Remember that zigbee is subject to interference from Wi-Fi. One reason it is not as popular for locks is that if you are trying to boost Wi-Fi around your door in order to support Wi-Fi cameras or video doorbells, you are quite likely to interfere with the lock’s operations. I’m not saying it’s impossible to use a zigbee lock successfully, but given that smartthings gives us no network diagnostics, it can be very tricky to troubleshoot if you do run into problems.
The beaming used for zwave locks does run slightly slower than regular Z wave, but it shouldn’t be noticeable to most people if you have a good mesh.
I would not say “secure devices slow down your zwave mesh” because
a) that’s not what is happening and
B) it’s going to confuse people about the new S2 security protocol, which is in fact faster than older generations. For example, I haven’t seen any complaints about the new ring protect alarm system, and it’s all S2 zwave.
BUT no controller on the market supports it, yet and it requires an update to the 500 chip. These older locks and controllers still use the S0 which has been proven not to be as good as advertised.
I have Zigbee contact sensors on the doors and had no issues for years. I started with a Z-Wave centric system and slowly building up my Zigbee mesh. I am at a point where I think that I can shift to a Zigbee centric system. I like the advantages it offers over Z-Wave.
LOL point taken, I meant none of the popular DIY controllers support S2 yet, that also offer Zigbee. And people would still have to replace their older locks with Z-Wave Plus locks to take advantage of the S2, don’t they?
Update: The new Schlage FE599NX came yesterday afternoon and I excluded the old Kwikset 912 and added the Schlage to the hub, all apps, DTH and automations. The whole process went very well and, so far it hasn’t dropped from the Z-Wave mesh at all. I know it’s a relatively short time to judge, but by now, the 912 would have dropped a minimum of 6 times - probably many more.
First impressions of the Schlage is that it’s much quieter, responds much more quickly to commands and automations and is much more sturdy than the 912.
Good luck to those of you trying to solve your Kwikset connectivity issues.
I’m still waiting on my Kwikset Convert to arrive. My original delivery was lost.
Strangely the z-wave is working slightly. It goes online by itself sometimes and status updates will be prompt. Controlling the locking through the app still doesn’t seem to work though. Battery drain is also not as bad. Batteries were 100% on Saturday. It’s 80% now. Doesn’t seem to be trying to pair anymore based on the absence of the yellow LED that I used to see.
I wrote an update on the Kwikset Convert deal post but thought I should write one on this thread also.
I finally received my Kwikset Convert, and its zigbee module was indeed swappable with the Z-Wave module. I was able to pair the device without much pain. It defaulted to a generic Thing DH. I switched it to Zigbee Lock DH in IDE. I can also confirm the rboy lock user management smart app does work with the Zigbee Lock DH. I installed the module and paired on Saturday. It is now Monday and everything appears to still be working ok. I don’t believe it has gone offline at all throughout this time.
Then, out of curiosity (and didn’t want to waste the hardware), I also tried plugging in the old Z-Wave module into the Convert and install it on my back door. It did not pair initially but while pairing my Z-Wave repeater nearby, the Convert also popped up during discovery. The back door is quite a bit farther away from my ST hub. Strangely, the problems I was having with the module on my 910 is not happening in the Convert. The lock hasn’t gone offline since installing it a couple days ago as far as I know.
Edit: I spoke too soon. The Z-Wave module in the convert is acting strangely. I unlocked the deadbolt manually, but the ST app wasn’t aware of the change until about 50 minutes later. What’s different this time is I can control the lock still from the app instead of removing the battery and reinserting it like in my other lock.
For example, I haven’t seen any complaints about the new ring protect alarm system, and it’s all S2 zwave.