Samsung SmartThings Hub 3rd Generation [GP-U999SJVLGDA] Smart Home Automation Hub Home Monitoring Smart Devices - Alexa Google Home Compatible - Zigbee, Z-Wave, Cloud to Cloud Protocols – White

I upgraded from the generation 2 SmartThings hub (Ethernet-only) and so far this new gen 3 hub works great, love the fact that it's Wi-Fi, I can now place the hub in a more central location. However, there are some caveats. First, I had to use the new SmartThings app to add this hub to my account. The new SmartThings app is pretty, but it lacks a lot of the functionality of the older SmartThings Classic app. For example, I'm not able to add devices that use my custom device handlers in the new app. And some of the custom automations are not available. So, once I got the new hub added to my account using the new app, I uninstalled it and reinstalled the classic app. From the classic app, I was able to set up everything just fine, including my Aeotec doorbell which uses a custom device handler. Once I had everything set up to my liking, I uninstalled the classic app and reinstalled the new app. Everything seems to be working now, except my Aeotec doorbell shows as "Checking status..." all the time (but the doorbell still works). It sounds like the new SmartThings app is still a work-in-progress, I hope they eventually get it updated to the same functionality as the classic app.

I waffled between three and four stars. Should probably be three, but the device works.

Nothing says 'We hate our customers' quite the same way as the quality of the double-sided tape they use on the Multipurpose sensor. I can't get the magnet to stay put for more than five minutes; contrast with the DSC pair that it replaced - they've been there for 7+ years and I had to pry and scrape and curse them off the frame.

I ended-up 3D printing a bracket to hold it, but now that I think about it - it's just a magnet. I should put the DSC magnet back there instead.

Otherwise, the sensor works remarkably well. The gap range is crazy-wide, nearly 1.5in before it gets spotty (!).

I paired it a few feet from the hub in a handful of seconds, then moved it 16ft in clear air to the door. It trips almost instantly, and the phone monitoring it is on an entirely different VLAN, increasing that latency a tiny bit anyway.

If you can get it to stay where you put it, it's great.

I got word that Iris, my previous home automation system, was shutting down at the end of March 2019, so I immediately ordered a Smartthings hub as my replacement. It didn't hurt that this was one of Lowe's recommendation and that the vast majority of my devices would transition. The setup and transition was fairly painless. I removed one by one each of my transferable devices and immediately paired it with Smartthings. I had an issue with one device, which required some Smartthings phone support to get paired, turned out to be simple after Daniel got on the phone. My biggest concern was my thermostat This one was an Iris 1st generation device. Everything I read said it would pair, as it turned out we need to download and install the previous version of the Smartthings app and install it from there and it showed up on the new app. I have 3 devices yet to transition over, I just wasn't in the mood to crawl under the house or move my car in the garage for 2 of them. I'll do that this coming week as they're not mission critical today.

Programming Scenes, scheduling tasks and assigning button functions was no more difficult than Iris was, actually it may have been a bit easier, or Iris gave me some good experiences. Programming options are about the same, just wish there was a history event log. From Iris I could see at a very quick glance if she preformed the tasks and/or when the last time the garage door either went up or down. The Geo Tracking function in theory looks promising, however it seems very slow to recognize when I return home and run the assigned scene. In time I'll add my Iris fob and assign scenes to run with the press of a button from the car rather then rely on the Geo Tracking function if doesn't speed up.

I'm not a home automation power programmer as some I've seen out on the internet, but for my simple needs I'm hoping to have as good a relationship with Smartthings as I had with Iris. Rest in peace Iris, it was a fun ride.

One more thing: Smartthings, find Daniel in customer service, give the guy a hefty raise!!! He understood my needs and came to the rescue in a cool, calm, and very knowledgeable way. Guys like him are hard to find and easily lost.

9/3/2018: 5 stars so far, will update as necessary

These pair effortlessly, and did not require me to be near my hub. The buttons have a great feel to them; easy to press and good tactile feedback. Press, double-press and hold are all easy to activate.

You don’t need automation for these, as you can assign actions to the device directly. BUT, you may find this useful if you want the most flexibility. I wanted single press to turn a light on or off- a toggle. This particular lamp is plugged into a smart switch / zigbee repeater. To do this, I created a custom automation (in the new app, apparently I like pain). To turn on, the action was set to single press AND the condition was added that the smart switch is consumed 3W power or less. If both are met, the light turns on with a single press. For the off automation, everything is the same except the power is 3W or greater and the light turns off. Now the button acts as a true single press toggle. And I still have double-press and hold available to assign.

The temperature monitor reads accurately.

All in all, a good addition to our zigbee ST network.

I bought 2 of these. They paired easily with the SmartThings Hub. I have one on my back door, and one on my garage door.

The two-sided tape on the main unit works great, but not on the magnet. On the one on the back door, the magnet kept pulling off of the door frame and attaching to the main unit. I used command strips, and the same thing happened. I had to turn the magnet with the flat side facing/attached to the door frame using a command strip to stop the magnet from attaching itself to the main unit. It works perfect in this orientation.

Also, I've already had to replace the battery in the one on the back door. I noticed on the second day that the battery dropped to 88%. Two days later, the sensor went offline. It turned out the be the battery. I checked the log in the SmartThings app, and could see the progression of the battery dropping, and after 20% it just died. I've replaced the battery, and everything seems good now.

Great product! Works as advertised. Just watch the magnet and the included battery.

EDIT: Please separate these items, so that each can be commented on.

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Feature Product

• Connectivity: Wirelessly connect and control a wide range of compatible smart devices from 40+ partner brands, including voice assistants, lights & switches, speakers, cameras, sensors and more
• Home Automation: Teach the hub your Good Morning, Goodbye, Goodnight, and other routines to automatically turn devices on or off throughout the day
• 24/7 Monitoring: Receive app alerts from connected devices when there's unexpected activity in your home.Material: Plastic
• Voice Controls: Use voice commands to control connected devices using SmartThings and the Google Assistant
• Improved DIY Solution: Improved guided onboarding for easier setup. Hub connects with Wi-Fi so does not need to be connected to an Ethernet cable
• Compatible with previous versions of SmartThings Sensors and Outlets
• Download new SmartThings (Samsung Connect) app for initial set-up. (Tip: You can still use SmartThings Classic app once initial set up is completed)
• Requires Android (6.0 or later) or iOS (11.0 or later)
• Product not supported outside U.S
• Compatibility: Works with Google, Alexa, SmartThings, and ZigBee communication protocols

Description

Your smart home needs a brain, so get started with a SmartThings Hub. The Samsung SmartThings Hub works with a wide range of smart devices and allows you to control them from the free SmartThings App, Google Assistant, or Alexa. Receive notifications or alerts about what's happening in and around your home and remotely control your home's security, energy usage, and lighting.

You can add as many additional SmartThings sensors or other popular Z-Wave, ZigBee, or Internet-connected products to enhance your connected home. Works with smart devices from the following brands: Philips Hue, Ring, Arlo, Ecobee, Honeywell, Bose and more. (Not compatible with NEST, Sonos, D-Link, and Blink devices.) Look for the “Works with SmartThings” logo next time you’re buying a connected device for your home, or visit SmartThings website to see the full list of compatible devices.

Requires an internet-connected WiFi router plus the free SmartThings app for Android (6.0 or later) or iOS (11.0 or later). Connected devices sold separately. Works in the US and Canada.

Includes: ethernet cable and power supply, quick-start guide, and health and safety guide. 1 year Samsung SmartThings limited warranty.

Technical Details:
. Power: In-wall power adapter.
. Communication Protocol: Zigbee, Z-Wave, and WiFi
. Range: 50-130 feet depending on your home’s construction.
. Operating Temperature: 32-104°F.
. Product not supported outside U.S.
. Download new smartphone (Samsung connect) app for initial set-up. (Tip: you can still use smartphone classic app Once initial set up is completed)

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EDIT: I did eventually get this to work. It required seven - SEVEN - factory resets and poking around the smart things website to a deeply-buried place that allowed me to edit default locations, which appears to somehow have been key to proper operation. Anyway, I got my devices to pair with the hub and have created the rules I wanted. Bixby works horribly with this however. Its speech recognition leaves much to be desired. I got an Echo Dot and it is much more reliable.

after a week this device has failed to do much of anything. I set it up successfully enough. Then I got my first smart device - a GE Z-Wave outlet. Pairing is supposed to be straightforward. Choose add a device in the app, tap a button on the device, and voila. But...nothing ever paired. Same thing with a Z-Wave dimmer light switch. Nothing happens.

With few other options, I factory reset the device. Went through the setup process again, successfully I thought. Went to try adding a device again. Get the message "You need a hub to connect this device." Uhh...what? No matter what I try, the app doesn't seem to know it just successfully communicated with the hub well enough to successfully set it up.

The thing is still staring at me with a single solid green LED eye, which support pages tell me is a sign that everything is working correctly. Great.

This is a technology not quite ready for prime time.

This is a really nice, small sensor that easily connected to my SmartThings hub v2. I installed it as an open/close sensor on my garage door. I've attached a photo of the instructions for configuring it as a garage door (tilt) sensor using the SmartThings Classic app. BTW, my garage is detached, yet the sensor has enough range that it notifies me almost instantly when the garage door opens or closes. The temperature sensor is spot on, too. No more garage door sitting open all night!

I own several of the SmartThings Buttons, and it seems every other day one or them becomes "Unavailable" until I physically remove and reinsert the battery. To compound the issue, the buttons are stuck on the wall with a strong adhesive. Last time I had to reset one of the devices, I pulled a bunch of paint off of my wall. And then because the adhesive was covered in paint and nonfunctional, I had to find some new adhesive. These things are great when they work, but my confidence in them is shot.

Also, my hub and buttons are both running the latest firmware available at the time of this review.

EDIT: Update. After a firmware update a few months ago, the bulbs now flicker on/off randomly at all hours of the day. I have waited more than enough time for Cree to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, my spouse is getting angrier at me by the day, so I'm replacing all of these bulbs with another brand. The money I spent on these has been wasted.

UPDATE: It turns out the Cree light bulbs were breaking all of the other ZigBee devices in my network. Previously, all of my SmartThings buttons and sensors kept becoming "Unavailable" at random intervals. However, this issue ceased after I replaced all of my Cree bulbs. Consequently, I bumped my review up from 1 to 4 stars.

I already have a SmartThings hub with several devices and am expanding my device types with my first water leak detection sensors (new generation). This sensor was easy to connect to the SmartThings hub (30 seconds) and test out. I like that it has sensors on both the top and bottom of the unit.

I configured the SmartThings hub to send a push notification to my phone if a leak is detected. When testing the sensor, I was pleasantly surprised by two things. First, it is extremely sensitive. All I had to do was lick a finger and put it across the probes and they set off with that small amount of moisture. Second, when I tested it, I received the push notification on my phone in about two seconds. Both of these characteristics are exactly what I want in a leak detector.

The battery life appears to be pretty good. In two weeks, the battery has only dropped 2%. At that rate, the battery should last just under two years.

Finally, I just ordered 4 more of these sensors for other plumbing locations in my home, hence the 5 star rating.

I decided to wait a while before writeingbmy review on this hub so I could really assess what I thought.

It works well for controlling many different smart home devices - but certainly not all.

There are ways to research and program so that random devices may work with the hub that aren’t really intended for it but I’m not going to get into that.

The devices that work with the hub are more expensive than the knock off ones that work through their individual apps but in my opinion it’s worth the extra money to have one central app where you can controll everything.

The apps have a bit of a learning curve but not terrible for people who are familiar with smart home devices and how they work.

I’d recommend this hub to integrate multiple smart home devices together and to simplify your life.

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