I’m looking for door & window contact sensors and motion sensors to replace an old Simon 3 ADT security system. I’ve read a lot of posts and such and I’m still having a hard time picking out sensors that will work with an existing Smarthings v2 Hub (currently used for lights) and eventually Home Assistant once life calms down a bit more and I have time to go through all the setup. As I understand it, matter/thread support was added in the v3 hub so I don’t have this on my ST v2.
I’d like to avoid anything from Amazon and locally functioning sensors are preferred.
Can anyone advise on how to pick good devices? There seems to be tons of info out there, but I’m having trouble sifting through it for the info I need. This is a surprise for a family member who has been considering replacing an older system. I’d like to get it in place before they have the chance to buy a crappy, locked down, spyware riddled system from a company like Amazon so that I can be sure everything will transition smoothly to Home Assistant later.
The SmartThings hub does both ZigBee and Z-Wave, right?
I have been pretty happy so far with the Aotec ZW187 sensors on my doors, and the Aquara TZ-006 ZigBee sensors on my windows. The Aotec sensors are Z-Wave, and the Aquara sensors are ZigBee. So far the battery life on the Aotec devices has been stellar, but the ZigBee once seem to fade within a couple of months.
Both are local-only devices, and paired right up with my HUSZ-B combo stick USB controller. Both are well supported in Home Assistant.
I got both through Amazon, but I’m sure you can source them elsewhere as you prefer.