Wemo Stage is one of those devices that has a horrible rating if you check Amazon. However, it fills a device category that up until now has essentially had no competition and is honestly not terrible for a first of its kinds device. The category I’m referring to is battery-powered thread light switches. As someone that rents, I can’t install light switches in the wall, so this has saved my smart home by allowing me to install renter-friendly physical controls for Apple Home.
But there are a few differences:
Wemo Stage
- HomeKit over thread
- Mediocre battery life
- Responsiveness is okay most of the time, but it really depends on the stability of Apple Home and can lag
- 3 programmable buttons, each supporting single, double, and triple tap for 9 programmable shortcuts
Nanoleaf Sense+
- Not actually tied to HomeKit in any way
- Uses Lightwave (Nanoleaf proprietary protocol) over thread
- Bypasses Apple Home (thread border router) altogether
- Near instantaneous response time, and doesn’t seem to lag ever
- On, off, and dimming controls. Two extra programmable buttons that will eventually support Matter (coming soon supposedly)
- Includes motion sensor that can control lights via Lightwave protocol
The Sense+ is very new. I’ve only had mine for a few days after pre-ordering the switch. I was really hoping the Sense+ would be better all around, but despite its instantaneous response time, it has a few major drawbacks:
- lack of support for non-Nanoleaf lights
- built-in button programming is very limited; you can’t program a button to set both brightness and hue. Seriously, Nanoleaf?
I wish they could have the switch support direct control of any Nanoleaf light, but fall back to Matter control for anything else. Though I suppose mixing protocols could get messy. But Lightwave is really solid as long as you live within Nanoleaf’s walled garden. But as soon as you throw anything else into the mix, the illusion shatters.
I’m sure the Sense+ will mature with software updates. I’m excited to see how Nanoleaf improves the product!
I may mess around with more wireless Thread switches. ONVIS makes one that is more of a button form factor than a switch. But for now I find myself having to choose between Sense+ which is more responsive, or Wemo Stage which can control more devices.