you are converting and that is what you mean).

Not much more out there that really works well at the moment.

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Well, to be honest, not liking Alexa leaves just two (so coin toss?) - I assume you have a preference/investment between Andorid or IOS enviroments, so that may help guide your desicion. - There are assorted pros/cons:Siri vs. Google: Which Assistant Fits Your Needs?

To be honest, the native HE integration for Alexa is "more complete"/better than Google Home (IMHO), it supports more native device types, such as garage doors, etc. - There is a 3rd party Google Home Community integration that fills a bunch of the missing native fundtionality, but it's harder to install than the native Google Home integration, so again, YMMV

Bottom line, the new Alexa+ , is the best of all worlds, Alexa+ is MUCH smarter and conversational, and can schedule things, handle mutiple commands at once, etc. - See:

That assumes you have Amazon prime or are willing to pay a monthly surcharge. - But IMHO, Alexa+ and the HE native Amazon integration is the best voice assistant out there.

Unless you really don't like ANY cloud then there are 1 or two local ingrations that use HA, but that involves dedicated 3rd party hardware, but let us know if you want to avoid any of the major eco-systems, and roll your own -

  1. Home assistant voice pe first look and setup | JuanMTech
  2. Voice Assistant HA-OS :: Midori-AI
  3. Nexus from FutureProofHomes - https://youtu.be/WrreIi8LCiw?si=md4Xqq-sH3jfgUPH

And to compare/contrast: https://youtu.be/7DiF-iy_TR0?si=q4B6Zps5ybYsZsnm - Then you have to use HADB or some other bridge to tie HE to HA - ALOT more work then loading a native HE voice app/skill - But clealy lots and lots of options and control.

Clearly a bunch more work, but we really don't know what your decision criteria are, around the options presented above.

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Don't you just like Echo shows, I bought a new TV from amazon 6 months ago and for the last 6 months I'm being clobbered with adverts to buy a new one on a hourly basis

I bought one Echo show a couple years ago, only to find it is really an Ad server device, so I'm done with those. I never really used the screen anyway.

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What annoyed me when I was on SmartThings was how it was all or nothing to share devices with Alexa. Maybe they changed that, but I like how Hubitat lets you choose the devices to share.

I really only use voice one voice command to Hubitat, to trigger my goodnight scene when I go to bed. Sometimes I will ask for a temperature from a temp sensor. For my uses, Alexa is all I need.

Agreed. And I don't use the Echo Show any more for the reason you've indicated. We use a combination of Alexa and Siri. Alexa - because it is available on my Sonos speakers. Siri - because everything else is iOS.

Non Hubitat, we use Alexa daily for cooking timers. The show displays their status on the screen. My wife's other use for Alexa is to turn on Hubitat scenes. "Turn on "cooking/evening, etc." "Alexa goodnight." is self explanatory, lights and locks. "Good Morning" turns on the appropriate lights at their correct levels and announces a current weather report. Haven't messed with Alexa plus yet but I'll look into it.

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I do the same with siri, and it works great… but i am deeply in the Apple ecosystem. If you are also in the Apple ecosystem siri works well.

If youre running android, google works well too and would be a good recommendation to anyone who is running android devices.

I’ll throw a 4th option in there, you “CAN” roll your own voice assistant with home assistant with your own LLM’s, mics, speakers… 100% local and integrate it with hubitat. If you want a challenge or a serious project this is also a good option. If you want something that “just works” pick Apple or Google, either will get the job done.

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I was about to bring this up. The only problem is since it is so diy you will likely spend a far amount for it all to be local if you don't already have some of the gear. Runing it locally on a LLM will be painfully slow without atleaat a GPU of some sort. Even a 8GB RTX 3050 will make a huge difference. Then use a compact LLM that will fit in the 8GB of memory. It looka like a cool project if you want to go down that path.

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I'm in both the Google and Amazon ecosystems. For voice assistants and Hubitat integration Amazon is more versatile.

Well, if he is not getting to work enjoyably with Alexa, I would not go the LOCAL route, as this is in the very early stages and is very buggy at the moment, they are making great progress since it first came out a few months ago, but it's still very far from being useable in a "regular" environment, if you do have to deal with WAF, please don't go there at the moment and wait and see :wink:

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Mostly Google, because the Home's were on clearance at the time.
Alexa, not so much, but the Echo Show makes a really nice clock with built-in time sync (stupid DST) for cheap when it's on sale. :wink:

I use only echo dots .. they work well and very rarely do i get any "voice" ads
( if I do I just say Stop or Shutup lol )

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I use Google/Nest (however it's branded now) and have found it to be useful. I'm not a power user w/speakers by any means...I only have that one speaker in play w/HE. I've found it works fine (w/one manageable issue noted below) for my needs. I already had the original Google Home when I started w/HE so my decision as to "Which speaker" was simple, use what I already had. :slight_smile:

I get announcements and reminders ("Front door has been open two hours", It's Tuesday night, Recylce and Waste tonight, take out the trash!"), and use it to run a few automations, e.g., a "Hey Google" command that starts our going to bed routine. Kicks off RM via virtual switch, rule checks status of exterior doors & windows and locks any unlocked exterior doors).

One quirk (maybe just me) is that I've had to set up a rule w/a recurring event to initialize the device throughout the day. If I don't do that announcements always stop working at some point.