Try "Designed for SmartThings hub"
or "SmartThings hub recommended"
or similar
BUT “Requires…” is BS and is designed to confuse the consumer, not educate them.
No it’s not… If you buy the thing and plan to use the smartthings system, the hub is required.
OK… I understand what you’re saying now; and, yup, you’re right… it is inaccurate to imply that all of the devices sold in the SmartThings Store are only compatible with the SmartThings hub & platform.
But I have to disagree that this is “designed to confuse the consumer”. In fact, I think it reduces confusion, as the consumer is not lead to start searching for alternative hubs to use with those devices.
Exactly … It would get very confusing for the consumer, on the SmartThings Shop website, to have all sorts of weird decision trees.
The language used in the shop is straightforward and reasonable given the context, IMHO.
Now if SmartThings forced partner retailers to insist that only SmartThings branded devices can be used with SmartThings, that’s a different discussion.
Indeed, SmartThings seems to consistently refer to themselves as open to devices from many manufacturers / brands. Since the absolute only purchase you need from SmartThings to use SmartThings is a single-SmartThings Hub with no monthly fees … ST would be completely shooting themselves in foot if they diverted customers to other hubs / platforms.
You don’t see Lowe’s saying “my sensors work with Iris, SmartThings or other Zigbee compliant hub”. It wouldn’t make much financial sense. Same goes for Wink.
It’s different when you look at third party products themselves, like the GE and Leviton switches, that have on their box a “Works with Wink, SmartThings, Vera, Nexia, etc.” dedicated space. They would be shooting themselves in the foot as well if they didn’t show this.
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Some respondents seem to be “Today-ists” rather than “Future-ists”. The future is no hub at all. The antennas will be built into the router which then uses a unified software to address the IOT items. That means Zigbee, Z-wave, BLE, 2.4 and 5 Wi-Fi antennas (and maybe Insteon for powerline and X-10 plus LTE). Oh wait a minute…that is not the future, you can buy it with Google’s new router by Asus and somebody else for $200 bucks. dual band router and hub under one OS. Wannna bet that the ST thingies work well with it?
The problem with this prediction of the future (and/or any WiFi + other protocols integrated hubs), is there is even less possibility of the “local processing” that was loudly and ceaselessly demanded from SmartThings (the Topics and cries for Hub V2 were deafening).
Well over a decade ago the “network computer” was invented / promoted (by Sun Microsystems, I think) – and did well in some limited environments. Problem was the lack of ubiquitous reliable broadband. Google brought back the concept with the Chromebook (and new variation… Chromebook Stick?).
I think the average consumer doesn’t care where their processing runs (local or cloud) as long as it:
- works
- works
- works
and - works.
(Oh… by the way … the average consumer doesn’t care about security or privacy, otherwise their passwords wouldn’t be “password” or “abc123”). – But I’ll concede one that is an important feature:
- has “good” / trustworthy security and privacy protections.
old setting of mine. Probably they didn’t catch it.
Community was getting pinged every time someone responded in the release notes people asked for just release notes without comments. Looks like other sections are now comment-able again, so i went ahead and fixed that to keep it consistent. Comment away.
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You are spot on on passwords…a little outdated but well…
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OnHub never had Zwave and no longer promises ZigBee connectivity. Just Thread (coming soon). Never was ZigBee certified.
So no joy there as far as most devices that currently work with SmartThings. It can connect via LAN with a Philips Hue Bridge, but then what can’t? 
Hubs that have both ZigBee Home Automation Profile 1.2 and Zwave do exist, but not many of them. No routers that I know of.
Putting boosted WiFi physically right next to ZigBee is really difficult, the ZigBee signal almost always gets drowned out. A 3 meter separation works way better.
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While the interference issue is likely, there is one router that does it all. I recently asked about compatibility of my thermostats with Almond plus. And here is what their response was:
Thank you for contacting Securifi. Your casenumber is xxx774.
The Honeywell Z-Wave Thermostat doesn’t yet appear to be supported by Almond+. However, in order to make Almond+ the unique hub to control the ZigBee and Z-Wave sensors out there, we are testing and adding them to our compatibility list quite frequently . You can click here for the list of compatible sensors that work with Almond+.
https://wiki.securifi.com/index.php/List_of_compatible_sensors_-_Almond%2B_2014
Check the individual Amazon reviews on Securifi Almond plus.
It gets very high reviews as a Wi-Fi extender. As a home automation hub, not so much.
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Well, I was referring to your comment that there is no router on the market. I didn’t say it does it well 
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The original MCV Vera was a WiFi router with a home automation hub built in. Way before Google jumped on a smart home bandwagon. Great idea, if you ask me, but somehow it didn’t catch on.
As a Securifi Almond+ owner, let me say – not very useful for HA. And as a base WiFi, I recently switched to a more powerful unit. In a simple network scenario it might be ok, but so may a lot of other products.
Generally, I like SmartThings for convenience but “it just works” is not how I’d describe it. After two consecutive evenings of reported problems (“degraded performance”) I know that in discussing it with my relations visiting for the holidays their view changed from “the future” to “cool thing not yet ready for prime time.” It was disappointing to see that happen, but data’s data.
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Just works???
What version of ST are these people using, and where can I get it?
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