[jentulman]

I would love to do some sort of homeAssistant type automation, but I've been dithering for ages because everything I read up on all the various light and appliance control protocols make me feel my entire home would become a massive UI/UX nightmare for myself and visitors. I want smarts, but I also never want to have to reboot a lightswitch.

[GeekFortyTwo]

My rule for home automation at my house: a stranger walking in the front door should be able to intuitively use my house without instruction.

Extra features are fine, but if they cannot turn on the light without 6 steps, then it's wrong.

eg: my kitchen lights are all on Z-Wave dimmers. Each is still a normal wall switch to the average person and can be fully controlled from there. I probably use the switches 20% of the time and voice control about 75%(other automations account for maybe 5%). Anyone who enters my kitchen will be able to have light, I just get the conveniences.

Another example: my living room has no ceiling lights, just floor lamps. These are not setup with automation because I have not found a way to control them that makes sense to non-trained users. Therefore we keep the traditional lights.

[joshstrange]

This!

Every smart device I have with the exception of 1 lamp in my office and 2 bedside tables in my bedroom are on z-wave switches. Eventually I might add zigbee buttons or a panel by the fan switch that controls the bedside table lights but honestly I see no real need. They have pull-strings you can use (and break automation but I'm the only one using those so I don't care as much).

The z-wave switches I use is the Leviton DZ15S-1BZ [0], they run about $45 a pop but work flawlessly. I think I've had one lose connection less than 10 times total across all switches in the past year if that. My only complaint is their size. They are chunky and if you have a tight electrical box you might have issues. That said I've installed 6 or so of these and they are easy to install (other than the shoving, pushing, cursing, crying, and begging them to fit part lol), I can install one in less than 30min easily. I just keep buying a new switch every few months, I'm a little over halfway there till I have full coverage (already have full coverage in rooms I care about, so what's left is the guest room, some bathrooms/closets, and 1 3-way that I can't bring myself to replace right now as it will "burn" 2 switches).

My top tips to people looking at getting into home automation would be:

* Go with SmartThings, Wink is dying if not dead and ST works with Alexa/Google voice assistants. It also has a nice API/SmartApp ecosystem.

* Z-wave > Zigbee and NEVER use a Wifi device, they are a security nightmare IMHO

* Make SmartThings your single point of truth, don't buy stuff that "Works with Alexa" unless it's zigbee or z-wave.

* Make everything fallback to switches (real preferably but virtual if needed) on the wall, anyone should be able to walk in and use your lights without a crash course.

[0] https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZ0WVKH/