I’m just getting started with SmartThings and want to add a couple of things to the few items that come with the kit - particularly a few other WiFi switches for existing lamps that are unable to be used with my Hue system, water sensors, contact sensors (open/close door or window), multi sensors, etc. I know this is probably a completely stupid question but if I can’t ask it here, I don’t know where else I can. Will I get stellar-ly better performance from SmartThings branded adding than other companies? When adding multiple items as I hope to do, differences in price add up but I don’t want to vastly diminish my experience with it. I saw a couple of options are Best But tonight when I has hoped to snag a second WiFi plug (for the all important Christmas lights at the moment) but they didn’t have any. One two by Wink with quite different capabilities and I realized that there is more difference in each product than I had imagined. I have looked over the compatible list and also realize that it probably goes beyond that. But that list doesn’t talk about what type of experience people have with a compatible brand vs an actual SmartThings brand addon. I’m fairly certain I’ll have to branch beyond ST for some of the temp sensors as some of the other brands listed for sale on this site are capable of humidity sensing which is important for my respiratory condition. But other items are more up in the air. Are the ST WiFi plugs capable of the info that the Wemo Insight Switch is?
Hi Raven. First of all, don’t be afraid to ask any question here. This community is great!
In my experience, I don’t think you’ll see any major difference in performance for a SmartThings branded device versus the other quality brands. Where you will see a difference is in devices that communicate differently. Devices that use Zigbee and Zwave are always the most reliable. Devices that rely on cloud-to-cloud communication are more likely to have delays or be unreliable. This is my experience at least, YMMV.
Oh, thanks so much for the encouragement. I really, really appreciate it - and I value this community so much.
I was looking some more at the plugs/outlets and saw basically exactly what you’re saying that the best rated ones are Zigbee and Zwave. So I’ll definitely keep that in mind and plan accordingly. Thanks so much for your help!
Definitely stick with Z-wave, Zigbee. WiFi, while everyone has it all over the house, consumes more energy than either of the latter two and may interfere with other stuff. I would recommend you to stay away from the WeMo plugs. I haven’t tried them myself, but I’ve seen many people here having problems with WeMo. Last time I checked, WeMo was still in the ST labs release (sort of Beta) so it may not always work.
People have reported good results with the GE plugs, GoControl/Linear/2Gig, which aren’t ST branded. And there’s always AEON labs that make a good plug AND gives you energy reading.
The older Aeon ones are great (and if you plug them into a surge protector, they are like extension cords or work as outlet liberators allowing you to move big plugs off the surge protector or UPS so it doesn’t cover neighboring outlets).
Super information. Thanks so much. I’m so happy you mentioned WeMo as they are one of the most easy to find connected outlets available and I almost bought one on the spur of the moment at BB a few days ago. Really glad I waited. Hearing that people are having issues with them working with ST and also have issues with the outlets themselves (from reading reviews), I’ll stay far away. I’ll also check into the Aeon outlets that were mentioned. Glad hear that they are good. I had pretty much narrowed it down to the ST and Aeon outlets just based on performance and wanted to hear opinions before making final decisions. You’ve all helped me a great deal and I’m learning so much. Many thanks!
