Decisions, Decisions....ST v2 to buy or not to buy to replace Wink 2 (June 2018)

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Hi all, first time posting here and forgive me if this is expounded on elsewhere. Have scoured Google with searches like: “honest opinion of Smartthings” or “Wink 2 vs Smartthings” and have received good information, but mostly from advertisers paid to recommend one or the other.

Here’s the deal. I currently live with four Google Home minis, two Nest thermostats, a Ring video doorbell, two TP-Link HS200 switches, and about about a dozen Sengled Element classic bulbs. (I also have about a dozen old SMC door sensors from a previous Xfinity Home setup that were left behind that I’d love to integrate, but I gather I’m SOL on those no matter what)

Will definitely expand at some point (next up is some sort of smoke/CO alarms), but just bought a home and dipping my toes in slowly. My question is around a hub…specifically which one?

My roommate has a Wink 2 that I currently use. He bought it a while ago and I have had my devices connected to it just fine with no issues for the past 8 months or so. I have some simple automations set up and they work well. Problem is he is soon moving out and I will need a replacement.

I know that ST will support the Sengled lights and Rind doorbell and there is a custom app for Nest (not sure how clunky it is), but as far as I am aware there is no support for the HS200 switch; however, I’d love to find out I’m wrong about that.

That said my main reason for posting here is to get solid feedback on the ST. I’ve read a lot about unreliability of the service and how clunky it is to set up. I know it will not be as “user friendly” as the Wink app, but I wanted to find out if the complaints of reliability are still an issue. I know the “big crash” happened a year or two ago and wondering how things are currently? Given my setup mentioned above is ST worth trying out or should I just stick with the Wink? In over eight months of using the Wink 2 I’ve not had anything like a device dropping connection or any of my robots not working. Seems that is a common theme with ST so I wanted to talk to actual users and get some clarity.

Sorry for the lengthy post and if it wasn’t categorised correctly!

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Reliability is still an issue, but whether it’s enough of an issue to bother any one particular household just depends on that particular household’s own priorities.

I’m not sure what you’re referring to by the “big crash” but there has been at least one unplanned outage every month for about the last 18 months except for January 2017. And lots and lots of issues that only affected people with certain configurations.

See the following thread ( this is a clickable link)

But there are still many people who are very happy with SmartThings. They’re not happy with the outages, but most of the outages last only a few hours and if you don’t happen to be home during that time you may not even notice. Or you may feel that the flexibility of the system and the ability to add many different kinds of Devices with very complex home automation rules outweighs the occasional glitches.

Every system has pluses and minuses, and systems with a longer MFOP (maintenance free operating period) often get that greater reliability by limiting the number of devices you can add, the number of different types of devices you can add, or the number and complexity of rules that you can set up.

So the first thing to do is to be absolutely honest with yourself about how much maintenance you are willing to do on a system and how many glitches you are OK putting up with. If you want a “set and forget” system, SmartThings probably isn’t the best match for you. If you want a system for a vacation rental cabin that’s 800 miles away, SmartThings certainly won’t be the best system, because many of the glitches will require a hands-on reset of some of the devices. If you want a 24/7 security system, the V2 hub won’t be a good match just because they can and do Push out maintenance updates that take your system off-line, and those updates can be neither refused nor delayed. (But the SmartThings/ADT SECURITY PANEL may still be worth looking at.)

But if you want a hands-on tinkerer’s system that will probably require a couple of hours of maintenance every month, but that will let you do almost any kind of automation you can imagine at a quite low dollar cost, you may be absolutely delighted with what SmartThings can deliver.

Different things work for different people, but start out by doing a thorough and honest evaluation of your own priorities for home automation system, in particular, how much time you’re willing to spend on it every week, how much frustration tolerance you have for a system where something that was working great on Monday Suddenly stops working on Tuesday, and how much money you’re willing to put in. :sunglasses:

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My own short answer recommendation: if you’ve been using your roommate’s Wink 2 for eight months and you’ve been happy with it, just get one of your own. SmartThings is going through a major platform change right now ( that’s why there are two versions of the mobile app currently available, each supporting somewhat different features), and it’s actually quite difficult to evaluate where the platform is going to end up.

As long as you stick with certified zwave and zigbee home automation (ZHA 1.2) Devices, you can always switch hubs later if you find that you have developed a need that cannot be met through the Wink system.

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@JDRoberts took the words out of my mouth.

Don’t mess with success.

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If you like to control stuff from the app and you’re comfortable with will-I-AM leading the company, I’d say stick with Wink. If you’re looking to expand your system and try more complex automations, try Smartthings.

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I have been using ST for about 7 months now and all in all it has worked flawlessly most of the time. Like you I have Sengled Classics, a Nest thermostat misc motion sensors and open close sensors. I only had problems earlier this month when a couple of OC sensors quit working correctly. They needed reset and re-paired to the Hub. I guess that is what JD meant about monthly maintenance. I, overall am very satisfied with ST bar the monthly maintenance.

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Another vote for sticking with Wink if you’re happy with it.

I’m not sure the people at Samsung that are running the show are any better at this than Will.i.am.

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Yikes! Your site swapped the technical specifications, and listed the Wink radios in the smartthings row and vice a versa. That invalidates much of the rest of your review, since it is wink, not SmartThings, which has the direct integration with Lutron, kidde, etc.

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Pull the review until you can correct the errors. :disappointed_relieved:

Also, you will do your readers a service if you get the actual devices and test them yourself, rather than just trying to write reviews based on spec sheets.

Next, you have to make a hard decision: will you review the hub based on the SmartThings classic app (which will be going away, we just don’t know when) or the “SmartThings ( Samsung connect)” app which has many fewer features than the classic, and actually loses almost all of its advantages relative to the wink.

I honestly don’t have a suggestion on that: it’s a very complex time for both reviewers and purchasers when companies go through this kind of transition.

Finally, self promotion isn’t in itself a negative as long as you’re honest about it, but resurrecting six month old threads when a new hub model has come out since doesn’t really help the forum very much. This buying season new buyers will be comparing the Wink two to the 2018 smart things hub, not the V2.

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I am guessing that the website linked to in the post above is meant to function more as a platform for displaying ads than anything else.

The “review” of each hub is pretty superficial (even though it’s kinda lengthy), as you said. Haven’t looked through the other categories yet.

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