If your Main goal is controlling the Sinope thermostats then I think Neviweb is a better interface than Smartthings. You have very limited control of the thermostat with smartThings and it’s still not reliable enough to control critical devices such as electric heaters.
Smartthings is right for you or not is depending on what are your goals and what kind of devices you want to integrate. I personally love SmartThings when it’s WORKING.
Thanks for the response.
My goal is to integrate as much as possible different things. I already have a synology nas for streaming music and videos to devices through out the house, and running/recording ip cameras.
I have two wemo switches controlling relays to turn on/off a water heater and a water pump.
I have a lacrosse technology temperature sensor monitoring temperature on a spa.
I got another device controling my garage door.
And i would like to add a device to control outdoor irrigation and outdoor lightning, perhaps indoor lighting at some point.
All the devices work ok independently but each require their own apps, which is annoying. They all run on their own network and rely on the vendors’ servers. At some point I would prefer not to rely on someone else servers…
I already have issues with WeMo / IFTTT notifications and neither Belkin nor IFTTT seems to recognize the bugs between their servers.
Further the wemo switches are annoying because they default to off after power outtage instead of returning to the state it was before the outtage…
From your comment i get that Smartthings is not reliable. Is that right?
It’s getting better now but because it’s using cloud for processing automations and very little devices are qualified for local processing so if you have flaky internet or power outage then there’s a higher chance that some of your automations not working sometime.
Wemo and ip cameras have some integration with Smartthings but I am not sure about lacrosse and synology.
I think the best way for you is to browse the forum for info on ideas on devices you are currently have and devices you are thing of getting.
There’s also Wink and Vera plus as well. They all have plus and minus and tricky to know which one is right for you so read up and hopefully you will get the right hub. On this forum. There’s this guy @JDRoberts. He knows a little about smart devices and probably could answer your question.
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Every hub has pluses and minuses, so different ones will work for different people. If you look on Amazon, they all have about the same star rating, so it’s not like there’s one great one in the bunch. You just have to research each one to see what is the best match for your own needs and preferences. 
The following thread should be of interest (this is a clickable link):
Hi,
When can we get the new Sinope thermostat under ST:
The new Sinope DTH is ready for the latest zigbee devices:
Regards.
Does this also support the thermostats that connect to a sinope hub? I’ve wanted ST standard thermostat capabilities for those (home/away mode, for eg) but currently you have to use CoRE or another external control.
No, only the new zigbee thermostats support the away() and home() methods.
Regards
EDIT: those methods need to be called, they don’t set the mode themselves.
Is there a design or hardware limitation on the hub-based sinope stats restricting availability of home/away modes to smartthings? I only purchased some for my home a few months ago, I’d be disappointed to find out they’re left behind development-wise.
I don’t directly work for Sinope so you may want to ask @CharlieSinope about the plan for the sinope hub ones. I’ve done some contract work for them in order to bring the new zigbee thermostats up to date with the recent thermostat capabilities under ST.
I read though the api, just for my own curiosity. The currently available zigbee devices don’t support fans or cooling, but there’s a lot of references to both in the api. Is that just for future devices?
This is done in order to support the new ST thermostat capabilities and standards.
Refer to
Esteemed colleagues- I am getting ready to replace all my 240V 4-wire baseboard heater thermostats (5) in a mountain condo. Already use ST which seems to be ok for managing doors locks, motion sensors, and temperature alerts. Price not that important. Reliability (i.e. minimal explaining to wife how to get condo heating up before she arrives, and how to set all thermostats to 55 degrees when leaving) is most important. Also perhaps noisiness, although I haven’t heard a lot about that. The options seem to be:
-
Stelpro (which model would I want, the zigbee or z wave?)
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Sinope (even more confusing about which model to get)
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Honeywell Redlink - proprietary and being suggested by the electrician ( https://customer.honeywell.com/en-US/pages/product.aspx?cat=HonECC+Catalog&pid=YTL9160AR1000/U )
Which one should I buy? Am I missing some other important considerations?
Thanks for any help you all can offer!
I’ll throw my 2 cents in.
I recently went down this road as well and I ended up buying the Stelpro Ki Z-wave model. The Zigbee wasn’t available when I purchased.
So far I have had Zero problems with the StelPro Ki’s that I have bought (3 so far) and I’m planning on buying more. My next question is whether to buy one of the Zigbee models just for giggles.
Z-Wave is pretty safe and works with everything, but on the flip side ZigBee is becoming very popular. So I don’t know on this debate.
The Sinope are nice looking and I also bought one, but the price of shipping was crazy so I didn’t. Maybe when shipping comes down I’ll try one.
No knowledge about the Honywell, but I looked at the link and it looks expensive and proprietary as in closed standard to Honeywell, so me personally I wouldn’t go for it. But to each their own.
I have been watching other models like Mysa which looks really nice and is promising. But they are still in early stages. I’m keeping an eye on them though.
But as far as a Thermostat goes. Temp Goes up, Temp Goes down, set rules/controls for schedules or events (I use presence) and it works. Not flashy to look at but it works as advertised and honestly looks better than the cheap turn knob thermostats I’m replacing.
I have the Sinope wifi thermostats with Neviweb hub and they are very reliable. I also have the infloor heat models as well. There is some integration but not as deep as the zwave/Zigbee models. You can turn down/up temp with routine or such.
I am pretty certain Stelpro/Sinope Z-Wave and Zigbee are both reliable but the Controller (Smartthings) is not so much. This is the very reason I stay away.
There is zero intergeneration with Honeywell Redlink and personally they look really ugly. You will find most electricians recommend this because they sell them at electrical store and something electricians are comfortable working with. I am an electrician and also recommend this to people with no knowledge of HA and just want something simple and low maintenance. Saying that, it’s definitely not not HA enthusiasts.
Thanks so much for the info.
Thanks for both replies!
For both Ray and jeubanks-
So in ST you can set “home” and “away” scenes which then automatically change all the thermostats to a pre-set temp? (i.e. easy for wife to turn on heat before getting there. . )
If visitors without ST access are in the condo, they could just manually turn up the heat, right?
Could you create an alert for a low temp (say 50 degrees) as reported by the thermostat?
Could a weather app tell the thermostat what the outside temp is via ST?
Still confused about Z wave vs Zigby (an option for Stelpro).
Also, Sinope appears to directly support ST, but Stelpro says it will work with Z wave controller (no direct mention of ST).
Sounds like I will be fine with either choice (Stelpro or Sinope and Zigbee or Zwave).
Thanks again.
I use my phone as presence sensor and run routines in ST. Routine is used to turn down my thermostats. This way I don’t have to press anything. My lights and alarm work the same way. This is not reliability is critical because it depends too much on ST.
That’s correct. You can manually change the setpoint.
Yes you can. You can use various Smartapps for this. I find the easiest is a custom rule in SHM for notification.
There is an ST weather tile and it has temp, lux etc you can use. My Sinope thermostats have the option to display the outside temp on the display. I believe it polls the info from their own server.
HA has a few communication protocols. Zigbee and Z-Wave are 2 of them. ST supports both Zigbee HA and Z-Wave but you need find out if there is a working DTH ready for the device you purchase.
Both Sinope and Stelpro work with ST I believe just not on the official list.
Thanks to everyone here. Very helpful!
I did the same analysis a bit ago and went with the Sinope ZigBee models. They work great for what we use them for, but some of the Naviweb functionality, that looks very impressive, is not yet available (at least to me) through the smartthings interface. I can see in the case where the tiles have been coded, but they never show up. I worked with their support, who were responsive, and they mentioned that it was a newer product and they were still trying to develop out the kinks in the integration. Since you already use Zwave, the ZigBee products are probably your best bet. If I didn’t have anything installed, I might go the Naviweb course to get the better functionality.
Thx so much for the thoughtful reply. I have the Zwave Stelpros ready to install. Will give some feedback hear one they are up and running. Thx again.