Regular readers of our Blog will recall that we reviewed the "mydlink home" range of WiFi products last year and concluded that it was a nice basic system with a handful of devices but was "no replacement for a Z-Wave system".
Well, roll forward nearly a year and D-Link have now launched a number of Z-Wave devices to supplement their existing WiFi range, along with their "mydlink Connected Home Hub" to bring together the two different technologies.
In this post we'll take a quick look at the new range and see what D-Link brings to the Z-Wave party :-)
D-Link Z-Wave Range
Z-Wave mydlink Connected Home Hub Gen5
The Connected Home Hub is essentially a bridge between the existing mydlink WiFi products such as the Smart Plug or Motion Sensor and the new range of Z-Wave devices.
This is a pretty clever approach as it allows D-Link to leverage their existing infrastructure and smartphone App and means that the complexities of Z-Wave are hidden from the end-user.
Being Z-Wave Plus certified you can be sure the Connected Home Hub is bang up to date with the latest Z-Wave standards and will allow D-Link to add support for new devices quickly in the future.
Currently it looks like the Connected Home Hub is only compatible with the specific mydlink Z-Wave devices, but we're sure that this will change over the coming months.
Developing your own Z-Wave devices from scratch takes a considerable amount of time, so we're now seeing more manufacturers "re-branding" existing products as their own.
This is the approach that D-Link have taken and means that you get the "internals" of a well-known, well respected device with D-Links' unique styling on the outside.
Z-Wave mydlink Siren DCH-Z510 Gen5
The mains-powered mydlink Home Siren supports 6 different sounds (door chime, arm/disarm, intruder alarm, fire alert, ambulance and police car) and has adjustable volume level.
Using the mydlink Home App you can configure simple logic to activate the sounds in response to different events - perhaps the door chime sound when your front door is opened or the fire alert when a Smart Plug is turned on.
Z-Wave mydlink Door & Window Sensor Gen5
When is a door & window sensor not just a door & window sensor? When it also features temperature and light sensors as well!
Being battery powered the door & window sensor can be installed pretty much anywhere and allows the mydlink Home App to be configured with various logic - for example sending a push alert to your phone when and off-limit area such as a medicine cabinet is opened.
Z-Wave mydlink Battery Motion Sensor Gen5
Similar to the Door & Window Sensor the Battery Motion Sensor also incorporates temperature and light sensor as well :-)
Once added to the mydlink Home App you can create logic it to activate your Siren when there's movement in certain areas of your home.
Z-Wave mydlink Smart Home Security Kit
Lastly is a great introductory starter kit, giving you the Connected Home Hub, Siren, Door & Window Sensor and the HD Monitor camera.
It's brilliant value and gives you a basic security solution out-of-the-box. Add a couple of the mydlink home Smart Plugs and you've got a nicely integrated system capable of protecting your home!
Conclusion
We really like the look of the D-Link Z-Wave devices and the first stock will be hitting our shelves in the next few days.
We're not sure on the compatibility of these devices in other Z-Wave controllers such as Vera and Fibaro, but they are all based on the same internals used in products from Zipato, TKB & Philio, so we would expect them to all work fine.
At these prices, we expect these to be hot products, so we suggest that you place your orders now so that you're not disappointed.
We've also had range on test for the last few weeks, so stay tuned for a follow up review in the not too distant future!
Martyn
