Anyone using smartthings and hate it?

[Tazz 316]

I've been using it for years and am tired of the issues. The one that bothers me the most is sometimes when i use the app over LTE i get the error " no network connection, checking status" so i can not control a device.

I have been getting that error for a year or two ever since they got rid of the ST classic app. If i close out the app a few times usually it will work. Plus i hate the new ST app.

I'm going to give Hubitat a try. I looked at home-assistant.io but you have to pay a fee to use Alexa.

Just wondering if anyone else has switched.

 

[TVille]

I switched a few months ago. Swapping all of the switches, one. At. A. Time.

Hubitat has been very reliable for me. I like the web interface much better than the app only approach for Smart things.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

[Arjun]

Smartthings has gone south in recent years, with app updates and backward compatibility issues, I haven't come across a lot of progress from them lately

I switched a few months ago. Swapping all of the switches, one. At. A. Time.

Hubitat has been very reliable for me. I like the web interface much better than the app only approach for Smart things.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

[Tazz 316]

I switched a few months ago. Swapping all of the switches, one. At. A. Time.

Hubitat has been very reliable for me. I like the web interface much better than the app only approach for Smart things.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Did you have to reset every device to pair it with Hubitat?

 

[TVille]

Did you have to reset every device to pair it with Hubitat?

Z wave you have to unpair (exclude) and then pair to Hubitat. ZigBee you basically reset and then pair. I powered the Hubitat with a battery and walked it around to the devices. My setup covers several buildings over 100 feet end to end. You can use Hubitat to exclude Z wave.

Doing what I did (walking the hub around) is NOT recommended by Hubitat, but with my large area I would have had to pair a device, build the mesh, add another as I ventured further from the hub. As I understand it, you can only do an exclude direct, not through a mesh.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

[Tazz 316]

Z wave you have to unpair (exclude) and then pair to Hubitat. ZigBee you basically reset and then pair. I powered the Hubitat with a battery and walked it around to the devices. My setup covers several buildings over 100 feet end to end. You can use Hubitat to exclude Z wave.

Doing what I did (walking the hub around) is NOT recommended by Hubitat, but with my large area I would have had to pair a device, build the mesh, add another as I ventured further from the hub. As I understand it, you can only do an exclude direct, not through a mesh.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

To unpair (exclude) for z-wave you would do that with the smartthings app? The thing is i don't know what devices are z-wave or zigbee especially wall switches since the model # is on the back.

For some devices it says in the ST app but not all. I have a few older switches.

 

[TVille]

To unpair (exclude) for z-wave you would do that with the smartthings app? The thing is i don't know what devices are z-wave or zigbee especially wall switches since the model # is on the back.

For some devices it says in the ST app but not all. I have a few older switches.

You have to know the brand and possibly the model number to exclude either type. You can use the exclude function from either hub, regardless of which one it is paired with. But, the hub has to be close enough to reach it directly, I believe. You set the hub in exclude mode, then go the the device and say you are the one to exclude. Often this is three flips of a switch. Sometimes it is two, sometimes it is five, or something else. For Zigbee, you have to do a factory reset to make it able to pair, I don't think there is really an exclude option. But, the factory reset is more challenging. For example, my Zigbee Cree lightbulbs require four sessions of ON (1 sec) OFF (2 sec) in a row. Some newer Z Wave switches I have have a big long code, like a mac address I guess, printed on the front of the switches. So I had to remove the wall plates and use that code. I hauled a laptop around to do this. My coverage area is four buildings with 150 feet from the hub to the furthest device. So to exclude, which requires a direct link from the hub to the device, I had to move the hub around. This is not recommended by Hubitat because you have to rebuild the mesh after adding everything and that can take like 24 hours I think. If you have a smaller area to serve, you may not have to move the hub around.

About the only thing I have on Zigbee are the Cree bulbs, everything else is Z wave. I probably only have 20 or 30 devices.

I believe you have to do the same no matter what hub you get, and I am not aware of a work around with ST to use the hub as only a Zigbee/Z wave interface without seeing the issues that it currently has. While going out to a server for processing has benefits, it is also a tremendous cost to keep the system running, which is why a LOT of other services have shut down - no revenue stream. I wouldn't be surprised if it shuts down in the future.