WAF of ST2 Out the window ... Wink on the way for parallel testing

Here is the trick…:smile:

@NWTony updated link above…

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The most productive thing to do is open a support ticket. If you have one that you feel has not been responded to, PM me the ticket number and I will check it out. The community is a good place to share advice and experiences but if you want someone to be able to look at your hub and troubleshoot an issue, please open a support ticket.

Sure, but they just pick and choose what they are interested in looking at and respond to. There isn’t a system of accountability.

I am running both Wink as SmartThings on separate floors of my house. I started with Wink and moved to SmartThings for my main living area. Wink had too many failures for me. I run Wink on some limited stuff and the Quirky things that don’t easily work with ST. The issue I have with running both is the ST Hub keeps adding 2 GE Link bulbs I have that are paired with Wink. Every time I turn them on they populate in my Things list. Annoying.

Sure, I’ve opened various tickets in the past including a current open issue regarding zwave light switches blinking. There is a post on here as well regarding that issue plus others I’ve written about - including first experiences coming from revolv. And then … In one week ST issued two “emergency” stability issue emails. Proactive, but not confidence building.

Our device network is extensive, our needs our simple. This is simple WAF choice of what consistently works. Oh, and we’ve both already ruled out any home security integration.

You’re in a SmartThings community forum talking about a competitor product. Herein is one of the subtler advantages to ST: an active, participatory community. And a vendor that doesn’t slam the door on this particular discussion.

This community, and the developer technology, may not matter to the casual user of IoT technology, but many people currently buying into IoT technology are not casual users.

This community, and the developer tools, more than compensate for a current lack of reliability. Especially since I am actually starting to see more reliable results over time. This week’s down times were disconcerting primarily because the documentation states a solid blue light on the hub is solely because of lack of internet capability. This wasn’t true. What’s needed is better up-front documentation that provides a more accurate overview of what’s happening, and what can be done to fix it.

A second problem is the hub re-boot. The developers do need to find a way to reboot the device remotely. Or find a way to automatically reboot if a “phone home” has come up empty for so many hours. But these are technical problems that can be, I’m assuming, overcome.

Wink is an interesting hub. I may play around with it, because I plan on writing more about IoT in future books, writings, and so on. And, as a caveat, I am relatively new to ST, and haven’t hit the “frustration” threshold.

But when I see an active community of very capable people, a company that is actively involved in listening to said community, and some progress, I’m not ready to ditch the products.

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@patrija
Look the thread kind of went off topic a bit, but that happens a lot here. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of updates on the big experiment.

I came to ST from wink. Personally, I was pretty happy with the wink experience. My only issue was the response time. It was horribly slow. But I do understand that some local processing power has been implemented since my time with them.

Since you already have ST I’m sure you are more than aware of the capability and potential of the system. Most of which is right here in this community.

My only advice, and this is for both hubs, to get a really good comparison of the two try to use as much local processing as possible at first. Then, when you add some new routine or robot, try to do something comparable on the other hub at the same time. This will give you a true and accurate representation of both.

Good luck, and like I said, I really look forward to reading about your experience and applying it to my own.

:smile:

I’m very interested in the experiment and also just purchased a Revolv from eBay as a third device. To be clear, I believe the vision and direction of ST is correct and I hope and expect they will reach it. But At my house, WAF is the difference between reliable basic functionality today versus the perfect eventual solution. Perhaps the discussion is similar to iOS versus android :slight_smile:

So far, so good on the testing. Currently the upstairs is run by ST2 and downstairs by Wink. Initial findings from my wife

iOS App experience

  • Wink by far. Something along the lines of, this feels like an apple app
  • Some negs regarding limited icons, overall size of icons makes it every page a scroll

Setup

  • all of the devices I have added easily to wink - except ZigBee (known, but still sad)
  • Wireless wink hub is easier for location. It may be my imagination but the zwave signal seems stronger and reached devices I could not reach previously (same hub location)

Operation

  • DELAY! I knew this and overall it’s not TOO bad … but definitely a ST2 win
  • Device interaction - ST2 advantage due to the custom device handlers
  • Big surprise, but Wife loves the relay we installed. Its in the kitchen and doesn’t have to pull out her phone

Plan to run parallel through the end of December and start the new year with one system only. That’s the longest I could get approval for running two apps.

Net Net … My thoughts are once something is reliable, it’s all about the App. And for 90% (+) of consumer homes, it’s just lights, locks, and trips. And that will commoditize quickly

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[quote=“patrija, post:29, topic:31931, full:true”]iOS App experience

  • Wink by far. Something along the lines of, this feels like an apple app[/quote]
    Ugh… that’s a big negative for me! :slight_smile: Seriously though, just everyone here acknowledges that the MobileApp is… lacking (to put it kindly).

[quote]Setup

  • Wireless wink hub is easier for location. It may be my imagination but the zwave signal seems stronger and reached devices I could not reach previously (same hub location)[/quote]
    Small little things can make a big difference… things as small as the angle of the z-wave antenna in the hub can produce different results.

To each their own, of course… for me, it’s all about the SMARTapps. I rarely pull out my phone to specifically control a device or run a routine. These are all done automatically or via voice command or by triggers switches/button/etc.

So the MobileApp itself isn’t that big of a thing for me. For me it’s about being able to get in and tinker with apps or write my own to do specific things. Being completely unfamiliar with Wink, what options does it have as far as building custom apps?

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I did this when I first built my smart infrastructure for my house. At the time, I found Wink’s app to be way more polished and better looking, but they had a lot of trouble integrating with some of my devices, primarily Phillips Hue lights. It couldn’t turn them off if you were out of the network. Although not perfect, I found SmartThings to be a better product. I’ve since retired Wink.

However, just like you…I’m really having a lot of issues with V2 of SmartThings. I have so many devices that I’m supposed to get an earlier response but the support still takes several days and hasn’t been super useful. That’s not a dig on SmartThings either, its just really difficult to get things accomplished because they are either understaffed or there are too many issues. So I too was thinking about resurrecting Wink. As you know though, the issue is zigbee can only be assigned to one controller, so you have to split it like you do. Only thing that really concerns me about Wink is that the company just filed bankruptcy.

Anyway, I’m very, very curious as to what you find out and if its positive, I may try it again as well! :wink:

Good luck, keep up posted.

Hi, just curious, but can you please explain what you mean by this?

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I should clarify, that was for migration. They sent out an initial email saying they would provide expedited support of the migration because “you have a particularly extensive SmartThings setup in your home. Lots of devices, lots of SmartApps, and hopefully lots of value.” We currently have over 80 devices. Once again, the slower than desired response time isn’t meant as a dig toward SmartThings, but I think it goes to show they are overloaded with issues.

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It’s too bad, “The Evil Empire” (aka Google) killed Revolv. I had a complex setup for about two years. Zero network outages, Zero issues of ANY kind. ROCK SOLID. Responded instantly to all commands. Extremely easy to use iOS app.

Revolv was good for its customers, but another example of an unsustainable business model in the low end niche. It was dying before Google bought it because there wasn’t enough money coming in to keep it going.

From Fortune:

“Nobody right now is making money at the hub level,” Revolv cofounder Mike Soucie told me in July. “There’s a lot of betting on the long-term future and willingness to take losses. That’s where the market is–placing bets on the future.”

We as consumers, though, are buying these products for the features they provide now, with the expectation that it’s basically an appliance purchase.

If you buy a garage door controller, or a dishwasher, or string of Christmas tree lights, or a Sonos speaker, you’re not investing in the future. You’re making a consumer purchase.

Any IOT product that wants to be mass-market will have to be able to meet typical consumer purchase expectations, while still generating enough profit to keep their own lights on. :wink:

We’ll see who succeeds.

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Amazon seems to be doing pretty well basically selling a hub (the Echo) at a very similar price. I remember refusing to buy the Revolv for it’s $299 price. Looking back at it, I think many of us would gladly pay that for a reliable hub compared to the $$99 ST hub.

Yes, Amazon is probably making additional income from Prime subscribers which ties into the Echo, but any iOT can make additional income with services such as professional monitoring if it’s done right. I believe the business model can work if executed right. In Revolv’s case, they were priced very high for a market that wasn’t ready for it, and still might not be,

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If I was a Comcast subscriber, I would be signing up for their service, right about NOW. But I am not and don’t plan on dropping FIOS any time soon. So, I will patiently wait for Google to add more partners untill I replace ST completely - already dropped them for any kind of monitoring. As for paid services, the first hub that comes out with a mobile back up monthly subscription will have me as customer in a heart beat, just saying.

Seriously? for $39.95 a month with 2-year contract?

Don’t they have like a 20 bucks home package? I would be willing to pay that much at this point! Seriously man, the time I spend on this cr@p is worth more thant that!

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So, keeping this on topic…that is why even though I’m frustrated with ST, I still think its the best out there. Wink’s company filed for bankruptcy. How much support are they truly going to have in the future? Subscriptions won’t be sustainable (not saying ST’s won’t be…saying subscription only strategies) in my opinion. I actually do agree with the strategy of ST to partner with Samsung and to get into making more sensors themselves. The only problem is, as you guys stated…the now! I said it in an earlier post, if we equated ST to a stock, it would be a Hold right now. I don’t see any other company being a Buy and some that would be a Sell.

BTW, Amazon isn’t really a hub. Its fabulous, don’t get me wrong…one of the better purchases I felt we made…but its definitely not a hub any where to the level that ST or any other hub is.