Zigbee And Z Wave

I believe that for someone just starting with home automation putting together a highly reliable z wave network will be easier than zigbee.

Zigbee and z wave. Both zigbee and z wave create strong mesh networks for home automation. They also license z wave technology and run the z wave alliance which oversees certification. As a ratified multi source wireless standard available to. This group makes certain that every single z wave device adheres to a rigid set of standards.

Zigbee is an open standard run by the zigbee alliance whereas z wave was run by silicon labs which had stricter controls to make sure every z wave device works with every z wave controller. If i had to choose just one i would choose z wave. One z wave network with 30 devices will tend to be more reliable than one z wave network of 15 devices and one zigbee network of 15 devices. Even when you use a cloud dependent hub like wink or smartthings z wave and zigbee products benefit from company clouds involved in the process.

Zigbee and z wave target the same general applications. However in late 2019 there was big news that z wave was set to open up the standard in 2020. Zigbee s capability for a longer range and unlimited expansion makes it the better choice when it comes to busy offices or large spaces where a lot of wireless smart devices will be used on the same network. Z wave avoids this problem entirely as it only has to contend with itself even if you add more and more z wave devices.

Z wave and zigbee are single points of failure alexander kirch shutterstock.