Zigbee and Z-Wave netowork balance

[JDRoberts]

There’s a FAQ on zigbee vs zwave which might be of interest. But in general, yeah, one of thr great things about smartthings is that it lets you mix-and-match devices of different protocols, so you can select based on what you need from each device.

New to SmartThings should I avoid Wifi devices over alternative Z Wave or Zigbee devices?

Now to the protocol question. My college major was Computer Information Systems and I went on to work for IBM until the wheelchair-thing. My first commercial install was in a nuclear power plant. So I’m very interested in network protocols, and had worked with all of the ones you mentioned before ever starting with home automation. As with many things, the choice for any individual device comes down to how you specifically want to use it. ZIGBEE/ZWAVE: MESH KEEPS COSTS DOWN Zigbee and Zwave were both designed for “mesh” networks where there would be a lot of mostly dumb, mostly cheap, often battery powered devices where any given device might be occasionally unavailable, if only to have its batteries changed. In a mesh network, the hub doesn’t panic if a device is unavailable. …