As far as the code, I use the code on my Z-Wave locks with the RBoy app as a way to pin in a disarm to the system when they unlock the door.
Totally going to have to defer to Terry here - definitely take his feedback over mine. =D
What I meant by ākillerā security system is really that it ties in cameras and contacts/motion sensors very nicely and that Iāve found the ST sensors to be dead reliable. Personally Iād much rather get a video snapshot of all of my doors when the alarm goes off instead of receiving a call from a monitoring company 90 seconds later - and ST ties in nicely with cameras and even the siren on the Arlo Pro system. Iāve never tried the ADT pieces but Iāve never really understood the allure of that either. My biggest complaint with ST as a security system is that people are going to want to use the geofencing feature and user error (low-power settings on phones, too small radius (or too big) for the fence, phone off, etc.) is almost certain to lead to some false alarms. Iād say go with keyfobs or something physical like a passcode in a lock as Kirk suggested if you want to go that way.
Also (again) no native ties to Nest so even if you use something like Scout as a monitoring service you canāt tie in your smoke alarms. And I definitely wouldnāt want to be the installer violating multiple terms of service to patch together a life safety system.
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You need to post this comment in more threads where folks are finding their sensors to be anything but reliable. ā¦ Much closer to ādeadā than ādead reliableā.
But, it seems that you are experiencing the goals that SmartThings intended, which I hope is the case for the majority of customers.
For more experiences though (and to share your skills), please consider visiting and participating in the SmartThings Users Group on Facebook. Itās about as busy as here if not more: SmartThings Users Group | Facebook
Lutron is a class in itself. They are an engineering company with a ton of patents. They are very reliable, very fast, very popular with third-party installers. Note, however, that they use their own proprietary network protocol, ClearConnect: they donāt work with Z wave or zigbee.
Lutron Caseta is their DIY model line. You are limited to 50 devices per bridge, although there are some third party ways to have more than one bridge working together, such as using the hubitat hub.
Pro installers generally prefer the Lutron RadioRA2 Model, which has a limit of 200 devices. and a wider choice, but most clients wanting those devices will choose a Lutron certified installer, of which there are many. So I donāt know if that fits your business model.
The Wink 2 is a significant improvement over the original Wink in both power and reliability. It can handle about the same number of devices as the smart things the two hub. There is a limit in the Z wave specification of 232, counting the hub itself, so you canāt get around that. But wink will allow you to have more than one hub on your account. Then there are some other limits you run into on both platforms because of UI design. For Example, some smart things screens in the app can only display 300 devices. Wink support usually suggest a limit of around 500 total devices, but it can depend on exactly which devices you are using.
Amazon has its own smart home installation services, using Amazon employees, not third-party installers. The only two hubs they will install are an Amazon echo plus device or the Wink 2. So I think that says something about reliability as well.
But of course the Wink doesnāt work with as many different zigbee devices as SmartThings does, nor can you use custom code. And the rules engine is much simpler. But it does have a built in Lutron radio, which could save you the price of the SmartBridge, so thatās something to keep in mind as well.
As I have mentioned before in the forum, the only smartthings hub that I could recommend for security is the ADT/model line. And indeed if you follow any of the links on the SmartThings website to āsecurityā it will take you to that model line.
The other hubs are missing two critical features which most purpose built security systems, even very low-cost ones, do have.
- with the exception of the ADT model line, it is a cloud-based system. Thereās no getting around that. If either the Internet or the smartthings cloud itself is unavailable, you will not be able to even arm or disarm the system. The phone app will not be able to communicate directly with the hub ā ā it has to go through the cloud as well. Your cameras wonāt work with your security system as all of those integrations involve the cloud. And of course no custom code will work, including webcore.
Since Smartthings has had at least one outage each of the last 18 months except, I think, for January 2017, that just doesnāt meet the reliability requirements that most people have for a security system.
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Bug:_First_Reports
In addition, another factor of the cloud-based platform is that smartthings can and does push out hub updates, usually at least one a month, which will take your hub off-line for anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. These can neither be refused nor delayed.
- all notifications, even to your own phone, require the SmartThings cloud. In contrast, the ADT Model line has its own optional cellular module for communicating with the monitoring center.
Everyone has their own requirements for peace of mind when selecting a security system, so if youāre happy with it and you understand the potential outages and limitations, obviously itās your choice. But most people reviewing security systems would find the frequent downtime, even if itās only for a few minutes, unacceptable in a security system given what the competition offers. Fortunately, the ADT model line has addressed this, and does compare favorably with other very low cost DIY systems. But only that specific model.
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