Zigbee2mqtt is the bomb. ZHA can't hold a candle to it in terms of reliability, features and device support. The tiny increase in complexity is so worth it.
I have 45 Zigbee devices in my home, 33 of which are battery-powered. Those are door contact sensors, PIR motion sensors, climate sensors, and a few button remotes to control lighting. They're mostly from Sonoff and Aqara, with a few unbranded Aliexpress devices that identify themselves as TUYATEC, and a couple from Third Reality. In almost every case, the battery life has been extraordinarily good -- well over a year. The only exception is the Sonoff SNZB-04 contact sensor, which seems to need battery changes about every six months. Probably not coincidentally, it's the only sensor that uses CR2032 batteries, rather than AA or AAA. I would happily replace with a slightly larger sensor to get both longer battery life and less e-waste through the ability to use a standard rechargeable AA/AAA battery.
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/tradfri-wireless-dimmer-smart-w...
This is the newer one: https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/rodret-wireless-dimmer-power-sw...
I have a few SmartThings motion sensors that are at 2-3 years battery life, though they use big lithium cells so that isn't surprising. A few sonoff temp/humidity sensors on coin cells seem to be heading for at least a year battery life as well. So far it's only the Ikea buttons that have issues.
Those Ikea buttons look pretty ordinary, so I can't think of why they'd have such poor battery life. But they seem to be the only difference between our respective systems.
These are the buttons I use most: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802252738635.html
I have switched to HomeAssistant with a Zigbee USB adaptor and there are no more battery issues.
SmartThings are aware of the issue but do not care enough to fix it.
I'm well aware of how terrible SmartThings the company is. I'd suffered through their inadequacies until April 2023 when they deleted my account during a failed backup purge. After 3 months of waiting on their support to unlock my hub I gave up and went to homeassistant.
I have noticed a difference between Duracell coin cells purchased at Costco and Amazon Basics coin cells. The Amazon Basics ones didn't last long at all, the Duracells seem much better.
The newer dimmers (STYRBAR) use AAA cells instead of coin cells, so I'd expect them to last a lot longer.
Related, Panasonic's rechargable eneloop have worked very well for me, I'm kind of excited to see AAA be used in the IOT devices where it can fit.
I have a lot less of a problem swapping batteries if I just have a few charged ones on hand and get at least many months in-between replacements.
Just a heads up: IKEA's brand of rechargables are likely rebadged eneloops at about half the price, also made in japan. Though for the AAA's they only have eneloop regular equivalents not eneloop pros.