I have seen the Zigbee light

I’ve always been a Z-Wave fan; I’ve been automating my homes with Z-Wave devices since before Home Assistant. I chose it over Zigbee originally because of the congestion issue Zigbee can suffer from, but over the years it’s been harder to find Z-Wave devices. Light bulbs, for instance, are almost impossible to find, and for a reasonable price. It certainly feels as if Z-Wave, as a protocol companies are making devices for, is dying.

We just moved into a new house, and while I normally prefer to replace the outlets, we’re in a rental so I’m needing less permanent solutions. What I always start with is the lights, and this time, I just couldn’t find bulbs. Meanwhile, there’s a 4-pack of Zigbee bulbs for super-cheap staring me in the face, so I decided to get a bundle and try them.

Holy. Shit.

All these years, pairing Z-Wave has always been a chore. Z-Wave gives you a 20-second window for pairing, so you have to have the router and the device ready to go, start the inclusion mode on the router, then enable inclusion on the device. And if there’s a security code, you either have to scan a little QR code (often on the device and sometimes inaccessible, as in the case of hard- wired outlets) or remember a 5-digit pin to enter during pairing. I’ve never had much trouble with the actual process, but it’s a little nerve-wracking – anything with a timeout and a process which has to be restarted and involves pins is going to be so.

Zigbee, you just put the device into inclusion (or pairing?) mode, and the router picks it up when it hears it. You only have to initiate it on the device. It is so incredibly easy, I look back at all those years of relative pain including Z-Wave devices and it’s no wonder to me anymore that Zigbee won.

At this point, I’m not replacing the Z-Wave devices I already have, which are few; most are more fixed devices like wall switches, outlets, and sensors, and are still guarding and controlling the house we own. I have only a couple of “plug-in” Z-Wave devices – but when I get more automation devices, they are going to be Zigbee.