Bluetooth has been announced for the version 2 SmartThings hub, but Version 1 doesn’t have it. It has zigbee, zwave, and locally networked IP address support for communicating directly in the home and some partial support for some web services like IFTTT.
Right now ST solves several very important use cases for me, so I’m definitely getting my money’s worth now. Just being able to turn off a pathway of lights through several rooms after I’m in bed is great! (I’m quadriparetic in a wheelchair, and light switches are an issue to begin with, in the dark even more so.)
I’m waiting on several other projects until more features are added, so I’m planning to re evaluate in summer 2016 and see what’s what then.
(I can code, but don’t want to, so ST’s excellent coder support isn’t that big a deal for me personally. but having both zigbee and zwave support was a real plus. I like zwave better for most things, but like zigbee better for outdoor use and motion sensors. It’s not an absolute requirement for me, but it was a definite plus.)
But meanwhile, I’m very happy now. As more features are offered by ST over the next year, including the v2 hub, I’ll evaluate each as they come to see what would provide immediate value and make those decisions.
So for me, it’s all about “what can you do for me now?” And was that worth the money.
That was ST for me today. but I wasn’t looking for a “future proof” installation, just a few things that would be worth doing right now without spending a fortune.
just so you know ST is great at automating things like turning off/on and doing things when you’re home and away. it is not a replacement for all your device apps and controls.
you will still need honeywell app, security camera apps, lots of things like that because ST doesn’t really work with cameras well other than taking a snapshot. I bought my ST to replace all of my apps and control my devices from one place and it fails miserably.
It does work great at arming my alarm when i’m away, and turning my thermostats down when i’m away. thats about all i use it for, is hidden automation.
I purchased the Wink Relay which did not function as advertised. It took their support team over two months to respond to my request for assistance, and I had already returned the product by that time.
I’ve only contacted ST once, but their response was right away. The community here is also excellent for helping you accomplish what you want to achieve.
I think I understand what you were going for now. At first I thought the comment was implying the v1 or v2 hub had a WiFi chip built-in. If I understand correctly, you were trying to say that the hub can communicate with Zigbee, Z-wave, locally networked devices (like a Belkin WeMo via Labs), and some internet connected services (like IFTTT).
Possibly 3, if you are one of the 60-70% estimated current owners of a Chamberlain/LiftMaster MyQ or Sears Craftsman Assurelink garage door opener system; then you need to do nothing but install the ST community made DeviceType and SmartApp (Free) on your ST Hub… This is where ST beats the others, if there is demand for an item, the community usually comes up with a solution… I haven’t’t read about any other system that gives the power to the people like ST; doesn’t get more open then this…
Wow, sorry I missed or forgot about the small note about a “craftsman non smart door” over 30 posts ago… plus it was a general statement that most users don’t realize they can use their opener (even some 10 yrs old have capability) without any additional gear/costs (Hence the word “possibly”, not realizing I missed/forgot about the specific users configuration).
Additionally, some users should consider just updating their garage unit to a newer one, especially if its that old (non-smart), why strap $50-$150 of new devices/sensors on it if you can apply that $ towards a new unit that might help you out more in the long run.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
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My added 2 cents…
The risk and cost of switching from one system to another is becoming less about compatibility with radio technology. More and more hubs have multiple radios (ZigBee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, WiFi/LAN, 6LoWPAN, …), and also Cloud-Cloud connectivity. So your end-point Devices / Things will still be compatible with the new hub as long as they are using the radio and protocol standards and/or a plug-in Device Handler / Driver is available.
Once you have reached 50 to 100 Devices, however, migrating to a new system is quite a lot of effort. The “unjoin / join” process has been described as painful to some folks here that have faced that when swapping out an ST Hub (hopefully will be made easier…), but, more significantly, once you have lots of automation, scenes, workflows – there is no open standard to migrate these from one system to another.
I suppose something vendor agnostic like IFTTT might eventually be expanded into a full rules-engine, thus isolating you from the hub vendor’s processing; but that seems rather inefficient.
It’s a bit like migrating from an Android phone to an iPhone – not too horrible if the same apps exist, but … well, there are no automation apps simultaneously published on multiple platforms along with export / import functions.
He was just pointing out I was using a crafstman, thats all im sure he wasnt being rude. I agree also though im considering spending 100 bux to add this functionality, a new opener is 250…its something to consider. When I bought the house it was here, its chain driven but not too old from the looks of things.
Now, I have to figure out how to add this code …I dont even have a hub but when I get all my stuff (after my vacation) I want to be prepared to get it all up and running in 10 minutes! JK
[quote=“thrash99er, post:38, topic:11239, full:true”] @garyd9 Another one that didn’t get mentioned is Iris from Lowe’s as well.
[/quote](not being sarcastic) - Does it have any advantages over the others?
I know it has a monthly charge at some level of use, but I never dug into it once I realized that it’s cloud based (as with ST/Wink), but has closed device development. From my admittedly very short look at it, it seemed to offer all the negatives, with no positive. (Actually, that’s not completely true: some of the iris proprietary devices are pretty inexpensive…)
wink.com has a spend $100, get wink hub free deal going. last week it was $80, so two 2-packs of their tripper sensors were sufficient. BTW, trippers work well, and pretty small form-factor
but I wasn’t looking for a “future proof” installation, just a few things that would be worth doing right now without spending a fortune.
