To use zwave, the hub has to be certified for Z wave. As of this writing, Google did not have any certified zwave controllers in any of its devices. Google gives you voice control over zwave switches through a cloud to cloud integration to the Z wave hub that controls the switches. But it can’t control them on its own.
There are several good choices for DIY zwave hubs, but most of them expect you to have a strong technical background and they don’t necessarily have a good app. That would include homeseer and Hubitat.
The one that has the nicest app other than smartthings is probably Abode. It also has excellent security features. But it does limit the total number of devices you could have to around 100 and it doesn’t support rules of the same complexity a smartthings.
Ring Alarm does have a Z wave controller, but it really doesn’t have a lot of home automation features yet, just pretty simple stuff. It’s more for people who want to turn the lights on if the alarm goes off.
Wink is a good simple zwave system but I have questions about the company’s long-term viability.
So there are options for your friends, but it depends on exactly what their situation is.
1) Contract systems that offer zwave
Xfinity Home and ADT pulse are both decent zwave systems, but both require a monthly contract.
2) Good security, decent Home Automation, good app, zwave support
It’s possible that ring will get better over the next year, it’s hard to tell. But for now, if the household is not very technical and you want zwave support , I would probably go with abode.
3) good zwave hubs, but require strong technical background and may not have an app at all
If they do have at least one family member who knows what a raspberry pi is and is OK reading code, I would look at Hubitat or Homeseer.
4) Starter Systems for non-technical people. Good apps, good customer service. Focus on ease-of-use. No zwave support
But for someone who is just getting started and is not technical and doesn’t already have an investment in Z wave, I would probably look either at an echo plus based zigbee system or at apple’s HomeKit. Both have excellent apps, really good customer support, and Are sincerely committed to ease-of-use. There’s a more limited selection of devices, but the selection is decent. And you can use Lutron Caseta switches and the Phillips hue bridge system with both.
They only support pretty simple logic, but they do both allow for Geo presence, time schedules, and sensor triggers. And again, excellent customer service so you won’t be getting too many calls afterwards.
However, neither support Z wave so they don’t work for someone who has an existing investment in Z wave devices.
( although you can connect hue lightbulbs directly to the echo plus, I recommend using the hue bridge as well and connecting the bulbs to that. You get a lot more functionality.)
I wouldn’t run out and buy an iOS device just to be able to use HomeKit, but if the household already has at least one iPhone, HomeKit is a strong candidate for a starter set up.
