Samsung SmartThings Hub V3 Review: Still the Best, But Could Be Better
Our Verdict
The Samsung SmartThings hub is still the best at integrating all your smart dwelling devices.
For
- Wi-Fi makes installing this hub easier
- Allows for more than automation than other hubs
- Works with Zigbee and Z-Wave devices
Against
- Difficult to upgrade from older hub
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
The Samsung SmartThings hub is even so the all-time at integrating all your smart home devices.
Pros
- +
Wi-Fi makes installing this hub easier
- +
Allows for more than automation than other hubs
- +
Works with Zigbee and Z-Moving ridge devices
Cons
- -
Difficult to upgrade from older hub
In my dwelling house, I have smart plugs, smart lights, smart speakers, smart thermostats, smart locks, smart doorbells and more than. Getting them all to work with each other to create a truly smart home is a challenge.
Samsung'south SmartThings hub has long been the best option for integrating all such devices so that, for case, the lights turn on when I open my forepart door. The newest version of the SmartThings hub has a slimmer design and comes with Wi-Fi — but information technology's the app that actually differentiates this device from all others, and makes it one of the best smart home hubs.
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Samsung SmartThings Hub review: Price and release date
The third version of the Samsung SmartThings Hub was released in 2018 (when this review was originally published) and retailed at the time for $99. It's since dropped in price to around $69.
If you're looking for a smart domicile hub and mesh router in 1, then we recommend Samsung's SmartThings WiFi Mesh router, which puts the capabilities of the SmartThings hub into the router. Information technology starts at $120 for the base unit, and costs $279 for a three-pack.
Samsung SmartThings Hub review: Design
The SmartThings 2018 (V3) hub has roughly the aforementioned footprint as the older model, only it's a hair thinner and has a rounder shape. Although you lot tin connect this hub via Wi-Fi to your router, the newer model also has an Ethernet port for a hardwired connection.
The hub tin connect to Zigbee and Z-Wave devices from 50-130 feet away (depending on the construction of your home). Only because you lot can connect this hub to your router via Wi-Fi, placing it in the ideal location in your house is much easier.
At that place'southward one USB port on the dorsum — one fewer than in the previous generation — simply, as with the second-generation hub, you can't utilize this port for anything. Samsung has been promising for years that you'll be able to use this port to plug in a device to it; I'm beginning to lose hope. Same goes with the Bluetooth module in both hubs, which is used for setup only.
The 2018 hub too lacks the bombardment backup of the previous model, but if yous've lost power, chances are none of your other smart home devices will work, either.
If you're upgrading from an older hub, be prepared to do some work. Y'all have to first remove the older device from the SmartThings app, then manually reconnect all your smart home devices. If yous're like me and have a ton of devices, this can have some time.
Samsung SmartThings Hub review: Interface
Samsung'southward SmartThings app has changed a lot since nosotros initially reviewed information technology. For 1 affair, the interface is a bit clearer than earlier. Now, the home screen is divided into sections based on what devices you take in each room and their status. Each device has a small card, and lets you control each.
A bill of fare at the height left lets you dig into your rooms, devices, scenes, automations, and more. Press the Plus icon in the upper right, and yous can also add together devices to the arrangement, as well as create scenes, automations, and lighting groups.
I liked that I could control the colour of my Philips Hue lights from the SmartThings app, just that's nigh the extent of it. You tin't control Philips Hue scenes (every bit yous tin can in the Alexa app); I also wish that I could view feeds from security cameras.
Samsung SmartThings Hub review: Smart Habitation compatibility
Apart from its extensive automations, the best reason to purchase the SmartThings Hub is that it can connect to an incredible number of smart abode products, including Band video doorbells, Arlo cameras, Philips Hue, Lutron Caseta, Ecobee thermostats, TP-Link smart plugs and switches, smart locks from August, Yale, Schlage, and Kwikset, and yes, even Nest products.
You can also employ Alexa and Google Assistant to control devices connected to SmartThings. Here'due south a full list of all devices that piece of work with SmartThings.
When it comes time to add together a new device, the SmartThings app will first attempt to discover the device automatically. If information technology doesn't appear in the app, you tin add it manually, selecting from a bevy of options, including TVs, air conditioners, washers and dryers, refrigerators, robot vacuums, cameras, doorbells, and lights.
Samsung SmartThings Hub review: Automations
The main reason to utilize SmartThings is not that y'all tin control smart dwelling house devices from a single app, only that you can link them together. So, for example, you lot can have a smart speaker play a sound if your doorbell camera detects motion, the water sensor gets wet or you arrive dwelling house.
You can create automations based on the time of 24-hour interval, the status of a device (such as a door sensor opening), or your or a family member's location. SmartThings has a few recommended automations, such as warning you if a window is open and a rainstorm is budgeted. The hub can also exist set to turn off your thermostat if a window is opened.
MORE: The All-time Smart Habitation Devices That Work with Google Home
SmartThings' automations are more sophisticated than both Alexa's and Google Dwelling'due south Routines, though Alexa has been getting much better. Google Home is all the same pretty express, though, as you tin can just initiate a Routine merely via a spoken command, or past programming it to launch at a certain time of day.
Yep, yous tin can utilize IFTTT with Alexa or Google Home to perform some more-sophisticated actions, but then again, yous can use IFTTT with SmartThings, too.
Samsung SmartThings Hub review: Verdict
By virtue of its more-advanced automations and power to link to both Z-Wave and Zigbee devices, the Samsung SmartThings Hub is still the all-time choice for linking multiple smart home products together.
Those who are more than invested in Alexa'southward ecosystem may prefer the Amazon Echo (4th gen), which has a Zigbee hub built in; Alexa has some pretty good automations, too. But for those who need to connect an fifty-fifty wider range of products, the SmartThings Hub is the best option.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-smart-things-v3,review-5809.html
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