Why is the Ultimate Smart Home so Complicated?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 січ 2025
- Exploring Why is the Ultimate Smart Home so Complicated? SimpliSafe is award-winning home security that keeps your home safe around the clock. It’s really reliable, easy to use, and there are no contracts. Visit simplisafe.com... to get 30% off your system + a free camera! Smart homes offer so much potential for security, energy savings, and convenience, but why ... why do they have to be so complicated? Let's take a look at my smart home, which I love and have been refining for 10 years, to see why so many people think smart homes are just stupid homes. And what's coming in the future that may fix all of it.
▻ Watch exploring solar panel efficiency - • Exploring solar panel ...
▻ Watch Top 10 home automation ideas - Ultimate smart home tour - • Top 10 home automation...
▻ Some of the smart home gear from the video: kit.co/undecid...
Follow-up podcast:
Video version - / @stilltbd
Audio version - bit.ly/stilltbdfm
▻ Full script and citations: undecidedmf.co...
ADDITIONAL INFO
▻ Support us on Patreon!
/ mattferrell
▻ Check out my podcast - Still To Be Determined:
bit.ly/stilltbdfm
▻ Tesla and smart home gear I really like:
kit.co/undecid...
▻ Undecided Amazon store front:
bit.ly/Undecide...
▻ Great Tesla Accessories
From Abstract Ocean - 15% Discount - Code: "Undecided"
bit.ly/UndecidedAO
▻ Jeda Wireless phone charger:
bit.ly/Undecide...
▻ Get 1,000 miles of free supercharging with a new Tesla or a discount on Tesla Solar/Powerwalls:
ts.la/matthew8...
PLEASE NOTE: For the Abstract Ocean discount you may have to click on the "cart" button, then "view bag" to enter the coupon code manually. Be sure to enter "undecided" there if you don't see the discount automatically applied.
All Amazon links are part of their affiliate program.
Thanks so much for your support!
--------------------
▶ ▶ ▶ GET IN TOUCH ◀ ◀ ◀
▻ X
X.com/mattferrell
▻ Instagram
/ mattferrell
▻ Facebook
/ undecidedmf
▻ Website
undecidedmf.com
--------------------
▻ Audio file(s) provided by Epidemic Sound
bit.ly/Undecide...
#smarthome #homeautomation #exploring #undecidedwithmattferrell
So what systems do you use? Or do you avoid smart home products because of these issues. Be sure to watch my Top 10 home automation ideas - ua-cam.com/video/a-LLDP4BfWk/v-deo.html
And a special thanks to SimpliSafe. Visit simplisafe.com/undecided to get 30% off your system + a free camera!
hello
Hi
I decided to trust Undecided to decide the future of my home.
I don't want to use any out of concern for data breaches, privacy concerns and companies (Cough cough Google) milking as much data about me as they can.
Also, a lot of these devices to me feel very unnecessary and eccentric, which I view as a of a waste of money.
At about 6:39, you mention an automation that turns on intrusion detection. How are you doing that? Other than HSM, I haven’t seen much of anything regarding security system integrations with Hubitat. I would really like to hear how you did it.
I work with computers, just the idea that my home will start crashing ... OMG.
Lol mine did yesterday! Don’t get WiFi hubs (aqara) hardwire everything if you can
Just... Design it properly!
"cobweb of insanity" such a perfect way of describing it, totally going to steal that
Hey Matt, thanks so much for the shout out! Much appreciated.
Great video. I’m also excited about CHIP and the future of smart home. That’s also one reason why I’m so excited about the new HomePod mini. Since they’ve added that thread capability it should support new accessories from the CHIP initiative in the near future. We are getting closer...slowly.
Absolutely, Shane. You're doing awesome work on your channel. The HomePod Minis are awesome (got two of them), but sadly my Homekit setup has just imploded in on itself. I've spent hours with Apple support trying to figure out what happened, but no luck yet. Sigh.
I don’t care about a walled garden but dealing with the hot mess that is bridges isn’t worth it
HOOBS can help solve the hub nightmare.
Actually this is what I like about Hubitat. It supports a lot of devices, allows to use SmartThings drivers and develop your own drivers and apps if you up to that...
Of cause if you already have bunch of devices with proprietary protocols to private hubs, it would be your choice to replace them all with something supported by Hubitat or live this nightmare: choice is yours...
Wifi
Oh man this sounds familiar. I really do understand your comments. I've been building my smart home for the past few years and wow, it's a mess. So complicated to get things to do what you want them to do. So many limitations for no reason. etc. I really hope it does get better with time. Many friends/family that come over are impressed but if they ask how to do it, I tell them they need to get a computer science degree first. Because, it's the reality. Fun times.
This subject always has me undecided; I have developed a product for my clients to control heating and cooling.
It was a standalone piece of hardware and software last year, no cloud but very limiting.
This year decided to make it work with Home Assistant so at least clients could add stuff to the system and change just about anything.
I like home automation but hate cloud or server requirements.
Cheers from Oz
I messed with this since the days of "CORE" by WOZ and X-10 control units. Ultimately it comes down to 'why' Do I really need to tell the toaster to start the toast...And while the smart lightbulbs are cool. I still reach for the light switch. We've had X-10 tech for decades...and ultimately it becomes more of a pain to deal with than than just a light switch or thermostat. But basically it introduces more points of failure into a system that works without a layer of tech that really doesn't bring something unique to the home.
Smart homes are cool, but the security of Smart homes are *"undecided"*
Yeah ... really depends on how you set it up.
I'm a programmer since 2003 and this is exactly the reason why I stay out of this stuff. If the device that you have will stop receive firmware updates, then in means that security issues won't be fixed. This information about unpatched vulnerabilities for given hardware is easily available for interested hackers, making an easy vector of attack.
I have a professional security system, a dozen cameras, and motion sensing lights around the perimeter of my house, but the smartest home security implementation we have is our dog. Nothing gets by him but he has been known to false occasionally if a squirrel sneaks into the yard.
@@no_more_free_nicks I guess you don’t use computer also (curious how you work then 😉) because they are the biggest vector... So of cause it is your choice to live in a cave or risk of attack, which you can minimize with good practices and hardware choice.
@@jimturpin what company brand? Have the same thing but not professionally. All HomeKit stuff but curious if the pro stuff is significantly better(do the cams have microphones to alert ppl)?
You are becoming my favorite UA-camr. Your content is fantastic. I wish everything could be broken down like this for me.
I created a home control system in 1993 using X10 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_Wireless_Technology) devices. It operated a hot tub (to protect against freezing weather), lawn and garden sprinklers, conserved electricity by running the electric water heater just 20 minutes per day, switched the HVAC between two thermostats ("at home" *or* "away"), and defrosted the heat pump only when needed. And, of course it did full lighting control.
The X10 controls were inexpensive, but I custom built the X10 controller and programmed it. The system sensed soil moisture, outdoor humidity and temperature. It made life easier and provided a creative outlet-by twiddling the program. Creative approaches were needed to compensate for X10's lack of feedback when issuing control commands.
After I married non-technical ladies, I tired of "customer support" and did not enable the system. Privacy was never an issue since it was insulated from outside access. I suppose 3-4 neighbors could have had X10 access, but there were no other geeks in the neighborhood.
I too have a franken house. I started way back in the day with Insteon, and still have some legacy devices there. Im 80% migrated over to:
*Lutron RA2 Select
*Phillips Hue
*Synology Surveillance Station for 10 cameras
*Hubitat (As seen originally by your first review)
*Sonos
*Unifi Networking
*Axis Cameras with on camera sensors and low volt triggers
*Axis Door Access
Amazon routines constantly crash and stop working randomly. I'm so over my smart home.
That's why I've never been a big fan of home automation that relies on the cloud. Far prefer systems that run automations locally first. Rock solid.
I just got my Hubitat this morning. Now for the real work to start. I'm not a novice, but still am worried about getting it all setup and working. Thanks for the reviews they do really help.
Good luck Fred ... and don't worry too much. I think you'll get it working just fine. Let me know how it goes.
@@UndecidedMF Thanks for the vote of confidence. It took a bit to get a basic dashboard up and running. But I have one for lights and locks now. Having issues with the ecobee connector not working and it did not find any of my smart plugs.
I’m happy to have the dashboard with the day of effort I put in though and will keep at it.
Before the flat screen, my wife and I enjoyed a little tube tv in our bedroom that we could set a time to turn on at a preset channel at a preset volume. Every morning we woke to our local news channel. Boy, do we miss that.
"Who wants to use Linux for their main computer at home?"
... Watching this on my MSI that was immediately wiped from windows and running Linux Mint. 😅
Same here but on different hardware. Running Linux Mint 20 on a Lenovo. I'll never go back to Windows and I don't want to be in Apple's prison thank you. Linux is no more difficult to use as a daily driver than any other OS in my opinion.
@@TMan786 Linux Mint all the way for 10+ years now. It just works.
@@stanrock01 Me too. I started off on Ubuntu then when that distro lost its way I jumped over to Mint and haven't looked back. I love it and I think Clem and his team do amazing work. I love this channel and agree with most of Matt says but on the Linux stuff he's just plain wrong. It has to be said.
I feel attacked.
Manjaro. Install all the things easily with community Arch builds.
Have you considered Control4? Judging by the amount of time and money you’ve spent, you could have a much more powerful and easy to use system. I started much like you. If anything went wrong, I was the only one who could fix it. With C4, my home automation is rock solid and one app controls everything. My wife loves it. Even our parents use it with no issues. Yes, it can cost more, but if you do your research, it isn’t bad.
Love my HomeKit smart home, it’s addicting.
One word: Vera.
For less than $100 the VeraPlus is tough to beat with Z-Wave (which is among the most open source protocols you can get), Zigbee, Bluetooth & WiFi built right in. It's locally controlled with no requirement to "call home" unlike most competitors which would render your entire home automation system inoperable if they ever went out of business and there's no monthly access fees to access 100% of it's functionality. The GUI is FAR more user friendly than those other examples you gave (especially Hubitat where you have to manually install EVERY aspect of the device and who didn't even have an app until recently) and the firmware is more mature given it's been around forever.
I've got about 100 Z-Wave devices on mine and it runs flawlessly much like the previous VeraLite it replaced. That device was rock solid for nearly a decade of use beyond it's originally advertised limits. Vera stuff works and is about the most user-friendly to add and remove devices too. I have no plans to run Zigbee, WiFi (gross) or Bluetooth devices on my smart home automation network but it's nice to know that I have that flexibility should I ever need it. Alexa integrates nearly flawlessly (the few issues we do have are largely attributed to the inferior mic array on the newer Echo Show 5 devices I recently migrated to from the Echo Dot) and the WAF meets all requirements for full adoption.
I love my VeraPlus and I'm not sure why it doesn't get more love given it's price point, proven track record, support and checking all of the right boxes for local solutions that work 100% w/o needing to call home yet still offer full access from home or away via your phone w/o any monthly access fees. There's really no compromises that I can see. They don't market the way that some of the competition with larger backing does so most don't even know about it. SmartThings gets all of the attention and I don't see the draw at all other than it was the first system someone discovered thanks to their marketing.
I sound like a commercial but it's because I've been researching & using devices in this segment for years now and I firmly believe Vera has the best solution on the market. Full stop.
Never really saw the need. I am usually love gadgets but SmartHome devices just don't interest me. The only exercise I get right now is getting up to turn the light off!
I have been playing with computers, systems and networks, since 1972. I'm comfortable messing around with this stuff. I used X-10 extensively years ago in a house I owned in Weston, CT. More recently, I created a smart home in my new North Carolina home that I moved into last spring. I installed smart locks, security cameras, a smart doorbell, a smart thermostat and sensors, smart light switches, smart lights, motion detectors, a smart garage door opener, etc. My wife and I are truly enjoying our smart home and its features. I'm amazed that my wife can use many of its features, since she is not a technophile by any stretch of the imagination. I'm glad I invested in the time and money in setting it up.
When the equipment was all installed I played with Hubitat, SmartThings, Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pie, Google Nest and Amazon Echo. I found Hubitat, SmartThings, and Home Assistant kludgy and opaque. I have spent enough of my life trying to figure out this type of stuff. No more, so I settled on using Amazon's Alexa assistant as my "hub" since it was easy to set up, works pretty well, and is ubiquitous. I know I don't have any privacy, but since we live in the US we never will anyway. Furthermore, Alexa and Amazon are likely to be winners in the home automation market.
I think Hubitat, SmartThings and Home Assistant will not succeed. They feel to me like I would be investing in becoming an expert in Lotus 1-2-3, when Excel for Windows and Mac is available. Today you can't even buy a copy of Lotus 1-2-3. Decades after its introduction, Excel is still around and still being developed. Does anyone think that will be the case with SmartThings, Hubitat, or Home Assistant in a decade or less? Smart home technology needs to be durable. Many of today's products are not. Migrating from one "hub" to another is a royal PIA. Caveat emptor.
You're really hitting the point with this, Mat.
I'm currently building my new home and plan to do a lot of automations and no physical light switches for instans.
I've already decided I don't want vioce assistants listening in on my life, so that mean going the SmartThings, Hubitat or Home Assistant way.
I like my stuff to be stored locally, I don't want to be limited, I want to integrate my heat pump, to be able to close windows if the rain starts, hook up cameras if motion is detected, turn on heat so it's nice and warm when I arrive, do the same for lights if it's after the sun sets or before it rises - I think SmartThings is diqualidfied here.
Left with Hubitat and HA, the latter is trully scarry since I'm a complete *ss when it comes to programming - maybe I should have the same reaction to Hubitat, but I just don't know anymore...
“How many people want to use Linux as their main computer at home?”
Raises hand - I’m running Red Hat
:D
I use (Manjaro) Arch. Lol.
I was on Ubuntu for a while, but I can't be bothered to Wine for any games I want to play, so Windows it is.
I've been at this about 8 years and have about 80 connected devices. Fortunately I read an article similar to your video at the time I was starting. I decide it needed to be easy for me and more importantly it had to add value for everyone in the family. If it wasn't going to be an easy device to integrate and be easy to use, I simply didn't buy it. Missteps along the way I quickly corrected. I started with a Vera hub but their slow adoption with voice was a mess so I switched to SmartThings. I hate SmartThings but it is simple and my wife loves the voice control we get from Google. Don't buy technology because it is cool, buy it only if it fits your house. My experience has been, if you wait a few months, someone will make that cool piece of tech that fits perfectly into your home. Great video - good advice.
Great presentation! I’ve been doing this for a while on my own and am thinking about doing some stuff commercially for others.
I worked in software engineering/architecture for 30+ years and totally agree that the Hubitat interface truly sucks. What got me started with Hubitat was the integration of Konnected physical alarm interface with it. The house we were living in at the time has an ADT alarm system but I was not willing to pay the monthly free.
As an electronics engineer, here's what I'll do:-
I'll use a wifi as my smart hub with microcontroller devices at end points. And have additional wire for connecting them, wireless means more power needed and easier to hack. So less wireless devices as much as i can, only maybe wireless sections at most so no radio clutter either. Whereas the router wifi would still be a beast and host the controls.
Ofc my router wifi would run Linux (O-WRT) with home assistant on top and any arm based microcontroller would do the trick with their secure boot functionality or even risc-v with same. And for firmware update they'll need the wired connection signal or manual button press so they can't be changed without explicit intervention from me.
Microcontrollers need very simple programming, heck it doesn't even need to be C but with risc-v on uPy i can just use python script to program it. Heck there may just be some other FOSS program already online.
Regarding updates? OWRT gets monthly updates from stable supported devices and since Linux, you can just set your home pc to build it yourself for as long and as many years as you want automatically.
Similarly the uPy in controllers also keep getting updates, so does home assistant.
So setup would take a whil and investment of time but then it'll always be automatic. Secure as well when you take the precautions. I might just make a video on it someday if I get to that point.
Eligible devices:-
WiFi- any from OpenWRT list with capabilities you need. Like probably a Nas could be made out of it as well. For home assistant & NAS etc, latest wifi protocol as well, a dual core with more than 512mb ram & 1G chip would be desirable (MI3G I have does it)
Microcontroller: Latest ESP microcontrollers or from STM. You can use ethernet or can bus or even serial for communication. Better if has secure boot and microPython support available.
Communication: Wifi/Bluetooth tho lower it if possible, for energy as well as security. Wired would be ethernet, rs45x or CAN or any twisted pair based communication protocol and wire it over the house. I personally feel ethernet port everywhere with bus networking could be better, or use 2-3 wifi devices as receivers who'll relay commands to the closed network section they monitor.
Brilliant video - you definitely capture the "realities" of Smarthome set up. Thanks!
I bought a mesh wifi system with built in zigbee. It seems to work better than any other solution I've tried
I also have a Hubitat, which I bought on your advice, and use for automations. And I completely agree with you that the UI is horrible. I'm a software developer so I get around ok, but there is no way I'd recommend it to anyone who's not a computer geek.
I'm using Athom Homey, and am loving it!
I love it too, but it also has it's share of incompatabilities and strange issues.... I have a bunch of devices laying around that it should be able to control but it works half or not at all.
I use Alexa echo devices with Ring alarm and cameras, plus TP Link bulbs and sockets.
Very simple to install and use without scripts!
Hi Matt. Great video. Been a 8+ year SmartThings, Amz Echo, and Google Home user now. Have set up my smart house to work perfectly for the most part using combos of webcore, IFTTT, 3rd party Smart apps for ST, and as well as basic Routines and virtual switches dedicated for Google and Alexa. Have Lights, Locks, MyQ Garage door, ADT, Smart sensors button triggering things like Laundry alerts and Remote start up for my Lexus, etc etc.
So wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but certainly not a novice. The day has finally come when I am contemplating leaving SmartThings bc of them dropping Groovy IDe and hence all my smart apps like Webcore. While ST has now made many strides in their Routines, and getting slowly into local automation, where I have now been able to recreate 85% with just ST routines, I am now contemplating Hubitat.
But this is where I am struggling.. I initially set up a few devices to “test” out Hubitat. A Zigbee smart plug, 4 wifi Kasa lights, one Z-Wave switch, Schlage Zwave lock, and their native Geo location for presence. My experience first week was horrible! Lock super delayed. Wifi lights responsive in app, but when I physically turned them on, app wouldn’t update for 30 minutes! And can’t reduce polling time. Geo phone location was hit and miss as well. Was a Life360 user, but found their app not as reliable as webcore.
Is this unusual for Hubitat?? Perhaps I didn’t have an adequate ZWave mesh network set up yet?? I wanna love Hubitat, but just not that impressed yet.
I went all-in with Wink. When they started charging monthly, I just didn't see the value in paying for glitchy product. I still have the GE Link lightbulbs but are not using any of them currently. Love RPI, might need to check out using that as a bridge.
Thanks Matt.
I use home assistant. I agree the experience isn't beginner friendly, but it has gotten a lot better recently. Anyone with a decent knowledge of computers can get pretty much everything working with just one hub.
Is it possible to control hubitat fully with homebridge? My family use both android and apple. Looking into getting a pi for the hub
Love your work and channel Matt but you more than anyone else have convinced me that I don't NEED any home automation what so ever. Thank you 🙏 AGAIN
Ha! I'm a pragmatist. I don't advocate for tech for techs sake, so whichever way people fall on the issue ... if I helped, I did my job well then.
@@UndecidedMF You did help a lot ❤️❤️..since I'm not nearly tech savvy enough and I am very suspicious of this kind of tech.🙏🙏
If I had a house where I could really renovate instead of an apartment I'd love a house that had sensors to monitor inside and outside air quality/temperature and sun and adjust my blinds and windows, opening and closing them, as part of regulating my house's temperature. And if they figure out how to make them so they aren't super flammable I really like the idea of those drywall segments with the wax beads that phase change to regulate temperature.
I stayed at my friend's house to dog sit once. His thermostat kept turning itself down. My asthma starts having problems if it gets much below 70 at night. It turned down to 55. I set it back and it set it back to 55. Drove me crazy.
I'm interested to see what you think of the home assistant green.
Matt, great video! I am a tech y but not programming savvy. can I control my Schlage Z wave enabled locks with Hubitat? Would it be easy to automate these types of locks (I.e. with a calendared specific day and date for a users code to be active or removed). Same question for Z-Wave thermostats - currently I cam schedule them with Nexia / Schlage but it’s a 9..99 per month fee. Any advice would be great, and they simpler then system the better
On the commercial side of lighting there is a similar problem. Everyone wants to do their own thing which makes it a mess. I think eventually there will be standardization, like USB for the smart home. But it is very frustrating to see competition make things terrible for the consumer
Hi Matt, it is amazing that the thoughts that you have regarding smart homes in general are aligned with mine. I'm on Home Assistant and love it because of the power that gives me. I am sure from that sentence alone, you can already get an idea of my technical background. I'm a software engineer, love and embrace technology and can figure out most forms of technology off the bat. I know so many people that are in awe of my smart home, but will never dip their toes into making their own homes smart because of the technical hurdles that it has. Sadly, if I had to recommend to somebody who wants to set up a smart home, the Amazon ecosystem comes to mind as it is probably the closest to something suitable for the person on the street, but I cannot get myself to go that far to recommending it because that would involve them having to sign up to cloud services for their devices in order for Amazon to be aware of them. IMO, HomeKit in terms of being something suitable for the person on the street, is the best of the bunch. All communications between the homekit hub (AppleTV, iPad, etc) are local, but as you said, there isn't a huge array of HomeKit enabled devices out of the box. We can only hope that CHIP (gosh, I hope they find a better name) will solve that.
A good friend of mine wanted smart lighting and whole house audio, but did not have the time to set this up, nor is he really into tinkering and technology in such a way that he'd spend so many years like us perfecting it. He went the Control4 route, but it came at a huge financial cost to him. But he is happy with his system as it was a case of "set-it-and-forget-it". I did not want to fall into that trap of offering to set something up because I would have to be the one supporting it and if something does not work, that would not look good for me - lol. It is the same old story with us techies having to play support to our parents with their IT. :)
Thanks again for great insights as always. Keep well.
Thanks for watching, Glen. And yes, the mere fact you're using Home Assistant speaks volumes of your expertise 😉. Sounds like we're on the same exact page with this. For mass adoption things have to get much, much easier to setup and use. But for those of us with a comfort level with tech, it's awesome stuff.
Greetings Matt, totally agree with your comments, particularly regarding the part when you mentioned "what kind of person you are" in regards to the type of system. I've been fiddling with smart home tech since X-10, recently moved from a Vera-3 to Samsung Smart things and it has been working pretty well for me, since I limited the number of systems to minimize communications collisions and jamming. I'm a communications engineer of 40 years, so when I started noticing unpredictable behavior with my z-wave system, I suspected it had something to do with the radio traffic on the channel. A quick view with a spectrum analyzer on 908.42MHz confirmed there was something on the air alright, but I couldn't prove it was some other system, so I picked up some hardware that would allow me to decode the z-wave traffic off the air and sure enough there was ton's of stuff on the air that wasn't my network. After that other stuff would finally settle down, my system would try to speak, then some other system would clobber mine, etc. so not only was I having to deal with poor signal levels, I was having to deal with interference as well. My solution was to simply put as many Z-Wave devices on my network as possible all around the house and property, which went a long way towards settling down the system.
Likewise, the zigbee system (802.15 and uses the upper end of the wifi band) also suffers because ALL the houses for miles around use zigbee electric meters and they are meshed so that network NEVER seems to shut up. Anyhow, again, the solution was to put as many devices on the one network as possible so the "voice" of my network could more easily be heard throughout my home and property.
Our point of interface for 99 percent of use is through Alexa, and I only use the Smarthings app to set up routines which Alexa can call once we have spoken to it.
On a sidebar, I've programmed for years, but can't seem to figure out the Smarthings programming language called "Groovy", which appears to be a really relaxed version of java, have you had any luck with it? -jim-
I use a lot of wifi devices, but I have a pretty advanced Ubiquiti network setup and I was able to isolate all of those devices onto a VLAN where they can’t access the rest of my network or even talk to each other. This protects me from having them used as an attack vector and from them being banded together to be used as some sort of bot network.
Nice info tutorial Matt. You left out a very important factor. Most homes have families in them, and it's important to match the level, complexity and user interface of a home automation system to the LEAST interested person in the home. Otherwise, you end up with unhappy and frustrated people in your home. If they just want to use the light switches - they will, and once they turn the lights off at the switch, all the integrated, complicated wonderful automated lights don't respond - at all.
The same is true for thermostats, doorbells, doorlocks etc. if the other people in the home are not tech oriented the current set of home automation options are just family friction points.
And don't think that simple voice interfaces will solve this. Don't get me started with non-verbal family members and teenagers who would rather die than use their vocal chords inside the house, especially when they have their earbuds in listening to music or watching videos as they walk around.
Home automation has come along way, but it has a very long way to go before it becomes the convenient and seamless technology it needs to be.
Love the channel. Wish I could buy all the gadgets you do but I'm pretty sure if I did my Wife would get the home in the divorce and pay someone to rip them all out :-)
Love that call out. The family acceptance factor (FAF) is the most important factor in all of this.
@@UndecidedMF Care to swap? :-)
Great video Matt! Really honest and transparent. Congrats. I’m building a Hubitat system myself so I would really appreciate if you could make a video ou recommend someone else’s detailing your home bridge Implementation. Thanks and keep your good work.
Hi Matt, quick question. I have a Smartthings smart home with about 60+ Z-wave device. Per your comment about Smartthings devices going offline. Were you talking about z-wave devices themselves going offline or did you mean a wider issue? Reason for asking is I am having z-wave devices drop out all the time. It seems every time I get one reconnected another is dropping out? Not a bunch at one time but it seems I always have 2 or 3 devices offline at any one time. Any suggestions, or should I be looking at Hubitat also? Thanks! Keep up the great shows!
Can’t agree more with everything you’ve said Matt. I’ve only been playing with this for the past month but have been frustrated at the constant roadblocks due to incompatibilities or worse still functionality limitations without purchasing multiple subscription services. Perhaps the biggest annoyance is that the basic functionality that a lot of companies push as “smart homes” offer little more than timers and remote-control options which have been around for decades. To create anything that is actually smart, it has to have some form of logic control and since IFTTT has shot itself in the foot with pricing I’m going down the Hubitat route also. I’d recommend anyone starting out to buy from places with good returns policies, I’ve sent more stuff back to Amazon in the past three weeks than the previous ten years !!!
Is Home Assistamt currently a viable option which can also control Schlage devices?
I have avoided Smart Home devices because of all of the things you have mentioned and also cost. When a single light bulb costs 3 times as much as the dumb equivalent I am not willing to shell out the money to get a little more convenience. I am the weirdo who has an Echo device in my bedroom, but only uses it as an alarm clock and hands free stereo.
So can't wait for Chip BUT, will some companies fully use the standard? Just look at Philips hue it uses ZigBee but they slightly altered it to be slightly restrictive? So want 1 hub with an EASY UI with easy way to create routines/ifttt alternative.
Thank you. This is very informative.
Thanks for confirming my doubts. I enjoy the benefits of technology but I’m not willing to put up with “unfinished” products. I’ll wait for the standard to become prevalent. I don’t care if it’s a walled garden or how long it takes. I just want any and all products I buy to solve products not create them. Now I know I can ignore this area for some more years until the problems get worked out. Thanks again for the confirmation.
Thank you Matt, this one video helped me go from “Am I an idiot” to “Okay, this is stupid and I need to figure it out.
I am in the process of switching from SmartThings, Alexa/Echos, & Ring to Hubitat, Homebridge, Apple HomeKit, and Unifi. However I am frustrated by the lack of non-WiFi (isolated) devices that have flooded local stores like BestBuy and Home Depot. It is very frustrating that Z-Wave and Zigbee devices are becoming more and more difficult to find. Like you, I do not want to add any more WiFi walled garden devices to my smarthome. I have an incredible WiFi infrastructure, so it isn’t about resources handling the traffic. I just don’t want any devices that require internet connectivity. Internet enhancement is fine, but not simple automation.
I also like what you said about Echo/Amazon’s system, you couldn’t be more right. They made it stupid simple and it works “fairly” well in most instances. But it is slow at times and Amazon has entirely way to much access to my home. I just kicked all Ring cameras outside only and replaced indoor cameras with Unifi. The echoes are next on my list, but geesh, I had no idea that switching off of Alexa and SmartThings would bring in so much complexity.
Wish me luck, keep up these great videos. They truly help us tinkerers. :)
CHIP? I never heard of it and I've been in the Home Automation community for about a decade. Is this what turned into Matter?
I started with SmartThings, like a lot of people, but then moved to Home Assistant. Sure it's not as friendly, but it's very flexible. I started using my NAS with a VM installation. I eventually plugged in some z-wave and zigbee sticks and now it's just like any other hub. I wouldn't recommend it for beginners, like Matt says, but it's worth the time you put into it. Fortunately, I've been able to learn while building this one and plan for a future home with an emphasis on local control. I dont' mind the idea of a large IP network; that can be handled with proper planning. I don't want any of my devices requiring an internet connection to work.
Thanks for all the work over the years Matt. It doesn't go unappreciated.
To add to what you said about wifi devices, any device on your network can sniff out all the unencrypted packets that go over your network. Of course adding them to a separate VLAN can help, but that brings back to being not a novice.
Great point.
We need a single iOS / Android simplicity level app or site to drive the entire home and maybe even an EV. The majority of people don’t know how to write scripts, etc. it has to work for a someone non-techie.
This video really resonated with me. I set up Home Assistant but struggled and spent hours just trying to do what I considered the most basic things. I tried SmartThings but didn't have the experience I wanted. I ended up with Amazon and that gets me where I wanted in functionality. Security is definitely a concern. I'm checking out the 4th Echo hub with built in Zigbee to help keep the wifi devices at a minimum.
Just to follow up: The 4th gen Echo with the built in Zigbee hub isn't the be-all answer I was thinking it might be. Some of the Zigbee devices paired fine, but others, specifically the Sonoff and Aqara buttons would not pair. Why is it that Amazon has it out for smart buttons? I really don't want to spend $160 for Flic2 buttons and hub to make this work. Anyone have working Alexa enabled buttons that I don't need to pay stupid prices for? A $7 Sonoff button seemed like a great solution, but for some reason, the Echo just can't pair them. So much for smart home tech....
Thanks Matt. You have inexplicably confirmed what I have been saying for a while but couldn’t be certain because I didn’t have a strong tech background like yours. I feel less stressed knowing I wasn’t going mad 😁. Thanks again
Glad you found it helpful, Dario.
Thanks for your truly professional presentation. I don’t watch all of your offerings but I always find value in what you put out. Love your work 👍
Appreciate that.
what do you suggest for technical person (application developer) to start with?
fair price, lot of protocols. i have now philips hue, tado radiator valves, samsung smartthings clima, google home speaker. and i want some kind of motion senors for security notification when i am away. any suggestions?
Do you have the harmony hubs going through hubitat? If so, how are you implementing it?
How did you get three harmony hubs in your home? Thought you could only stay logged into one on the smartphone app?
I have a ubisys smart home hub. German company. Never again. It works, but I am applying the rule if it's not broken, don't touch it.
Why not the KNX standard? Too much wiring?
So when do classes start? I’m a retired control engineer. I’m not afraid of technology but rather not burn my fixed income on incompatible technology. I also don’t mind paying for information that is tested and reliable. When is you online book coming out? How can I learn this hands on without blowing a wad and spending the rest of my life trying not to go senile?! Oh, and we just contracted to build a house. What should I build in?
You are the best voice I’ve heard so far on the subject but it’s mostly introductory. I’m looking for meat and potatoes, not hors d’oeuvres. (You serve the best hors d’oeuvres.)
Keep it coming. If you know of and learning centers please pass them along. Thank you!
Any updates to this Tech Matt? Would love to see a no programing needed version. Doesn't it bother you that Amazon and others have been caught recording and saving your info like voice? TY in advance.
Looking forward to an update to this, once Matter products start working.
Thank you Matt,
I did try SmartThings, Wink and 2-3 other hubs, but just like you end up with Hubitat. Even my first Hubitat C-5 was better than any other hubs I tried before (local control, flexible interface). Now I switched (almost) to C-7 and it works much faster, so there are few and in between moments when delay annoys me, mostly reaction time is very reasonable.
Absolutely agree about confusing interface, but it was better than SmartThings, which I couldn’t figure out at all. I am a developer, so look into code doesn’t scary me, but I didn’t need to right my own code for Hubitat yet, everything I needed I found in the community forum.
My biggest frustration with connecting new devices. Switching from C-5 to C-7 requires excluding from old hub and including into new one. Then tech.support suggesting to modify all rules by hands. Yes, they help by listing all rules the selected device included into, but it is still a big job. Instead I found instructions how to swap newly connected device with old one, but it is very techy and risky if user doesn’t understand technical aspect behind the process.
I still cannot connect Shlage lock, which worked fine with C-5 and some other devices, but when it works it makes me happy and easy to automat my house.
Thanks to confirm my choice and good luck.
BTW both Wink and Hubitat connected to Wemo’s light switches much faster than their own application. Go figure...
Finally, I think one can conclude from your words that, but I think it is very important to point out that even though the app is just front of web server, that server runs locally on the hub itself and need Internet to interact with devices requiring their own server (like my Emerson thermostat).
15 yrs ago I started with an HAI Omni II and 61 ALC switches (cat5 control through the Omni). Omni was less tweaky than HomeSeer, easy to program, rock stable. Now ALC and Omni are dead. So when I had to replace my lighting system, I took a deep dive reading up on SmartThings, Hubitat, Home Assistant, HomeKit, and HomeSeer. I wanted power, local control, universality, and minimal coding. I ended up going with HomeSeer. It has problems, mostly in non-existent documentation, plug-in quality is all over the map, and the default interface is crude, but it may be the best “glue” solution out there. It is the only system you didn’t mention - why is that? I’d love to hear your take on it.
1. I use Adorne Smart switches because they give a broad range of styling options and having dimming options from the switch, which means i don't have to buy expensive replacement bulbs.
2. I have Qmotion smart shades. They are battery powered but last a long time.
3. I have Ecobee smart thermostats. These are very simple to setup and simple to use, though the away function of these are not ideal because of the geofencing.
4. I use Arlo security cameras. I really like these. The resolution of the cameras are great. The only drawback is you have to subscribe to the cloud service to get access to the smart object detection features.
5. I use Schlage Smart deadbolt. This has been my best smart home device. It's awesome and the batteries have lasted about a year each time.
6. I have echoes all around the house to serve as the central control for everything. This system is simple to setup, although it is not 100% reliable. It lags every once in a while to complete commands but it is great considering it never really crashes.
7. Lastly, I bought an Orbi router. This router is a great. It is a 3-band router that is great for separating the wifi traffic. I have all my smart home device traffic separate from my other internet traffic and I was able to set up a separate firewall for those devices. This may take a little advanced knowledge to do. Everything works great and I also stream TV without issues.
Each of these devices are compatible with Alexa, Homesite, or Google Home, in case I decide to make a change later.
Avoid because of these exact issues. I would consider using it there was unification & uptime reliability like you mentioned
You nailed it for me- the complexity, compared to the benefit, has been a deterrent. I have several smart home devices: Roomba, several sonos speakers, Google max, ecobee, several plugs...but lights and switches are a total nonstarter for me.
Your walkthroughs on my specific concerns have gotten me close, but there's always a compromise that I'm just not willing to make. For example, the hallway light has 12 individual bulbs, so a smart switch seems to be the smart way to go, right? Well I don't have 3 wire, so I'd have to go with Caseta (which I learned from you)...but then I'd lose 3-way support...unless I got the extra Caseta pico thing. But now I'm looking at $100 (on sale) and installing a bridge for something that really doesn't seem to solve a real problem. And that's just 1 light.
My kitchen has 7 dimmable switches (honestly idk what 2 of them do). You see my point? Too much. Too much time, too much money, too much complexity. Too much.
But I am really happy with the four pack of smart outlets I got for 26 bucks from Amazon. I use them to control the four Christmas trees in the front windows and it's been effortless. They're connected directly to Google home, no bridge, and also can be controlled by voice. Worth noting though, I had to replace the dining room outlets with three prong outlets. I think these are the things that limit the appeal to most people.
Your channels are fantastic. Thank you.
Home Assistant and K.I.S.S. Lovely UI and pulling your phone out to turn lights on/off need not apply. Home Automation means just that "automation."
In Paul Hibbert's voice: "HOME ASSISTANT! HOME ASSISTANT! HONE ASSISTANT!"
My only real concern is lack of internet access. I use google assistant on my phone and a simple thing like leaving home and going from wifi to mobile data will cause a couple of minute long outage. Now that is frustrating when you get into your car and want google to play your podcast but I would HATE that to happen in my home when I want to turn on a couple of lights at once. Is hubitat the only hub that works offline?
have you experience with Insteon? how about the ISY-944i?
Thanks Matt, god video. What's the case your Pi is in?
I know this is an older video, but I have not heard much about CHIP (will do some research on that). My question is: what are your thoughts on Matter? It was making waves at CES, but with Smart Homes, having tried so many things and err… wasted so much money over the last 10 years, I’m always a skeptic when companies talk about the interoperable utopia. Wanted to ask if you would have time to do a video on Matter (Apple, Google and Amazon have all put their support behind it). I love your in depth analysis and the vast amount of research and effort you put into your videos! Keep at it! 👍
As always, great analysis, Matt. I dipped a toe into this space while building our home that we moved into in April. Long story short, we have Abode because it works with HomeKit (I don’t trust Amazon product security), Ecobee thermostats, SmartThings kitchen appliances and Frame TV, Denon smart receiver, a host of AppleTVs, and Linear smart garage door openers. We purchased the latter because they advertised IFTTT functionality, only to find that they no longer support it due to purported lack of interest. They work with Linear’s own app, which is useful, but they’re not integrated like I originally intended. I also intended to purchase smart exterior door locks that work with HomeKit / Abode, but I have hit a strategic pause on any further smart home changes. I am home a lot, but when I work, I’m gone for long periods, leaving my wife to contend with our home’s ‘smart’ features. This has led to far too much strife, so I am one of those who will wait for the user experience you discuss to catch up to the demand. I’ll wait for CHIP before going to the next level.
I'm in the same boat with the family acceptance factor. Everything just works for the most part, but when there are hiccups, I'm the only person that can fix it. That's not sustainable long term. It needs to be accessible for anyone to easily tweak settings and functionality.
Home Assistant is the easiest out of most of the ones you mentioned imo.
I live in an apartment. The only "smart home" devices I have installed are 6 C by GE led smart bulbs that I control with Google Home devices. I'm not sure what other smart devices I could set up, other than I suppose voice control for my TV sets. But I haven't bothered with that because I just feel the remote controls are easy enough to use. I do have a complaint about my smart bulbs, though I am not sure if the issue is with the bulbs or the Google Home devices. But every few days the bulbs stop working requiring me to go around turning off all the lamps containing the bulbs and unplugging all the Google Home devices (in my living room, kitchen, and bedroom). Then I plug in the Google Home devices, wait for them to boot up, then turn the lights back on. I have to do that every few days, though I have sometines had to do that a few days in a row. I live in a 1 bedroom apatment not a multistory home so it's not that difficult. it's just very annoying.
What were the repeaters you used to increase the signal strength? Love all your videos, but it will be useful to have the mentioned products links in description for all of your videos.
I live in a tiny village in Greenland. A lot of the automations are unnecessary (we don't have a garage and don't need home security cos everyone knows everyone) and the flick of a switch is literally few steps away.
Apparently the Hubitat C-8 Home Automation Hub is supposed to be (or receive) Matter & Thread compatibility. It appeals to me that one hub can be used to control devices directly, without so many bridges.
I really wanted to get into home automation about 10 years ago. I was looking into RadioRa2 and Crestron but got very frustrated by all of the proprietary protocols that at that time I couldn't get to talk to each other.
Spot on Matt! I use Apple HomeKit, but it took me months to get all my devices into it.
Ended up using Home Assistance as a bridge to Apple Home Kit (that’s a complete pain to setup as it is very flaky) might try that Hoobs hub you mentioned.
Then my biggest issue is that I ended with lots of “hubs” as I did not find a device that emits all the signals (I mean each brand has its own signal, Phillips hue, Lighwave, TaHoma, Tado, Broadlink) and just like you my Eufy cameras run on there own (on surveillance station on a sinology as seems to be the most robust user friendly system)
I just switched from SmartThings to HubitatElevation for the usual reasons as well as being ticked that my Dome Siren was supported in the old version but not the new version. I also wanted text to speech on my Google Home Mini's which HE supports.
But yes I quite agree. The HE is fine for me as I've been a software developer for 40+ years. But it sure has it's quirks.
One serious shortcoming for many is the lack of the word bulb in a few significant places. For example I want to create a rule for turning a light on at dusk. I setup the trigger and then select the actions. Where are the bulbs? Now I quickly figured out that it was under switches. But regularish folks? Good luck.
I'm going for KNX. Despite its cost, it's entirely bus cable based and it's protocol is an open standard with several manufacturers all creating stuff for it. I never was convinced of wireless for anything that's meant to be reliable, and getting a young yet proprietary standard for communication sounds like a recipe for disaster down the line
I have a Shlague smart lock. My gripe is that it loses sync with my WiFi. I’d like to add lights. But, I’m not hesitant. I’m a novice when it comes to tech. Would Hubitat help?
Great stock footage
would it be possible to use wifi devices on a local vlan for security?
yes but... depends on the exact model of Device and it manufacturer. But in General till the software of Devices isn't open you really dont know what the Device is dooing...
@@damian-ondrejsulista1533 No, but if it\s on a seperate VLAN, you know what your network is doing
Hi Matt, I appreciate your videos 👍
I'm currently using Phillips hue and Bosch Smart Home. I was thinking about getting a hubitat because I'm not happy with the limited options for automations in my current setup.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any information on the internet if Bosch Smart Home can be connected to hubitat, and if so, how.
Have you by any chance have heard something about this?
Hubitat looks great, but not a good-looking UI. Why is it so hard for them to update the UI ???
I would like to hear about your spouse's view of living in your smarthouse. My family tolerates it until a glitch then I feel I should drag it all to the curb.
It’s similar for me. My wife likes a bunch of the features, like setting timers or turning lights off by voice. But when something goes sideways ... a lot of grumbling. Rightfully so.
I do know what you mean, I've tried to start slowly with just Google/nest stuff and sticking to one company that does bulbs and plugs. As it grows though in starting to see the need for a hub so that it doesn't bog down my WiFi
Also...If an app breaks because of a software update. Or if it's suddenly not supported and is broken. I get another app. It doesn't mean I'm trapped in the garage, or my toaster stops working, or I have unauthorized ice in my 'fridge or my porch light stops working or water heater dies. .
IF Apple or any other smart home places will sign an agreement that they will pay me 100 dollars for each hour for each of their products are 'down/updated or suddenly incompatible' with other previously compatible products in my smart home. Sure...put the money where their month is, and I might sign on.
One of the good things about SmartThings was the tiles which was the first screen that greeted you. It was sorted by rooms and you could view the various devices parameters and history. It also dynamiclally reformatted the width of the tiles depending on if you were running in landscape on my tablet, 5 or so wide, or portrait on my phone, 2 wide.
Now I'm almost finished moving my devices to HE and have only briefly looked at tiles. But it sure doesn't look very intuitive to use. And it looks like I need different tile screens for my tablet and my phone. Rather annoying that.
I have used Hubitat for 2-3 years now and the bright spot for me is Lutron Caseta integration. Hubitat requires a Lutron Pro hub, but once installed and set up, it is absolutely rock solid. If everything about Hubitat set up that easily and worked that reliably, it would be miles beyond anything else offered. But, as it now exists, Hubitat is an enthusiasts product.
Amazon is winning not because it is anywhere close to the best thing going insofar as depth and breadth of capability, but because it is approachable. Even from the user side of things, my wife, who is very much a non techie, never touches the 2 Hubitat dashboards installed on the wall in our home. But, she is always ready to ask Alexa questions and tell her what to do.
Exactly ... ease of use will win every time.
Your videos are great. A lot of them hit close to home, and echoes my same path during the smart home journey. Started with hue bulbs, smartthings and stringify. Threw in some ring cameras and nest protects. Got into ifttt and webcore after stringify shut down. Experienced the same reliability issues with smartthings and wanted local processing. Just picked up a hubitat. Like it so far, but you're absolutely right on the user interface experience. Playing with idea of using sharptools for dashboards and rule engine, despite my hesitation for another subscription based service, simply for the ease of use. Thoughts on sharptools?
Great Video as always! As someone that has been involved with designing / implementing Smart platforms (not just for homes but for "smart" research studies as well) for the better part of the last decade, I can relate to pretty much everything covered here (having used most of the platforms mentioned in this article as well as some that were not - domoticz, openHAB, etc.).
Only thing I would add based on what I have learnt over the years is to "know what you want/need" as the starting point. As IT folks, we are keenly aware of the importance of requirements gathering and planning/implementing based on that. I have found the same to be true for designing smart platforms / smart homes. Smart homes / security is a constantly evolving field (as are most "digital" products - like TVs going from 1080p to 4k to 8k, smart phones etc. etc.). And granted - many people's needs/wants will likely evolve over time as well. But I feel for most homeowners, starting with a "solid core platform" based on their needs / wants will go much farther with Smart technology adoption and thereby - in the long run - make it "feel" less complicated. Unless - of course, you are a geek like me and like to tinker with the latest and greatest (but even then I try to keep my "dev" environment separate from the "prod" environment deployed for the rest of the family) 😁