The good thing is that at least for a somewhat technical crowd, there is absolutely no need to buy into any of this, as there have been proper solutions available since at least 2018.

Just buy Hue, maybe Aqara sensors, use zigbee2mqtt with Home Assistant and be happy while observing the shitshow that is this market from a safe distance.

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gruturo 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh cool it's not just me doing exactly this.

Sticking to pure zigbee devices with zigbee2mqtt and slae.sh's excellent USB coordinator. A couple weeks ago I bought a bunch of spare IKEA zigbee devices before they go out of stock. Around 2030 I'll take a look if thread/matter is anywhere near mature and has settled.

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tomtom1337 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Are the ikea zigbee devices going to stop being sold? Massive shame if so, they are extremely reliable and easy to use.

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simondotau 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

IKEA's whole smart home ecosystem is presently being overhauled from Zigbee to Thread/Matter, with a product availability gap in the meantime.

https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/retail/the-new-smart...

	▲	microtonal 3 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		What gap though? Our local IKEA has plenty of lights, smart plugs, etc. available still.
	▲	tomtom1337 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Oooh, thank you for sharing! New product lineup looks interesting, but I echo other concerns here about it thread maybe eventually requiring internet.
	▲	darkwater 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I just bought some spare pieces (remotes, bulbs) just in case

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yurishimo 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Personally, I find their contact sensors (the tall-ish thin ones) to be quite unreliable. I live in a modest home with plenty of zigbee devices as repeaters nearby and the contact sensors often stop reporting at random. I’ll pop it off the door, click repair on my coordinator and then hit the reset switch on the sensor; back online.

I like them because they can use rechargeable AAA batteries but if I still have to touch them every few weeks to repair, I’d rather switch to a different brand that is more reliable and uses less ideal battery formats.

That said, the newish Inspelling plugs in the EU market are fantastic. They report reliably, can handle larger loads, and cost about €10. For that price, it’s hard to complain that they are a bit larger than other options.

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andrepd 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Side question but where would one learn how to do this that way? Any guides, reddit? The home automation market seems such a mess every time I check it out.

	▲	knob 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Feed that comment into an ai (claude suggested). Let it know what you have, and just work out a "numbered list roadmap". Love ais for that!