Aeotec Z-Stick 7 Plus, Zwave Plus USB to Create Z-Wave hub, Gateway Controller with 700 Series ZWave, SmartStart and S2, Works with Raspberry Pi 4, Compatible with Home Assistant

Since purchasing the device, I have had no issues. Perfect for a HomeAssistant setup. Depending on where the device is located, you may need a USB extension cable to alleviate potential signal issues.

Been using this with Home Assistant, via Z-Wave JS UI running on a Raspberry Pi, centrally located in my home. It works very well. Good range, low to no errors.

Installed easily, I migrated from an HUSB-ZB1, I only have 7 devices on my ZWave network but had lots of issues with devices not responding. After excluding and including the whole network I was up and running.Out of the box I still had some minor issues but they were significantly improved. After the firmware upgrade everything went away and works like a dream!If you're using Home Assistant I recommend ZWave JS UI, to do the firmware upgrade. Just be warned that in the US you will have to change back from the EU frequency after the upgrade. I lost a lot of hours to that...

I bought this for a Home Assistant installation running on a Raspberry Pi, because it is one of HA's recommended hardware options, and it was available with next day shipping.I plugged it in, and was immediately able to add it to HA with no trouble, but it would not detect my light switches. I tried over and over again, including rebooting the Raspberry Pi and resetting the switches to factory defaults, but nothing worked.I finally realized that I should try moving the Pi closer to the switches - it had been around 20 feet away, separated by a wall. When I got an extension cord and longer Ethernet cable and moved it so it was only 3 feet away (though still blocked by the wall), adopting the switches worked with no trouble. (Silicon Labs says that Z-wave 700-series is supposed to have much longer range, so guess it's a function of the antenna size of this product.)

Edit: 8/14/2022 - After messing around with this a bit, I've discovered the range is not as good as the Gen 5, it DOES see all of my devices but you have to put it in a place that NOTHING is blocking it. I actually purchased a USB extension cable and put it in the ceiling. After doing that, it sees all of my devices and can control all of them (I had it directly attached to my server previously just like the Gen 5 that had no issues being directly connected).Seeing as this could have been an oversight on my part, I have raised it to 5 stars for being very quick to respond to requests.Initial Review (Sometime before 8/14/2022)Although this device is snappy (very quick to respond to requests), it is not compatible with all of my devices, at least not without trying to connect them repeatedly (and I still haven't been able to connect them).I have the quickset Z-Wave deadbolt locks on my house and they all connected to the GEN5+ just fine. No connection errors, everything was quick to respond, and I received near real-time feedback about the lock status. I purchased a new server, new Z-wave bridge (this device) and attempted to connect all of my Z-Wave devices. Most of them connected just fine but the door locks WILL NOT CONNECT. I don't know if this is because they don't have the S2 encryption or if it is something else but they simply will not connect properly.I've removed and added multiple times (roughly 10 times for each lock). The system connects them but can't do anything else with them after connecting. It's quite annoying as I have everything in my house go to "lockdown" at 9pm (doors lock and they automatically lock again after 3 minutes of being unlocked).The Gen 5 plus device worked flawlessly, the only reason I upgraded to this one was because of the enhanced security feature of it. I'm hesitant to move back because when you remove a Z-Wave hub, you have to remove ALL of your devices and add them to the "new" hub... which means if I moved back to the Gen 5, I would essentially be adding a "new hub" back into the mix. I would then have to go to all of the Z-Wave devices, remove them from their current network and add them to the new hub. Rather annoying to do.

I hooked up First Alert Zcombo smoke detectors using this. I had to watch a few Youtubes to figure it all out and didn't have any problems using this Zwave device.

After connecting this device to my Qolsys alarm panel, I successfully updated several Leviton Z-Wave switches and dimmers. Using the Leviton OTA firmware package, it easily identified all the devices and updated them without any issues.

Bought for HomeAssistant - and it probably works - but the setup required to get the firmware updated is ridiculous. It's not that it's difficult, if you are computer savvy - but it's a mundane and archaic process - lots of steps involved. This could be packaged up so nicely into a single process. In my 30 years of handling systems, I've never seen an update process that's this many steps.Oh - and the update is pretty much required, as there is a nasty bug in the prior version of the firmware. Unless they start shipping these with the new firmware, be prepared for pain.Thanks Silicon Labs and Aeotec for making sure computer science is still a respected field!