If I needed to replace an existing GE/Jasco switch, I would lean towards the Leviton Matter over Wi-Fi switches and/or dimmers (which I’m using at my other house with an Echo Dot 4). If I needed to replace outlets of the same brand, I think I’d try out the Eve Energy Matter over Thread outlets which feature dual switched outlets. Currently using the wall plug version of their Matter over Thread outlet and very happy with it.
Howdy @HalD and fellow not-so-far off neighbor! 
I have had better experiences with Zigbee over the years, but I think more so over the last 3 years. Z-Wave was so solid and I had built a very good mesh with them. So, that makes it hard in that respect. I really had no issues like this on Hubitat, but I’ve been keeping an eye on the platform for years and watched a lot of heartache and never regretted leaving 5 years-ish ago, but over the past year, some Samsung devices, such as my TV showed up with ST built in (and if you got the add-on USB Zigbee antenna). At the same time some things with Hubitat, like charging for remote access subscriptions and the frequent releases of hubs that went up a lot in cost would happen right as I’d upgrade before a new one was announced, gave me renewed interest in ST. So alas I am back.
Considering all, I do think going forward, Zigbee makes the most sense. If I hadn’t invested in Zooz to replace all the horrible Linear switches that started flaking out for the same reason, one-by-one, I’d be in a position to make the investment in swapping those for Zigbee. I’ll say this… My Hue lights (of course Zigbee) have always been most dependable. I even did a bunch of testing for Philips and Honeywell for HA devices.
Last week, I bought the Aeotec repeater and it’s near the Leviton in question too. Figured that would help as I also had a GE outdoor outlet do the same thing (offline). Again these things all worked on Hubitat fine. So I figured my mesh wasn’t in question. I think that ST needs more work in their change-over to Edge in terms of driver support.
Also, do I need to use a PC specifically for the FW upgrade? I see the Simplicity software is also Mac, but if there’s something impeding that, I’d rather not waste the time and just use a PC.
Anyway, I will attempt to update the Leviton’s firmware. Thanks for the great post.
When I was having the z-wave issues which eventually led me to going over to more Zigbee devices I bought three of the Aeotec Repeater 6 devices. They didn’t help and are now in a drawer.
Simplicity Studio is a full IDE for z-wave device developers. You only need the Z-wave PC controller application. According to this recent Aeotec article, that bit is still Windows-only. Z-Wave PC Controller 5 configuration tool installation. : Aeotec Help Desk
My particular z-wave issue seems to have been related to the “density” of my installation. The center of our home is large room that incorporates kitchen, dining room, wet bar and living room. It opens to two hallways, the master bedroom, the front door, and multiple sliding doors to porch and patio. There are close to 30 switches in 2-, 3-, and 4-gang boxes all around this space.
When I got to something over 20 of them smartified with z-wave switches and dimmers it was like the whole z-wave mesh collapsed. Slow response, lost commands, and multiple varying errors on repair runs. After I swapped about a third of the devices for Zigbee and reused the Z-wave ones at the other end of the house my problems went away.
There are a handful of us here who feel like the SmartThings implementation of z-wave is somehow seriously flawed.
Thanks for that info. I also think based on my experience with various HA systems that ST isn’t getting it right. Otherwise how could they all work solidly, if it were device issues.
I keep a list of issues… 
I’ve got a Nortek HUSBZB-1 usb stick. I DL’d Simplicity Studio and installed the Sl drivers for Zwave and Zigbee in the Device Manager. Though SS can see the USB stick with the drivers, it does not seem to have any support to use it. Any clues?
Sorry, no clue here. Perhaps look for forums for Simplicity Studio?
Did you use a different stick that just worked?
This was four or five years ago. I bought the Zooz S2 stick and had no trouble with it.
I’ve also used Simplicity Studio with the Zooz S2 Z-Wave Stick ZST10 700 and it worked like a charm for me.
Where did you find the OTA firmware update files for your various devices? Homeseer offers a Z-Flash utility that is supposed to work with the Nortek stick, but also has some firmware update files. Don’t know if I should purchase Z-Flash or order a Zooz stick. Both are the about the same $25 price? Also, there’s the ZOOZ 800 SERIES Z-WAVE LONG RANGE USB STICK ZST39 LR, which seems like the successor. Thoughts?
Update: I was able to do it. Very convoluted and I think it would have been different with a different z-wave stick like the Zooz or the likes, but not complaining here (just an explanation). Now, onto updating more devices like the Levitons (the one I did first was a Zen71 because it was convenient test).
Hi Hal, where did you get your Leviton FW files from? I’m having trouble finding them. The link on Homeseer that they have to see a list of their FW files is broken on their website and I didn’t find anything in their Downloads section. I guess with their Z-Flash utility, they must now provide access directly through that app?
All of the devices I’ve updated successfully (mainly Zooz and a couple of Aeotec) have been relatively easy to do. I started looking for the Leviton firmware files (I have four fan controllers a a couple of dimmers), but wasn’t real successful–they seem harder to find! Some devices are upgradable and some aren’t and I just didn’t take it any farther since they are working okay, but may eventually look further…
Your best bet for Leviton firmware these days is to hit the Leviton customer support site and open a case. I vaguely recall that a couple of people here were even sent loaner z-wave sticks.
Nice. Especially on the loaner sticks. I just bought a z 800 zoOZ stick that should arrive today. I didn’t want to buy it as I’ll have no use for it later and another device lying around. Who knows, maybe I too will inquire with Leviton and get the same treatment and send the zoOZ stick back. I just have about 3 devices that need a power reset to get them back online only to go offline till per cycle. 2 are Leviton