For easy management and control of various connected devices, the different hubs in home automation come in handy. A hub is a centralized system, which allows you to connect your various smart home products such as the blinds, locks, bulbs etc instead of going through the stress of having separate mobile apps for each. A hub also allows you to customize the settings based on your routine and lifestyle so that everything goes easily. There are various hubs in the market such as the Wink 2 hub and Samsung’s SmartThings. Choosing the right hub is essential so that you can get the maximum benefit of your smart home products. Let us have a look at the difference between the two and find out which one is the best.
Set up process
The installation and set up process of SmartThings and Wink are user-friendly and ideal for people who are not very tech-friendly. Once your router and hub are connected, you are all ready to start the customization of your hub. If you look at the wink app, it makes the process a lot easy since it comes with a barcode scanner that lets you know the device that is compatible with the Wink hub. On the other hand, The SmartThings app has a feature that automatically detects the devices. Wink takes the lead if you want something very simple.
Reliability and speed
These factors are purely dependent on the internet speed. When you come to think of it, both of these devices are very reliable. In comparison to the SmarThings, Wink is a little slow. However, if you the latest version of the Wink hub, then the results can be similar. This is because; the latest versions of the Wink hub come with a feature where you can directly connect it to the router unlike the older versions.
Compatibility
Both the hubs have their own list of devices, which are compatible with them. It would be recommended to first check out the smart home products that you have and find out which hub it is compatible with. There are some home automation products that are only compatible with either Wink or SmarThings and there are many others that are compatible with both the hubs. The bottom line is, before you invest in any smart home product, make sure your device is compatible with the kind of hub you plan to get.
Customization
If your priority is to have a smart home that is highly customizable, then Wink may not be a good choice. No doubt, due to the Robot feature in Wink, it makes the hub more powerful than SmartThings. The Robots in Wink take care of the events or tasks that are scheduled. For example, if you want the lights to be on at a particular time, you can set that up and leave the rest to the hub.
On the other hand, SmarThings comes with various options and customizable settings that are really cool. Apart from the regular routines of the morning and night, you can also customize it in such a way that if there is no one in the house, the hub can automatically lock the doors or even turn the lights off. Just in case someone steps in, it will automatically turn on the lights or alter the thermostat temperature. Similarly, you can also fine tune to routines with specific parameters such as turning on the lights just before the sunset or switching off the lights the 10 minutes after the sun rises.
The Verdict
It is very tough to actually decide which is the best between the two. On a general level, both these hubs have their own benefits and drawbacks. While on one side, Wink is ideal for people who want to things to be simple. The wink hub has an intuitive app interface and a simple integration. On the other side, SmarThings is ideal for those who are looking for a hub that has a bigger list of compatible smart home products. It gives you the benefit of expanding your smart home products as and when you want. It also has a community that is well supported making it a better option. Choosing the hub that will suit your needs is purely dependent on what kind of products you plan to have in your smart home.
