This is mostly a personal grievance.... people can weigh in as much or as little as they choose... I'm not looking for a lengthy conversation... but personal wishes to the direction of a conversation rarely come to fruition..,
We don't always agree with the direction the Hubitat boffins take with a particular feature or change to a feature..... This can be disappointing if we are keen to see a new feature introduced or disconcerting if we would like to see a new feature introduced to an already feature rich part of the platform.
The same can be true of external parties but they can also serve as a distraction....
My advice is to stick strong to what the HE platform can offer, and if your suggestions are not taken up, offer constructive suggestions without denigrating the platform or those involved....
So leaving the obvious UI complaints aside or features that aren't part of the hub at the moment, what isn't working the way you want? (Vs is it an advertised feature?)
Hmmm.. I wasn't expecting any hard questions like that... I thought there would be enough input from others to fill this space...
I felt that there has been enough "constructive input" in recent times on the hub UI or Room Lighting to fill a topic sprinkled with an alkaline antidote to try and approach a constructive output of a meaningful and constructive input into the development of the platform....
Radical I know... But if anyone from those fractious conversations has something to contribute without personal input... please step forward...
For me at least it does everything I want it to and what is expected. Sure, could some things be better? Yeah and those have been beat to death and either will eventually come or Bruce as explained why it won't happen.
What I wouldn't mind is the tag like rule interface of the Homey/Node Red while still leaving the more complex options of RM in place. I know I can install node red but I'd rather have something on board or at least a PC app in which I could do it but I'm fine With RM and the way it works.
Hubitat's automation capabilities are second to none. I'd love to have more control capabilities. Including especially AV. Josh.ai is in a different market/price league. But this is what is possible:
For me, Hubitat just works. It's probably the best compliment that I can give with my home automation equipment. Could some things be improved? Absolutely! However, I bought Hubitat about a year ago for what it could currently do. Everything that has been added since then is a bonus to me.
I've got nothing to add about the UI as it is fine for my usage. What I do think needs to happen is that staff needs to refresh/update some of its native integrations. Things like Philips Hue, ChromeCast, Google Home, and Ecobee all have additional options that for the most part have been addressed by the community. While it's great to support the developers in the community, my understanding is that some of these native integrations haven't been touched in a while and their APIs have been updated/improved.
Finally, I agree with @bill.d about the need for greater AV integrations. I would figuratively kill for an Apple TV integration that did not involve me firing up HomeBridge or Home Assistant.
Related question: How many on HE use other platforms in conjunction with HE? So things like homekit, home assistant, node-red, zigbee2mqtt/ZHA etc?
I think the answer to this question kind of gets to @sburke781's original question. We all like HE, otherwise we would have gone home assistant by now. For many HE will be enough. But it can't do everything, although with the help of the community we've had drivers for things never thought possible before. If your new toy doesn't work with HE it may have been solved on one of the other platforms so use that instead until it is supported. With node red for example I've been able to do things with my cameras that will in all likelihood never be available on HE.
PS with HE as in life, if things don't work out, adapt and find a different route to your goal.
Like others have expressed here, Hubitat does absolutely everything I need it to do. It just works!
That said, for new users, the initial setup experience and UI could continue to be improved. An example that comes to mind is the integration to the Lutron Pro 2 hub. No issues when it’s up and running, but getting there could be daunting to some…
And as much as I don’t use it, an improved dashboard would be great. Especially icons that can be moved without pressing arrows, more customizations, etc.
Yes, almost exactly this except for NodeRed. Hate it. I’ve tried to accept it, but I just don’t like it. You can get that with Hubitat today if you’re not adverse to the NodeRed UI.
I’ve played with the Homey Advanced flows and they’re very good, but their capabilities are not as developed as Rule Machine is.
The thing about a different Rule UI is, it’s fine if you’re starting over, but all my rules are built and working the way I want. So unless I could move to Rule Machine 6.0 (or whatever Bruce wants to call it), with the Homey Advanced Flow type of UI, then changing rule engines just means more work for the exact same results I already have achieved.
While there are many things I'd change or fix in the Hubitat software I often think that my biggest problem is the devices themselves. Hubitat gives us the flexibility to use almost any device... But so many of them have weird issues, and you won't know that an issue might be a deal killer for you until you try it.
Then, you put groups of different devices together... like bulbs from different makers... and the fun really starts when they respond to commands differently. It takes a lot of research and some wasted money to pick the right hardware for your home.
It's not Hubitat's responsibility to fix the home automation industry ... But since they are on the front lines of the user experience, they are in the hot seat anyway.
I’m a HomeKit user. I initially got an HE to increase the number of local, non-Wi-Fi devices I can connect to HK. Initially I was going to simply bridge devices and do my automations in HomeKt. But eventually as I learned how powerful HE is, I started to do my automations in Rule Machine. Id love to get to the point where I can do all my automations in HE. But I have a number of Thread devices so I really can’t do it (I’m not keen on setting up a bevy of virtual switches and the complications that brings).
So what I’d really like to see is a Thread capable HE.
A "free form" math tool...I sooo would like to be able to just type something like (%var1%^2 + 2*%var2%)/3
into a text box instead of what is currently available.
More powerful native data/event logging (database) with visualization tools (aka graphing)
I have a lot of automations in RM. I also have a ton of them in node red and thanks to @fblackburn it's pretty easy to move back and forth to HE. In particular the function node is super powerful in allowing custom functions to be defined (much easier for me to learn json than groovy!)
influxdb/grafana work well for me (not native obviously)
Mine are pre-matter unfortunately. Let’s say I buy a new Matter over Thread device. How do I set it up in HE? Do i point HE to all my border routers (HomePods, AppleTV)? Then we’re adding WiFi as well as Thread to the communication dependency path, correct? Potentially several hops? Doesn’t seem to be on par with the direct-to-Zigbee/Zwave alternative. I suppose it’s not that much different than other hub-based systems like aqara and hue, but I’ve been trying to avoid that. In my ideal world HE would be a thread border router itself.
except for NodeRed. Hate it. I’ve tried to accept it, but I just don’t like it. You can get that with Hubitat today if you’re not adverse to the NodeRed UI.
