Z-Wave
Reddit take
Not enough linked mention summaries yet; the source excerpts below are the evidence.
Pros
- +1 for Zwave. There's no need for low bandwidth devices to be on 2.4GHz. And all Zwave devices are certified, whereas zigbee can have compatibility issues.
- Realistically, Zwave devices is the best but they’re getting more difficult and expensive to find.
- For wireless, I'm a fan of Z-Wave. It can be built either mesh or direct (LR) but does require care in building and maintaining the mesh and ensuring no zombie devices. In the US it is 908/916 Mhz so it travels distances through objects...
- z-wave is very solid.
- Zwave is my personal preference.
Cons
- Paying for zwave at this point is insane
- I’m going to mention z-wave and then get lit up for it. The spec and the devices feel like they are in their own side somewhere between consumer WiFi stuff and professional integrator.
- In my current one, I’m using Zigbee and Z-Wave. KNX never missed a command, but Zigbee and Z-Wave sometimes do.
- Zwave can use backup controller or even be scripted to have one hardware take over for the other. That was baked into homeseer not sure if home assistant/others are quite so flexible.
- Z-Wave is pretty expensive and I would need more parts to make it all work for her that add a lot more to the price.
Sentiment
34 positive (79%) · 4 mixed (9%) · 5 negative (12%)
Trust + time weighted score: +70% · raw score 67%
What redditors said (10 of 43)
+1 for Zwave. There's no need for low bandwidth devices to be on 2.4GHz. And all Zwave devices are certified, whereas zigbee can have compatibility issues.
Realistically, Zwave devices is the best but they’re getting more difficult and expensive to find.
For wireless, I'm a fan of Z-Wave. It can be built either mesh or direct (LR) but does require care in building and maintaining the mesh and ensuring no zombie devices. In the US it is 908/916 Mhz so it travels distances through objects so much better than 2.4, 5 or 6Ghz solutions.
z-wave is very solid.
Zwave is my personal preference.
The "stable platform and mandatory certification" protocols (z-wave, homekit) are close to the "it just works" category.
Yeah in oversaturated NYC I've had Zigbee stuff not responding or turning on/off for no reason, but the Z-Wave stuff was never a problem.
I have 72 devices and growing. Rock solid. I started my home assistant/smart home journey and specifically picked zwave for building my system around. ... Zwave is flawless.
I have several Zigbee devices, but have actually had a better overall experience with Z-wave.
No issues at all. Z wave is amazing. Like this stuff works and works and works. Been about year never had anything drop out.