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Smarthings vs Wink Hub 2

  • 22 March 2018
  • 9 replies
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Please point me in the right direction
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Best answer by AjTrek1 22 March 2018, 13:36

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Hello - I am completing a renovation on my new dream home (nice downsize to executive town home). As part of the reno, we installed SONOS in multiple rooms: 2 x SONOS Connect amps (bedroom/ensuite; kitchen/diningroom) + 2 x SONOS Connect (to two home theater setups). I am new to both SONOS and Home Automation. I would like to start dabbling with a Smarthome hub, beginning with the following enabled devices:
- SONOS
- Ring Doorbell Pro
- Nest 3rd Gen
- Home Decorators Collection Gardinier Smart Ceiling Fan
- Luminiz LED Strip lite with WIFI controller
- Wifi enabled electric floor heating
- Some smart light switches and perhaps motion sensors

I've read that Samsung Smarthings has issues with SONOS, but prefer the open nature of the Samsung device.

I'm looking for any advise on which direction to go: Smarthings or Wing Hub 2

Thank you.
Userlevel 7
Hi brianm1962

In the absence of a forum member making a comment from actual experience I'd have to say that Wink may have better integration with Sonos judging from the links. That said I personally cannot speak to either one so you'll have to make your own final decision based upon the info provided below. Good luck. Cheers!

Samsung Smarthings
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/200927220-How-to-connect-Sonos-devices
Wink
https://www.wink.com/help/products/sonos-home-sound-system/
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I have very good sonos integration with smartthings
Smartthings is more of an open platform. You can do more with it, but it requires you to have a better understanding of how it works. I have it myself and it's linked to Sonos, but I honestly never use it.

Wink is designed is more closed off, less customizations and features, but easier to use. I had a wink at one point, but gave it up to a friend. I have wink 2 sitting in a box somewhere, but never opened it up. I think the sonos integration is relatively new, but I would be confident that it works well.

To further complicate your decision...here's some other options.

I personally like the Lutron Hub, and this is what I use for lighting and sonos. Almost all the lighting in my house is Lutron switches. The switches are more expensive then others, but they are easier to install in most cases, and from my experience and people I've talked to, more reliable. As far as integration with Sonos, I currently have it to turn on music in certain zones, and the bathroom light for my morning alarm. That sort of thing. I can't have music play when the doorbell rings though, as that connected through the Lutron hub.

Yonomi is a free phone app that can do some home automation, including Sonos.

And then Amazon alexa has it's own hub as well. I don't know a ton about what it can do. I do use Alexa as sort of a master hub of sorts for certain tasks that I can't do with just one hub or want to voice control.

I don't know that there really is a wrong choice. I think the most important think is to choose a hub that is certified to work with all the smart products you want to install in your home. When choosing a smart product, pay attention to how it communicates (wifi, ZigBee, z wave, clear connect). Wifi is probably the best as it's going to have the most compatibility.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I use Sonos and smartthings and Sonos integration every day. Sonos can be used for all voice applications in smartthings. Wink may be easier setup but smartthings is normallybthe more flexible.
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I agree with others on this thread. Wink is a very simple to setup, but constraining. SmartThings has a lot more potential, but can be daunting to the novice-average user. I have had both Wink and SmartThings and ultimately decided that Wink didn't have enough community and platform to be worth it to me.

SmartThings also has a platform within it's platform called WebCore, which allows for even more customization and automation. So I've unplugged my Wink and am on SmartThings. It's been over a year since I got rid of Wink, I can't speak to it's current capabilities.

Some of the things I would really like to see SmartThings be able to do that currently, I can't seem to find a way to do it are the following:

Group and Ungroup Devices, detect grouped devices and with whom they are grouped
Individually set volume, instead of entire group