I think this was the Range Extender 7's. I saw those posts too. They should be delivered today from Amazon, but I'm 99% sure I'm going to return them. The Gen 7 switch allows me to control a device I want to power on/off in the kitchen, and it will act as a repeater too. But I'm not seeing issues in that area of the house. The area I was seeing an issue, with a bunch of false positives, has not given me any trouble since migrating to HE. Granted it's been less than a week right now, but the device that I was having the most issues with is taking 1 hop to the hub.
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I have 23 z-wave devices, seven of which are repeaters. I do not really need that many, but it helps with stability of the mesh. Six of the repeaters are Aeotec Gen 7 range extenders and they seem to work just fine for me. I also have a Aeotec Gen 5 doorbell that also serves as a repeater.
Fortunately, I have my hub located centrally in my home. However, I have found that moving the location of the hub, repeaters, and devices even a few feet can have significant impact upon the signals. With as many Z-wave devices as you have, I suspect many of them cannot be relocated (like wall switches) and moving the hub might improve the performance of some to the detriment of others.
Most of my devices are connected directly with the hub at 100 kbps. A few devices connect through repeaters. I have three repeaters that can "see" all the devices in the mesh. One thing I have done to make the repeaters more accessible is to plug them into extension cords rather than directly into wall outlets. Wall outlets are often hidden behind furniture that is ideal for appearances, but not ideal for RF signal transmission. The extension cords allow me to place the repeaters in locations that are ideal for RF. If at all possible, locate your repeaters so they are in direct line of sight with the hub, or another repeater that is.
Signals travel rather nicely through wallboard and wood, but will be blocked or reflected by mirrors, large TVs, HVAC ductwork and furnaces, appliances, water piping, steel beams and concrete. Try to identify the locations of such obstructions and place repeaters such that signals can bypass the obstructions. It is good to have a repeater on each floor placed in such locations as they can each "see" the hub as well as each other.
