[Jochim]

AFAIK the majority of Zigbee products only act as end device nodes and don't act as routers. So they won't actually be doing anything to extend the mesh.

The main benefits of ZWave over Zigbee is superior penetration, improved interoperability, and reduced interference with WiFi devices.

One of the biggest issues with Zigbee is vendors selling devices that only work with their gateway. As a consumer it sucks because it's rare for a single vendor to excel or even offer devices in every product category.

[vardump]

Majority (80%+) of my Zigbee devices act as routers, light bulbs, sockets, switches, etc. Only sensors and controllers are end device nodes.

> One of the biggest issues with Zigbee is vendors selling devices that only work with their gateway.

Sold as such, but work as generic devices just fine, no issues. You just need a Zigbee dongle and ZHA, Zigbee2MQTT or deCONZ.