It’s unlikely that you’ll need a repeater that is only a repeater. You can use the repeating light switch or a plug-in module and get double use out of it.
As far as pairing right next to the hub, a lot of this changed with zwave plus.
You can do multi hop pairing with zwave plus provided the device is not a security class device. Locks are obvious. What’s not so obvious is that some devices, particularly those from aeon labs, have the option to pair as either a secure device or not. This includes things like their zwave lightbulb. Which personally I find it weird to think that a lightbulb would be a secure device but, it’s an option, so OK.
Secure class pairings can fail in ways that are different than other pairings. The device might be on the network but be unable to get any messages.
Anyway, here’s the main point.
You can pair right next to the hub. In most cases if it is a zwave plus device you can pair it in place several hops away if the hub is also zwave plus.
If you move the device physically to the new location after you pair it, or you add a new device to the network that you want to be able to act as a repeater for this device, you need to run the zwave repair utility to update all the address tables so that each device knows who it is truly physically close to.
This is just a button press in the mobile app, you don’t have to fool with all the individual devices again. Basically the hub just send out messages to everybody to say "you might’ve moved, check and see who your neighbors are. "
The system utility will take 15 or 20 minutes to run typically, but you may not see communication improvement until the next day for some complicated technical reasons.
See the range FAQ for more information, including information on zigbee devices:
And