Wait, are we saying that the Red 2-1 800 series will NOT be upgradeable to thread/matter? only the Blue?
The Red 2-1 800 series uses a Z-Wave radio not a Zigbee radio. Zigbee radios can be upgraded to use Thread. Z-Wave radios cannot be. Z-Wave devices can be included in a Matter ecosystem as long as the hub that controls them bridges to Matter.
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I have a Hubitat C-8, I’m assuming that will eventually be able to include everything? But, given that, should I instead go for the Blue’s then instead of the Red’s if I’m trying to be as future-proof as possible now that I’m at the point of beginning to purchase more components than just wi-fi smart bulbs and making investments for the future?
For full disclosure, I have 20+ Red series and all my switches are Inovelli Red Series (except for 5 of their Black series). But, the Blue series didn’t exist when I jumped in a couple of years ago.
My understanding is the same as the above, that Matter is Zigbee based, but if you have a hub, like the Hubitat, that can do both, then you can still go either way. But you also mentioned you have several Zigbee devices, but I’m not really sure if you are saying you had Z-Wave or still do have Z-Wave. If they aren’t at least Z-Wave Plus you may want to consider swapping them out anyways. With your other Zigbee devices it seems the Blue might be better for you. Per another post above, with a Blue switch you could do a binding with a Hue bulb and not need the Hue hub.
I converted all of my 3 way switches to get rid of the travelers and used a Z-Wave association (Z-Wave version of Zigbee binding) for them to talk directly to each other. Just my 2 cents, but I hope it helps.
The Blues that’ll have an OTA-updatable zigbee chip (for Thread/Matter) won’t ship until later this year.
The current Blues’ chips can be updated, but not OTA – from what little I’ve read about it, that process does not sound very easy or straightforward, but I suppose that depends on your comfort level with hacking electronics.
I don’t care about Thread/Matter at this point and I don’t think I will for the foreseeable future (if ever), so I’m very happy with the Blues I have now.
Thanks for information. How difficult to use a Zigbee binding fro 3 way without travelers?
BTW, not all Z-wave switches have Z-wave association capabilities. I finally used Aeotec dimmer illumino with HA, but it was not that simple (a lot of trial and error, documentation is not great). I don’t really care about Matter. I have 2 Z-wave dimmers (with Aeotec USB 700 controller) but like Inovelli dimmers better. I just do not have too much time to wait for Red 2-1 and thought maybe Blue 2-1 is a better option for me. I have Zigbee devices, but they are all Philips Hue with their bridge, so I would not say I have experience with Zigbee (like set-up, binding etc)
Its not very hard and fairly straightforward. It’s just not very convenient since it requires you to physically go to each device with a laptop, pull off the paddle and insert a USB device that has some pins that go into some holes on the PCB on the switch. Then run a program to update the firmware.
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I think the device also has to have power removed (no line power, maybe air gap pulled?). The chip would get power from usb to flash. But guess we’ll find out in a couple years.
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With 60 dimmers “not very convenient” is a bit of an understatement 
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Future versions of the blues should have the ability to upgrade to matter over thread via an OTA upgrade, but for the current version the USB method will be needed.
Future versions means when? Do you have ETA?
What will be earlier: Red 2-1 release or new version of Blue
Based on beta testing the new reds this should still be true. I’ll throw out April 1st. Another other guesses? 
That date is reserved for the announcement of the new Inovelli PURPLE Series line of switches, which support Z-Wave, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi. LoRa, 5G cellular, X10, mmwave, IR with built-in repeater, and AC/DC motor speed control all in a half-depth electrical box… 
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You forgot LoRa. I see what you did there with the color choice 
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You forgot the cellular radio too . . .
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Thanks! Fixed my glaring omissions. I was going to include dixie cups and tight strings, but X10 is more or less done at this point…
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Hopefully more options than just GSM based carriers.
No mmwave and PIR? 
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I thought that GSM more or less went away globally with the advent of 4G/LTE with VoLTE?
FWIW, my 2015 model year car no longer has even emergency 911 telematics thanks to the GSM/3G sunset in the USA last year…
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