Smartthings Hub vs Samsung Connect Home

The Samsung Connect Home is basically the same price as the Smarthings Hub right now (acutally slightly cheaper)

Is there a reason to avoid the Connect Home in favor of the Smartthings Hub? I already have a good router and really only need a good hub. I am starting from scratch, so I am not locked into too many devices yet, though I have bought a GE z-wave plus fan controller and ordered a HomeSeer HS-WD200+ Dimmer, just to try out.

So far, the only differences I am aware of are

  • Smartthings Hub has battery backup
  • Connect Home adds wifi and can be used as part of a wifi mesh.

My main concern is being locked out of many of the 3rd party (extensions?) generously developed by members of the smartthings community for the existing hub.

According to this thread, it looks like Samsung Connect Home is dependent on the cloud, which sounds pretty terrible, if true.

I wouldn’t buy the Samsung connect home unless I was actually in the market to upgrade to a new mesh router system, and I also wanted a SmartThings hub.

And even then, I’d probably buy a (different) mesh router, and a SmartThings hub.

But I like to separate out the various components of my home network. I can get the features for each component I want that way, and I can upgrade them at different times.

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Ditto.

Same reason not to use an NVIDIA Shield as a SmartThings Hub.

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The reason not to by multi-capable devices is due to the nature that they don’t do all things well. For example does the Wifi in your internet gateway (cable modem, DSL or Residential Gateway) bring anything good to the table for home coverage? Probably not. The Samsung Connect mesh router isn’t ranked on Small Net Builder’s site. Also just like Google’s wifi system most mesh routers except for say Netgear’s Orbi require an active internet connection for them to operate.

My recommendation is buy the products by function and the best you can afford for your needs.

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My main concern would be with Samsung phasing out support for the standalone hub, in favor of the all in one device.