It seems the world of home automation is moving away from Z-Wave. Amazon Echo comes with Zigbee not Z-Wave. The Aeotec hub supports Z-Wave, but I think it’s 500 series and there don’t seem to be plans to support 700 or 800 in the hub. Samsung has dropped Z wave altogether from its newest line of hubs, including the station, and the TV dongle. Not sure about HomeKit or Google Home as I don’t use those.
Zooz makes some great stuff, but for someone starting out today, it seems wise to steer clear of Z-Wave. Or am I missing something?
Yeah it seems so. Last year when Aeotec (majorly Z-wave focused company) released Pico relay swtiches with Zigbee, and discontinued Z-wave Nano switches, I thought that was sure indication of Smartthings(or maybe industry) moving away from Z-wave.
However, yesterday Aeotec also announced a brand new Trisensor 8 that supports Z-Wave 800. So I guess even they are not sure what is their endgame…
There are multiple threads on this topic already, so I’ll link to one of those rather than repeat myself here.
But the short answer is that Zwave itself likely has a future. It’s the only mesh protocol that is UL listed for security right now (although I do expect that to change eventually), so Z wave is used for the Ring security system (owned by Amazon) and is the favored add on for light switches for other security systems like ADT.
Maybe more importantly, the eighth generation of z wave has some really cool features, including range of over a mile, making it an excellent match to use cases like hotels, and shopping centers. Again, more details in the thread below.
It may not have a future with smartthings, however, Unless there is an eventual Z wave to matter bridge from some other company, because SmartThings has already dropped Z wave from the station hub and the TV built in hubs, and the company has specifically said that they see the future as matter and Zigbee.
Anyway, see the following thread from earlier this year, as it goes into detail on all of these issues:
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