1. Lutron. Just eat it. It’s worth it.
2. The ikea ones are nice for corners, Aqara is ok, aoetec is solid.
3. Haven’t done any mounted dashboards yet
4. Ecobee is solid
5. Schlage makes good zwave ones. I have a level lock too that’s decent. Kind of depends on what you want.
6. UniFi doorbells are solid. I have the g4 pro but the newer ones are real nice. I dont have a chime so I have an automation they plays a doorbell sound in occupied rooms via Sonos
7. Maybe. But probably not unless you can upgrade the unit.
8. RatGDO is the way to go
UniFi stack seems good. Depending on how much video you want to save, the nvr is a good option.
What protocols do you want? Matter, z-wave, zigbee?
1. Personally, I went with dimmers for everything except one light and I regret it and am too lazy to swap it. If you have multi-way switches, buy a caseta dimmer for one and the picks for the others.
6. It works really well. Since each room has occupancy state, I only chime in occupied rooms. Plus I can control volume when kids are sleeping or if we have people over and need to louder.
Protocol: I have all three. HA is compatible with almost anything. If you go zigbee, you’ll need a strong network of routers/repeaters (e.g., smart plugs). Z-wave has long range and can work better with less repeaters.
Here are all [my devices](https://github.com/johnkoht/hassio-config/blob/master/docs/DEVICES.md) if you want more inspiration.
Just switched from Eufy to Unifi with our new house. I LOVE not having to manage batteries (looking at you doorbells!) and it’s so quick to notify and pull up, even when I’m in a different continent. Amaze.
Edit: the G4 Doorbell Pro with POE chime works great. I wanted the chime since there was no doorbell in our 115 year old, 3-story brick row-home. I put the chime on the landing on the 2nd floor and we can heal it all throughout and in the backyard. MicroCenter has them relatively cheap still.
If you can find a used Ubiquity G3 they’ll work just fine with existing doorbell wiring and Homebridge. Had a pair of them running in my house for years without much issue.
intentions_are_high
