Thanks
ST isn't the only route out there. I was just using ST as an example. I think some of you who aren't current Wink users may be missing the point. It isn't about $30 bucks. It is the message that Hubitat just sent us.
To put the reaction that you see into more context, Wink users are being strapped over a barrel. Wink is on its way out (promise features for years and not deliver... why would we believe them now for $60/year?) We now look at Hubitat. How does HE maintain their business model in the long-term? They just raised the price 30% within a couple hours of the Wink notice being sent doesn't send a positive message to us. Is this company trying to regain revenue from selling so lean below MSRP in past months? What is their long-term prospect, so we don't face a similar situation in the next couple of years? We, as Wink users, are probably vested in several other cloud-dependent platforms (I am in 6), so how local can we really be? Integration makes us dependent on HE for some of this. For example, Hubitat's terms and conditions read they can pull 3rd party integrations at any time. Great.
Please sell me on this platform. Not by "its not cloud" but by being future-proof of my independence as much as possible. Not by comparing HE to ST as we're accustomed to the outages. I need wireless, not Ethernet, so unless ST is so much worse reliability-wise than what I've been accustomed to with Wink, I'd be investing in a whole bunch more hardware-related changes. Will Hubitat have a WiFi version soon? Is the adoption/learning curve easier with HE vs. ST? How about the UI? I see a basic iOS app that has just been updated after four months of inactivity. What is the committed roadmap/timetable for future updates to get to parity? Will the UI ever be comparable to Wink? Etc.
Please help.
Alexa integration is still cloud based, but in my experience, faster than Alexa integration with Wink.
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Well... if you have/rely on a lot of Zigbee devices then you are kinda stuck between a rock and hard place of ST or Hubitat....
On the flip side if you have mostly Z-Wave devices then you have plenty of options available that you should look at.
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I only know ST since I was on it for 5 years. They have been promising the "world" for several years and haven't delivered. If you are accustomed to outages and don't mind them, go with ST. If you read their TOS, they have the same thing as wink. I take that back, they have to give you 10 days notice to start charging you. They can also add or remove (or break) things as they see fit without recourse from the user. This is just something you will have to accept from pretty much any platform you choose. So you know, I have been looking at HE for a year now and just made the switch. I didn't jump on a whim and it really does stink that you have to. If your not ready, maybe you need to spend $10 for a couple months of wink and really look at all the platforms.
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Have you considered the possibility that Hubitat doesn't want to create a support nightmare for itself with a large influx of users attracted by a highly discounted price-point ($99)?
You cannot be local. And this is exactly the sort of reason that it is in Hubitat's best interests for people who migrate to this platform to be fully aware of:
- Devices that are Hubitat compatible
- Cloud integrations that are Hubitat-created (and therefore Hubitat supported)
- Cloud integrations that are community created and therefore not supported by Hubitat personnel.
I moved from Wink to Hubitat in late March of 2019. I spent an entire month before that carefully cataloging my devices that worked with Hubitat using built-in drivers, versus the devices that required community drivers (I also downloaded copies of these to use when needed). I realized the one of my cloud integrations was Hubitat-created (ecobee), whereas the other (MyQ) was written by a community member.
I spent at least a week asking questions here about unsupported devices - and received very helpful responses from members of the community (@waynespringer79, @zarthan, @ogiewon, @JasonJoel, @bertabcd1234, @SmartHomePrimer, @Cobra, @bptworld among others). But doing all this requires time and patience (realizing that those responding to you are doing so out of the goodness of their heart, and have plenty of other things on their plates). That cannot happen when a large influx of users feels compelled to migrate in the span of a week.
Instead of the good experience I had, a large number of users rapidly migrating from Wink to Hubitat who are unaware of the community-support model that Hubitat relies on will:
- Guarantee a poor user experience for themselves (which Hubitat doesn't want)
- Overwhelm Hubitat support with questions about community integrations (which Hubitat staff shouldn't have to deal with).
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Anyone have thoughts on Homeseer and Hoobs vs. HE? A buddy of mine is looking into playing around with that platform. In my case, 95% of my interface today ends up being voice through Amazon Alexa and IFTTT for automation and buttons on my phone. I've been hedging Wink for quite some time now. Zigbee doesn't bother me as I can push a bunch of the devices to either my Philips Hue or Amazon Echo for the interim. Key questions are on Z-wave and Zigbee range with whatever new platform home I end up giving them longer-term. The Wink Relay I have also appears to able to be rooted to work with either ST or HE.
If you're largely/entirely z-wave, you should consider HomeSeer. With the caveat that the upcoming migration from HS3 to HS4 will be pricy vis-a-vis third-party integrations.
I was a Wink user too.
While I see what you are saying about the price increase, we have no information why they did so. Maybe it is like Aaiyar said, they are trying to manage influx of users. Maybe they are short of hubs right now, and they cannot supply that many as would sell at less than $100.
I do think the increase looks funny at a quick glance, but it might just be a coincidence too. The price has always been very dynamic. I personally doubt they are being predatory.
If people have time, I am almost positive Hubitat will be on sale at the next major holiday like it almost always has been over the course of the last couple years. I got lucky and paid about $90 almost exactly a year ago (Easter sale). It was a very good price at that time. At no point do I regret paying that much.
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Exactly what I meant when I said that Hubitat knew what space they were getting into.
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Just bought in at 130, was shopping here a few weeks ago at 75 and held out, oh well. Have lots of stupid questions, hopefully the $55 premium covers a few 
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No questions are stupid. But please be patient.
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I was just wondering, since when you do the Wink Relay setup in HE, you have to log in to your Wink account once.
Here here! I was going to bring up the exact same points, but you have put it much more eloquently 
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I get why they are doing it, but it's not a smart move. The subscription model will always command the latest and greatest features. Many people will jump ship, when they don't provide.
My issue is that as recently as May 3rd, $99.99 was listed as the regular price on the Hubitat website. For someone who has been considering buying, the price jumped $30 before their eyes.
*Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20200503214324/https://hubitat.com/products
I was never a wink user so I don't know much about how the hub works. If the company were to go bankrupt instead, would all wink customers lose control of their connected devices?
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Yes.
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Don't they usually run Mothers and Fathers Day sales? Perhaps they wanted to have a basis to have a sale off of the higher price. I think when people switch platforms, they are more likely to jump when they think they are getting a limited time deal. That is sort of what I did...let me buy it while its cheaper. Anyway, I am probably wrong, will see what happens. I have a friend who is on Wink now who is looking to jump due to the combination of the fee and lack of update/support.
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Sure, from the standpoint of maximizing profits I can understand it. But it feels like a big middle finger to everyone jumping ship from the sinking Wink platform, who don't have many options at the moment.
