Looking to see what’s out there now for best smart multi location dimmer switches. I have a hallway light with 3 switches. All hardwired with neutrals, not looking to have battery powered auxiliary remote switches. Would like to be able to dim at any of the switches. Thanks.
1 Like
We Need to ask a couple of questions first, since the device selection does vary.
-
what country are you in?
-
do you have a SmartThings/Aeotec hub, and if so, which model?
-
if you do have a hub, do you have a preference for protocol: zwave, zigbee, thread, WiFi?
-
do you care if the switches are matter-compatible or not?
-
are you OK if the switches require their own bridge/mini hub? Lutron Caseta is a good example of this. They use their own proprietary frequency, so you need their smarthub for integration with smartthings, but they have great engineering, are highly responsive, and do offer dimming from the auxiliary position.
-
does switch color matter or are you OK with basic white or almond?
-
do they have to match the style of any other switches in your home?
-
do you have an expected budget? If so, are most of the switches intended for a master/auxiliary set up? (Some brands are more expensive for the master, but then less expensive for the auxiliary, so the pair ends up costing about the same as other brands that have a less expensive master)
- Is there a particular form factor that you prefer? The usual choices are rocker, toggle, rotary dial, or other. (“Decora” is a rocker switch, trademarked by Leviton.)
rotary dial
———
As you can see, there are a lot of different choices in light switches, and different people have different preferences, and budget. So there’s no one “best” but we can definitely make some recommendations for candidates depending on your answers. 
1 Like
Assuming this is fully wired 4-way dumb switches in the US, I like Leviton DZ6HD with DZ00R add-ons.
It’s a relatively expensive solution, though.
The Leviton master and aux both have a small second rocker for dimming and a row of LEDs to give visible indicator of the dim level.
Alternative and slightly cheaper are GE/Jasco dimmers with their matching add-ons. They don’t have any visual indication that they are dimmers but a press-and-hold adjusts dim level at either the master or add-on.
Both brands come in Z-wave and ZigBee models. The Levitons are available in a WiFi model if you don’t have a hub.
Google up the user manuals and review the wiring for a 4-way before purchasing!
1 Like
I’m looking for black, toggle, zigbee. matter preferred but not necessary. any suggestions?
Difficult combo, I think.
- GE/Jasco and Leviton have replaceable switch faces in different colors but, so far as I know, only for Decora.
- Leviton home page is offering Matter upgrades, possibly only for Wi-Fi.
- GE/Jasco has some color options for toggles. I didn’t dig enough to see if that includes black, ZigBee switches.
Tagging @JDRoberts for his encyclopedic knowledge
1 Like
This thread is about multi location (called 3 way in the US, 2 way in the EU) dimmers: is that what you’re looking for? Because most people don’t want a toggle switch for a dimmer.
This is a toggle:
A dimmer is more typically a rocker/Decora style:
Or a rotary dial:
Also, there is no matter over Zigbee at this time. Only matter over thread or matter over Wi-Fi. ZigBee devices come into matter typically through a Wi-Fi/matter bridge. Eventually that will include the Philips hue bridge, but right now, the only possibilities are one of the aqara or tuya models which functions as a “matter bridge.“ and as of the date of this posting, smartthings does not yet support bringing in those Matter bridges.
So I’m quite confused about what you’re looking for. 
Are you looking for a multi location dimmer toggle switch, which uses zigbee and can be bridged to matter? If so, none of those exist yet, regardless of color.
If you’re looking for some other set of specifications, and in particular if you don’t want a dimmer, just an on/off switch, please start a new thread with a clearly descriptive title, and we can help you there.
If you really want a black Zigbee toggle to act as a Dimmer I think the easiest way will be to use a inwall Zigbee module, probably a gledopto, and then you can use a dumb switch at the wall. And if you bring the gledopto in through a hue bridge, rather than coming in directly to Smartthings, you will get eventual bridged matter support from the Hue.
https://www.amazon.com/GLEDOPTO-Dimmer-Control-Brightness-Compatible/dp/B091L1912K
But finding a manual toggle that can be detected as a Dimmer is tricky. I do know a few people with physical disabilities who want this so that the dimmer switch can be easily operated by their service dogs. In that case, it’s typically implemented as a “step control” or “incremental control” where the toggle rests at neutral and each push upward increases the brightness by one step. I don’t know if that would work for you or not.
(There are a few set ups where you hold the toggle in the up position, and the longer you hold the brighter the lights get, but it’s trickier to find the front piece for that. And as I’m thinking about it, the only modules I know that work with those are Z wave, but there might be a Zigbee one that does.)
Anyway, if you want to continue talking about Dimmers, we can continue in this thread. Otherwise please start a new thread in the following section of the forum.