I have been holding back because I don't want to be a naysayer about Wink on a Wink forum, but the SmartThings user community is awesome, with a capital A W E S O M E !
ST itself is no better than Wink, but ST facilitates community devices and apps, such that amazing creations come from the community. It's definitely for hobbyists who are willing to tinker, but if that's you... run, don't walk, from Wink to ST.
:thumbsup:
I agree. ST is no paradise and as a company, doesn't seem much better than Wink. But, at least we can get new device support constantly thanks to the community. When Lowes released their new Iris devices, we had device handlers from the community within a week and that's just one example. There are already handlers and apps for the Blink camera and many other new devices.
Wink? Wink has been a joke in terms of new devices. "Hey, let's add an expensive and obscure product like Leaksmart- I mean, we STILL don't have temperature sensors available and only 1 or 2 door/window sensors from third parties, but who cares!" Want a temperature sensor for Wink? Have fun spending $70 on the standalone Leaksmart water sensor, which I believe is the only supported temperature sensor currently in production for Wink outside of buying an entire thermostat. They stopped making Trippers, Spotters, etc. almost a year ago - where are the replacements at? Why did local control take so long, only to be revealed as nothing more than what SmartThings had last September? And then we hear "But...but.....Wink's app is better!" Yeah, it is - so what? I use the app only when adding stuff - I use Alexa for almost all control.
I gave their rep on Facebook a hard time about all of this, and we got the usual canned "We have exciting things coming! Be patient!" I even told her that Wink was doing itself an incredible disservice by not releasing roadmaps or even trying to generate excitement. I swear to god, if I hear "Be patient, we have great things coming!" from her one more time, I'll probably explode all over Facebook. At this stage though, it doesn't matter - ST is so far ahead that Wink will never catch it and the only way for Wink to have succeeded in the long term, IMO, would've been for Amazon to buy them. Flextronic's only hope is probably to kill Wink (or at least the name) and release a new rebranded hub and compatibility with a wide range of devices.
No offense to anyone in this thread, but many of the beta testers said the same thing. Sorry guys, you've ALL (Wink
and beta testers) cried wolf too many times. The local control release was such an incredibly disappointing release that all of you have lost credibility in eyes. We don't want ridiculous and eccentric products added to Wink - we want cheap sensors. Enjoy your 1 overpriced temperature sensor and your 1 or 2 door/window sensors. I'll still use Wink for some things, but the cool stuff is in my ST environment.
It's like we both frequent the same online places and came to the same conclusion! LOL. Seriously, though, I was reluctant with ST because of the lack of Nest support, because I enjoy getting the discounts from the home insurance, rebates and all the Works with Nest programs, but I guess using the non-Nest approved ST community device will have to do.
I'm sure you're just as sick of the Wink spokeswoman on the FB group as I am. These guys don't have a clue though to be fair, Ben Kaufman was such a clueless buffoon that it probably HAS taken them all these months to clean up his mess.