Ok so I need to vent…I love ST to a point but it just seems so flakey for me right now.
A good example… We have an upstairs wood fire and in the basement there is an old not used fireplace. Early Sunday morning we get an alert that there is smoke in the basement and CO2 and all the lights come on and the alarms go on. I run down to the basement and its full of smoke…luckily it seems it was just smoke being drawn down from a log that was still smoldering due to negative pressure but the system worked how I had set it up and although unnerving it was great to know ST was doing its thing.
But then comes today (and on and off recently) where none of my Hue bulbs are working through ST (they work fine through the Hue App), somehow another Hue Bridge has appeared with the wrong IP. No matter what I do I can’t get the Hue’s to work through ST. Personally I think the Hue integration with ST is getting worse. Another example is the notify with Hue App. It notifies by changing color then just stays at that color. Shouldn’t it return back to its previous state?
I also have several GE link bulbs. Some come on when they should but some don’t. Its completely random as to which bulb does this.
Things that were working can stop working and start again.
Yes I know it doesn’t work apparently but why so long to sort out the state of Hue bulbs not being reported correctly in the app? I actually don’t see GE bulb states reported correctly consistently.
Nest…yes I know there are community built solutions but they don’t work for me. Will there ever be official Nest integration?
Don’t get me started on the mobile app either…its still no where near as good as it should be.
So I started with a good example of this system working well and if it had been a fire would of been invaluable but I am starting not to trust it.
Overall yes ST is the system I want on paper but its just not the system I need it to be right now!
Do I wait until ST pulls out of the bag an amazing upgrade and a ton of new solid working reliably integrations or do I start looking elsewhere?
There’s always hope… But many things that either don’t work or don’t work well enough have been that way since the beginning (mid-2013) and never got fixed. Make your own conclusions.
In the meantime, I’m sticking with all zwave devices where possible and using association groups to have devices communicate directly, and only utilizing smartthings to adjust dimming levels at different times of the day.
Same here. I also use Z-Wave remotes as a backup. Also, never use SmartThings for any time-critical tasks, since scheduled events sometimes fire 10 - 15 minutes late or don’t fire at all.
If there were a clear alternative I think you wouldn’t be asking the question; we just wouldn’t see your post. Since you have kept strictly with Z-Wave, you may want to investigate Fibaro’s hub. Another user jumped ship and posted today recommending others to do the same. I checked their forums and their users seem to have similar complaints as us, however.
For the price of this thing you could go with a Mac Mini and Indigo and HAM Bridge and have change left over. As time goes on I am offloading more and more from SmartThings to this (my old setup).
Welcome to the wild wild west. Plug and play home automation that “just works” does not exist yet. Right now the “Internet of Things” is going through a phase much like the internet did around 1997. It has tipped over into the consumer market and is not without its rough edges.
For me, yes (at least of what I have noticed). But NOT within a single week since last June. I have begun to document all the issues I observe, so in a month or three, I’ll post my findings.
That’s the wild wild west for ya. I guess I am just used to being an early adopter and living on the bleeding edge. I remember buying two 56k modems and shotgunning them. It was never a stable connection. Now the internet is everywhere and it just works.
I suspect that ST has grown too quickly, exceeding the engineering resource available and that the team is fire fighting…
Hopefully since Samsung bought ST they will tip a $#!t load of cash into it and add more engineering resource in to resolve these problems and get some decent documentation together (the current is enough to put most people off). I just hope V2 will be able to run offline or at least deal with internet outages without bricking the house.
Yeah I hear ya. I feel like I’m just wasting money left right and center. I was a revolv user who was left in the dark and decided to try out the options. I thought ST would be that - but so far it’s nothing but pain and frustration. I’m actually still using my Revolv 100% - it does what I want and does it pretty well. There are many features missing, but considering how ST is treating me… I can live with that.
I agree - I turned 4 people I work with to Smartthings - when it works it’s great! But we all have the same issue- the app needs a serious overhaul - a proper rules engine ( one place for all the rules) it’s so hard to keep track of all the actions. And I really hope to see a lot of local processing ie. Water, smoke sensors, lights, doors.
I am waiting on Hub 2 but I really hope there is a discount for existing users…
Right now I’m really wishing revolv would have just opened up their device before they left us high and dry. I’d give anything (well - within reason) to be able to just write my own firmware and have everything run locally-no servers. Ugh.
I seriously am a heart patient who had a surgery couple of months back!!! Rather than killing me this excitement keeps me living! So I luv them so much! The guys in this community are my true and only friends!
The good! The bad! The ugly! I seriously can’t think of any other platform but ST. Stuck with it thick or thin till actually death do us apart. I have a second heart blockage to be taken care of!!! Till then I luv this excitement and the passion on both sides!
Adding personnel slows down progress. It takes resources bringing new employees up to speed. I think things are going to get worse before it gets better sorry to say.
