My understanding just as a layperson is that the fastest way to burn out one of these switches is to put 120 V wire into the traveler slot, as that’s not how the switches are supposed to work.
And most of the ones I’ve seen, there’s a label on that screw saying not to put a hot wire there.
Networked switches and non-networked switches do get wired in a somewhat different way, so you do need to be sure what every wire does before you connect it up. the old non-networked switch might have worked differently and you might have a hot wire there, which could explain why it works when the network switch burns out.
Have you had a chance to look at the FAQ? It might help as well.
