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.
Case in point: I purchased my Wink in August of 2014. It is now March of 2016 and there is ZERO support for ceiling fans. imo, this is one of the most basic devices you should have support for. There's fanSync from Fanimation, SimpleConnect from Hunter, SenseMe from BAF...the list goes on & on. To make matters even worse, they don't even have official support for Lutron's on/off wall switch (only the dimmer). You can get it working, but it will show up with a dimming option.
And then you have to deal with the lack of true local control (lights are great, but it sometimes takes so long to get the signal from my cell phone - via wifi - to my door lock, that I've walked from the parking lot to the front door & just punch in my code manually on the keypad), from today's API incident to February 25th's slow response time to February 18th's partial outage. Why is it that Craig can whip up Wink@Home, complete with regular updates on his G+ page for new features & device support, but we get radio silence from Wink? I'd like a roadmap too...
From there, it's easy to get frustrated with the whole HA system in general, like how Lutron doesn't let you use their Pico remotes for anything other than Caseta control. Personally, however, I have a different approach: I've decided not to worry about it. I accept my Hub for what it offers as of today, and know that it will occasionally go down due to the cloud-based system. I love it for what it does and I appreciate Wink keeping it simple, both for adding stuff & using the GUI and not having to think about the system or tinker with it too much.
The downside is that here it is 2016 & HA is still not ready for prime-time. I've stopped recommending non-techie friends to buy Wink & Wink Certified hardware because they don't understand the lag & occasional outages for something that's so expensive ($50 smoke alarms, $60 lightswitches, $70 Hub, $200 door lock, $500 blinds, etc.), especially when they have to explain their investment to their S.O. & why they spent so much money for equipment that performs worse than a $1 flip switch.
I feel like we're just on the
cusp of making it great...but we've been there for a looooooong time. So rather than holding my breath, I'm just accepting it for what it is right now, today: an expensive, buggy system with limited hardware support, but enough features that I like it enough to keep around because it does add value, albeit at the expense of an occasionally frustrating user experience. My family pretty much only uses the 'backup' hardware features (i.e. the Schlage keypad, the Pico remotes, etc.) instead of the Wink app, because those features work 100% of the time. It is what it is, and I can either whine about it, toss it, or just accept it in its current state and be content until/if/when they improve.
Personally I am a big fan of the Wink platform, have been since its inception, but I can understand the frustration that people have with it. I wish it was in a better state of affairs, and I hope that they do improve, but until then, I see the faults & accept it as-is. And would really like native ceiling fan support someday