Honest question, just bought a new house and been eyeing these blue switches for a while, but I’m not sure I can wait till July (or beyond, assuming they can’t fill demand).
I considered red switches instead but they’re sold out too, so now I’m looking at the new generation of Zooz dimmers, which are zwave.
Looking for options here from either existing users or those with both in the house. Should I pick up a few, or just bite my tongue and wait for blues?
IMHO I would wait for the Blue Series. It’s vastly more capable than the Zooz and going to be a game-changer in the smart switch arena. All indications from Inovelli at this point is July is still on track. But even if it gets delayed a month is that really a problem in the grand scheme of outfitting your new house?
I know I’m getting impatient too. I have my pre-orders in and I want to be putting them in now 
But I think you’ll regret it a year later for not waiting one more month
I’ll share my $.02. If you already have a house full of Zwave, then I would stay with Zwave (whether Red Series or Zooz). If starting from scratch, I would hold out for the Blue Series. July isn’t that far out and Inovelli will have ample supply for you.
For what it is worth (and perhaps a bit heretical written here). I have a house with Red Series and wanted to automate some additional stuff. Couldn’t get any Reds so opted for Zooz. They have been just fine. Particularly in multigang boxes when I have a Red Series as one of the switches, I don’t really need (or even want) additional LED displays. One is quite sufficient to give me the status I want reported at that spot. So I have found that a single Red plus one two Zooz works quite well. While they are different in some detail appearance, no one has noticed that they don’t completely match - they are that close. Other than zealots, folks don’t stare at your wall switches to find differences. Functionally, there are some things that the Reds do that Zooz doesn’t but none that I find matter to my application. So for me the combination works quite well.
I went with Zooz for my single gang switches. Couldn’t wait any longer to start automating stuff. Caveat, they don’t work with add on switches or other smart switches in 3/4 way setups. So you’re stuck with mechanical switches on the other end of these circuits. Get the blue series for these switches.
I agree with Kevink. I don’t need an LED on every switch, and wish I could get a blue series without it to bring down the cost. Too bad the add on switches can’t work by themselves.
So is there news about red series stock? An ETA or anything? I don’t want to be an impatient jerk. I have time and I understand supply line issues. But I have a house full of Z-Wave that needs 4 or 5 more switches, and it would be fun to get to work on them this summer!
I’ve got over a dozen red and black dimmers and am super happy with them. …and with Inovelli. But I needed another 5 switches and couldn’t wait any longer. I purchased some Zooz switches and am generally satisfied with them. They work as-advertised, are reasonably priced, and have functioned reliably for me.
I like the look (and LED) of the inovelli switches better. Plus the Inovelli team and the way they do business is so cool – it’s an amazing US-based SMB/start-up biz that truly innovates and I am always rooting for them! So I also have some blue switches on order as well…
I’ll chime in here too, but there’s a ton of great advice and anecdotes, so take mine with a grain of salt.
Some history first…
We used to share the same manufacturer as Zooz and were very pleased with them (from a product side at least). I’ve known Agnes (one of the owners) for a long time now and have nothing but great things to say about her and her team. In fact, whenever we are out of stock on things (which seems to be more often than not), I recommend people check out Zooz bc their firmware is pretty much the same as ours (you’re welcome… lol) and the switches, while more generic, are solid. Our Gen 1’s have been holding up really well and the defect rate over the last 5+ years is around 1% (a little higher than our Gen 2’s, but still pretty good).
The thing I miss about the old manufacturer is that they don’t seem to have any issues with getting Z-Wave chips. I know this because Zooz and Aeotec share the same manufacturer for switches and I’ve spoken with Aeotec on numerous occasions and they don’t seem to have a switch supply issue.
If you’re ok with the generic design and don’t need the LED bar, I would say for sure go with Zooz. You’ll save a ton of money and get fairly similar firmware.
The differences that I’ve seen (I haven’t studied their switches as much anymore as we’re targeting a different customer – more of a premium shopper – I’m going off their product page) are as follows:
I’m sure there are more, but those were the ones that stuck out to me.
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TLDR: I happily recommend Zooz. Great price and overall great features.
LOL, no worries – we get asked this every day. There is no ETA right now unfortunately. We are in the middle of a “merger” (not really sure what to call it honestly) and part of the negotiations are around Z-Wave and what manufacturer to go with.
Our current one has supply issues. Our working theory is that they only get a certain amount of Z-Wave chips and one of their customers is Ring, so naturally, they’ll give the chips to Ring and what is left over goes to us, which is hardly any.
However, we believe that with enough volume, we can work with them to get more allocation from Silicon Labs – this volume comes from both companies (ours and the one we’re working with).
Or, our Zigbee manufacturer has stated that they can get enough Z-Wave chips to supply us. However, this requires new tooling costs, new UL certifications, etc which costs a ton of money and their initial quote was almost $5 higher than our original supplier.
So, we’re in a spot where I have to unfortunately sit back and let the pros do the negotiating and it’s taking longer than I want it to…
Wish I had better news in the short term.
Ur still awesome Eric even if you don’t have any good news with the red series. : )
I suspect there might be an influx of used reds once blues come out. Mostly because of people like me who have partially done their houses in reds, but still need more switches. Your options become mix, wait for reds to be available or go all blue. I’m still not sure what route I want to go, but for someone deciding to just go all blues, they’d be crazy not to sell their reds to recoup much of the cost!
Thank you all so much for your input. I’ve decided to wait until July and see if the release comes as expected or not. I just pre-ordered my first 10!
My main reasons are because ZigBee AKA Matter is apparently becoming the new interoperability standard, so as much as I don’t love the idea of cluttering my 2.4 band, I also use wifi 6 so I suspect my needs for the 2.4 band will start to change as the years progress.
If the switches get delayed, I’ll probably get a few Zooz to hold me over, but unfortunately my house has almost entirely been outfitted with 3 or 4 way switches, I have very few single gangs.
Plus, the fact that the blue switch can operate in smart bulb mode and remove my dependency on separate apps or voice control for Phillips hue bulbs sounds like a dream come true.
Thank you so much for making this product, you’re doing an amazing service to the smart Home community, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on these
What is so much better about the blues than the reds? I thought it was basically just the red but Zigbee?
Zigbee is one hardware change but it has more features than the Reds. E. G. Addressable LEDs, more scenes, scenes triggered by Aux switches etc.
The big thing for me (above everything mentioned) is the blues ability to keep power on to a smart bulb attached to the switch, and control it just like a normal light.
Unless I’m mistaken, that’s a brand new feature to the blues that isn’t available in the reds
You are referring to the Smart Bulb Mode and that is available in the red series as well.
Insofar as directly controlling the smart bulb is concerned, there are two ways to do it. The first is using scenes and with this it does not matter if the wireless protocol of the switch and the bulb match. The other way to do it is using association (Z-Wave) or binding (Zigbee). With these, the wireless protocol of the bulb and the switch need to match.
The blues also have a higher load rating (compared to red dimmer) and don’t have heat sink tabs
Blue Series:
Red Switch (LZW30):
Reef Dimmer (LZW31):
Max Wattage: See below – maximum will vary based on bulb type and whether the heat sink tabs are removed or not
Heat Sink Tabs Not Removed: 400W Incandescent, 300W LED, 150W CFL
One (1) Side Heat Sink Tabs Removed: 300W Incandescent, 200W LED, 150W CFL
Two (2) Sides Heat Sink Tabs Removed: 200W Incandescent, 150W LED, 100W CFL
With that being said, the Red (zwave) has a limit of 5 associations including the switch. Blue (zigbee) series has a much larger limit of associations.
Sorry, I stand corrected. I’m a bit new to this stuff 
most smart switches I’ve used before are insanely dumb by comparison.
I assume the reason the blues went with ZigBee wasn’t just because of a lack of zwave chips but also to be able to easier support the transition to “Matter” as the future standard of smart home communication.
Maybe I’m wrong, but either way that’s one of the reasons I’ve decided to go blue. I don’t already have an existing zwave network but I do have Phillips hue which is already ZigBee/future matter support so for me it makes sense to implement ZigBee throughout.
Very grateful for this knowledgeable community!
The biggest difference I’d see is that the Blue series is expected to be available next month. Whereas it seems to be anyone’s guess when the Red series will be available again.
There’s a benefit to go all Zwave or a ZigBee in that each switch will act as a repeater on the network. So having a mix might be less reliable. Or maybe some people just don’t want a mix because they’d find it weird.
Otherwise, both seem to have similar features just with different protocols. Obviously, if your hub only supports one, then that’d be a key choice in the decision.