Over 3,300 interoperable products available, 100 million Z-Wave products worldwide. Extensively used in residential systems throughout numerous business spectrums, including ADT, Alarm.com, AT&T, DSC, GE/Interlogics, Honeywell, Lowes, Verizon, Vivint, and other prominent service providers worldwide.
Google Home does not use Z-Wave, but it works with Z-Wave when used with a separate smart home hub. Any Z-Wave compatible smart home hub can connect a Google Home to other Z-Wave compatible devices.
A Zigbee network, which doesn't have a maximum number of allowed hops, can support more than 65,000 devices, while a Z-Wave network, limited to four hops, supports a maximum of 232 devices.
Alexa only “speaks” WiFi (and ZigBee if you have the EchoPlus). It currently doesn't support Z-Wave, the protocol of choice for home automation thanks to its high speed and low interference with other connected devices in your home. That means you can't have a Z-Wave switch or plug speak directly to your Echo.
Do I need a hub? Yes - to get the most out of your Z-Wave device, a Z-Wave Certified hub is required to set schedules and control remotely away from the home, which a handheld Z-Wave controller cannot do.
All of these hubs tend to work with a wide variety of devices such as Sonos, Nest, Philips Hue and the 1,200+ interoperable Z-Wave devices. Now one thing about being compatible with all these devices is it would be a true feat to have tech support for them all.
The Apple HomeKit certified Z-Wave controller to extend your Smart Home with Z-Wave products. Thinka bridges HomeKit to Z-Wave. The (included) Z-Wave controller is best of breed, with a 700 series chip for better range, Smart Start, provisioning, backup and restore, remote access and remote support.
Will Z-Wave interfere with my Wi-Fi network? No, Z-Wave operates on a different wireless frequency than Wi-Fi. Even though your smart hub will plug into your Wi-Fi router, the hub communicates with other smart devices on a different frequency making interference nonexistent.
The SmartThings Hub is a Z-Wave certified central static controller. It can be included in any Z-Wave network and operate with Z-Wave certified devices from other manufacturers.
Z-Wave Has Fewer Congestion Problems
As such, Z-Wave's network has much less congestion, as it operates on a lower radio frequency - 908.42 MHz. Zigbee's frequency is closer to that of Wi-Fi - 2.4ghz - meaning a lot more congestion.
Since you can't use Z-wave products with Google Home/Google Nest directly, you need to buy a smart hub first. A smart hub facilitates communication among all smart home products, your phone, router, and Google Home.
All Ring devices are Z-Wave compatible. Ring Alarm's base station operates as a Z-Wave hub, so the elements of the Ring Alarm system can communicate with each other without interfering with your home's Wi-Fi network.
It is up to the various accessory manufacturers to connect their hubs to their respective accessories using the radio protocol of their choice be it Zwave or anything else. Apple's HomeKit requires using either Bluetooth or WiFi. This is because iPhones, iPads, and AppleTV only have those standards built-in.
The new controller is the first Apple HomeKit-certified Z-Wave controller and is designed to add more than 3,300 smart Z-Wave products for HomeKit users. With the new Z-wave hub, Thinka is bridging the gap between people who want to use Apple's privacy-focused smart home technology but recognize the benefits of Z-Wave.
Setting up the device is as simple as plugging it into your router, accessing it's on-board web admin page and configuring a few settings to connect to your Z-Wave gateway. Once done, you'll be able to control lights, switches, locks, blinds, and thermostats through Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant.
Thanks to a new update, devices running on Z-Wave, ZigBee and EnOcean wireless standards can now be integrated into HomeKit and be controlled via the voice assistant Siri, among other means.
Kwikset SmartCode 914 Z-Wave Deadbolt
Kwikset is another smart lock brand that works with Xfinity Home, and here's one of the top models you want to consider.
That's why all new eero hardware comes equipped with a Thread radio. Thread is the latest generation in a series of low-power wireless protocols like Z-wave, Bluetooth, and Zigbee, but because it uses IPv6 natively, it's more reliable, and employs secure protocols and encryption by default.
However, right now, Alexa is not quite powerful enough to truly stand alone, in the way SmartThings can. There's the fact it only supports Zigbee (no Z-Wave), but even within this Alexa is limited in exactly how much control you can wield over your connected devices, and Routines are not always totally reliable.
The outstanding user oriented APP is the only Smart Home APP available on the market integrates the Z-wave sensor, Z-wave IP gateway,P2P IP camera in the single APP page.
Amazon Echo (4th gen)
With Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Zigbee, the Amazon Echo (4th generation) is the best smart home hub for most people.
For example, Alexa can also be used to control Z-Wave, and the newer Alexa models no longer require the hub to bridge the two devices together. Plus, with these newer options, integration is a cinch, allowing Alexa to control Z-Wave effortlessly.