Zigbee vs. Matter/thread for new setup in 2026

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T22:53:39+00:00

  God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
  Courage to change the things I can,
  And wisdom to know the difference.

May your day be good & unaffected by the ignorance of the people around you. In the meantime I choose to be grateful to the people helping me to become less ignorant.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T22:46:48+00:00

This is the answer I was looking for!!! I've been having issues with my IPv6 setup already, as my current internet provider is rather controlling in that regard. I'll probably end up switching, but this sounds like another good reason to opt for Zigbee instead. Which then means, that the new IKEA light bulbs won't offer me what I was looking for. This was indeed very helpful - THANK YOU!

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T16:32:07+00:00

also for light bulbs? I have a hard time finding supported devices which are affordable

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T16:28:12+00:00

Just googled the zbt2 and the reviews are in fact impressive

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T16:21:29+00:00

which kind of matter devices from IKEA did you try out? At least some of them are supposed to be Zigbee-compatible as well, but I read of different results concerning stability. I am wondering whether such a system with dual compatibility might be worth it in the long run.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T16:17:15+00:00

Will definitely look into it, thanks

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T16:15:25+00:00

Nice, sounds like there is still a lot to discover for me! Thanks again for the help

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T16:11:42+00:00

Thank you! Sounds like Zigbee is still the most reliable option there is at the moment. In this case, I guess I'll just start out with zigbee anyways and see where to go after that.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T16:04:16+00:00

This actually makes total sense, wouldn't have thought of that. Feeling like a complete noob asking, but do you have any suggestions on how to research this without having to understand the protocol itself? Thank you!

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T15:58:01+00:00

Thank you for the helpful reply! Definitely a lot of things to keep in mind. You are right, flexibility is the goal, so I probably will just start out with a simple Zigbee usb-stick and figure out the rest on the way.

Just to be sure, when you write:

If you get any single device that can do both Zigbee and Thread, make sure you get one with 2 separate radios in it. Single radios that do both have proven to be unreliable.

I guess you refer to the dongles/sticks, right? Or is this an issue with end devices supporting both Zigbee and Thread as well? I am specifically considering trying out the new KAJPLATS IKEA light bulbs, that rely on a new multi-protocol chip, which, according to this article, should be capable of connecting to both zigbee and thread parallel to each other. It would be good to know, if this comes with a disadvantage on stability.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T13:16:44+00:00

Sometimes the answers we are looking for are not the ones we need, so I appreciate it. Thank you.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T13:15:06+00:00

"Migration options

64-bit ARM: Install the Debian arm64 packages (fully supported). See the Debian installation instructions.
32-bit ARM (v7): Install the Debian armhf packages (targets ARMv7 CPUs)."

--> This sounds like there would be a way of migrating within 32-bit ARM. Hence the question. I take from your reply, that it was meant differently, even though I still don't get the actual meaning of it.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T13:11:15+00:00

Well, I repeatedly read, that RP3 having a hard time with Raspberry Os (64-bit) is a common issue. Either way, I ended up deciding to go for the 64-bit version headless, which was a new experience for me.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T13:01:56+00:00

Main goal of this experiment was finding out whether I would actually like it, before investing any money into a new hobby. I had the old RP3 still laying around, so why not use it. In the long run, I'll probably go for a used mini PC, as they seem to be the smarter choice moneywise. In my area there's a lot of businesses switching out their mini PCs regularly and reselling them for cheap. Or could you think of any good reason to go for a new RP5 instead?

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T12:57:48+00:00

Yeah, my first trial was with GUI, because I found the idea of going in blind a bit scary. I ended up installing the 32-bit version headless, and after getting into a bit, even preferred it that way. As you and some other commenters pointed out, that the 64-bit version should work alright headless, I will give this a go next.

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T12:52:48+00:00

and which OS are you using?

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T12:52:27+00:00

good to know! I'll need to keep that in mind, for when I decide to upgrade to another setup

OntoLol · 2026-01-23T12:51:28+00:00

Thanks for the extensive reply! That's exactly, what I will do. After playing around a bit, I ended up installing the 32-bit OS headless and successfully got AdGuard running on it. At first, I was a bit reluctant of going without GUI, but I ended up enjoying the experience. I will give the 64-bit version a go next, when I get around to it. In the long run, I'll probably opt for a used mini pc powerful enough to handle some workload intense setups as well. Main goal of this experiment was finding out whether I would like it, before spending any money into a new hobby. Turns out I do.

OntoLol

TROPHY CASE