I"m looking for a hidden open/closed door sensor. The Vision, Aeotec recessed door sensors and the Sensative Strips all seem to fit. The Vision sensors are the cheapest, but I don’t know if that means they are lesser quality than the Aeotec sensors. The Sensative strips are the most expensive, the install is a little different, not sure how they work - local/cloud control - which would make a difference in how quickly the status changes.
I’m looking for the ability to quickly trigger (e.g. turn on closet lights once the door opens) the change in open and closed.
I finally changed my motion sensors from the cheap Zwave one’s I had purchased from Monoprice a couple of years ago, to the Iris motion sensor I couldn’t believe the difference. I’m looking for a recessed sensor that will trigger just as quickly, which the motion sensor is almost unnoticeable.
I’ve found there’s often little correlation between price of a device and its quality. The iris motion sensor can often be found for <20 bucks but as you’ve found, it usually works very well for most people. Contrast that with ST branded sensors, which tend to be expensive vs. other brands, but many people have had issues with them working well.
Sensative strips are expensive but they’re much smaller than standard contact sensors and dont require drilling into your door and door frame. Also battery life is supposedly 10 years so factor the cost of replacement batteries for other contact sensors when comparing cost. There’s no official list of devices that are eligible to run locally. If it uses a generic device handler created by ST, it should work. Note that smartlighting is the only smartapp that runs locally. Smart home monitor doesn’t, routines don’t, etc. But if you want to trigger a light based on a contact sensor, that should work. Just depends on the device handler in use. You can see this forum post for more.
You should also consider two other things. One is that everyone’s home environment is different, in terms of strength of z-wave/zigbee meshes, sources of interference, etc. So what works very well for some or even most people may not work for you. Also, recessed door sensors could be particularly tricky to work with, depending on the materials your door and door frame are made from; metal is obviously more of a problem for radio waves than wood is.
I own the aeon recessed and also the monoprice recessed. They are both great. But they are so similar that I would suggest buying the mono price ones simply for the price point.
I use the Lowes Iris door hinge sensors and they have worked great. They are made by Nyce and they have a DTH for Smartthings. I have had mine for over 1 year now with no issues and battery life is really good.
I’m going to give the Sensative Strips a try. I’ve stopped using many of the Smart Lighting smartapp controls for most of my lights and using WebCore instead, so it seems that local/cloud is probably a moot point for my situation.
I see there is a special from the smartesthouse via amazon if you buy 3 of the strips making them very equivalent in pricing to the Aeotec sensors. I do like that the install will not require any drilling in the door.
They work fine as the standard z-wave contact sensor that is assigned automatically when they pair with the ST hub. No need for a custom device handler.