You really don’t need a smart home hub to run your smart home, but it’s also great to have one if you building the ultimate smart home.
The four hubs I recommend that every smart homeowner should consider buying for controlling your smart home devices are:
Samsung SmartThings V3 – is one of the most popular hubs out of the four recommendations and for good reason. Samsung created a device that gives you the tools you need to control and monitor all your smart devices all from one place.
SmartThings allows you to turn your lights off, lock your home at the push of a button, create schedules and routines around the habits of you and your family. You can set devices to turn on or off when activity is detected in your home. However, do keep in mind that SmartThings is not compatible with all smart home devices. Please be sure to check the compatibly requirements first.
For me, Samsung SmartThings V3 (available on Amazon) is the best option. I love the way SmartThings can control my entire home in one app. It allows me to set my lights to automatically turn on at a set time before I wake up and turn off after I leave for work. I can also monitor all my devices and be
Wink Hub 2 – is probably the 2nd most popular and easy to use in the smart hub market. Starting with a Wink Hub 2 is a good plan for any beginner who is thinking about purchasing a smart home hub. Both Wink 2 and SmartThings has its advantages and disadvantages, so it’s hard to compare the two. The Wink Hub 2 is the latest model which is faster and more reliable than the original Wink.
The Wink Hub 2 (click to check the current price on Amazon) brings hundreds of trusted smart homes deceives together in a simple and intuitive smart home experience. The design was intended to be
Logitech Harmony Home Hub – doesn’t do as much as the Samsung SmartThings V3 or Wink Hub 2. The Harmony Home Hub only links with certain devices such as light bulbs, SmartThings and, other smart hubs but it doesn’t have Zigbee or Z-wave protocols, so that can be an issue. However, it does serve as a purpose. You can use the Harmony Home Hub to control your entire home entertainment system through an app as a virtual remote.
Before purchasing the Logitech Harmony Hub (click to check the current price on Amazon), you want to keep in mind that its cloud-based, so, if you have a crappy internet connection or have a bad Wi-Fi signal, that will affect you. If you lose internet connection or have no Wi-Fi, you have no remote. If you buy the Harmony Home Hub you might want to keep an extra remote nearby.
Setting up is not easy, it can be very difficult, so you have to be patient with it, but once you get the Harmony Hub set up it will work as design. Overall, this is a great option to control your entire smart home entertainment.
Amazon Echo Plus 2 – This is your all in one smart home hub and it pretty much has everything you need, a built-in smart hub with premium sound.
Many people are switching from using SmartThings to buying the Amazon Echo Plus 2 because of its all in one capabilities.
It comes with a temperature sensor and it supports Zigbee devices but not Z-wave. In some ways, it’s very similar to a Wink Hub which is very straightforward. It has Adobe technology that creates a premium sound and has 7 microphones at the top making it very responsive.
If you are looking for a smart home hub that is built with everything you need, this is it. Unless you want to get really deep into device handlers than maybe go with a SmartThings hub but with a premium sound, built in
Why I Picked the Samsung SmartThings V3
- 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.
- Voice Controls: Use voice commands to control connected devices using SmartThings and the Google Assistant
- Hub connects with Wi-Fi so does not need to be connected to an Ethernet cable
- Download new SmartThings (Samsung Connect) app for initial set-up.
- Compatibility: Works with Google, Alexa, SmartThings, and ZigBee communication protocols
If you are interested to learn more, click here to read, should I buy a smart home hub?