I found it to be the easiest way to do OTA updates for Z-wave devices. Just add the dongle as a secondary controller, and use Silicon Labs' PC Controller software to do the update. No need to unpair from hubitat, no need to change device drivers on hubitat.
They ship fast... just got mine today. Tried the Zw PC Controller sw no go right now - Classic Learn mode sort of works but still playing with it. Z-Stick works fine of course.
Is there a way to give a name to the nodes in PC Controller? It would make it easier to follow the Topology map.
And, since a couple of you on this thread are also prominent on the Node Red thread, anything cool I can do on Node Red with the dongle?
I had a lot of years experience with multiple ZWave secondaries in my life-before-Hubitat. I think I had 5 hubs at one time (including Hubitat) all working on a single ZWave network.. That's one Primary and 4 Secondary Hubs. I also had a Minimote, which joins as a Secondary.
Any Secondary can send commands to a ZWave device. It will work and the status will come back fooling you... because NONE of the other controllers saw the exchange. They will not update status. Additionally Sensors, which send a message, do so only to the primary. Therefore, automations on a secondary involve a lot of polling. It was a large effort on my part to keep everything aligned. Eventually I worked out an "upstairs/downstairs" layout so I didn't have to keep all 5 aligned. 
Enjoy the new toys
Of course now, I have the same number of Hubs, but with HubConnect to keep them all aligned with no effort on my part.
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Now that I am deeply interested in the inner workings of my mesh and have time to study it I really want to purchase a 700 series stick. The last time I tried this I was using an old Aeon Z-Stick on a Pi running I think something called Open ZWave Tools.
So what is the best way to monitor, analyze, and "manually" optimize a ZWave mesh? I realize that I can do ZWave repairs along with physical moving devices around but without being able to watch performance of the various nodes on a sort of dashboard or do some science by looking at data it is difficult to target problem areas. Right now my mesh "feels" solid but how would I know?
Here is what I followed - note: I am using a uzb3 for this purpose not the 700 series.
Could you elaborate on that? I'm a new user. Would that work on the Hubitat hub C7?
The dongle goes on a Windows computer, not a hub, and should work with any hub.
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Sorry I didn't explain myself. I was asking if the process was to add the stick through a computer and add it to the Hubitat zwave network. After that I could update any device without having the need to exclude and add it to separate zwave network created only with the zwave stick. Another question, would that work with any software? I know leviton has its own software to update switches.
You insert the stick into your Windows computer run the Z-Wave PC Controller software, make sure you have the proper usb selected and then put your HE in Z-Wave inclusion mode and then PC Controller SW in the Network Management section do a "Basic Learn"... it should get added as a secondary controller in the program and show up in HE as "device" (which is okay). From there you can update firmware for devices that can be updated or ADD (include) older ZW+ devices that the C-7 wants to force into S0 mode which is something you DO NOT WANT to happen unless a border device like a lock, I did not have much luck pairing an S2 device via the secondary controller but ymmv.
Also note - I have not yet paired my UZB-7 stick with S2 authentication so don't know if that affects things.
Hope this helps...
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Yea, you probably won't. The S2 keys aren't transferred to the secondary.
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That is good to know thanks.
Also it's interesting when I tried to pair an S2 device (Zen 24 dimmer V3) via a Z-Stick (500 series) it showed up in the Z-wave stack but HE did not recognize it even though it was a "known" device - I wanted to do unauthenticated anyway. The non-S2 stuff seems to work fine.
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It would need @bcopeland to provide insight there. The SUC/SIS interaction was 'invented' pre S2 so I don't know if it got updated and even more importantly, if it did, does the C-7 play nicely.
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You can include PC Controller with all granted keys. I have never actually tried using it for inclusions..
It worked great for my troublesome Aeotec recessed door sensor 5 which kept wanting to pair S0 in the C-7 directly. Including it via the secondary was the key to a successful unauthenticated pairing. The Zooz S2 switch did not work as planned though - secondary controller recognized it - I guess it was on the Z-wave stack (or whatever it's called) but C-7 did not so was a "ghost"..
Including via the secondary for just the older zw+ devices is fine for my purpose as was worried that I'd have to replace all the door sensors.
Yes it helps a lot. Thanks for the time you took writing everything down 
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It might also show up as a dimmer for some reason. I think my Z-stick (a series 500) shows up as "device" and the UZB-7 shows up as a "generic z-wave dimmer". In either case it doesn't really matter since you will not be using it on the HE for anything.
its not working for me.. it includes fine.. the hubitat does not see the device even though based on numbering it is in the hubitat mesh.. if i then reboot the hubitat it sees the new device but it is a ghost node with no in and out info..
At least with the two devices i tried to join. and one had no security so that wasnt the issue..
I think Bryan means you can pair the USB stick with S2 security.
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