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[MikeNY]

..

[DParker]

Yep, v2 is the latest/greatest ST hub.  As for what you're going to do with it, I would anticipate a fair amount of cussing at it and fighting urges to throw it against the wall...at least until Samsung finally manages to get a handle on the reliability problems (of their own creation) that have been plaguing the cloud-based platform software for the past few weeks.

But, in spite of that, ST still remains the best home automation environment currently available.  So, welcome aboard...and buckle up.  It's gonna' be a bumpy ride for a little bit.

[ScottinPollock]

You will. The question is for how long. It's been two years so far for me!

[Kelleytoons]

I love my ST hub (V2) and couldn't live without it.  My whole house is controlled by it.

To me the best part is using it with Echo.  I set up switches that do a ton of things -- it's nice to say to Echo "Echo Switch Netflix On" and it turns on my TV/receiver, sets to the right inputs on all the devices, dims the bedroom lights, and goes directly to Netflix.  Or "Echo Switch Pool Music On" and it turns on the outside stereo system, adjusts the color lights around the pool and (when Dot arrives) plays whatever Amazon stuff I want.

My "Echo Turn Off House" routine not only turns off all the lights but makes sure the garage door is shut, and delays the bedroom lights going off just in case I want to say it before I snuggle into bed.  Home automation is pretty cool.

[fstbusa]

Be patient when you get it... The ST cloud has been in a major disarray the last couple weeks... 

[Kelleytoons]

Good to know, I hope I'm as fortunate. Maybe I can get it to better communicate with my NEST than Alexa does now.

I love my ST hub (V2) and couldn't live without it.  My whole house is controlled by it.

To me the best part is using it with Echo.  I set up switches that do a ton of things -- it's nice to say to Echo "Echo Switch Netflix On" and it turns on my TV/receiver, sets to the right inputs on all the devices, dims the bedroom lights, and goes directly to Netflix.  Or "Echo Switch Pool Music On" and it turns on the outside stereo system, adjusts the color lights around the pool and (when Dot arrives) plays whatever Amazon stuff I want.

My "Echo Turn Off House" routine not only turns off all the lights but makes sure the garage door is shut, and delays the bedroom lights going off just in case I want to say it before I snuggle into bed.  Home automation is pretty cool.

Can't say about NEST, but my Sensi Thermostat works perfectly with Echo (although my favorite thing about it is using my phone app to control it at night, when my wife is asleep and I get too hot or too cold).

As the above poster noted, there have been some issues with the ST servers, but they haven't been nearly as huge as some have said.  We had a day of outage here in the U.S. but perhaps it's been worse elsewhere.  Overall I'd say it's more reliable than my internet provider has been <g>.

[DParker]

As the above poster noted, there have been some issues with the ST servers, but they haven't been nearly as huge as some have said.  We had a day of outage here in the U.S. but perhaps it's been worse elsewhere.  Overall I'd say it's more reliable than my internet provider has been <g>.

How bad it's been depends on which ST servers are handling your cloud-based functionality.  For many, many in the U.S. (and elsewhere) it's been far worse (especially for Smart Home Monitoring subscribers, but it's effecting the other base functionality as well) than you might think...to the point that some are jumping ship.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/update-recent-smartthings-user-experience-platform-performance/42547/1206

[Kelleytoons]

I might believe those who use SHM, but as I'm sure you do I subscribe to the status reports and they have been very consistent with my experience, which is to say we have not had any major outages beyond one day (and it has been cleaned up greatly).

Samsung has thrown a lot of resources at this and I'm confident it will continue to work properly -- however, I have only used ST for a little over a month so perhaps your experience prior to that was much worse (in that month's time, with MANY complicated routines that automate things all day long in my house, I've had one day of issues -- as I said, a lot better than my ISP, which itself is fairly reliable).

[DParker]

I might believe those who use SHM, but as I'm sure you do I subscribe to the status reports and they have been very consistent with my experience, which is to say we have not had any major outages beyond one day (and it has been cleaned up greatly).

Samsung has thrown a lot of resources at this and I'm confident it will continue to work properly -- however, I have only used ST for a little over a month so perhaps your experience prior to that was much worse (in that month's time, with MANY complicated routines that automate things all day long in my house, I've had one day of issues -- as I said, a lot better than my ISP, which itself is fairly reliable).

I have to assume that you didn't visit the link I provided.  The stability and reliability problems with ST over the past 4 weeks or so have been quite extensive, your personal experience notwithstanding, and are well known and acknowledged by the many, many entries in that thread from ST support itself (beginning with the very first post in the thread).  It isn't a matter of complete "outages", but of cloud database corruption and other issues that are causing chronic problems with malfunctioning apps, loss of connection to devices, rules not firing, etc, etc.

I've been spared from the worst of it, and in fact saw no effects at all until a week ago when some of my lights stopped responding and the app began reporting incorrect device statuses.  But the problems are very real and widespread, nonetheless.

I have only used ST for a little over a month so perhaps your experience prior to that was much worse

No...but the problem in general has been going on for a large segment of customers for at least 25 days, and is STILL going on (which you'll note if you scroll to the end of the link I have you.)

[DParker]

There's no official support yet (not surprising, considering that the two companies are competitors in the HA market), but one of the strengths of the SmartThings architecture is the availability of user-developed custom apps and device support.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/nest-thermostat/46?mobile_view=0

[Kelleytoons]

I really like GE's switches -- they work very fast (with no lag) even when I have Echo controlling an ST app (so a more complicated routine than just on/off/dim).

I haven't tried any Levitron stuff, but my Wemo stuff in general has *always* worked slowly (I really kind of hate Wemo).

[Kelleytoons]

Oh, and DParker -- there's a reason heresay evidence isn't valid in court.  Just reading about what other folks say isn't compelling to me.  And as both your and my experiences show, there are some whose issues are minor.  While I am not saying that folks are lying about what they may be going through, it just isn't compelling when faced with the status reports I have seen from Samsung (which, again, correspond directly to what I have seen myself).

So, everyone can believe what they want -- I am *sure*, however, that Samsung is working to make the company (which they haven't even owned for a year yet) the best it can be.  As long as it works for me I'm not worried.

[DParker]

Oh, and DParker -- there's a reason heresay evidence isn't valid in court.  Just reading about what other folks say isn't compelling to me.

Seriously?  I provide you with a link to repeated acknowledgement and confirmation of the problem BY ST CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND PROJECT DEVELOPERS themselves (which, as I already pointed out, begins with the very first post in the thread I linked to...a thread initiated by ST STAFF themselves, which even included a teleconference on the problem)...and your take-away from that is, "It's just hearsay" (not "heresay")?

Let me repeat that:  The link I gave you was to a thread started by THE COMPANY ITSELF to acknowledge the problem and try to keep users up-to-date on their progress in addressing the problem.

Or maybe you think that Samsung is just making the whole thing up as part of some elaborate scheme to trash itself.

And as both your and my experiences show, there are some whose issues are minor.

Uh, yeah...that's why I said that it depended on which server was handling your cloud-based functionality.  That doesn't mean that problem isn't wide-spread and significant.

[jwlv]

At this point in time, I feel that SmartThings is more of a hobbyist device. Kinda like the Raspberry Pi. It's definitely not what Samsung should be involved in. At least not in the mass retail market for this device.

[DParker]

At this point in time, I feel that SmartThings is more of a hobbyist device. Kinda like the Raspberry Pi. It's definitely not what Samsung should be involved in. At least not in the mass retail market for this device.

It's not quite as hacker oriented as a Pi, but you're correct in that it's definitely not ready for general consumer prime time.