I just signed a contract on a new house and went to thesmartesthouse.com to order a bunch of new Z-Wave switches only to find that all the Zooz switches were sold out and only a few dimmers were left. I checked eBay and found some price gouging on a few new ones still available. Amazon has some Enbrighten and Ultra-Pro switches available, but these were a little more expensive and require a special Add-On switch (which also requires a neutral) for three-way wiring. The Zooz switches are more friendly for three-way applications.
I think Zooz may be in the process of changing over to the 800 series Z-wave chips, but that's just a guess.
Not sure where you're looking, but on their site it appears the ZEN71 and ZEN76 switches are both in stock. I didn't try making an order; it just didn't note anything if I added it to my cart. (They just had a free shipping "sale," so maybe they'd be low on some things after that. Everything has been a bit weird everywhere since the pandemic, but that's largely calmed down now, especially for 800-series chips.)
Other than that, the HomeSeer HS-WX300 and Inovelli Red or Blue 2-in-1s can be used as either switches or dimmers, and GE or Jasco is normally easily available, and sometimes also Aeon Ilumino (not that either stands out on a good way for features versus price).
Only thing showing out of stock is a few discontinued items and the ZEN73 toggle style switch.
It let me add (20) ZEN77 to the cart.
If they are out of something you want, they usually get stock back pretty quick. Sometimes they have sales and run it until the inventory is gone, then restock.
@TArman, @bertabcd1234, @rlithgow1,
Thanks so much for your replies. I should have said "toggle switches and not just switches. I have no preference for rocker or toggle switches, but my wife insists that they all match which makes it more expensive to switch everything to rocker.
Do you think toggle switches are on the way out? I just signed a contract on a new house in a moderately upscale area where all the houses in the subdivision were fitted with toggle switches which is the most common here (southeast US).
I did not know that the Zooz Zen73 was discontinued. The website simply says they are sold out, and an email from Smartesthouse says that they will let me know when they get new ones or a replacement, nothing about it being discontinued. Do you think is because toggle switches are less desirable? Or, is this because the switches are being replaced with the 800 series? Or something else?
I do see the Jasco and UltraPro switches are available on Amazon. I also see jacked-up prices on eBay for Z-wave switches which made me wonder if we were starting to see a shortage. Based on your replies, apparently not.
No. They are simply cheaper when purchased in bulk as builders/contractors usually do.
The UltraPro are essentially the same as the GE/JASCO devices. I have been replacing older dimmer switches with them and they work perfectly and are readily available on Amazon.
I don't think it is. The discontinued items are at the top (and one at the bottom) and say "Garage Sale" on them. Some are just older models of current product.
Its possible they had either sale on those toggle switches, or a bulk order for a new build that wiped out a lot of their inventory and oversold forecast. It is made overseas so they may just be waiting for a container shipment to come in with more product.
Personally I think the toggle switches are ugly, I converted my house over to the decora style in white slowly as I replaced the old ivory (from 1997) toggles with Smart switches. There is a reason the decora is a lot easier to find vs the toggles.
Just built this house a couple of years ago and builder offered an option for paddle switches throughout the house for something like $150. I passed on it since my wife indulges my “hobby” and I was planning on doing the swap out as I automated. Luckily she doesn’t mind the mix of types as long as they are all the same on a wall/room.
I counted the number of 1, 2, 3 hole cover plates and about how many switches I would and I bought a bunch of them from Amazon.
I’m about 90% paddles now. Too lazy to finish the swap.
In retrospect, the builder’s offer looks good.
Can confirm this. I ordered one switch that was a 700 and received an 800. Additionally I had one die on me (from a previous order) that was a 700. Looks like they're shipping me an 800 replacement.
Strongly agree with this statement - especially with the new Diva / Claro switches they released this year. Just make sure you get a Lutron Caseta PRO SmartBridge so the Lutron devices properly communicate with Hubitat.
From my understanding in terms of 'Toggle Switches' as SMART HOME switches, they're a lot less popular and harder to sell than the paddles. Hence the scarcity if you look at the various brands and their offerings.
Read somewhere (?) that any new production -for any brand- is with 800 chips. 700 chips are no longer being sold and/or produced, so unless there’s NOS out there, it’s getting an 800 chip.
