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Start your morning right with a smart hub!

A smart home consists of 3 major things, devices (lights, thermostats, cameras, etc.), a hub and an optional voice assistant such as Alexa and Google.

You need a hub in order to make your devices talk to each other and create efficient and fun routines all done through a single app.

For example, as soon as you wake up in the morning, the lights are on, the coffee maker is brewing and your favorite song is playing, what a way to start your day!

Different devices use different technologies in order to communicate, such as Z-Wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc., so in order to control them all together via a single app you’ll need a hub, and that’s where SmartThings and Hubitat come in.

SmartThings is an already fairly established smart hub that provides an easy and efficient way to have all your devices working together. However, more and more users are turning to Hubitat Elevation and we’re going to explain why!

Feel free to use our navigation system to skip to any part you prefer.

The Short Story — Great idea, poor execution. It’s been two years, and they’re far from even having a working prototype. Here’s a Facebook group for those who’re wishing to get a refund.


Smart home hubs have gotten more and more advanced as time has gone on, and over the past few years, we’ve started to see different combinations of technology implemented that serve to improve the abilities of your connected home. While the primary purpose is to allow smart home tech to communicate with one another, create different triggers, and customize setups, multiple companies have shown us that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to smart hubs.

Whether it’s the Echo Plus (a Zigbee hub with Amazon Alexa built in) or something as advanced as the Symbio by Toshiba (6-in-1 device with Z-Wave, Zigbee, and WiFi support), these hubs are smarter than ever before — and The Moon by 1-Ring is no exception.

Our comprehensive Moon by 1-Ring review is detailed below, so let’s dive into what makes this all-in-one smart home hub and camera so special.

Smart technology is more prevalent than ever before, and products that were once reserved for the wealthy techie have become accessible to pretty much any homeowner. Now more than ever before, it’s a real possibility to have a home that is connected, convenient, and that responds to your whims.

There are hundreds of smart products on the market that offer utility or entertainment to your home, but what really separates a smart home from a jumble of technology is the smart home hubs. These bases communicate with your different technology and allow them to work together seamlessly, providing a cohesive experience rather than forcing you to deal with a bunch of self-contained devices.

Below we take a look at the Wink vs. SmartThings Gen 3 to help you get a sense of which smart home controller might be best for your home. Each brand offers their own take on the connected home, but is one better than the other? The answer might not be so simple.

Read on below for a detailed breakdown of what each device has to offer.

Most people, when they think of smart homes, think of smart bulbs and smart thermostats. But it’s services like Samsung SmartThings that take all your smart products and mesh them together into a truly connected home.

Let’s take a look at the SmartThings v2 vs. v3 and figure out which smart home controller will give you the most bang for your buck.

Choosing between Wink vs. SmartThings is like choosing between iOS and Android — they’re both great and offer a lot of smart features. But, there are a few minor differences between the two that we think are worth being mentioned.

Every year that passes, more smart home devices get released. And it’s incredibly important to have a great hub that lets you easily control them all. So, when it comes to choosing between Insteon vs. Wink, for us the choice is obvious. And to make it easier for you, let’s guide you through the differences between these two smart home hubs.

To begin with, let us clarify that as of now Insteon offers 3 types of hubs: original Insteon 2242, Insteon Pro hub 2243, and the new Insteon hub 2245. The original one and the new one are very similar, and even though the original Insteon hub is officially discontinued, you can still buy it from Amazon. To learn more about the differences between the old and new Insteon hub, please refer to this article: Insteon 2245 vs. 2242 — What’s the Difference?

And then there’s a Pro version 2243. The Pro hub is very different from the original and the new one. The Insteon Pro hub is designed to be used specifically for Homekit devices. You can still control a few Insteon devices, but you’ll need to sacrifice Insteon cameras, motion and leak sensors in favor of Homekit. For a comparison with the Wink hub, we’ll take the most complete and absolute version of the Insteon hubs — the new Insteon hub 2245.

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Wink hub also has two versions which are the Wink hub and Wink hub 2. As it usually happens, the newer version has better features and aspects, plus it’s been around for a while already. So, for our comparison with Insteon, we’ll take Wink hub 2. And if you’re interested in reading the differences between the two Wink hubs in detail, feel free to check out our Wink Hub comparison article: Wink Hub vs. Wink Hub 2: What’s the difference?.

If you’re choosing between the Insteon 2245 vs. 2242, or are looking to upgrade your Insteon 2242 to the upgraded 2245 version, then you’ve come to the right place.

With the Insteon hub, you can simply control your smart home devices from any smartphone or tablet, anywhere in the world. Both the Insteon 2245 and 2242 allow for control of Insteon light bulbs, outlets, wall switches, and thermostats. Whether you’re at home or away, you always have access to your home. And in case something goes wrong, you’re the first one to know thanks to instant email or push notification alerts. The alerts can be triggered via water leak, door and window, motion, and smoke sensors while you’re away from home.

Both hubs have almost identical features when it comes to Insteon device control, and yet there’re some technical differences between them:

As with any technology, there’s a lot of excitement when an upgrade comes out for an existing version. And with the Insteon Hub Pro, there was a lot of hype. Unfortunately, the Insteon hub pro version didn’t quite meet peoples’ expectations.

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Now, in a comparison between most standard hubs vs. their pro versions, usually the pro version has a few new features and a hardware redesign that make it stand out from the standard one. But, the Insteon hub pro is an exception. We’ve compared the Insteon hub vs. pro purposefully to warn you about the limited features of a pro version.

Both Insteon and Lutron are veterans in home automation scene. Insteon emerged from a home automation company that was created in 1992. And the Lutron company comes from the late 1950s, when its founder invented the dimmer. The fact that these companies have been successfully around for that long means you probably can trust them both when it comes to quality. And yet, when it comes to our comparison and choosing between Insteon vs. Lutron — we’d go with Lutron.

Before we get to all the differences between the two, let’s briefly look at all four of the Lutron and Insteon hubs. Each brand of hub has a “standard” version and a pro version. In this article, we’re going to compare the pro versions of each hub — the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro and Insteon Hub Pro. And, if you’re looking for a more detailed review on the “standard” vs pro versions, feel free to check out Lutron Smart Bridge vs. Smart Bridge Pro and Insteon Hub vs. Pro — What’s the Difference?.

GE Link Hub vs. Wink Hub — What’s the History?

Before we even get into comparing GE Link Hub vs. Wink Hub (which you’ll find below), we need to talk a little bit about the companies themselves.

Both GE Link Hub and Wink Hub allow you control your smart home appliances, and both hubs come from the same company, Quirky — Except that Wink is a spin-off from invention incubator Quirky. According to a Quirky report, by 2015 there were Wink products in 300,000 homes, and the business was growing until April 2015, when Wink experienced a security problem.

Now, the problem caused a lot of Wink hubs to go offline or break. This incident forced the company to issue a recall. And already by November 2015, the Quirky company went through bankruptcy proceedings due to financial difficulties. Wink was sold for $15 million to Flextronics (now called Flex). It wasn’t surprising since Flex was Wink’s primary supplier of hardware and firmware. As of now, Wink continues to successfully operate as an independent subsidiary of Flex.

So, what is the difference between the Wink Hub vs. Wink Hub 2? Both hubs are great at connecting all your smart home appliances together in one app. But there are a number of differences that set the newer model ahead of the older one.

Now, when we first saw the Wink Hub 2, our first impression was that it just looked sleeker and slimmer. But there’s more to it than that; so let’s go over whether or not the upgrade is worth the price!

If you’re stuck choosing between SmartThings vs. Insteon, our guide will go over the differences between the two and hopefully help you make the choice that’s right for you.

As home automation becomes more popular, there are more and more companies offering smart home products. The competition is unreal and, as a result, a lot of customers are getting lost in the choices. And because of the rapid growth of technology, some companies just can’t compete anymore and have to step out of race: Revolv is a perfect example. The hub didn’t look good to begin with, but the company had thousands of customers who were pretty unhappy to learn that as of May 15th 2016, the Revolv Hub would no longer be functional — and after years of use!

So, once you’ve started looking into home automation, it seems like the most important thing to do would be to analyze the company’s position. But, when we talk about SmartThings vs. Insteon, the two companies have been on a market for more than 10 years and seem pretty steady. However, as is the problem in this new smart home market, you never know when the next giant company might just go under and leave customers with useless devices.

But, let’s talk about positive things, like the differences between two great devices!

Today, we’ll talk about smart home lighting automation with the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro. As the digital home automation becomes more and more popular, the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro is actually sounds like a good idea. Not to mention, when we are talking about Lutron—we are talking about a leader in lighting control systems.

With the Smart Bridge Pro, you can turn your Lutron’s un-smart dimmer switches into digital home automation pros. And not only dimmers. The Lutron Smart Bridge Pro is also compatible with Serena battery-powered shades and Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats. Sounds incredible? Because it is!

As smart home automation becomes more popular, more companies integrate smart home solutions. Nowadays, it’s easy to control your home remotely from your smartphone. But as it becomes more popular, it gets harder to choose between home automation systems.

Overall, it all comes to compatibility issues and number of options. Before buying a smart home automation system for your home, make sure it’s compatible with all your smart home appliances. So, as a result, you can control everything from one app, instead of downloading apps for each device separately.

Please Note: As of March 31st, 2019, Lowe’s is shutting down their Iris smart home platform. More information here.

So, there’s a lot of smart home systems, and it might be a bit difficult to choose the right one for your home. Today we’ll compare two systems and discuss what each has going for it. Insteon has been selling smart home appliances since 2012 and has really made a mark on the market. Whereas Iris, while owned by Lowe’s, is a younger smart home brand that has already built a trusted reputation with its customers.

The Iris smart home automation system is the only smart home platform created by a home retailer (Lowe’s). The Lowe’s company has nearly 70 years of experience when it comes to home improvements. With all the knowledge gained over the past 70 years, Lowe’s offers a great smart home solution — Iris smart home automation platform.