Question

I see people constantly talking about Samsung SmartThings. What is it exactly? Why would I want it? I have Philips Hue lights, Nest Cams, Thermostats and Smoke Detectors, Sonos Speakers, a couple outlets and a handful of cheaper globe smart light bulbs. What would the benefit of SmartThings be? TL:DR Can someone summarize in a nutshell what Samsung SmartThings is?  

Answer 1

In a nutshell

Answer 2

Think of it as one hub that can control all of your other hubs, as well as other smart devices like Zigbee switches, WiFi devices, etc. You can setup advanced routines like if this Zigbee PIR sensor activates, at the weekend, overnight, then turn on the hue bulbs, lightwave switch, etc. Smartthings is Samsung's version. Or if you are a bit geeky and want to build one yourself, cheaper, you can use a raspberry pi micro computer with something like Home Assistant or Domoticz.  

Answer 3

Zigbee and Z-Wave smart home automation products for when you decide to get serious

Answer 4

SmartThings links everything together so you can have one place for all your rules. You can then link actions . ie. when nest cam spots movement, turn on lights and play Sonos. Or when I leave the house turn Sonos off, lights off and set Nest to away. Also you can then use WebCore to programme complex actions or rules.  

Comments

@sagerman59 or if you're tech savvy and don't want to depend on cloud services all over the world for the stuff in your home to work, you install Home Assistant instead of smartthings. Local control, open source and way more flexible.  

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@cropeared74 I think you mean way less flexible and compatible with far fewer devices  

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@sagerman59 Okay, so it’s like taking my scenes in Hue, and incorporating other aspects into the scene? Essentially an OS for smart home tech? But then you can also add on SmartThings brand products like cameras, sensors and plugs etc?  

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@aquanaut108 it is at its very core a hub with zigbee and zwave radios. These are low power home automation protocols - for sensors that have battery life of months or years, something you will never get with WiFi. (And for switches and other devices too) Many others get zigbee or zwave devices to have less devices on their WiFi. Zigbee and zwave are standards. SmartThings themselves makes devices, but you are not limited to those branded by ST. I have a dozen different brands of zigbee or zwave devices in my house that all pair up just fine. SmartThings also has a very powerful automation engine and also supports many third party cloud devices. Here is what I did with ST in my AirBnB  
https://www.motoretreat.com/automation

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@cropeared74 Actually, the two are not mutually exclusive. I use SmartThings for my physical hub, relying on its massive ecosystem of supported devices, four radios, etc. - and use Home Assistant to give it true "smarts". They make a great combination - especially if you throw Node Red into the mix.  

Answer 5

I think your question is what everyone asks and rightly so especially since so many of these smart home gadgets are Wi-Fi. Take a look at this story and it might give you insight as to why.  
https://appmyhome.com/our-journey-w...ings/