After looking into z-wave and zigbee and having installed a lot of wifi devices, I also decided to wait for Matter. I've been pretty disappointed in the reviews I've seen, and the range of devices is really limited. I'm starting to wonder if I should just give up and go with Z-wave.
Just go with Zigbee and Zwave for now. Zigbee devices are dirt cheap and while there are plenty of compatibility issues, it mostly all works well. I'd recommend googling a product before you buy it to see if others have any issues with it and have discovered solutions.
Z-wave is more solid in my experience but comes with a greater product cost.
I guess I'm trying my best to future-proof when I start buying new devices. I have a ton of those Kasa smart switches, but they are wifi and require the Internet to be controlled via home automation.
It feels like we're in a weird holding pattern waiting for this unifying standard that has been extremely slow to roll out.
Just like with PCs, there is always something better on the horizon so there's no point in waiting forever. In 4 or 5 (or 10) years when/if this becomes more ubiquitous, a lot of these devices will be due for an upgrade or replacement anyway.
I have a few Zooz Z-wave wall switches that are feature rich and have given zero issues since day one. Zigbee is mostly Aqara and Ikea and the Ikea stuff has been pretty temperamental but works 99.9% of the time now that they're all set up. I own a couple Kasa RGBW lightbulbs and they constantly drop off the network to the point that I can only use them with the traditional wall switch, so I definitely understand your pain here.
After looking into z-wave and zigbee and having installed a lot of wifi devices, I also decided to wait for Matter. I've been pretty disappointed in the reviews I've seen, and the range of devices is really limited. I'm starting to wonder if I should just give up and go with Z-wave.
Just go with Zigbee and Zwave for now. Zigbee devices are dirt cheap and while there are plenty of compatibility issues, it mostly all works well. I'd recommend googling a product before you buy it to see if others have any issues with it and have discovered solutions.
Z-wave is more solid in my experience but comes with a greater product cost.
I guess I'm trying my best to future-proof when I start buying new devices. I have a ton of those Kasa smart switches, but they are wifi and require the Internet to be controlled via home automation.
It feels like we're in a weird holding pattern waiting for this unifying standard that has been extremely slow to roll out.
Just like with PCs, there is always something better on the horizon so there's no point in waiting forever. In 4 or 5 (or 10) years when/if this becomes more ubiquitous, a lot of these devices will be due for an upgrade or replacement anyway.
I have a few Zooz Z-wave wall switches that are feature rich and have given zero issues since day one. Zigbee is mostly Aqara and Ikea and the Ikea stuff has been pretty temperamental but works 99.9% of the time now that they're all set up. I own a couple Kasa RGBW lightbulbs and they constantly drop off the network to the point that I can only use them with the traditional wall switch, so I definitely understand your pain here.