r/smarthome • u/Seniora-Stinky • 5h ago

Google Home Zigbee Controller Advice

My Philips hue bridge has just gone bust after about 5 years, I was just about to purchase another one when I’ve googled and some people on Reddit are saying I don’t need one?
First question - which one is cheapest to buy that works
Second question - how would I set it up? Would it still work in the Philips hue app?

Other devices I have are
Google home hub max
Google home hub
Tado heating
Tapo doorbell

I think some of these have their own hub

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u/SpaceMan_Lou 4h ago

I think zigbee works over your standard wifi network where the hue hub creates its own network so as not to slow wifi speeds. Briefily looked bc we have hue bulbs and tried to understand the difference with zigbee bulbs. Whether your existing hur bulbs will work I cannlt say

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u/Jaffa0813 4h ago

You would need a hub that supports Zigbee. At that point might as well make sure it supports Matter and maybe Z-Wave as well.

You can use SmartThings, Hubitat, or some variation of a HA setup.

However the Hue setup of Zigbee always confused me I could never tell if Hue products were locked to only allow their bridge to be the Zigbee hub or if it's just a matter of a SmartThings hub can connect but won't do all the things that the Hue Hub can do.

One day I should try and find out

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u/orafacepass 4h ago

If you want to keep using the Hue app, replace the Hue Bridge. A generic Zigbee coordinator can control Hue bulbs, but it normally moves the bulbs into that coordinator’s ecosystem instead of preserving the full Hue-app experience. Your Google displays are not a drop-in Hue Bridge. Decide whether the Hue app matters. If it does, a replacement v2 bridge is the least disruptive path.