Homey Pro, is it for me?

Questions & Help
1

Hello comunity!
Sorry for this little too long post, but i want to be correctly informed, before i make a decision, as Homey Pro…doesn’t come cheap!:slightly_smiling_face:

I am standing before my start with my first smart home experience. Absolut no experience with that, never had smart devices (except tv, computer, cellphone, the usual things), but nothing to be descriebed as smart home integration.
Of course, i have started where i should: reading a lot, searching for information, seeing tons of youtube videos, etc. And all of these are shown in a good light, all looks fantastic and super easy. But my life experience push me to think further, as nothing is so simple as it looks :slightly_smiling_face:

I have read a lot about different systems, different protocols, integration compatibility, home kit, smart things, zigbee, thread, matter, etc. And so the things startet to complicate! No wonder on that! :sweat_smile:

Then i camed across Homey Pro. An device that is presented as beeing the unifier of all protocols, where we can connect all kind of devices with different protocols (z wave, zigbee, infrared, bluetooth, wifi, radio and even thread and matter). And i started to read this forum, and again…it looks simple, but is not!

Now my question, as absolut beginner: is Homey Pro the solution for me?? Would i be able to connect all the devices that i would buy, to this hub? Probably the most of them would be on zigbee protocol, which Homey should support! WiFi i think as well, maybe some homekit devices as well!

As i have read on another topic on this forum, someone said that there is a part nobody is talking about, and that is that you still need a lot of extra hubs, for different devices. What am i missing then?? Which part did i get it wrong?? If Homey pro supports as example zigbee protocol, why would i need an extra zigbee hub, to connect to Homey Pro, which should support allready zigbee protocol??

Can someone ( who owns this device ) tell me a little bit about his experience? Is is true, that i would need to buy all kind of extra hubs, or an i connect all the devices directly to Homey Pro? Once again, the most of them would probably be on zigbee protocol. What should i be careful of? What tips/advices can you give me, as a complete beginner?

The integration should be Apple stable/compatible, as this is my ecosystem. I will also buy an Home Pod mini, as connexion hub. Is this configuration (home pod mini+homey pro) enough to start, expand and controll all my smart home devices? I am thinking to start with door sensors, some lights, thermostat, led straps, door lock, cameras. Then some automation, and as i gain more experience, the more complicated things.

I am asking for a complete honest opinion, please. Because as i said at the beginning, these toy doesn’t come cheap. And adding the costs of the devices, we are talking rapidly about thousands of $/€/£… At this amount of money, i would expect that Homey Pro does really do what it says: integrate all protocols, without the need of extra hubs.

Thank you guys for your patience and looking forward to read all opinion!
Salute you all!

2

Be prepared for some disappointments and overloaded expectations. But what is the alternative?

  • devices are only supported when the device is mentioned in an Homey app, preferably an “Official” app, for continuous and future support
  • Homey Apps connects sometimes directly to your device, and sometimes via a bridge, or via a cloud application to a bridge. (And bridges are devices, but I never considered a bridge an user device). Apps don’t always clearly tell that they connect via a bridge.
  • Homey Pro 434 MHz reception is less then KaKu bridge, even less then the previous Homey
  • Homey bridge does not (yet) extend the 434 reception range, although it does extend the transmission range. That means you will get troubles with sensors not so close to Homey (temperature and movement sensors for example)
  • Homey Pro does not store your data in the cloud. But of course the bridges you need do so
  • connections to cloud application of a manufacturer (like Growatt recently) can be discontinued by the manufacturer.
  • reading about Zigbee and Z-wave problems, I hesitate to replace my old fashioned KaKu devices to the new promising Zigbee and Z-wave devices. Resetting and re-pairing devices and repairing the flows is not my hobby😉

For me Homey is a hobby, but I use it in such away that I can switch it off without any problem.

3

I see a lot people that buy a expensive Homey and then stroll the internet to buy the cheapest Chinese smart devices they can find. After some time they are in the forum asking for advice because things doesn’t work out as expected. :rofl:
A good smarthome contains good devices, and these cost a lot of money, so go for the Homey Pro 2023 model. And yes, there is a bit of a learning curve, but you don’t need to be a wizzkid to figure it all out. :thinking:
At least check at Homey Apps if the devices you want to buy for your smarthome are compatible with a Homey Pro. Don’t forget to first check out all the Homey sites and video’s like Homey Blog or https://www.youtube.com/@homey/videos

4

Depends on the situation then, for me its better than hp19 and the ics2000 bridge.

5

No problem here, ok in the first beta releases it was hit and miss but now its stable with almost 250 zigbee devices from a lot of different companies. Z-wave has a problem and it is the top priority of athom together with the chip supplier and they know whats the problem, so the fix should be not far in the future. (Ps i have a lot of z-wave devices and don’t have the problem)

6

Thanks for reply.
You are partially wright, but in my case, i am not searching for the cheapest system. And i am aware that quality comes with a cost. But on the other side, as i said, homey is allready one of the most expensive hub on the market now, and for this price i would expect to be able to directly connect all other devices, without the need of extra hubs! At leas so should it be, if it comes allready equiped with the necesary antennas to comunicate with z wave, zigbee, bth, wifi, infrared devices.
I will search for more informations, of course. But i think this is the best place where i can ask for opinions, as here are people that do have this hub, and are using it!
:+1:

7

@Glenn_Seegers when you say over 250 zigbee devices, are they directly connected to homey pro, over zigbee protocol, or do you have multiples hubs connected??
Can you give a few exaples please (light bulbs, wall plugs, switchers, sensors…) what products do you have, that are stable and well functioning?? Those directly connected would be my point of focus…
Thank you.

8

Everything is directly connected to homey, it’s mostly ikea tradfri and xiaomi but also some random ali express valve controllers for example.

9

Well, I have already about 20 Hue devices, most lamps, connected as unknown Zigbee devices using the app “KlikAanKlikUit(Zigbee)”. Only later I discovered the app “Hue without the bridge”. And I will be adding more well known devices, like Fibaro Implant.
Just for informational purposes: Originally I paired the Philips Hue Outdoor Occupancy Sensor SLM004 using the test version of the app “Hue without the bridge” directly and selecting the correct device. After several weeks and some Homey updates, the red exclamation mark appeared. Again and again after re-pairing. Just recently I paired via “Add Device”, “Homey” “Zigbee” and I noticed that the correct device was discovered by Homey. And as a bonus the red explanation mark did not show up yet, for several days. As far as I know, there have been no software updates in the mean time. Maybe using this other way of pairing is just better. So my trust in Homey is still growing :grin: