Z-Wave to back fill Insteon

Hello.

My entire home has been Insteon for years. I have a few devices that are starting to go bad. With the sun seemingly setting on Insteon I'd rather not buy more even if I could find them. I was thinking of supplementing Insteon with Z-Wave. It seems that the Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 Z-Wave Hub is the most recommended. Does any one have manufacturer recommendations for the actual Z-Wave devices specifically dimmer switch and outlet receptacle?

Thanks,
Jim

You might try this list first:

https://www.indigodomo.com/devices/


I've been happy with the few Zooz devices I've bought

a few tips for an insteon user starting out with z-wave:

i'd suggest you try for gen 7 or "700 series" devices which use the latest generation of z-wave si-labs chipset. if you believe the advertised benefits, they have longer range, lower battery utilization, and some general future-proofing in terms of support for additional z-wave features, security, ... 500 series "z-wave plus" is the next best option. for similar reasons, i'd tend to avoid gear that says only "z-wave" but not "z-wave plus" at this point.

depending on the size of your house and other factors, you may find that you go through a "startup" period where you have added enough devices in your network to create a good mesh network and this is especially true if you start out with common z-wave devices like sensors and door locks. because those devices are battery powered, they don't act as signal relays. so my suggestion would be when you purchase your z-stick to also plan to purchase a small set of plug-in devices like lamp or appliance modules. they're generally pretty cheap. hook them up to new lamps/appliances, use them to replace old insteon modules, or just leave them with nothing plugged in, but spread them around to outlets in your house. that way, you'll have a solid foundation of signal repeaters for any other z-wave gear you want to use and you can put signal propagation issues behind you. it can be hard enough trying to master idiosyncratic z-wave pairing procedures - it only gets worse when you're trying to do it when network communication is unreliable.

remember that z-wave uses wireless comms only and unlike insteon does not use powerline signaling. you probably won't notice much difference. good news is you won't have phase-coupling or powerline noise issues. on the other hand, you will be a bit more sensitive to RF issues - interference, range, and dead spots. though hopefully those will be forgotten once you have a small to medium network of devices set up.

Thanks all for the tips.