Ultimate Smart Light Switch Comparison

[Music] hey what's up this is reid if you want to compare smart light switches you've come to the right place i tested many light switches that are surprisingly very different from each other i separated the light switches into three categories to make it easier to compare at the end of each category i'll share my favorite if you want more info i'll put the 10 pages of notes i took while making this video in a summarized article that you can reference after this video alright let's look at the first category inexpensive wi-fi switches these two are from treat life one is an on off switch and the other is a dimmer both have an led light to help find it in the dark and this cannot be disabled but the on off button on the dimmer switch was small and at the bottom if you were not careful you could accidentally hit the lowest dimming setting when turning on the light the middle of the switch with the led lights is touch sensitive to control the dimming this made it easy and quick to use the lights do not fade on or off but they do revert to the last dimming level when turned on most switches do this but a few don't which i'll mention later they use the smart life app and there are not many settings you can change also the lights did not flicker but if they do for you there are three different modes to help fix it the switch was made out of a lot of plastic and the holes did not line up perfectly with the standard light switch cover you might not notice it though besides that the dimmer was accurate and seemed to work well the next two are from gosund and i ran into a few issues with these first as you can see there is not a light switch plate cover installed that's because the holes on these switches are not threaded so i could not attach a standard faceplate they do come with their own face plates but it cannot be used next to another switch the other issue i ran into was neither one would work with my five led kitchen can lights they both work on single lights though i really like the actual switch design more than treat life the button to turn on and off the dimmer switch was bigger plus it had a really satisfying click to it these also used a smart life app however it did not have the anti-flicker mode like the treat life switches had the next ones are from casa which are very popular i've been using the on off switch for my front porch light for a while and it's worked great i purchased the dimmer switch and out of the box it seems much higher quality than treat life or ghost hunt especially having more metal on the switch the dimmer buttons are up top and it's a little more intuitive it also makes the on off switch easy to hit without accidentally pressing the dimming buttons but you cannot change the brightness as quickly you can set the minimum brightness to one percent and there was a little bit of light flickering at that level so you can move up the minimum brightness to fix it where the casa dimmer switch really stands out is the extra settings the lights can slowly fade on or off and you can adjust it also you can set what a double or long press will do for example a double press could slowly turn off the lights as you walk away or since the lights turn on to the last dimming level you could set it so a long press goes to a hundred percent brightness which is convenient out of the inexpensive wi-fi dimmer switches i like the casa one the best it's compatible with smart things and it feels really high quality for the low price before moving on to the next category i'm throwing in one more switch from maros muras me ross i don't know it's not a dimmer switch but it's homekit compatible and worked well this also has an android app so you can use both apps at the same time it has a very minimalist look and the little led indicator light can be turned off unlike the other wi-fi switches i've shown so far it worked well and if you're in the market for an inexpensive home kit switch it's worth checking out the next category is switches that need a hub to be smart and people like these for increased reliability the first one is a z-wave switch from ge since it uses z-wave you'll need a hub like smart things or hubitat it looks very similar to a regular wall switch you press up on the switch to turn on the light press down to turn off the light very simple and easy to press when walking by to change the brightness you hold it down which is not as intuitive when the light switch is turned on or off the lights fade this cannot be adjusted though the lights did not flicker even down to one percent the light switch is good at what it does but there are not any bells and whistles on it like some of the others i'll show you next is an on off switch and a double switch from zeus this on off switch is not ordinary though sure you can have it control light as you would expect with one press up or down but you can also have it control smart lights and devices with multiple presses they call it scene control so i have it turn on some smart light strips with a double press up which is pretty awesome the double switch has a dimmer on top and a relay button on the bottom you could have the button turn a fan on or off you could also use the button to control other smart lights as well with many different combinations of press and holds you can get really creative just make sure to write it all down in the old smart home manual the dimmer worked well with the lights not flickering even down to one percent brightness there is a fade on and off that can be adjusted in the settings as well as many other options the dimmer switch had a softer click but i still liked it and both were easy to use when walking by fast the next set of z-wave switches are similar but are from innovally you can also control smart lights with double pressing on the switch but this is only for the red series whereas all the zoo switches support scene control you can even use the little button in the top corner to control lights as well there's a really cool looking led light going down the side of the switch that changes with the brightness the led color is customizable you can also use it for notifications the innova red switch can also measure energy consumption which sets it apart from zoos the dimmer brightness and percentage levels were a little miscalibrated for me the lights turned off at around 35 percent brightness and from 75 to 100 percent it looked very similar this also happened when using the physical switch i'm not sure if i set something up wrong because there are so many settings you can change with a switch which is actually great for flexibility it's also one of the few light switches that work without a neutral wire but it's recommended to use one if you have it if your house does not have neutral wires lutron has been the go-to for a long time lutron caseta does not use z-wave but instead uses their own bridge i have it controlling my pendant lights because the three-way light switch box did not have a neutral wire for the three-way light switch you actually use a battery-powered pico remote these pico remotes can be placed on a counter which can be very convenient to control the lights the buttons do not have a great click to them and are positioned close together making it difficult to hit the right button in the dark when turning on the switch it will always go to full brightness no matter what the brightness was set to before the lights will also fade on quickly and off at a slower rate the fade speed cannot be changed lutron caseta has been very popular because it's possibly the most reliable smart switch out there and compatible with almost every platform from the lutron caseta app you cannot have the switches control other smart light bulbs and many of the other fancy features of zeus and innovelli but the app is very easy to use now what is my favorite smart light switch that uses a hub i would say it's a tie between zeus innovelli and lutron i know i'm the worst but they're all really good however if i had a pick i would choose lutron for the majority of light switches for a long term reliability then mix in zeus or innovally for rooms that have a lot of smart lights in them zeus did slightly work better for me than innovelly but they are both great switches i'll be leaving up all three of them in my kitchen area to keep testing and using them in future videos so make sure you're subscribed to find out how well they work long term the last category is high-end switches which all use wi-fi they cost more but they have some extra features the ecobee switch plus is up first and it does not have a dimmer switch what's unique about this is the sensors for motion light and temperature and the amazon assistant built in i've used this switch for years and have run into some issues the amazon assistant wasn't as useful as i thought it would be and even though this switch is compatible with smartthings the motion sensor is not however it still works well with homekit and all the sensors are available so i would only consider this switch if you wanted some extra sensors to work with homekit next is a new switch from oro what's unique about this is that it has a touch screen and it fits in a regular light switch plate you can dim the lights with the screen there's also a clickable button on top and bottom to turn the light on and off this worked well and was easy to press even when walking by but when turned on it does not return to the last brightness level there's a motion sensor on it that can automate the lights also a light sensor to adjust the brightness the lights fade off slowly and on quickly and this cannot be adjusted you can connect other devices to the switch i connected my ecobee thermostat and hue lights you can also connect it to an august lock and doorbell if you have another oro you could use it as an intercom it also has an onboard amazon assistant however the app crashes when trying to enable it on my phone again this is still very new so i'm sure they'll be improving it in the future it can be controlled by smart things and you can turn on a smartthing scene from the switch the screen was very warm to the touch i also found the screen a little too small to want to use it all the time but it's impressive for its small footprint the next one is brilliant which has a big screen and a big price tag it's about the size of a phone so it's easy to use because of the size it does not work next to other switches like oro does so you have to buy one that fits the size of your light switch box and it can get pricey however the brilliant can do it all seriously almost anything you can imagine if i remember right it took that majestic picture of my dog luna with his on-board camera okay it didn't do that but it does have a camera this might be surprising but it's really useful as a video intercom or to check on things when you're gone there's a privacy cover so that's good brilliant has a motion sensor for the lights it can control your thermostat view a doorbell feed unlock your door and control smart lights from lifx hue tp-link and smart things the sliders can control physical lights connected to it or you can change them to control smart lights instead you can change the fade on or off from the screen and almost all the settings can be done right from the screen which is very convenient you can quickly select scenes from the home screen and it's very family friendly the only weakness of brilliant is using the sliders can be difficult sometimes trying to turn the light on will turn it on and off really fast and it's frustrating if you're looking for a high-end switch the brilliant is still my favorite even though it cost a lot of money it really is a control panel right there on your wall they push out updates every two weeks and it definitely feels like you're getting a premium product hopefully this video helped you make a decision or at least see what else is out there and if you want to compare more specs the article is linked below i included the top smart light switches i could find and if you feel like i missed out on any let me know down in the comments so i know what to test for a future comparison this video was a lot of work and i have even more intense smart home content coming soon so make sure to subscribe thanks for watching and we'll see you next time activate unicorn mode can we be done i should have never set that light switch like that

Channel: Smart Home Solver

Views: 355,611

Keywords: Smart light switches, best smart light switches, smart light switch comparison smart light switch alexa, light switch smart home, smart switches for home, smart switch no neutral wire, treatlife switch, gosund smart switch, kasa light switch, ge light switch, zooz switch, inovelli switch, lutron caseta review, brilliant light switch, light switch

Id: Vt6hcSDh1wE

Length: 11min 52sec (712 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 04 2020