Wink Hub Review – Wrapping it up – Summary
The Bottom Line – Wink HUB, its App and performance.
- Setup – Easy, the Wink app did a good job of walking you through the process with clear step by step instructions.
- Adding Devices – As smooth as setup. Wink did a stand up job on documentation and instructions. They have an indepth range of FAQ’s for the devices Wink works with. Well Done!
- Automating your home – Robots do the trick, you also have the ability to schedule devices and multiple actions. (IFTTT is also available if you are a user.)
- App Flexibility – very flexible, you have shortcuts, and Icons to choose from. The custom Icons are nice to make certain devices or groups stand out. A great feature was referenced in the Nexia Bridge review. Pictures would be fantastic! Lets see who is the first to take that into consideration.
- Control – The Wink app offers thorough control of partner devices that are listed as compatible. I had complete control of my Nest, Schalge Camelot Connect, Bulbs and even had control of a not supported Zwave energy switch through the generic Zwave switch selection.
- Ease of use – I found the Wink app pretty straight forward. The scheduling was a little hidden, but very functional once it was located.
- Support – I was extremely impressed when I chatted with Wink support. Even more impressed with how in depth their FAQ’s were in the app. Not just on their product, but on the product you were installing as well. Each with step by step instructions with everything you need to know. Taking the guess work out of the setup process.
- Available devices – Wink HUB has a huge amount of connected devices available from their list of partners and products.
- Great Price – Available at Home Depot and other stores, you can find a Wink HUB for $89 dollars. Often there are great deals on line with substantial discounts if you purchase a bundle that comes with other sensors and lighting.
- Surprises – Google Now Shortcuts was definitely a surprise. All the FAQ’s and in-app information, pleasant surprise.
My experience with the Wink hub has been solid. Everything connected as it should, and allowed me to play around with different Robots and schedules. I did not have any colored lights to test as we did in other reviews. I do believe that with the depth of controls Wink provides, we may be quite satisfied, although we’ve found that few hubs offer anything close to the kind of color handling, effects etc. that a good lighting app specific to the lights can offer (think Wifi bulbs). This is definitely something we can put a PIN in and update the review when that opportunity arrives. It was very easy to find a huge amount of devices that were compatible with Wink. Wink supports all the major connection types. They also have the Wink Certified logo, to make the choice even easier for us consumers.
I was curious about the future support of Home Kit, and located this on the Wink website, I also received the same message from their press team.
We are continually working to add new products and features that you’ll love. We want to bring all the best brands and technologies together to give you the most flexibility and control. While Home Kit has a lot of potential to help Wink bring even more products together, it is still very early. We’ll continue to monitor the progress and keep you updated along the way.
Apple Homekit sure has a lot of buzz around it. As it grows momentum and product support, it will be interesting to see how products like the Wink hub support it. Will it be just a software upgrade? There are already so many connectivity choices. Or will it be a new version of hardware to support Apples demanding security requirements. I did hear that we should be seeing some great things from Wink this summer. It will be interesting to see what may come.
I did have the pleasure of using the Wink hub over a 6 month period to get a good amount of use under my belt. I did have to uninstall it and start from scratch in order to write this review and provide all the necessary screen shots for our all important readers. Over the course of the last 6 months, the functionality of the Wink hub was greatly improved with a couple updates. One update provided local control. This was important, if there is a problem in the cloud, or with my internet connectivity, I still expect my lights to turn on and off. They also made improvements to the response times. Lights quickly come on and off in groups. I am sure there were a whole bunch of other improvements. Wink keeps track of them and informs their users via their website blog.
Wink hub is a good choice for someone looking for compatibility and functionality. The Wink hub has a large amount of devices to connect with. It supports all your favorite automation device like Amazon Echo. I was pleased that the Google Now integration was so simple. I would expect to see some Home Kit functionality this summer. Home Kit is coming on strong, adding this into their supported connection types would really make the Wink hub a good choice for many people.
There is an increasing momentum in this space from a growing number of Smart hub providers. In the coming months, it will come down to compatibility and support. Time is money, and we all want to spend time watching or lights turn on an off, not trying to get them connected to the hub.
Ratings: As we rate Smart hubs and bridges is all comes down to performance and device support. The Wink hub was very stable over the months of use I put it through. It is feature packed in the app, as well as support for various protocols. Their support maybe the best in the business, chat email and phone they were all very nice and responsive.
That earns it our Beyond Awesome award. Wink continues to improve its smart hub with updates, and has the best connection variety in the business.
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