It's a very different experience if you go to Walmart and try to find smart devices.
ZigBee devices are still available, but companies I've seen that used to have them almost exclusively swapped to WiFi over time.
Hue is still ZigBee for example, but the old generic bulbs at home Depot? Gone. Liquidated. Nobody understands smart hubs. Everyone understands their app.
Bulbs, plugs, sockets, even thermostats. What do you think is the ratio of nest thermostats vs zigbee?
Big business buys thermostats from big retailers who sell in batches of hundreds. My dad's home, built a year or two ago, is wired up with zwave.
You don't see bulbs because the companies who set up zwave almost exclusively stick the switches in the wall and leave the lights dumb. Built to work for decades without configuration sort of thing.
My thinking is that the wifi stuff is going to eat ZigBees lunch, although your point about battery life is a very good one.
Zwave, in the space it's in, seems more durable to me. One day lights will go out and replaced with wifi bulbs that everyone can use, but the companies using zwave are way more picky and will not want to go wifi.
ZigBee devices are still available, but companies I've seen that used to have them almost exclusively swapped to WiFi over time.
Hue is still ZigBee for example, but the old generic bulbs at home Depot? Gone. Liquidated. Nobody understands smart hubs. Everyone understands their app.
Bulbs, plugs, sockets, even thermostats. What do you think is the ratio of nest thermostats vs zigbee?
Big business buys thermostats from big retailers who sell in batches of hundreds. My dad's home, built a year or two ago, is wired up with zwave.
You don't see bulbs because the companies who set up zwave almost exclusively stick the switches in the wall and leave the lights dumb. Built to work for decades without configuration sort of thing.
My thinking is that the wifi stuff is going to eat ZigBees lunch, although your point about battery life is a very good one.
Zwave, in the space it's in, seems more durable to me. One day lights will go out and replaced with wifi bulbs that everyone can use, but the companies using zwave are way more picky and will not want to go wifi.