Hacker News Reader

Comment by apparent | Hacker News Reader

Wow, this affects all but 4 Wemo products. Crazy! This is a great way to ensure that no one trusts the Belkin/Wemo brands anymore.

The most reliable Wemo devices I have are the older ones. The oldest, which I got off Craigslist, is rock solid. The newer outlet plugs are super flakey.

I was already unlikely to buy new Wemo products, given their trajectory. But now that they're abandoning their stable products, I'm definitely never buying Wemo again.

Anyone have suggestions for good wall plugs and light switches?

View on HN

Pick something you like, then look up its Home Assistant integration. If it says "Its IoT class is Local Push.", then you're all good. Lutron Caseta is my gold standard. After that, ZWave or Zigbee.

EDIT: From what I can tell, the Belkin integration _is_ local push, so I don't know what the big deal is. Does removing "support" just mean no more updates? If they aren't already, hook those guys up to Home Assistant and you can keep them until you die.

I think it means you won't be able to control them using the WeMo app or use any features via WeMo cloud services. It does say:

"Wemo products configured for use with Apple HomeKit prior to January 31, 2026 will continue to function via HomeKit in the absence of Wemo cloud services and the Wemo app."

So I'd assume that if you can use something without WeMo services or apps, you'll continue to be able to.

billfor says below that they work when internet is unavailable, so maybe they'll continue to work that way?

That’s how my Best Buy switches (that they gave me gift cards equal to the purchase price of) work - HomeKit continues to work fine, but I’m not sure I’d be able to reconfigure it.

I’d assume so.

That statement does imply products can no longer be configured for use with HomeKit after the servers shut down. Hope you don't need to reset any of your devices!

I did wonder about that. Do you have to use WeMo services as part of configuring for Homekit so that basically any device not set up already is useless?

I was weary but took the leap and installed Lutron Caseta switches throughout my house. They are absolutely fantastic.

I have had Caseta in mine for over 5 years.. only one failed out of like 16.

This is honestly very interesting. I bought a condo that was pre-equipped with Casetas and due to the crappy app I thought “these are budget and terrible” but actually reflecting now they all work tremendously and I haven’t had a problem with any. Goes to show how much an ignorant person (me) can’t recognize function over form

Unfortunately “local push/access” is not a guarantee. When Awair decided to end support for their older devices they decided to also shutdown the local device API.

Oh, odd. I have one of the first Awair devices and its local API is still going strong. Maybe because I haven’t accessed it through their app in about 5 years? They must have lost track of it. I’ll block its internet access entirely to make sure they can’t break it. The beauty of a local API. :D

My Meross plugs have been very stable. Have not had to reset them, reconfigure them, rehome them, re-pair them, etc.

For light switches I tell everyone I know it is either LUTRON or nothing. Your time is not worth messing with anything else, and Lutron has been in the game long enough they have demonstrated commitment to their products. Finally, my Lutron system has been one of the few IoT devices I have ever had that was truly "set and forget". Once the Lutron switches and shades were bound, they have been perfect ever since for me.

Company culture? lutron is used to selling a 20 year lifespan home switch. belkin expects their devices to stay around ~5 years.

From the way Belkin treats their routers, they don't seem to expect their devices to make it to the end of the month they're brought out in. I've received better software support from noname aliexpress devices than I've received from Belkin.

According to Amazon my first Lutron switch was delivered on August 18th, 2018 and after testing it (and the bridge) out for a couple of months I switched every single switch in my house to Lutron.

I currently have 20 Lutron devices, including switches, dimmers, lamp dimmers, and pico remotes.

Between August 18th, 2018 and today the number of times my Lutron devices have failed to operate as intended can be counted on zero fingers.

I wish their product line was more expansive but if focus is what it takes to ensure the level of reliability they have, then ok.

I also have the shades, I love the entire Lutron system.

Look at the original Honeywell Z-Wave products, still going strong and still doesn't need an internet connection to work.

They will work with any Z-Wave/Zigbee compatible controller.

I'll stick with my X10 system...

Sonoff S31 - cheap and have been rock solid for me. I use them with Home Assistant.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com