First Impressions
I've been using Wemo switches to control my lighting for the past year or so. I've got 4 regular switches, one insight switch and a camera/motion detector. The evening before Thanksgiving I saw the 2 bulb/hub for $30 at Home Depot and decided to give Wink a try. It seemed to be a no lose proposition If it didn't work, I could either return the bulbs/hub, or keep the bulbs and get a Wemo hub(the GE bulbs are compatible) or just use them as regular LED bulbs. I run Windows and Android.
My feelings about automation, in general, is that it should do more than my phone/tablet being a remote control. I could just carry around some cheep plug-in remotes and accomplish that. I want it to have some intelligence. When I go to bed, I want to turn all the lights off and lower the temp. When I wake up I want to turn some lights on and increase the temp. When it gets dark, I'd like it to automatically turn some lights on. I've accomplished most of these tasks via Tasker for Android, Wemo Manager(a local server for Wemo, and the Wink API).
I received the hub/bulbs about a week after I ordered them. I set up the hub and tried to add the first bulb. The hub notified me that I needed to update the hub, so I did. It didn't work. I reset the hub and was able to update the hub(the last update also bombed so I powered the hub off and back on; I'm still running the 0.33 firmware). Adding lights hasn't been too much of a problem with one exception, but I think that has more to do with a crappy lighting fixture. I had already ordered a thermostat(Radio Thermostat-WiFi) but it arrived without the WiFi module. By now I've expanded to 5 bulbs and ordered the Z-wave module for the thermostat(the WiFi replacement module and Z-wave module arrived the same day). I also ended up getting the Kidde smoke/CO2 detector.
So far I've got pretty much everything work(one light didn't turn off last night, I'll figure it out). The Wemo portion is working well and is very responsive(it's running off a local server). The Wink control of the thermostat is also working well, there may be a delay but it's not all that noticeable. The Wink lights do have a second or two delay and this is quite noticeable. This is something they need to work on(local server, yes I've read this entire thread).
I really think it's a successful experiment, with the exception of the slight light delay. I will be adding addition devices(I ordered a lock tonight) and I wish there was a inexpensive motion sensor that could be added. I've integrated the Wink and Wemo sides so I have voice control via one interface. I'm sure I'll think of a few more ideas: such as widgets, etc.