Aeotec Smart Home Hub, Works as a SmartThings Hub, Z-Wave, Zigbee, Matter Gateway, Compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, WiFi

I think that unless you want to go with the fully customizable, but you really gotta dive in, Home Assistant, or you are going with the extremely expensive managed platforms by companies that specialize in home automation and theaters, you can’t really beat this particular niche. So it’s pretty powerful, and SmartThings has a great community and if you want to learn and get very custom, you certainly canBut if you want pretty powerful out of the box, along with lots of abilities, since it says Z wave, zigbee, matter, Wi-Fi… This is pretty good.I am only outgrowing it because of my desire for extreme customization on the rules side. So home assistant will be next for me.I guess my main issue is that they do not handle cameras very well nor very many of them. You can get a custom driver but I didn’t find it working very well. Right now it seems like Tapo is one of the better solutions and Aqara door doorbell video really doesn’t good job on it!But for having something that can get a lot done and is very versatile, yet doesn’t require extensive training, this is probably about as good as they get. I like it more than Apple but I still use a couple of the apple features just because I have the iPhone and iPad. I’ve got a door locked that can use NFC off of my phone. That’s a no-brainer

I bought this when our smart home service went away, which used Z-Wave devices. I bought this for its compatibility with those, with other common smart device standards, and with my Philips Hue hub, as well as with Google Home/Assistant (and Amazon Alexa) for voice control. The Aeotec Smart Home Hub connects with and is managed through Samsung SmartThings, which works super well and provides for preset automations. (And there is a web interface for advanced functions, if needed.) And then by linking SmartThings and Google Home, I can control all the devices connected through the hub by voice, and set up voice controlled automations. I'm really pleased with the setup I landed on, and this hub is the critical piece. I think it's a really good value, and there's no subscription service to pay for. I'm just thrilled it's all working so well!!

I'm a certifiable smart home nerd (everything in my house is controllable from app or voice - all wall light switches (I use GE Enbrighten Z Wave switches), smart plugs, garage doors, thermostat, exterior door locks, blinds, appliances, security system, etc.). I had a 2nd gen Samsung SmartThings hub and decided to upgrade to the latest-greatest Aeotec version. I would have given this straight 5 stars, but very, very unfortunately, they don't have a transfer utility to move devices from an earlier version of the hub to the new one. Since I use all Z-wave devices, each one of the over 70 devices in my home had to be reset before I could connect them to the new hub. 3 of the wall switches just wouldn't reset no matter what I did so I had to replace them even though they worked fine with the old hub. Anyway, after spending a (beyond annoying) weekend methodically resetting and adding each device, we're all good to go and everything works great. The Alexa skill for SmartThings works great and Alexa picks up new devices I add instantaneously; and since SmartThings handles all of the main wireless smart home standards, you can connect just about anything to it. Plus, the SmartThings app is easy and intuitive; and I love the automations you can create (such as locking all of my exterior doors at 10 PM every night, turn on my garage outside lights at midnight and off at 5 AM every day, etc.).

I purchased this to replace my old Vera 3 that died and was having issues before it finally died. I have quite a few of the GE ZWave switches. Setup of the hub was easy for the most part. After setup I tried to add one switch and it wouldn't even see it was trying to pair. Tried a second and third with the same results. Figured I had better try and reset them but every method of resetting them just didn't work. Still could not add them to the controller. I was about to give up and send it back until I found a video that shows how you can exclude a device using the app even if was on a previous controller / network.Went through each device one at a time and excluded and then included it on the hub. Worked like a champ. Got everything added back on the new hub. It is working great and I'm happy about my purchase.The only complaint I have is about the app. Sometimes I would add a device and if I selected to view by brand it would not refresh the screen and the cursor would just spin and spin. Shutting down the app and starting it back seemed to fix this. It happened about 5 or 6 times as I was adding devices. I don't think you will be disappointed with your purchase.