I'm excited about the new processor core.. Should get some more intelligent devices with more features..
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Or less intelligence. Doing nothing, at really high speed. 
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Yup. Aeon Labs has definitely put a couple things out ....
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OMG .. You guys are nutz 
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Yeah, I'm excited about the possibility of having 7-11W LED bulbs and having an Electronic Low Voltage (ELV) Dimmer Switch and not hearing the humming or having to also buy nano dimmers in addition to basic switches!
Yeah unfortunately only a range extender and a recessed door sensor
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Interesting link; reading the 700 series feature comparison I notice that 'Network Wide Inclusion' finally becomes a standard Z-Wave 'feature'.
I had assumed that this was true of the 500 series (bundled with Z-Wave Plus) as well. But the table shows otherwise-- it's optional, even for 500 series Z-Wave Plus devices.
Another reason why the 'always pair in the final location' advice cannot be taken for granted, and may be why pair in place may fail with some devices, even if they are Z-Wave Plus. This may explain the failure of Iris V2 Smart Plugs' Z-Wave Plus repeater to 'pair in place' as has often been reported.
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Z-Wave Plus (500 series) and Z-Wave Plus V2 (700 series) offer tremendous speed and range improvements over older pre-plus devices. For the purpose of this comparison we will omit older Z-wave devices that operate at 9.6Kbps.
| 300 Series | 500 Series | 700 Series | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AKA: | Z-Wave | Z-Wave Plus | Z-Wave Plus V2 |
| Bandwidth: | 40Kbps | 100Kbps | 100Kbps |
| Range Indoor (Direct): | more than 30 meters | up to 75 meters | up to 100 meters |
| Network Wide Inclusion: | No | Optional | Yes |
| Explorer Frames: | No | Yes | Yes |
| Security S0: | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Security S2: | No | Optional | Yes |
| OTA Firmware: | No | Optional | Yes |
| FLiRS: | Optional | Optional | Yes |
More information: Silicon Labs 700 Series
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The really interesting stuff is going to come when they start taking advantage of the better processor and flash memory..
300 and 500 Series both use an 8-bit 8051 CPU Core.. The 700 series uses an Arm Cortex M4 32-Bit CPU Core..
And the flash storage is going from 128kb to 512kb
And memory from 16kb to 64kb ..
So pretty massive jumps in what the manufacturers will be able to squeeze into these firmwares..
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Not to mention.. Wider availability of devices .. There is a built-in saw filter that will allow manufacturers to make 1 product SKU for the whole world as they can switch between regions..
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Looking at the pair of Aeon 700 devices, they ported their 8051 code to ARM and that's it as far as I can tell from the feature list.
Same old code, running faster.. more time and mem space to do nothing, faster. 
For Aeon, it's great.. they can be one of the first with a 700 series product, it reduces their SKU and opens markets that have otherwise been too small.
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Which should really benefit z-wave controller manufacturers like Hubitat.
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Truly it benefits device manufacturers more, if only economy of scale considerations. 
Aeon sells more recessed door sensors than Hubitat sells hubs, I think.
Hubitat gains of course, by reducing SKU. However, the hurdle of distribution, which is currently a major part of the price delta around the world, isn't altered by having a single hub.. still need a region specific plug on the power wart.
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But with the improvements in the RF side of things.. It should help your mesh by adding mains powered 700 series devices like the aeotec range extender 7.. I bought 2 of them.. Haven't installed them yet..
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I've had one of each in my Cart at Amazon, for weeks, but haven't clicked the Buy button... yet. Zniffer suggests I could use a repeater but I think just a little bit of adjustment may help. I removed a Zigbee In-Wall dimmer yesterday, reverting it to ZWave. (Dimmer's LQI was under 80, so it wasn't working as a Zigbee repeater, the entire reason I purchased it. Everything else on my Zigbee mesh have LQI in 250's)
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Hi! First time posting on this forum. I've been transitioning my home automation from Wink to Hubitat over the last several months (due to concerns about Wink viability and the dependence on the Wink servers for functionality). I have many non-Plus Z-Wave GE outlets and switches, and have noticed some range issues with the Hubitat hub. I purchased a couple Z-Wave Plus outlets to use as range extenders, based on my imperfect understanding of the complexities of the Z-Wave protocols (putting the new outlets between the hub and the more distant non-Plus switches and outlets). I think I've been getting some improvement in performance of the more distant outlets, but I still have unreliable reporting back from outlet to hub (both for manual activation and occasionally for remote activation)(most are "generic Z-Wave outlets," I tried changing to "generic Z-Wave switches" and activating the Z-Wave Poller, to no effect).
So, my first question: Was I wasting my time (and money) adding a couple Z-Wave Plus outlets, given that the system defaults to the lowest common denominator? My second question: Would the new the Aeotec range extender 7 be a better solution? I really do not want to replace all of my Z-Wave hardware if I can help it. (BTW, I have a couple advanced degrees in digital signal processing, so I was once a reasonably competent electrical engineer, but I haven't worked in the field for quite some time).
Thanks!
Not quite true.. Every bit of plus added will help.. But it is still somewhat limited as the slower devices take longer to send the same packets.. And as such consume more airtime..
With the added RF benefits of the 700 series.. I think this would make a good improvement.. As it can reach farther distances and as such can accommodate more devices on your mesh
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Many (most) older devices did not immediately report state changes. Wink compensated by heavily polling the network. That is a terrible thing to do to a low bandwidth network and HE does not do that. Unless your devices do not respond to on/off commands, I wouldn't think you are experiencing range issues.
It is more common perhaps for a Wink user to use the app for manually controlling devices and expecting to see the changed state immediately. With HE it is more common to automate the devices, where displayed state is less important. The switches and outlets should "catch up" with normal network communication but there isn't much you can do to make it instant.
The few devices I had that didn't do instant state, I moved to non critical locations and replaced them with new devices. You may be able to compensate for some non reporting devices by inserting a refresh into any Rule Machine rule but I would use that sparingly.
Okay, thanks for the advice. I use Amazon's Alexa for voice control, and the "X Light failed to respond, please check network connection and power supply," even though the device did properly respond, gets quite old.
It's off topic, but that brings up another question. I shifted to Hubitat because it will function without an internet connection, but I may have fooled myself. Third question: Is there some way for Alexa to communicate directly with the Hubitat Hub for voice control without an internet connection (I assume no, although I understand that Amazon is building some offline functionality into Alexa)? I've been using old GE 45600 remotes to manually control Z-Wave devices on the Wink system when the Wink server was offline, I lost internet, or didn't want to wake anybody. I was disappointed to discover that the 45600 apparently will not work with Hubitat. Fourth question: What's the best device to use with Hubitat to operate Z-Wave/Z-Wave Plus devices when internet connectivity goes down?
At this point, I don't think there has been any movement from Amazon regarding local control. I think Google has made some progress. If you have Fire TV devices, the voice remotes work even if the device isn't connected to a TV. I have used multiple remotes attached to a singe Fire device and have the remotes in convenient locations.
There are lots of button and scene controllers available. There are Zigbee, Zwave and Lutron Pico button devices although the Lutron Pico's require the Lutron Pro hub. I use the Hue dimmer switches, AduroSmart ERIA dimmer switches, Smartthings buttons, and some old Aeon Minimotes.
If you get started with the Lutron Picos, the cost of the pro hub goes away pretty quickly as the switches themselves can be $15 for a 5 button device. There are others and perhaps others will speak up.
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