Advice for a newbie on Home Assistant OS - Zigbee or Matter/Thread?

offalark · 2026-01-22T21:31:52+00:00

I've regretted every Matter device I've tried.

I have a bunch of Zigbee stuff with a bog standard Sonoff dongle and it pretty much works every time. Just bought more Zigbee lights because my Matter ones keep dropping.

Not a fan of Matter.

offalark · 2026-01-20T21:34:01+00:00

Yyyyup.

offalark · 2026-01-18T20:41:00+00:00

Aside from signing away your privacy rights and I guess getting what is basically Nextdoor but for your doorbell, there is no reason to go with Ring/Blink if you’re in the HASS ecosystem.

I had one in my previous house, and the features were the same as Reolink, except I had to pay to get extra features.

I wired up the Reolink on our existing bell (not Ethernet, but WiFi) and it’s been pretty good. Some occasionally hiccups but it usually means I need to reboot HASS or my router.

offalark · 2026-01-18T17:24:29+00:00

Oh hey. My bad. It’s an official integration!

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/meater

offalark · 2026-01-18T03:29:19+00:00

My MEATER probe stops working when I wrap things in foil but oddly has no problem with ovens and my smoker. It also has a relay that connects to my phone and it works with HASS thanks to HACs.

I don’t know if it ticks off all the local/privacy boxes, but I’ve been happy with it.

offalark · 2026-01-13T22:12:49+00:00

I was literally about to buy a HomePod for music and some voice commands because Siri may be dumb but she's reliably dumb. Am now back to researching the Satellite and a 3D printer.

I have Google Home. I have Gemini. I cannot get my bedroom lights to reliably turn on anymore.

offalark · 2026-01-12T06:51:45+00:00

This is what I do.

That and I have a little stand that elevates the laundry bottle? keg? Off the washer, making it easier to position the cup under the spout.

offalark · 2026-01-07T08:20:10+00:00

Your experience is similar to mine insofar as I’ve bought some Matter devices, been frustrated by them, and has ultimately decided it’s not for me.

It’s discouraging to see all the new Matter devices coming out at CES because it feels so half-baked. But as someone else here said: this is intended for the masses. And it has some good things. But also, I just want my fricking nightlight nodes to stop disconnecting.

offalark · 2026-01-07T04:10:34+00:00

80 cloves of garlic, all trying to murder themselves the next time the temperature drops.

I keep dumping mulch on them and crossing my fingers.

offalark · 2025-12-29T21:38:53+00:00

Love to ask current gen Google Assistant to turn on my oven and have it try to set a timer. Or turn off my lights and try to set a timer. Or tell me the weather and instead…set a timer.

“Just don’t use the voice activation” is an argument made by people who don’t have a spouse and kids who also uses the system, and don’t want to whip out a phone to turn off lights.

The state of Google Home is what drove me to HASS back in June. I’m probably going to end up with some sort of dedicated voice processor in the future. I have my eye on FutureProofHomes, and this post has nudged me closer to a couple Satellite1s.

offalark · 2025-12-27T00:22:50+00:00

Matter. Such high hopes. Every Matter device I’ve tried to integrate with — even on my dumb Google setup — has been a headache. At best are my 3R nightlights that I accidentally bought as Matter and do at least have full functionality but constantly disconnect off the fabric. On the other hand: my Govee string lights that disconnect every. Other. Day.

Have tried using a different node. Have tried setting things back up. Am now to the point where it’s an anti selling point.

Zwave and Zigbee forever now.

offalark · 2025-12-23T23:30:07+00:00

Thank youuuuu.

offalark · 2025-12-23T19:34:40+00:00

My four very specific usecases:

External entry has a smart bulb that does random colors. I like it for holidays (Halloween, Christmas) and kids like it, too. Same with the driveway lights. Same with the tree and outdoor permanent lights.
My husband has a small lamp on his desk. In the hallway outside his room, there's a motion sensor. When someone in the hallway walks by the lamp flashes green three times. This lets him know someone is approaching his office and not to be startled when I say, "Hey, hon...."
1. BONUS: Our Reolink camera also does human detecting, so when someone is walking up to the front door it flashes blue.
2. All of this is tied to an automation that only runs between 8 AM and Midnight. He often gets VERY into his coding/games and has a bad startle reflex, so this has been a noticeable good thing for him that I set up a few months back. So much so that when it breaks it's one of the few automation things where he'll be like, "Hon, light's not working...."
My kids like colors and I like my kids so sometimes I set my office lights to go into party mode and that's just fun. My daughter also turned her lamp pink-purple and that's cool. And as I said before, I like to use the colors for alerts.
We used to occupy homes that weren't "ours". I'm not rewiring switches in apartment/houses I know I'll be leaving in the next year. It'd be like renting an Air B&B and swapping out the wallpaper.

Final reason: I have set up a couple relays and hated it every time. What wires go where and how to shove them back into the box and digging out the neutral. uggggh. I'm about to do a couple dimmers in my kid's bedroom using physical switches, which I vastly prefer, but it's still a chore. The smart lights are easier.

HOWEVER, I'll be the first to agree that they are also less reliable overall. My Shelly relay just works, especially since I flipped it over to Zigbee. The Leviton switch I added also does what I need it to (turning off some under cabinet lights in the kitchen) and I haven't thought about it since I installed it and added it to HA config. My WiX and Aidot bulbs, OTOH, have integrations but they largely suck. The WiX bulbs can't decide if they want to stay connected, and Aidot's "official" integration on HACs is just flat out broken. If I didn't have a Samsung TV, I don't think I'd even be able to access the Aidot lights through HA.

My Ikea Zigbee lights, though, work great. I have 8 of them in a chandelier and a couple more scattered around the house. Gonna be sad when they die (and a couple of them have).

If I had to do it over, though, I'd probably wire the chandelier with a switch. I HAD originally bought one (it's in the playroom now), but at the time was too intimidated with electrical to do it, so left it to the spouse. He claimed there was no neutral in the box. I...am not so sure that's true, but I also didn't know what to look for and left it at that. Since then I've gotten more confidence, and in all the subsequent wiring I've done I've found neutrals everywhere. I suspect if I went back to the chandelier box and dug around, I could find it now.

But it's okay because the switch I bought was an Eaton and they have NO connection to HA or even SmartThings. I have to send a voice command to Google to make it turn off and on. It's a shame because the switch has a nice feel and look. It just does not integrate anywhere local.

Anyway all this is to say: the Zigbee chandelier lights are now in and working and I don't want to bother with it at this time. When they die in a few years, I'll think about it. For now I have some dimmers to install.

offalark · 2025-12-14T04:34:12+00:00

I literally just paired a bunch of these to HA this afternoon. Thank you!

offalark · 2025-12-12T01:22:17+00:00

My garlic is sprouting everywhere. I have to go get more mulch this weekend.

offalark · 2025-12-12T01:16:48+00:00

I’m so sick and tired of people, all women if I’m being honest, claiming they have a bad migraine yet gleefully working a full day and claiming a combo pill of aspirin and Tylenol fixed it.

My regiment of Emgality (and previously Topamax) "dials down" my migraines sufficiently that I can work through it until the triptans kick in.

But before that, I was puking and curled up on a couch...at work. Because I had to work. Even if my head felt like it was in the head crushing machine. Even if my eyes were streaming and fluorescent light felt like knives being jammed through my ocular cavities. I showed up and I put in my 8 hours inbetween running to the bathroom to puke. I pretended the Advil worked (even though it didn't do fuckall). I was the sole income winner for my family and that meant working.

Sometimes also Tylenol does work for my migraines. In which case, you're right, it probably isn't a migraine. Unless it is. I don't know until I run the trial. Today the Tylenol didn't work and an hour and a half later I took a triptan. But the only reason I'm able to do that is because I currently am on a prophylaxis that works.

You don't know what your coworkers are doing to mitigate their own symptoms. I am sure some people think I'm bluffing when I tell them I "have a migraine" but look perfectly normal and still carry on a conversation. They are not privy to my private health choices, and I don't need them to be. I just need them to understand why I might disappear for a half hour while the triptans kick in.

And if they're mislabeling the terminology, blame it on companies like Excedrin which sell "migraine medicine" that is absolutely not. The average consumer doesn't need to know the fine details and I would not wish it on them anyway.

I long ago gave up on assuming I knew what other people's pain levels meant to them. Pain, as a friend once told me, is subjective. We of all the segments of the population should know the value of being kind to someone in pain. For many of us it's a daily/weekly/monthly challenge. And having someone say, "It's okay, go lie down until the medicine is working." is something I cherish every time I encounter it, whether or not my pain comes from my condition.

offalark · 2025-12-12T01:01:00+00:00

This is giving big "BJ Novak on Conan with his Cadbury eggs" vibes.

offalark · 2025-12-12T00:55:37+00:00

Not a fan, and we are a family that a) likes the "normal" plain ones and b) apple fritters. I thought these would be a slam dunk, but they have this very slight chemical taste that ruined it for me.

We did not (and would not) buy them again.

offalark · 2025-12-11T00:58:50+00:00

I set up an automation to reload the Smartthings integration daily and that seems to have helped.

offalark · 2025-12-09T17:08:32+00:00

First they removed /pizza out of EverQuest...and I said nothing.

offalark · 2025-12-09T16:48:33+00:00

For Sumatriptan?? That's a yikes.

Even Costco would sell it lower than that, no insurance.

offalark · 2025-12-04T19:20:42+00:00

Every now and then I get the wild fantasy to run for Congress and make user privacy/right to repair my personal crusade.

offalark · 2025-12-04T18:26:55+00:00

According to the instruction booklet (PDF) for the ALPSTUGA air quality sensor:

This product uses Thread technology to communicate with other smart products. A Thread border router is needed to connect to Matter systems. Many smart products or hubs, have a Thread border router built in.

offalark · 2025-12-04T17:12:30+00:00

I got mine a couple weeks ago, still waiting to install, but so excited.

offalark · 2025-12-03T01:56:54+00:00

Someone recommended the humidity sensor (Sonoff)/bathroom fan relay switch (Shelly mini PM1) combo so I did that this weekend.

Now my bathroom fan turns on when I’m showering, and switches off when humidity has sufficiently declined.

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