Smart Home Hub - Hubitat Review
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- Опубликовано: 15 июл 2019
- Smart Home Hub - Hubitat Review. I’ve been on a quest for the perfect smart home platform. A smart hub that can replace Smartthings and bridge the gap between Z-Wave, Zigbee, and WiFi smart home devices. A smart hub that’s platform agnostic and can work with Google, Amazon, and Apple. A smart hub that's easy to use and yet highly customizable. And even more important, a system that I have complete control over and has my privacy and data secured.
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Subscribed. I wanna see that 101 series, dude. You have a very clear and concise way of explaining things.
Thanks! I’m hoping to start releasing those videos next week.
Undecided with Matt Ferrell w
Home Assistant hits all your points without another commercial company bring involved
@@davidday9251 pp
Please if you read this I am thinking of getting a home automation system but if you are going to make a 101 course please describe the hubs and what you need for each to talk to some devices like zigbee Bridge. Thanks
I'm so glad to see that there are people who care about privacy. Thanks for doing this.
This is an awesome video! You kept my attention and explain everything plainly. I just getting started with Smart Home and look forward to seeing the beginner videos. The music is awesome in the video. Looking forward to seeing more from you about Smart Devices.
Thanks, Roger! Glad you liked it. If I’m able to stick to my schedule, the first smart home 101 video should be out 6/26. I’m planning on releasing them weekly for the 5 or 6 weeks following that. Depending on the feedback I get, I’ll most likely be adding to it and building on it over time too.
Yeah, Hubitat has video but they all are with fully setup systems not from scratch so they only help later on.
like the features, setup was difficult for some of my devices (August Door lock, ruclips.net/user/postUgkxhB5YOMNj04GuoAosExygP4cH-dKeb4aB Bose speaker)... but all switches and outlets (5), thermostat, tankless water heater. Unfortunately all I can do is turn on/off Bose. It doesn't support volume or changing channels, but I believe that is due to the particular speaker I have.... Worth getting if you already have other devices to use it with... I don't sit around and ask Alexa questions much so that doesn't really matter to me....
*I like the old style Echo Dot because it's small also **Newest.Technology**, gives out decent sound and doesn't take up a lot of shelf space if you want to put it on beam in the workshop or shed.*
Very, very well done. Great descriptions while still being concise. Thank you.
You asked for suggestions ... do a tutorial series on the steps to set up the Hubitat. Yer right about it being a blank slate. Do a series showing how to get some of the most common components working and automated. "Hubitat basics: Prepare the hub", "Hubitat basics: Automate a dimmer", "Hubitat basics: Automate a thermostat", etc. This would result in a functioning hub and devices.
You have real talent. Great instructional materials. Well done. Thanks again.
Subscribed. Thanks Matt. Very polished video. Well thought out and great info from someone that clearly has experience but also understands the varied experience level of his audience. It's nice that you are very mindful of that and explain things on different levels. I'm a pretty advanced user but I like your knowledge and approach to everyone out there. I'm buying a Hubitat Hub today! Keep the videos coming.
Great video! First time hearing of Hubitat and very impressed. Could you do some more videos on the capabilities of Hubitat and maybe go through the different types of rules you have created. Your videos are always so informative. Thanks!
Awesome timing Matt, I got my Hubitat a week ago and found it exactly as you described, daunting. This video helps, thanks.
Glad you liked the video. Overall, I really, really like the system. It’s ticking all of the major boxes I look for in stuff like this. It’s just that first time user experience that’s troublesome. Be sure to read some of the other comments. It was pointed out that there is a way to get the dashboards to resize, but it’s not exactly intuitive.
Although I'm fairly new to this, I know Hubitat is the right choice for me, time to tackle the learning curve.
Im using homeassistant for 1 year now and it has not crashed one time. All of it is working fine and it has almost no delay between a button press and a physical reaction. I love it
That’s awesome. HA is incredibly powerful. Just wish I had the same reliability as you have. I still have a version of it running on a Raspberry Pi, so I’m still kicking the tires and seeing how things evolve.
i like that you pause between sentences...[breathing room]... which allows me to absorb information. Reviewers who talk without breaks, perhaps to get as much in as they can, or out of insecurity they are not interesting enough, merely overwhelm. They don't have a grasp of the essentials,; that less is more.
Your review is a dialogue with the listener and you show respect for both you and me when you pause to allow me to contemplate your words. Information, especially technical information, flows logically, like a story does, as each part builds on the previous understanding. You allow us to reflect upon and build the picture.
Thank you, subscribed. I'm interested in your beginner smart home reviews, much needed!!
Thanks so much for the kind words! Stay tuned for more smart home videos. I’m currently reviewing a battery video doorbell and smart vents to improve your HVAC. Hoping to have those published over the next month or so.
Been waiting for this review, ever since you mentioned it in a previous video. Sounds like the folks at Hubitat need to contract you for some UI/UX design 🤫😏 I also have SmartThings in my home and now I'm super-intrigued by Hubitat. Love your 'Final Thoughts'. Looking forward to your upcoming videos as well. Keep up the great work, Matt!
Glad you liked it! If you’re interested in getting more control over your privacy and smart home data, then Hubitat is the place to go. Smartthings has served me well and is easier to use for the first time setup, but then again ... it’s been around for a lot longer to polish up that UX. I have to give some serious props to Hubitat for what they’ve pulled off for being so new.
@@UndecidedMF I always found ST to be too sluggish. I think I have the Wemo on it but not much else.
Cracked it open and put about 40 hours into getting it set up. LOVE IT!
Subbed. Clear and concise! Was looking to moving away from Wink2 Hub for obvious reasons and wanted some info about Hubitat and found this video. Gave me all the info I needed to know to help make my decision. Will be looking forward to viewing your other content as well. 👌🏾
Same here. Just pulled the trigger on this. After 7 days of Wink servers being down and all my IoT integration being useless, I'm done with them. I had no issues paying a subscription fee, but it should actually work if that's the case.
@@Tojen-pt8um Same here! 7 days is unacceptable. I’m just glad to know there are other options out there just as robust if not more. I switched half of my house lights to Lutron Casetas but wanted to wait to see how Wink performed over this last year before adding any more. This being about the 3rd or 4th outage in 9+ mnths kinda sealed the deal for me. Will be gladly going to the Hubitat and saving some money. Wink UI wasn’t exactly stellar so I’ll be able to manage HTats just fine!
I’ve used SmartThings since it was first released as time wore I have been less thrilled with it. Increasing outages and bug emerged. Watched a bunch of videos on Hubitat and yours Matt put their whole system in perspective. As a get ready to move into a new home I’m ready to start from scratch and use hubitiat. Sounds like it will. Keep pretty busy for awhile but a fun journey
Sounds like you have the same feelings towards Smartthings that I do. And as someone who’s familiar with Smartthings, I think you’ll feel at home with Hubitat.
great video even 2 years later! I just got the hubitat and had no issues setting up a z-wave device. Looking forward to seeing what else I can integrate into the hub.
I'm glad to see a review of this. I use HomeAssistant and it does it all. I LOVE it.
HA is amazing ... seriously can do anything. For some reason though I’ve had random crashes on both Docker setups and Raspberry Pi. The Pi was a lot more stable than Docker for sure though. I still have it up and running for testing and to see how things are evolving.
@@UndecidedMF I've been running Hass for a couple years now, most recent setup for close to a year, and it's very stable and reliable for me. I'm running hass.io on my home server\NAS in a VM (on Proxmox). I did run it on just Ubuntu before and before that on a raspberry pi, and pi was the least stable experience. I agree that it's still not there for average joe, though they are making huge leaps in usability lately. But it's crazy stable, so hearing it in a video is just.. well, it's not true. There's probably a reason for those crashes and most likely it can be fixed. Maybe system\container logs may show a hint to whats going on?
Well I immediately ordered it on Amazon. Sounds good.
Smart home newbie; industrial programmer / integrator for 25+ years. This series is GREAT! I'll be watching all of them. Thank you
I do wish there was somewhere I could go and play with this stuff like a convention or workshop. I'd like (I think) to have my house on a WiFi based system but somehow have it behind a VPN (I think). WiFi (Ethernet) is multi node, I can extend / repeat it; Bluetooth is peer to peer (I think). I hope you covered this. I'll soon find out.
great explanations, i really appreciate the clarity and that you don’t assume that we are all computer experts
You actually need more home automation knowledge then compute knowledge. For example when it says exclusion mode you need to know what it means. it take not real computer knowledge at all. You are just clicking on pre-made objects unless making your own custom drivers which should be the last skill you should work on regarding this hub after learning everything else.
I recently made the switch myself from SmartThings to Hubitat. For me, the big attractor was the full and seamless Lutron support. I already had a Lutron pro hub and several picos working on ST, but the complexity and flakiness of those implementations was just not up to my standards, which are basically, it works perfectly, it works always, and it is hands off forever until I change my setup.
None of the implementations in ST can claim that. Once Hubitat got the 2-way hub linking, where you can run it side-by-side with ST and share devices between them, I figured it was worth the $80 to try out Hubitat's Lutron support.
Once I got it and experienced the all-inclusive environment, where you could do everything in one place that you used to have to go from the app to the IDE to the webCoRE site...I was mesmerized. As such, I started moving devices, routines, rules over as fast as I could, and as a result, never even installed the Hub Link app, which was the safety net that enticed me over in the first place. 5 days after installing my HE hub, I unplugged my ST one forever, and I couldn't be happier with the switch. And man, does the system work fast. The local vs cloud effect on speed can't be overstated.
By the way, you can rearrange the dashboard tiles so they will all be vertical. The sideways scroll thing was confusing to me, too, and yes, it would be nice to have the tiles reflow automatically on any screen... But you can definitely set up the dimensions for your grid to be vertical, and reassign the position of your existing tiles that are out to the side. 👍
It is up to $129 now.
I am not even sure what the heck Hub Link does. They really need links to better descriptions.
Your video couldn't have come at a better time! I needed an alternative to Cox Homelife that was affordable but still secure and reliable.
I pulled the trigger on Hubitat and within two days (thanks Amazon) I'm up and running with door contact/motion/presence sensors, Kiwkset smart deadbolts, and a Zen thermostat. The hardest part was figuring out how to pair my contact sensors, but as a professional software developer, the rest was easy. I do agree that the dashboards leave something to be desired, but overtime I hope updates and community support will solve that.
I still have two important features to configure and test. 1. Automated security routines to lock the door, ensure closed contacts, notify me via text/email, etc. 2. Regular backups of the hub configurations, access and events logging in the event of disaster or tampering. I have high hopes it can be done, but its not appearing to be trivial so far.
Overall I'm very satisfied with Hubitat. Thanks for the review!
Glad it's working out for you. The first time experience is pretty rough, but the abilities of the system are excellent. You should be able to do both of those, but may have to jump through some hoops to get it to work. The system is still pretty young, but I'm really impressed with the community. I'm sure there's someone else out there trying to do that same exact thing ... I'd recommend checking the community pages.
I replaced my Vera with the Hubitat Elevate. Best move. Agreed, the newbie "may" have issues but the Video tutorials created by Hubitat are excellent. The community is also incredible, particularly for an international perspective. If you need to start in home automation go straight to the Elevate and learn as you go. It's fun to make this system work!
Can it also control WiFi devices...
I have sonoff switches and BROADLINK RM PRO....
Please reply
Great video! I’ve been looking for this. I’m sure they will work out the bugs and make this an outstanding setup. Looking forward to more video on your Hubitat setup.
👍 Thanks so much!
Hubitat is constantly updating. There have been issues with implementing their ZWave stack while including S2. They did a complete rewrite which took weeks. They are also adding device support with updates. They also explain what each updates does in clear language.
toriless thanks for the reply.
Would love to see an updated review of this item, new integrations, and custom integrations applied. Great job! I also think the gear on the dashboard menu allows you to edit CSS, which maybe you can customize the auto sizing of the grid?
If you can access CSS you should be. I used to do web design and I made sure regardless of screen size it would fit.
May have already been mentioned, but you can scale the buttons in dashboard now for your phone. Great review and I agree with every point having switched form ST to HE.
Thanks for this overview, super helpful!
You have a gift my friend. May you become wildly rich!
Great review. I can't wait to learn from your smarthome 101 videos
👍
Hi Matt, been following you for a while, been an ST user for years and this video made me switch! New Hub’s on the way. Keep making these great videos, you explain things perfectly. If you get to it, maybe a video on the setup (as mentioned in this video)
One thing that seems to be missed when people first start out with Hubitat is that the UI is NOT the UX with this platform. I came from ST, and at first was "put off" by the UI. The thing is, with Hubitat, I went from dashboards in each room of the house to only two now (and they are really only used as status monitors). Hubitat has truly automated my home. When I walk into a room, the lights come on instantly; when I've been out of that room for two minutes (my choice of time), the lights turn off. I don't need a UI to have a great UX with Hubitat!
Smartthings accomplishes all that and more. I never use a light switch I have prob over 30 automations and some get very complex but that is my choice. This is where smartthings shines, smart apps, like webcore.
I have had that for years with the simpler Wink 2 but now you can not add more devices yo you automation rules without subscribing at $5 per month. At least with Hubitat you are no locked out regardless of the future of the mobile version. Personally, I use the ST app more then the Wink one but most for my LAN connected devices, I have over 2 dozen mostly hard wired at 1G and some phones and my watch which are wifi, media players, smart TVs, two DLNA servers, a garage door controller and all are LAN but it can only see one lousy bridge controller for the Lutron dimmers. Phooey! It will not even find the Ecobee without going to the web just like the retarded Wink 2.
Just watch your video it's awesome, I'm interested in learning more in detail on how to set up Habitat in more detail in what the website, provides any suggestions. Kudos to you and thank you.
Amazing video as always, Matt
👍
Awesome channel name, aren't most people here because they're undecided about something... Subscribed!
Thanks!
Thanks Matt. I would luv to see more on the Hubitat setup.
👍
Oh man! Can’t wait for the 101 series. Just got in my new house. Internet installed today, so lights and doorbell are happening any day. Oh yea. The Tesla I bought using your referral code should be delivered in 4 days! Thanks for another good video.
Hoping to launch the series next week on Friday (7/26). Cross your fingers. It’s pretty high level and will work through some of the core concepts no matter what system you’re using.
4 days! Almost there ... try not to go into complete overload with so many crazy things happening at once.
Your efforts are very much appreciated, Matt! Thank you in advance for the Hubitat series!
How much did that save you on the Tesla?
Kaleb Stattmiller it just got Matt and me 1k free supercharging.
I like how you describe hubitat as not for noobs, when home assistant + tp link kasa bulb was the first smart stuff I ever got
Good review Matt!
I have had a Hubitat for the last three months. As someone who works in the tech industry I wanted to avoid the constant on internet connections with Alexa and Google Home. I also wanted something that would function without internet and when running on backup power. I am not that rural but we do get our share of outages and starting with that premise I could make sure all purchased systems could work consistently.
I did find that Hubitat was tough to get started with without solid example configurations configured by default. You had to figure out what software pieces you needed to add/turn on to make basic home automation features practical. There were also the problems that were the result of odd pairing habits of third-party hardware. Those also could be worked through with some research. Hubitat has been good at adding new drivers to their device.
Overall I have been happy with my Hubitat and will continue to expand my system. I like how it works with both Zigbee and Z-wave. I am not a fan of loading up a home network with a ton of wi-fi based smart devices.
I look forward to seeing how you use your system.
Thanks, Darrin. Sounds like you and I share similar feelings about Hubitat. It’s really a good system, but just a rough on boarding experience. I’m also not a fan of overloading WiFi with devices, so hubs provide a great way around that. The mesh wireless aspect of Z-Wave and Zigbee is also compelling as you add more and more devices.
@@UndecidedMF I agree. I have a large piece of property and I would eventually like to be able to have sensors and devices anywhere it make sense. I am hoping that either Z-Wave or Zigbee can mesh out to the edges. The furthest point I need to reach is over 2000'. I am thinking bridging the gaps with some lights.
Darrin Jillson There are repeaters you can pick up too. Ikea has a cheap Zigbee repeater that’s powered off of USB. I actually just ordered a couple to try out with the Hubitat to get to some of the flakier corners of my home covered.
@@UndecidedMF Thank you. I am going to have to give a couple of those a try. There are quite a few smart home items from Ikea I would like to try out.
Darrin Jillson Just set up those repeaters today and they’re working great. I’d definitely recommend checking out the Ikea stuff ... cheap and effective.
This is the level of quality that I aspire to achieve in my videos...someday.
Very interesting product. Excellent delivery of info. 🤙 Thanks!
Hubitat sounds and looks like the ideal smart home foundation to build upon. Please, lead the way and I'll follow. 😎
Thanks for taking me up on my suggestion to review this item. I've been waiting to configure it. So far, I've avoided the hassle of un-linking my ST devices. But your review has spurred me on. Can't wait for future tutorials. (As a writer, I am agonizing how awful the Hubitat tutorials are written.) Perhaps you can tell us how to control hubless wifi light bulbs. Great stuff!
I'm in the same spot. Had the hubitat for several months. Afraid to give up smartthings, but know this is the rightmove. Thanks for suggesting this video.
We have the hubitat and was working great. I live with my son and son in law. They both have I Phones. I have a Samsung galaxy s205g that decided to go haywire a month ago. I'm listed as a guest. Basically it opens the garage door and turns on inside lights when I get home from work. But the old Gmail account is still in there and it's not working for me. Which would be better, my Google email, Samsung email or outlook? Looking forward to the replies. Thanks 😊
A other great video Matt. Thanks and keep it up. I have been using home assistant, having some challenges, and I may buy a hub it at to try it out.
Hello Matt, The way you would get around the dashboard sizing issue is to create a dashboard for the device that you plan to use it on. So, a dashboard on a phone would have different sized pushbuttons and grid size. So, that means you could have a dashboard for each device you would connect Hubitat. Also, I set mine up with less control on the phone because I would just want to get the light on or turn on the TV before I sit down and use my tablet to do the bulk of the control.
I've been using Hubitat since January. The primary reason I chose it was because, as you mentioned, it's completely local -- I keep my home activities private and don't need a working Internet connection to use it. Besides controlling the lights, the things I really like about it are:
* I replaced my "programmable" thermostat with a program that can also automatically swich the smart thermostat between heating and cooling modes, AND when it does so Hubitat will also open and close my smart vents to direct the warm air downstairs or cool air upstairs. It also reduces the heating temperature and raises the cooling temperature automatically when I'm away, and restores them when I return -- even before I return, since I can access my dashboards via the Cloud over a secure connection.
* I installed a contact sensor on the door of my mailbox, and paired that with a virtual switch so that when the mailbox door is opened and the v.s. is off, it sends me a text message informing me that the mailman came. After using that for a while I found that the contact sensor can't always get a signal through the mailbox when it's closed, so I enhanced the program by having it turn on the lights in a couple of rooms for a minute when the Hubitat sees the sensor has closed; that way I have instant feedback telling me when it's been closed properly.
* I got a multi-button scene controller to select different light settings for the entertainment room. This wasn't supported natively, so I got my first foray into SmartThings device driver programming and managed to make it work semi-will as a button controller. I'm still disappointed though that nobody seems to be making a _proper_ in-wall multi-button controller that fits standard gang boxes.
Are you able to use the voice command, if it is working locally? Not really clear for me this point :(
Matt, I have no idea if you are still reading comments on a 2019 video, but I really liked this review. I just returned my Hubitat Elevation and I may end up regretting it. I have Homeseer and it was expensive and I need to focus on it (it is a LOT of work). A lot of the integrations cost a bit too. I have HA which I like, but it too is a lot of work, but the integrations are mostly no cost. I have few devices yet and I bought Hubitat for Zwave and Zigbee interfacing. It was about $140. I am concerned that it is only a company of only 12 people. Hopefully they will be around for a long while. I may give it another go in the near future. Thanks for your review.
Great video Matt. This looks to be a pretty cool system. But no responsive design in 2019 ?! 🤦🏼♂️ Also looking forward to your smart home for beginner videos. I’m sure that will be a great resource for anyone getting started in the smart home world!
Thanks, Shane! Iskren just pointed out that there’s some workarounds to get the dashboard to resize. While it does work ... it’s not intuitive and raises the question of, “why is this not the default?” It’s an incredibly powerful system that I’m really happy with so far. Just wish it was a little easier for the inexperienced folks out there.
Very easy to listen to and understand!
Great video! Best habitat review I have seen. I use openHAB and it reminds me very much how openHAB functions.
Danny Mullen I also thought this looks pretty much like openhab :D I love my openhab setup and it is also absolutely reliable. Openhabian on raspi zero.
tHeplAyiER glad it was not only me!
Matt, right from the beginning of the video I was thinking of writing you a request for a 101 video and you've said it yourself. Yes!!! Can't wait for it!
Please make a schema for connecting different devices with explanations for their role in the bigger picture and write the devices that you'll choose atm for each category. Thank you for the video and can't wait for the 101!
Keep it up!
Good suggestion for the 101 series! The first six episodes start pretty broad. Touching on the different technologies for mainstream devices. Scenes, modes, routines, and securing your IoT. Trying to establish a baseline for folks new to smart homes.
@@UndecidedMF Great! I'm sure you'll nail it! I have a dental clinic with 2 dental offices, a waiting room, a photostudio and sterilization room. Since I've started watching your videos I decided to integrate smart tech there, so I'll be able to voice control Spotify, AC, lights and eventually blinders while I'm working with a patient. Atm I have wall integrated volume control switches for each room and they're good ones, but still.. can't wait to start voice controling the sound.
Don't reply to the message, I don't want to take away from your time. Just wanted to share. See you next week. :) Let's grow the UWMF community!
Deyan Dimanov I have to reply just to ask ... why is it that Dentists always have the coolest tech? My dentist always seems to be on the bleeding edge of tech (crazy cameras for looking into your mouth, real-time xrays, etc.) to sound systems and online scheduling software. Your offices are going to be like walking into the starship Enterprise.
Good video. I’ve been in Wink, then SmartThings for a few years now. Was considering OpenHAB but for the reasons you pointed out I’ve stayed with ST. This looks like a really good alternative that I’ll be looking at. Thanks for the info!!!
I've recently starting looking at OpenHab. It's a nice system, but I really have to give Hubitat the nod for capabilities, privacy first design, and the great little hub. It really feels like the logical choice for Smartthings users looking to move on.
Try openhab there is nothing better than that...
Skip OpenHAB, I tried it. Use your skills on Hubitat.
Great video, thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Why does Matt get straight A's? Because everything he creates is amazing, astounding, astonishing, awe-inspiring, and awesome!
Thanks. Great video. Had mine for 48 hours now and still haven't managed to add a single device! Didn't think I was a novice but obviously I am!
Your privacy stance is completely aligned with my own. I want control of my data. I do NOT want a cloud service. If those companies want my data I MAY consider selling it to them. Yeah, right. I do not have confidence in their ability to protect my data. I do not have confidence in their lawyers protecting me and my data.
And, I do not want yet another subscription plan. I want to store on local media, like a flash card, or NAS.
These concerns have driven me to Wyze products. I haven't yet seen your content re. Wyze, BTW. Especially at the Wyze price point!
Thanks again for your excellent, well thought out, concise, solid evaluations, clear explanations.
I am considering becoming a Patreon contributor.
That is why I do not use ST. That and it was slow. I just sits there, heating the room.
Great content! A follow up video on initial setup and installing add ons would be great!
My advice, so far, click on them and answer as little as possible then done until you get all the ones you will need and THEN set them up. Normally, I would set up devices first but if I do I can not get back into my Wink 2 and put them back without paying them their blood money. It is a lot easier to add rules once all you devices are available.
Appreciate the review. I understand your critism of dashboard but you are missing the point. Dashboard use a grid for precise placement of tiles with backgrounds. So if you want a row at the bottom of a grid you can easily do this. No other system allows for this type of customization. It is a blank slate, by design. However the default in dashboard is to optimize for that device and not be responsive but to be scrollable for larger grids on smaller screens. Also, we designed Hubitat to be an automation platform first and foremost. Taking out your phone or pulling up a website is not automation, it's remote control. Dashboards exist to fill that gap for those that want it. Dashboards, rules, and other apps are highly personalized things. So the reason these things don't come preinstalled is so people have choice and options and can even add 3rs party code if they want. Don't like the built in dashboard, try SharpTools or Housepanel. As we mature, wizards and simple interfaces will be added as we have and continue to rapidly develop on this platform that is only less than 18 months old. Again, thanks for the review. Happy to answer any questions.
Thanks for the clarity. As a UI/UX designer I tend to approach all of my reviews from that standpoint, which is why I was raising the issues with the dashboards. The struggle is finding a balance between surfacing too many and too little customizations. The more customizations and controls you surface, the more complex the product design gets. The end result is a hit to the new user experience. My favorite user experience design book is Steve Krug’s, “Don’t make me think.” The title alone expresses the basic mantra I try to use in all of my UX designs.
I did mention in the video that you won’t have to use Dashboards most of the time because you’ll have configured automations. We’re in complete agreement on that. That’s why I was confused that the dashboards aren’t configured by default to just reflow and scale with the device. It’ll serve perfectly for the average user. Then the more advanced users who really want to tweak the dashboards to their content can dive in and adjust the placements like you made note of. It’s not me missing the point, but having a disagreement with the approach.
And I hope it was clear in the review that I really, really like Hubitat. It ticks all of the major boxes for what I’ve been looking for in a smart hub. My criticisms all stem from the first time user experience, which is the one area where I think a novice is going to struggle. Nail that experience and the potential audience for Hubitat opens wide open. A ton of potential.
@@UndecidedMF I do think we are in agreement but another point missed is that while most other systems focus on the new user experience first (or only) they fall short on robust features or lock you in to only one way to do things. We focused on the automation and wanted to make sure it was easy, reliable and private. We can and will layer good design on top of this down the road but a blank slate is a feature and it allows us to see the many different ways users build their automation environments. I was surprised that you didn't mention how small the hub is, I still am shocked at how much horsepower we have in a tiny box with no cloud dependency. Anyway, we look at Hubitat Elevation as a toolbox. Something full of useful apps and driver that can build practically any automation in the home. Sure it's not a pretty hammer but it will hit the nail and much more.
Patrick Stuart I should have highlighted how crazy small it is. My thumbnail image does show how absurdly small it is compared to the Smartthings hub. It’s smaller than a Raspberry Pi I’ve been using to test Home Assistant. Love that aspect of it.
Might I suggest different user modes during initial setup... with pre-built dashboard templates for basic users (like Matt is suggesting) and a fully customizable blank slate for advanced users? This should satisfy more users and make the product more accessible for more people that aren't full time programmers/ UI designers, etc. My 2 cents.
I take it from this reply your more interested in defending your design choices than taking constructive criticism...?
Great review! I'm going to migrate from my Wink Hub 2 to the Hubitat.
Thanks for watching! Let me know how it goes.
Looking at doing this myself. Any tutorials you're gonna follow out there?
By the way: Wink now charges a monthly subscription.
Great video thanks. Yes indeed the Hubitat is amazing. I got mine for a week now and enjoying every step. Yes it is not for everyone. But for me, a retired programmer, this flexibility was missing with other hubs. And yes, I would not use wifi for a complete home automation... a hub is a must. The only 2 things that annoyed me the most are the dashboards (I hate having to scroll) and the fact that I need two hubs to replace wink. Yes, wink can talk directly to Lutron (or may be they talk to the Lutron regular hub). The lutron hub pro is not cheap here as they as sold by alarm companies around here. And amazon.ca don’t sell them. But for everything else, Hubitat is great. Finally, I can make logical decisions within the system that I could never achieve before. Thanks Hubitat.
I got my Bridge on eBay.
COME ON!!! I got so excited the first 30 seconds then I got a super let down 😂😂
Great review! I noticed in other comments you also own a Synology NAS as I do. I, and I think many of your viewers would love to see a video dedicated to the setup of OpenVPN on the synology nas so you can then use your phone to easily access your Hubitat on your local LAN for changing settings etc. For eg if you have z-wave door locks on a rental property or your vacation home/cottage and need to add or delete user codes etc you need to get access Hubitat settings. I have not seen anyone else do a video on this unless so missed it?
Yep, I have a Synology NAS. Good suggestion for a video topic.
I also have a Synology running but was not satisfied with the VPN server. Currently I use a raspberry pi with pivpn to access my home network remotely and very happy with it. I did however configure the pi to run from SSD on usb as an SD card will crash fairly quickly to my experience.
Cool life style. Thank you。
I'm hooked with Hubitat Elevation Home Automation Hub
Your voice is so pleasant to listen to.......
Thanks for the video, perfect for leaving Wink! I've tried Home Assistant few years ago on a Raspberry Pi 3 to bridge unsupported smart devices with Apple's Homekit, but it's not very stable and had to restart the service once in a while. Will see how it goes once my Hubitat hub arrives as I jump off the Wink's upcoming forced monthly charge boat...
Yeah, I tried OpenIOT or whatever it was called on the previous generation. It mostly went nowhere.
Great video! Hope you keep giving us Hubitat updates, curious to see where it goes from here and hope they listen to you. The biggest drawback for me is no remote access, as I have my smart toys at a secondary residence right now. Curious to see where it goes!
Thanks, Zach! To be clear though, you do have remote access through the dashboards. So if you’re looking to be able to check or change temps, lights, HVAC settings, motion sensors, trigger scenes, change modes, etc. remotely, you can do that. What you can’t do is set up new rules, modes, and automations. There is a way around that if you set up a VPN server in your home. Then you can connect to the VPN as if you’re on your local network and make configuration changes. Not ideal, but it does work.
I’m working on setting up Homebridge and other things with Hubitat now. If folks are interested, I’ll be posting more videos down the road on how those experiments have worked out.
You also have remote access via many other options too. Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Maker API, SharpTools, just to name a few more. It is a part of the security model to not have full access to the system remotely. But there are plenty of simple VPN or remote desktop solutions that can allow you to remotely admin your hub. Hubitat is the only consumer focused hub to separate the remote control and the local administration. Other system's require you to give full control to all users.
Patrick Stuart That’s for calling that stuff out. The privacy-centric angle was the biggest selling point for me, so knew going in that it would change the way I’d have to approach some aspects of the setup. In the end, I think folks will be surprised how little it actually impacts how things work day to day.
Outstanding review !!!
Thanks!
Undecided with Matt Ferrell
After watching this, I went to Amazon and bought a Hubitat! At least for me it works great !! I set up a VPN and got it working remotely too.
Your review was spot on ! It requires a lot of work but it does exactly what I want ...
Smartthings worked ok ... but was slow and I got tired of not having control of firmware updates and relying on the cloud
This freed me!!
So thanks!!!!
Thanks for sharing. very informative
Great introduction thank you
Matt - you are perhaps my hero! Fantastic video, you are a great instructor. I purchased Hubitat when it was first introduced - severe frustration followed and it ended up in a drawer. Next was Mozilla Web Things, arrgh! My poor Raspberry Pi 4 no longer has an identity - Home Assistant has been reinstalled so many times. Matt if you have knowledge of the best place for detailed Hubitat instructions would you please, please share them. Again thanks for the video.
ANother very professional video - thanks, Matt! Convinced home automation is not for me (even though I am a long-career software and web developer). It would drive my wife crazy, too.
Thanks for watching, but don’t let this scare you off. There are other systems that are worth a look. Even though I’m moving away from Smartthings, they’re much better at new user onboarding. And I’ve been digging into the Tuya smart home platform too, which doesn’t require a hub and has a huge amount of cheap/compatible products. And if you’re an Apple user, HomeKit is really simple to get into.
Yes, I need to 101 setup . I own the Nest thermostat, Philips Hue bridge and light kit, along with the Philips Hue led light strip
Nice start to your smart home. My 101 videos will be starting tomorrow!
Subscribed! Great video. I was thinking about buying Home Center 3 from Fibaro but I didn't like it's limitations to just z-wave. Please start a 101 series! :)
Just get their Z-wave sensors, etc. I have Ecolink and some Dome stuff. GE make the best switches. Reliable as heck!
Great video! really looking forward to your smart home series! May be you could take a look at some of the smart home appliances like water heaters, stoves, and refrigerators.
Thanks! If all goes to plan, the first in the series should be out next week. Good suggestion on smart appliances. In some cases you can add some pseudo smarts to older appliances. For appliances with smarts built in, I’ve actually got an oven from GE. Short review: great oven ... horrible smart appliance. It stayed connected to my WiFi for about a week and it has never been able to connect since. 🤦♂️
@@UndecidedMF
Interesting, about the oven, it is one of the things I have been looking at replacing along with my hot water heater. I like the idea of the away mode and being able to monitor for water leaks and condensation. I know you can get water sensors and dial down the when you leave, I would like that on a routine to make my life easier.
Thank you! Agree with your assessment - you've nailed it. I'm interested also in how well any solution integrates with the various DIY security systems on the market. I've found that Hubitat has been the only one - with a little help from IFTTT - that has been able to operate the smart items outside of my security system - for example: incompatible cameras/systems triggered by away state and alarm state.
I too like to know how it will integrate with home security systems. I like to be able to use all the window sensors door sensors that the home security system already has wired and not battery operated sensors. Homeseer has many many plug-ins and if you have for example elk security systems you can purchase the plug-in and then use all the doors and sensor switches. With homeseer software hub you can do that or universal devices hub.
Great video. I’ll be looking at this tech. Is it available in the UK?
And I love your backing music, quality track.
I hubitat coming this week👍
I’ve had Home Assistant for two years. I’ve had enough of Zigbee devices disappearing at random, and the anxiety of updates (often resulting in a complete reinstall). I don’t want to spend my time maintaining my home automation. I’ve bought a Hubitat Elevation based on your review
Was it a good decision? I am thinking of hubitat atm and having my seccond thoughts on buying one
@@mmendes41088 Yes, I think it's the best of the lot. It still loses a few zigbee devices from time to time (I'm starting to think zigbee is the problem!) But it's good. Not as flashy (poor UI) but much more stable. With Home Assistant you had to keep 'nursing' it!
@@georgeboydratcliff1036 have you ever used smartthings? I am currently using smartthings but the service periodicly goes offline and that is what is making me angry... then they sort the things and everything works fine for few months and then again shit happens. That is what i hate about it, but other things are perfect... but that offline bugs are making me think about other platforms. I want it to be 100% stable, but as it seems there is no 100% stable one...
Thank you!
Great video, checked out the hubitat website and this video, and i dont think i should not start with hubitat because i'm super noob with smarthome stuff. I only have hue lights all over the place, but nothing else yet. Thinking of getting logitech harmony to control my tv and sound system with it, and google chrome cast for the tv. It seems you can do quiet a bit of stuff with logitech harmony as well. Really enjoy your video's and cant wait for the smart home 101 video. Cheers
Thanks for watching! Sounds like a good plan to hold off on something like the Hubitat for now. My smart home 101 videos are out! Check them out here: ruclips.net/p/PLnTSM-ORSgi4LC7AnedDbLf4cyMb_4Shc
Good video. I was on the fence on buying this. Your video convinced me not to. Way to complex for first time user. And your right it needs to have rules and modes pre-installed.
I’m very interested in checking out Hubitat but have a lot of LIFX bulbs. That’s a deal-breaker for me at this point. Also interested in and carefully experimenting with Home Assistant and OpenHAB, but they’re both a pretty steep learning curve to do anything much beyond what it does ‘out of the box’. So far, SmartThings is the closest I’ve found for my ideal solution. (Not ideal, but closer than anything else I’ve tried so far). Thanks for your videos - subbed.
I have written LIFX drivers for all the standard bulbs, which work fine for me and others - see community.hubitat.com/t/lifx-local-control/4023
Very informative
Great video brother
Hey Matt, great video. I too am searching for a bulletproof secure and customizable home automation system. I’m designing my new home and it will have all wiring routed to a central control & switching room so everything can be controlled more easily and be less dependent on wireless communications. I’ve been using Home Assistant for a about one year now, and it really makes me work a lot to keep everything working smooth. Despite that I haven’t had any crashes at all. But I agree, the platform is not for the non techies, and I think Hubitat is not too, and maybe no platform will be, because I don’t see how you can accommodate for an infinite number of home automation topologies out of the box. You WILL NEED to set things up, configure stuff, write some Yaml code, ... At the end my solution will be based on a Siemens S7-1500 industrial PLC which will control all outputs - both analog and digital. Siemens has a MQTT program block available for this line of PLCs so this is the way I will integrate it with a automation system more capable of communicating with the user (Siemens HMIs are very expensive). I was set to use Home Assistant, but will try Hubitat after I watched your video.
Home Assistant is incredibly powerful. And I agree that there isn’t a system available yet that offers rock solid performance, deep controls, and is novice friendly. I think Smartthings is one of the better ones for novice user friendly with broad support out of the box, but things like Home Assistant and Hubitat are obviously king when it comes to local and deep controls. It’s all about trade offs at this point and what type of system you’re looking to build. It sounds like you’re going to have one heck of system when you’re done. Let me know how Hubitat goes for you.
If I get to do a dance like those cowboys, seems like setting up Hubitat should be pretty fun! Either way, good to have some heads-up from you on the setup, as I am bailing on Wink to Hubitat now.
I think jumping into Hubitat would be great as I have several different types of switches that I currently use.
Amazing video!
👍 Thanks so much!
Great video! Thanks for sharing. I consider myself a newbie even though I've had SmartThings and Hue for a few years now and have both Alexa and Google Home. I've also been looking to move off of SmartThings, but I do have a question. You said that it wasn't very user friendly writing routines and such. My question is if you integrate with Google Home or Alexa, do you HAVE to build the routines in Hubitat? Couldn't you just do the integrations to Alexa and GH and just leave it at that and do the routines in Alex or GH? Thanks again for such a great video!
Love your videos. can you do a review of HomeSeer HomeTroller Plus
Loving my 2 Hubitats.
Nice. Using them in different places or do you have them bridged to cover one house?
@@UndecidedMF different properties.
I've been using HA for years and it's never crashed. And now you do most things with the GUI with LoveLace or use NodeRed.
Second that ... HA rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few comments about Hubitat...
1) If you are a developer, I highly recommend NOT tinkering with this device. If you have "poorly formatted code" (aka, there is some small issue with a driver or app you made), it will randomly shut your device down without notice. If you have your alarm system set up on this, it's a bit annoying to fix...
2) Again, if you are a developer, they have a really slick API, so if you don't want to build your stuff using Angular or whatever, You'll have access to all of your devices outside of the alarm system (I think). They may have changed this in the past few months, but idk. For those who are C# nerds, I have been able to build a C# app that works with it, so the sky is the limit.
3) As far as I know, it doesn't yet support MQTT, so if you're coming from Home Assistant or OpenHab, don't expect to port your MQTT environment over soon. I heard they're working on it, but not there yet.
4) You don't HAVE to use the dashboard...which is why they didn't include it by default. You can use Sharptools.io as your dashboard and never need the built-in dashboard, which is kind of garbage anyway (seriously guys, learn how to build a GUI...)
For me, #1 was a HUGE letdown... The device should never power off without informing you. I had to switch away from that because I couldn't rely on it. I will be happy to switch back when I know it's working correctly though. I may also eventually just build my own apps using the API, but for now... I'm going to be sticking with Home Assistant.
Very informative podcast. You did a great job of pros/cons. You created this 2 years ago. Which hub would you use October 2021?
Yes it exist and it's called LOXONE a pretty cool Austrian cloud free professional smart home system.
I've been working Home Assistant for a few months, and ya, that learning curve is nuts.
The pro: you can do absolutely anything with Home Assistant. The con: you can do absolutely anything with Home Assistant. And how you have to script things together is a little tough to wrap your head around in the beginning. If you can push through that ... it's amazing.
I have been using home assistant for about a year and i agree they could increase on user experience, as of lately that has been improving though allowing more setup in the web interface.
I also love how "easy" (for someone with some programming experience) it is to create/add unsupported devices, for me i wanted to add my solar inverter which wasn't supported in any home automation system and after a couple of hours i did have it working
That's the huge perk of something like HA. Really powerful stuff.
Try OpenHab, very stable and been around longer than HA so it has similar amount of support for devices. Documentation is better than HA and forum quick to respond.
A viable open-source alternative is Openhab. Runs on many platforms - Windows, OS-X, Raspberry Pi, Linux - is a self-contained server environment with an option for cloud control. Has bindings for a vast array of interfaces and devices. It too has a steep learning curve, not for the faint-hearted, but for those that want to get elbow-deep in Home Automation (and who doesn't?) it's loads of fun; and frustration. I have mine talking to zigbee, z-wave, wifi, nest, Apple Homekit, Hue, Alexa and Google Home - however, my thoughts do turn to if/when I ever sell our home and how to make it the home automation as seamless as possible for the purchaser with something more commercial - and Hubitat may be an option as a direct, relatively straightforward swap out.
I come from smartthings and after about a year using hubitat I can say is awesome. I managed to replicate everything but the only thing is that every 3 or 4 days I have to restart it or it will have slownless, their staff said is that I have something not working properly messing with my hub that I have not been able to locate
Homey is that unicorn!
For those of us with 25/5 rural, where always connected devices leech bandwidth, a hub that does not rely on the internet is an incredibly valuable item.
Great point!
Subscribed. Thanks for the content! (I hope you'll change the music one day...)
I was about to build my own like this, well attempt to. I'm glad I came across this one. Please tell me this hub can communicate with Tuya smart devices?!