My wife said to me we need more motion sensors around the house, and I’m not about to let this opportunity go away. So, which motion sensor is the overall favorite? My current sensors are the Monoprice Z-wave first gen, and I find them to be slow. I have a strong Zigbee and Z-wave mesh, so I could go either way, but I just wanted to see what people think about their sensors.
Given that they are all around the $30 range, I was looking into the Ecolink, Monoprice Z-wave Plus, ST motion sensor and Iris.
I can see and advantage to the ST brand, Ecolink and the ones I already have, since they will run locally, but I will go with whichever works better.
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Iris for the win, plus it runs local since it uses the same DH as the ST one. 
They’re small, easy to mount, are fast, and readily available at Lowes for pickup whenever needed.
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Things to consider…baterry life and type of batteries used. I have a bunch of different types and I actually tossed some because a. they use the batteries to fast, or they require batteries that I never have on hand.
I like Fibaro, pricey but very configurable. They work great if you have pets and also report other things as well (luminance, temp, vibration).
So which one is the winner in your opinion?
It really depends on what are you looking for. Basic motion events like Ecolink common battery type and long lasting. Need light sensor, humidity without a fast motion detection, get cloud connected sensor like Fibaro (z-wave). Need a multifunctional sensor in the ceiling go for NYCE. Need a local fast processing motion detection, go for Iris or ST but NOT if battery type and replacement frequency are a concern…
Hmmmm… interesting. I don’t need anything else besides motion. Maybe in the future I might think of adding luminance to my motion sensor, but right now I’m good with just motion.
I think I will try and compare both the Iris and Ecolink and see if there are differences in sensitivity. As of now, what bothers me the most on the Monoprice sensors is the lag between motion and the sensor actually registering it.
I can tell you Iris wins! But they use c battery…if you go with Iris, stick to same kind of batteries. Ive had super hard time replacing the batteries in my sensors when I replaced my hub. At every corner I needed a different kind. It drove me crazy.
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I’ll just tell ya’ that I have all of them you’ve mentioned, plus ST’s original, and the older PEQ’s, and the Iris ones are the best for the price. I like them so much that I’ve replaced all but a few with the Iris ones. I have 25 of them. 
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Okay, this seems to be the consensus I was looking for. I guess a visit to Lowe’s is needed to solve this mistery.
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I just got 3 and I’m very impressed with them. They trigger my lights noticeably faster than ecolink sensors I had before them!
I thought people used to like the Ecolink sensors quite a lot. Maybe I just hadn’t looked into motion sensors in a long time.
That’s the difference between Zigbee and Zwave. But wait till they start dropping. That may make you bring back your Ecolink. Advantages and disadvantages…It’s all about what you are comfortable putting up with…
That was also an FYI for @rdelavega 
Well, I haven’t had a single Zigbee drop from my contact sensors (Trippers) in a LONG time. I can’t answers for what happens with motion sensors, though.
We can only hope that the hub update will improve this…
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I agree re zigbee vs z-wave triggering speed but I disagree re zigbee devices dropping. I have more zigbee devices and except for 1 that was slightly out of range which was fixed by having an iris smart plug in the room, I have had 0 issues. No dropping or even false alarms with my bulbs, open/close sensors or smart plugs. Gee…I just realise I have iris smart plugs, open/close sensors and motion sensors lol.
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Nah, mine have been rock solid the last few months, and having the Iris smart plugs helps with building a strong mesh.
Yeah, we have a lot of devices… Those motion sensors are integral to our automation of lights, determining presence in rooms for other automations, and part of SHM.
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I will say this, since the update today triggering hasn’t been as lightning fast as it was before. I’m just waiting for things to settle down a bit and will power down my hub for 20 minutes tonight to reset the zigbee mesh before thinking it’s a permanent change. That’s not to say triggering is slow by any means, but before as soon as the motion sensor’s green light came on, so did my light. Now, there’s about half a second between the two events.
Yeah, I’ll probably have to improve on that a bit. I have a few things I’ve been meaning to hook up to smart plugs, but haven’t yet found the need. I believe my Zigbee mesh is fine, but it can definitely improve.
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Are you entirely sure about this? If things are working, I would try and keep them as they were. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
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