Works wonders in a vacuum.
4 Likes
Only on April Fools Day…
2 Likes
As @DataMeister mentioned above, “Long Range” is a specific feature that the Z-Wave controller would need to support and that the device would need to be included as. This is distinct from the traditional Z-Wave mesh; it is a star topology, where everything connects directly to the controller. Hubs should be able to both, but a device can participate in only one or the other (so repeaters are not relevant for devices used with LR).
In their testing, SiLabs got 1 mile line-of-sight with 700 series, 1.5 miles with 800 series, and expects longer range in the future. You will probably get quite a bit less in regular environments and normal devices. But to know for sure, there would need to be actual Long Range controllers out there and Long Range devices to use them with. 
I’m not aware of any hubs/controllers that actually support it yet, just ones that would be “capable” with an update; and very few LR devices, an Ecolink garage door opener being one (I saw 2200 ft in marketing material; not sure if it ever actually became available to use…) and Inovelli’s hopefully being another soon. But I’m not sure there are any real-world experiences to look at yet for LR.
What I’m having trouble finding at the moment is if 800 increased the theoretical range of a “hop” even in traditional mesh topology. I think I read somewhere that it is theoretically longer, but that would only do the most good with all 800-series devices in the path … and I’m unable to verify since all I can find is SiLabs claiming the technically accurate but misleading 1.5 mile range for 800-series devices. But both 700 and 800 are for sure theoretically longer than 500 (and older generations), so with a classic mesh topology — likely the only realistic option for most users in the short term — a strong mesh of these newer devices will give you your best chance at “longer range,” even if not literal Long Range. 
1 Like
@BertABCD1234 Yeah that’s a bummer about star topology, at least for me I’m a bit less excited for 800 then seeing that every device I have connects directly to the hub and I haven’t even needed to rely on any hops yet, except for this one garage setup. Which, even if I put a Red 2-1 in the garage, which I have no need for out there to then throw the signal up to the garage relay thing, I’m hardly any more likely to be successful with 800 vs 700 if it can’t work in “800 mesh.” I don’t know, maybe before I pop in my last two 700 switches in the condo maybe I’ll just try to see if I can mesh my way through my neighbors garage over to mine, but that’s a lot of work for a long shot. May just have to give up that hope. But that’s why I wondered what someone’s experience with the switch has actually been. I’ve definitely read the SiLabs stuff and I really just do not care about marketing materials at all, they mean nothing to me, I only care about actual use.
The new Hubitat C-8 does.
@BertABCD1234 can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the Hubitat C8 supports it right now… Its chip is capable of LR, but I dont think the Hubitat team has enabled that specific functionality yet.
1 Like
I’m not sure, so I asked over on the Hubitat site for someone who is sure to respond and I pasted in a link to this thread over there.
1 Like
The posters above is correct — Hubitat is one of these I alluded to:
FWIW, the C-7, released in spring of 2020, is also “LR-capable.” That’s (at least) how long we’ve been waiting for there to be actual LR devices to use.
Hmm, weird. I figured out what happened. There were duplicate listings in our Inventory program and it wasn’t syncing the right one to Shopify. I just confirmed it’s fixed now! Sorry about that.
Great question – no unfortunately the air-gap is longer on the fan switch. We’re working to get those produced and delivered alongside the fan switch.
Looks like you got some good answers below and I don’t have anything to add outside of what we’re seeing with the switches. I don’t know that we have an official distance, but the other Eric tested it down the street from his house with an unofficial 800 Series Z-Stick and it worked. Definitely not in the mile to 1.5 mi range. I really wish SiLabs would put a giant disclaimer up that says, “OPEN AIR TESTING UNDER THE BEST POSSIBLE CONDITIONS, RESULTS MAY VARY”.
The other challenge we had is that at the time of testing, there weren’t many hubs out there that had Long Range enabled. I think Zooz just launched their Z-Stick but we were pretty much done with testing at that time.
Unfortunately, it sounds like in your situation you need a mesh network. I was kind of bummed out about that when I read it as well.
2 Likes
Can someone breakdown ELI5 style how the 800 series are going to work distance wise when the bulk of my zwave network is 500 series red dimmers. I have an aeotec 5 stick. A few zooz 700 series switches also.
One of my Red Dimmers in my garage is at the edge of the network and struggles to stay online. I was hoping to replace that and one other with the new 800 series 2in1 switch thinking that it would basically allow the other far end devices to use its mesh to jump back to the hub. Is this not the case? Do I need an 800 series stick as well or would it still not matter?
Correct, you need an 800 series stick that supports LR to achieve LR functionality.
To date I haven’t seen one, the ones that are out right now say an update to add this function is “coming soon”.
Thanks for the reply.
So to be clear, if I eventually get a stick that supports LR and also have a few of the new 800 series switches, my other 500 series dimmers will be able to mesh with those to extend the overall range of my 500 series switches via mesh relay?
2 Likes
Correct, that is my understanding. The only limitation is that LR requires direct communication from stick to 800 LR switch.
I don’t think you can create a mesh off of the long range devices, but you can have both a long range “star” network and the regular “mesh” network side by side on the same long range compatible controller.
3 Likes
I’m pretty sure you can do long range with a 700 series stick. The Zooz or the SiLabs 700 series sticks can do long range.
2 Likes
Zooz says the S2 ZST10 700 USB can support up to 1000ft in open space & 250ft in a typical indoor mesh system.
Can’t speak for the SiLabs one.
Hey guys, sorry, I’ve been out of the office on some personal stuff and am just getting back into things.
I want to share a production video with you all - they shared this with us to show how everything is going to be packaged:
I’ll follow up more with a firmer date on where we are at in the process. I believe production should be wrapping up, if not finished, but I’ve just been out of the loop and wanted to give you guys at least something while I catch my bearings.
15 Likes
If that’s how slow the factory is in packing each switch, my guess is that the first batch will be completed by October!!! 
3 Likes
1 Like