Yes but in all other aspects it’s just as restrictive, if not more restrictive than ST in regards to what can run locally
I prefer ST’s train of though with regards to home AUTOMATION, i.e. I shouldn’t need to be pulling out my phone and for the most part I don’t. Sure it would be nice if ST can get the phone app to connect locally to the hub when it’s on the same network and I’m sure they will in the future but with a properly automated system, you shouldn’t need too.
To be ‘automated’ Wink requires ‘Robots’. Those Robots don’t run locally.
Yeah, me too, I want home automation not home remote control. If I wanted remote controlled home I would choose neither ST nor Wink. I would go with Harmony…
You wish. Last time I checked the mobile app does not connect to ST hub locally.
No matter how you automate, you still going to need remote control at times, if only to override your automations. Even if all your automations run locally, you still need remote control to turn off your blaring siren, for example. This is the problem that ST have not solved to this day, despite attempting to position ST as a “security system”.
Well, who in their right mind would use a siren with a beta product for security purposes other than their own sadistic purposes to annoy the hell out of their neighbors. And, those guys certainly don’t need a remote to turn it off, they just get in the car and go for a ride, so they don’t hear the blaring siren…
I’m sure it is. I came from Staples Connect where it was reliable and very functional, then to Wink (because SC called it quits) and it’s been a nightmare ever since. Some things work fine, like sensors, but add a thermostat and some Hues and you start to see the issues. Then wake up to all of your devices lost their names. Then have it happen again and have to re-pair all your devices and re-create all your robots. after a while, teaching my, “smart home” to be smart seems like a never-ending chore. I just joined the ST community today to see if it may be better or if I should go Vera. Any helpful advice is truly welcomed. I have a ton of HA experience at this point, so I really do appreciate any insight on ST. It looks more capable and robust, but I’ve read a lot of complaints about stability here already. Thanks
I came from Staples Connect as well. The thing I love about SmartThings is ability to get it to do whatever you want. The issues recently come down to the scheduler being flaky. Some days it will run perfectly and other days it will skip over certain tasks. They’ve been working on it but it’s nowhere close to being rock solid. That being said, all of my local automations (lights controlled by officially supported devices using the Smart Lighting SmartApp) work flawlessly.
That’s good to hear. I don’t do a lot with schedules (probably would if I could ever get past everything just working at it’s basic level). My tasks are more trigger based, like turning on the outside like after sunset with the front door opens. Or, after the garage door opens after sunset, turn on the garage light, side lights and foyer lights and adjust temperature. It’s good to talk with someone coming from SC because it set the bar imho. Finding a replacement isn’t easy after that, but I have to keep trying.
you will need to use Rule Machine for this, and sunset/sunrise triggers have been known to cause issues but you can get it to do almost everything you’re looking to do (if not all of it)
How was the Staples Connect? I almost got their 2nd Gen hub but delays in availability meant I got distracted by the ‘free’ Wink Hub. As I understood it, SC was reasonably solid?
ST is definitely not without its own issues as you can see on the forum. That being said things work pretty much perfect for me but YMMV, I still wouldn’t trade ST for Wink or any other platform (at the moment) for anything.
ST is working on their growing pain issues, they didn’t properly prepare for the mass influx of customers when V2 hub came out when they hadn’t properly fixed existing issues with the V1 hub. I sincerely hope they are prepared for the mass influx of customers that will be coming from owners of the new 2016 Samsung SUHD TVs that have a built in ST hub.
That being said, everything behind the scenes seems to suggest that ST IS getting on top of things and has several planned roll outs to fix the teething problems. Other longer term people on this forum won’t be holding their breath I’m sure but I’m confident.
Staples Connect was great honestly. I had the 2nd gen hub (D-Link). I was sad to let it go, but I needed to move onto something with a future and figured I’d better start sooner than later. Too bad my first foray was Wink. I really wasn’t going to do that, but it was easy to buy locally, so that inevitably made me buy it.
