The SmartThings Edge driver framework allows drivers written in Lua to execute locally on the hub. But the implementation has several serious caveats. You don't get to see the source of the driver that is loaded onto your hub. Updates of the driver are pushed by the developer, and AFAIK you cannot prevent them from happening. It continues the model where someone else can change/update your automation platform without your control.
Oh, and people have reported performance problems when they had more than 20 Edge drivers installed on their hub.
Custom apps no longer exist in SmartThings. You need to have another host on your network (or in the cloud) to run custom code that talks to your hub via an API.
You can run whatever you want using the Lua environment/Edge framework with some caveats. The main one vs HE is that its sandboxed to communicate only on the local LAN (so no internet/cloud access). That forces any community based drivers to be 100% local. I've done LAN, Zigbee and Zwave custom drivers this way and it works fine.
This is true, although in practice I've not had too much issue with it and is more for community drivers than the official ones from ST. All of the ST drivers are open source (compare to HE which only a few example drivers are). Community driver providers are free to open source or not. Some of mine are open, some are not for various reasons. Its up to people to decide if you want something "opaque" on your hub or not. Now it is true you can't see whats actually running on your hub, you have to trust that the Github archive is what is running if it is open source. Not being able to control updates is true as well, but again this really is only an issue for community drivers that you don't control. For open source drivers you're free to put them on your own driver channel and control the update cycle that way. I've done that on my development hub and its fine.
This is true too. Edge is still in the tuning phase where limits are being reached and its unclear where they are yet. The tools to see the ram/flash usage of drivers aren't there (for end users anyway) so there is some uncertainty. The V2 hubs have double the ram/flash as the V3 (same as the current Aeotec hub) and all 3 of my hubs are V2's, so I've had zero issue with this supporting over 100 devices. Each firmware update has tweaked driver RAM usage and I'm sure there will be more progress with this. As a driver developer I do wish I could see resource usage in real world use so I could tweak my driver code accordingly.
You fare much better on the later model hubs my c4 had some issues as well it's now been fully retired.
It seem the issues with the C8 are users who migrated their database, for you that wouldn't be possible other than the apps database. So I would go for it.
Thanks. The HK integration has been pretty seamless. It's a great combo. My biggest quandaries are things like where to run automations, because I have two choices. (Well, for my Thread devices I have only one )
+1
Never stopped using ST it does some things better than HE. Same as HA. I have all 3 (plus some Aqara/Mi home hubs) linked together and that works well for me.
I am using Hubitat for all my z-wave and Zigbee devices now (after latest IKEA firmware updates).
And of course, for all my automations!
SmartThings - use the mobile app only, undoubtedly much better than HE. A small number of all my Hubitat paired devices (thermostats, temperature/humidity sensors, water leak sensors) are pushed to ST using Mira local integration)
Aqara E1 hub - for one Aqara Smoke detector (hopefully will manage to handle it locally from HE soon). And for sniffing Zigbee devices protocol when needed.
Apple Home Pod hub - for one single Thread T/H sensor and for testing.
Home assistant w/ Zigbee2MQTT and ZHA - for testing, also for bringing some Xiaomi WiFi devices to Hubitat.
Tuya Zigbee hubs - for sniffing the Tuya-specific Zigbee protocol (needed very rarely now) and making the devices work locally on Hubitat : )
I forgot the Philips Hue hub - a rock solid solution for controlling almost all of my lights, integrated to Hubitat via CoCoHue.
I still have ST running at another location with a few devices on it. I will eventually replace it with something else but it's working fine for now so no biggie.
Just a reminder that this is a public place. While there are no hard rules to posting, we strongly encourage our users to be respectful of others and to refrain from personal attacks... We can all be agreeable, even when we disagree...
With Hub Replace, all devices, the Hub’s Matter fabric, Edge Drivers Data, Routines, and other Hub Settings, along with their Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Thread networks if supported by the receiving hub, will be seamlessly transferred and applied to the new hub with just a few quick taps.
It’ll be interesting to see if it’s as seamless as advertised. It’s certainly been a long time coming.
Took the plunge guys and girls. £30 for V3 hub Smartthings. Wish me luck. My hubitat hub is terrible right now, I think it's dying and c8 seems to have a few teething problems, so didn't want to upgrade just yet
Ill chime in on topic. Once upon a time i was looking for the one super hub to do everything. I came across hubitat and quickly was able to make it do everything i wanted.
I imagine due to various reasons like bad code, bad http request, bad devices and other badness i started having performance issues. So i started offloading some stuff and found the balance where my hubitat works really nicely.
The moral of my story is i try to use the best platform available (and yes thats very subjective) to try to have optimal stability.
So yes smartthings is still considered and running here. But never would it be the sole system. Hubitat is running. Hue is running. Lutron is running. Home assistant is running. Mosquitto, node red, z2m among some others and i try to find harmony through the chaos.
Rephrased as it was a bit harsh, to just having a few teething problems. I want the long range ZigBee. I know there are a few hubs with problems but didn't want to take the plunge just yet
)
