Why is the Ultimate Smart Home so Complicated?

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#smarthome #homeautomation #exploring #undecidedwithmattferrell

[sygad]

"cobweb of insanity" such a perfect way of describing it, totally going to steal that

[no_more_free_nicks]

I work with computers, just the idea that my home will start crashing ... OMG.

[ShaneCreates]

Hey Matt, thanks so much for the shout out! Much appreciated.

Great video. I’m also excited about CHIP and the future of smart home. That’s also one reason why I’m so excited about the new HomePod mini. Since they’ve added that thread capability it should support new accessories from the CHIP initiative in the near future. We are getting closer...slowly.

[pulporock]

This subject always has me undecided; I have developed a product for my clients to control heating and cooling.
It was a standalone piece of hardware and software last year, no cloud but very limiting.
This year decided to make it work with Home Assistant so at least clients could add stuff to the system and change just about anything.
I like home automation but hate cloud or server requirements.
Cheers from Oz

[keco]

I don’t care about a walled garden but dealing with the hot mess that is bridges isn’t worth it

[OnlineLuc]

Oh man this sounds familiar. I really do understand your comments. I've been building my smart home for the past few years and wow, it's a mess. So complicated to get things to do what you want them to do. So many limitations for no reason. etc. I really hope it does get better with time. Many friends/family that come over are impressed but if they ask how to do it, I tell them they need to get a computer science degree first. Because, it's the reality. Fun times.

[SindarinMetaphor]

I too have a franken house. I started way back in the day with Insteon, and still have some legacy devices there. Im 80% migrated over to:
*Lutron RA2 Select
*Phillips Hue
*Synology Surveillance Station for 10 cameras
*Hubitat (As seen originally by your first review)
*Sonos
*Unifi Networking
*Axis Cameras with on camera sensors and low volt triggers
*Axis Door Access

[whatthestuffisthis]

I messed with this since the days of "CORE" by WOZ and X-10 control units. Ultimately it comes down to 'why' Do I really need to tell the toaster to start the toast...And while the smart lightbulbs are cool. I still reach for the light switch. We've had X-10 tech for decades...and ultimately it becomes more of a pain to deal with than than just a light switch or thermostat. But basically it introduces more points of failure into a system that works without a layer of tech that really doesn't bring something unique to the home.

[jeffconner]

You are becoming my favorite YouTuber. Your content is fantastic. I wish everything could be broken down like this for me.

[CM-klqh]

So when do classes start? I’m a retired control engineer. I’m not afraid of technology but rather not burn my fixed income on incompatible technology. I also don’t mind paying for information that is tested and reliable. When is you online book coming out? How can I learn this hands on without blowing a wad and spending the rest of my life trying not to go senile?! Oh, and we just contracted to build a house. What should I build in?

You are the best voice I’ve heard so far on the subject but it’s mostly introductory. I’m looking for meat and potatoes, not hors d’oeuvres. (You serve the best hors d’oeuvres.)

Keep it coming. If you know of and learning centers please pass them along. Thank you!

[wallykramer]

The X10 controls were inexpensive, but I custom built the X10 controller and programmed it. The system sensed soil moisture, outdoor humidity and temperature. It made life easier and provided a creative outlet—by twiddling the program. Creative approaches were needed to compensate for X10's lack of feedback when issuing control commands.

After I married non-technical ladies, I tired of "customer support" and did not enable the system. Privacy was never an issue since it was insulated from outside access. I suppose 3-4 neighbors could have had X10 access, but there were no other geeks in the neighborhood.

[JustfishNascar]

I just got my Hubitat this morning. Now for the real work to start. I'm not a novice, but still am worried about getting it all setup and working. Thanks for the reviews they do really help.

[saswotlamichhane]

Smart homes are cool, but the security of Smart homes are *"undecided"*

[ONI.]

Hi Matt. Great video. Been a 8+ year SmartThings, Amz Echo, and Google Home user now. Have set up my smart house to work perfectly for the most part using combos of webcore, IFTTT, 3rd party Smart apps for ST, and as well as basic Routines and virtual switches dedicated for Google and Alexa. Have Lights, Locks, MyQ Garage door, ADT, Smart sensors button triggering things like Laundry alerts and Remote start up for my Lexus, etc etc.

So wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but certainly not a novice. The day has finally come when I am contemplating leaving SmartThings bc of them dropping Groovy IDe and hence all my smart apps like Webcore. While ST has now made many strides in their Routines, and getting slowly into local automation, where I have now been able to recreate 85% with just ST routines, I am now contemplating Hubitat.

But this is where I am struggling.. I initially set up a few devices to “test” out Hubitat. A Zigbee smart plug, 4 wifi Kasa lights, one Z-Wave switch, Schlage Zwave lock, and their native Geo location for presence. My experience first week was horrible! Lock super delayed. Wifi lights responsive in app, but when I physically turned them on, app wouldn’t update for 30 minutes! And can’t reduce polling time. Geo phone location was hit and miss as well. Was a Life360 user, but found their app not as reliable as webcore.

Is this unusual for Hubitat?? Perhaps I didn’t have an adequate ZWave mesh network set up yet?? I wanna love Hubitat, but just not that impressed yet.

[billhanna]

Love your work and channel Matt but you more than anyone else have convinced me that I don't NEED any home automation what so ever. Thank you 🙏 AGAIN

[worlds_okayest_crossfitter]

One word: Vera.

For less than $100 the VeraPlus is tough to beat with Z-Wave (which is among the most open source protocols you can get), Zigbee, Bluetooth & WiFi built right in. It's locally controlled with no requirement to "call home" unlike most competitors which would render your entire home automation system inoperable if they ever went out of business and there's no monthly access fees to access 100% of it's functionality. The GUI is FAR more user friendly than those other examples you gave (especially Hubitat where you have to manually install EVERY aspect of the device and who didn't even have an app until recently) and the firmware is more mature given it's been around forever.

I've got about 100 Z-Wave devices on mine and it runs flawlessly much like the previous VeraLite it replaced. That device was rock solid for nearly a decade of use beyond it's originally advertised limits. Vera stuff works and is about the most user-friendly to add and remove devices too. I have no plans to run Zigbee, WiFi (gross) or Bluetooth devices on my smart home automation network but it's nice to know that I have that flexibility should I ever need it. Alexa integrates nearly flawlessly (the few issues we do have are largely attributed to the inferior mic array on the newer Echo Show 5 devices I recently migrated to from the Echo Dot) and the WAF meets all requirements for full adoption.

I love my VeraPlus and I'm not sure why it doesn't get more love given it's price point, proven track record, support and checking all of the right boxes for local solutions that work 100% w/o needing to call home yet still offer full access from home or away via your phone w/o any monthly access fees. There's really no compromises that I can see. They don't market the way that some of the competition with larger backing does so most don't even know about it. SmartThings gets all of the attention and I don't see the draw at all other than it was the first system someone discovered thanks to their marketing.

I sound like a commercial but it's because I've been researching & using devices in this segment for years now and I firmly believe Vera has the best solution on the market. Full stop.

[JonathanRootD]

Amazon routines constantly crash and stop working randomly. I'm so over my smart home.

[dlheisley]

15 yrs ago I started with an HAI Omni II and 61 ALC switches (cat5 control through the Omni). Omni was less tweaky than HomeSeer, easy to program, rock stable. Now ALC and Omni are dead. So when I had to replace my lighting system, I took a deep dive reading up on SmartThings, Hubitat, Home Assistant, HomeKit, and HomeSeer. I wanted power, local control, universality, and minimal coding. I ended up going with HomeSeer. It has problems, mostly in non-existent documentation, plug-in quality is all over the map, and the default interface is crude, but it may be the best “glue” solution out there. It is the only system you didn’t mention - why is that? I’d love to hear your take on it.

[DTSquared]

Can’t agree more with everything you’ve said Matt. I’ve only been playing with this for the past month but have been frustrated at the constant roadblocks due to incompatibilities or worse still functionality limitations without purchasing multiple subscription services. Perhaps the biggest annoyance is that the basic functionality that a lot of companies push as “smart homes” offer little more than timers and remote-control options which have been around for decades. To create anything that is actually smart, it has to have some form of logic control and since IFTTT has shot itself in the foot with pricing I’m going down the Hubitat route also. I’d recommend anyone starting out to buy from places with good returns policies, I’ve sent more stuff back to Amazon in the past three weeks than the previous ten years !!!

[srinics]

I know this is an older video, but I have not heard much about CHIP (will do some research on that). My question is: what are your thoughts on Matter? It was making waves at CES, but with Smart Homes, having tried so many things and err… wasted so much money over the last 10 years, I’m always a skeptic when companies talk about the interoperable utopia. Wanted to ask if you would have time to do a video on Matter (Apple, Google and Amazon have all put their support behind it). I love your in depth analysis and the vast amount of research and effort you put into your videos! Keep at it! 👍