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Conbee II Zigbee USB Gateway $55.00 (15% off) & Free Shipping @ Smart Guys

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Conbee II Zigbee USB Gateway $55.00 (15% off) & Free Shipping @ Smart Guys
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Associatedsmartguysaustralia on 04/01/2023 - 08:03 smartguys.com.au (608 clicks)

Hi All,

We are back with our Conbee II special and would like to share it with the community. It is $10 off (15%) our normal price of $65, with free shipping.

Please note when we have had these sales previously we have sold out pretty fast.

The Conbee II is a USB stick that will turn your computer into a Zigbee Hub. It has a strong focus on interoperability and supports many Zigbee devices. It works with well-known brands such as Philips Hue, IKEA Trådfri, OSRAM SYLVANIA, Xiaomi Aqara and Samsung SmartThings.

Works without the cloud. The ConBee II offers complete local control of all Zigbee devices.
Universal Zigbee USB gateway, integrates Philips Hue, IKEA Trådfri, OSRAM SYLVANIA, Samsung SmartThings, Xiaomi Aqara and many other Zigbee products across manufacturers
Local solution without cloud, no registration or Internet access needed
Strong signal range via power-amplifier
Supported operating systems: Windows 7 / 10, Ubuntu Linux (AMD64), Raspbian and Docker
For PC, Notebook, Raspberry Pi or Mini-PC
USB 2.0 support only, and extension USB recommended
Works with Home Assistant - ZHA, Zigbee2MQTT, DeConz addon supported
Full details are available on the Conbee website here: https://www.phoscon.de/en/conbee2

A note on shipping: All items are dispatched same day from our warehouse in Sydney if ordering before midday (Mon-Fri excluding public holidays). We use Australia Post for all our shipping and you will get tracking.

Hope you find this to be a good deal and please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Happy automating,
The team @SmartGuys

Electrical & Electronics ConBee Home Automation Smart Home Zigbee Zigbee Gateway

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closed Comments

  • whitepuma on 04/01/2023 - 08:28
    +2

    @smartguysaustralia, how do these perform compared to the sonoff zigbee 3.0 usb dongles?

    • SaddenAscentAspirin on 04/01/2023 - 08:37

      I've no experience with the conbee, but my sonoff dongle has an antenna which I assume would help with range.

      • xmagic on 04/01/2023 - 09:48

        Yup. Tried both models (either with TI or SiLabs chip) of Sonoff with external antenna. As of now with zigbee2mqtt, both work great.

        In theory the SiLabs model (Dongle-E model) may support matter protocol in the future by firmware upgrade, but just don't set expectation.

        TBH still can't figure it out why a Zigbee dongle can be this much more expensive, especially in the case of Conbee dongles. I guess it's just the niche market.

    • impoze on 04/01/2023 - 09:03

      My sonoff 3.0 has been working great

    • cart on 04/01/2023 - 09:22

      Never used Conbee but the Zigbee 3.0 usb dongle is solid.

    • Associatedsmartguysaustralia @ Smart Guys on 04/01/2023 - 09:42
      +5

      generally same same. I have tested both on the bench and seemed to get the same result (granted I can't test every product). In terms of sale we would typically sell 1 sonoff to every 2 conbee's and probably about 1 in 1000 returns for both. Hope that helps.

      • whitepuma on 04/01/2023 - 09:43

        That actually helps alot, i really appreciate the transparency, will definitely consider your business for future smart home needs.
        But for now will pass as i currently have a sonoff.

      • xmagic on 04/01/2023 - 09:50

        Maybe something to do with the look? Conbee is indeed quite a bit smaller, while Sonoff dongle is quite a bit chunkier in comparison.

        • whitepuma on 04/01/2023 - 10:02
          +7

          "on the bench" is merely a term for testing. You don't know their "bench" test case scenarious, so i wouldn't mock it.

          I'm just appreciating the fact that they did indeed test the two, which isn't something most companies do, Most companies tend to just test the one they are selling then say it's the best one on the market.

          • dr on 04/01/2023 - 11:11
            -4

            @whitepuma: I think you are too optimistic and give them too much credit. I asked for clarification. We can both speculate what "on the bench" may mean for them - may as well be I plugged it in, installed the app, and connected few devices - "sweet, works! lets sell it!"

            • whitepuma on 04/01/2023 - 11:52
              +3

              @dr: you didn't ask for clarification, you implied that they only tested devices within a meter line of sight distance.

              I'm not being optimistic, i'm just reading what their saying and taking it at that value without making assumptions.

              • dr on 04/01/2023 - 12:04
                -4

                @whitepuma: Reading what they were saying was exactly my argument, you took the liberty to interpret "on the bench" as something far more elaborate

                • whitepuma on 04/01/2023 - 12:08
                  +3

                  @dr: no, i didn't take it as more elaborate, quiet the opposite, i said "you don't know their bench test case scenarious, so i wouldn't mock it" and neither do i.

                  I got no idea how complex or basic their testing scenario is, hence why i didn't go ahead and say "Not all my devices will be within a meter line of sight distance" but i also didn't say that their testing is extremely rigorous. I made no assumptions, and accordingly i didn't criticise them based on assumptions, which you did.

                  • dr on 04/01/2023 - 13:14
                    -4

                    @whitepuma: I resign from this argument, I thought that you are familiar what the term bench testing means in electronics. Not benchmark testing, but the bench testing

                    • whitepuma on 04/01/2023 - 13:31
                      +3

                      @dr: again with the assumptions

    • mimik13 on 04/01/2023 - 09:44

      I'm currently migrating from the Conbee II with Deconz to Sonoff with Z2M. I had a few issues with pairing devices and responsiveness with deconz that I'm not finding with Z2M.

    • bdl on 04/01/2023 - 09:45

      I've found they work just as well as both the -E and -P sonoff dongles.

      The Conbee II has a bug with zigbee2mqtt in that the link quality indicator does not show correctly due to a bug in the Conbee firmware. Despite this, however, in day to day use this hasn't really bothered me since I have sufficient routers (repeating devices). As far as device support goes they've been all the same.

      Yes, the Conbee is getting "old" but I've stuck with it because it's a known quantity and it's capabilities and limitations are well documented.

    • jong on 04/01/2023 - 18:17

      I've used both, and haven't noticed any difference.

      I have heard there's an issue getting some Phillips motion sensors to work with the chip in Sonoff Zigbee adapters, so that might sway you a little if you want outdoor motion sensors, as I think only Phillips make them.

      • bdl on 04/01/2023 - 21:57

        I have Philips Outdoor Hue Motion sensors working perfectly with a Sonoff Zigbee Plus-P

  • lymon on 04/01/2023 - 08:40
    +11

    Better off buying this: https://www.seeedstudio.com/Home-Assistant-SkyConnect-p-5479…

    It supports the new matter protocol and it’s cheaper.

    • whitepuma on 04/01/2023 - 08:46
      +3

      Mmm, agree that it's good that it supports matter.

      But I don't think it's cheaper, it's on backorder and the price there is USD without shipping. Plus that site appears broken for me, I can't add to cart

      • [Deactivated] on 04/01/2023 - 08:51

        What’s the coordinator you use.. ZHA?
        I’ve gotten used to Phoscon, the software and group supports are very good…

        • Astronaut Joe on 04/01/2023 - 09:50

          I started by using Phoscon, but I was having issues discovering Aqara devices with it, and devices would occasionally lose connection and be near-impossible to get to reconnect. I tried ZHA and everything was discovered first time and nothing has dropped out since.

      • brou on 04/01/2023 - 08:53
        +1

        Agree - USD, not in stock, doesn’t include shipping. And doesn’t look like SkyConnect has Homebridge integration, which Conbee II does

        • [Deactivated] on 04/01/2023 - 10:11

          Do you mean HomeKit bridge, or something else?

          • jazzninja on 04/01/2023 - 10:27

            @[Deactivated]: https://homebridge.io/ - Homebridge allows devices that don't have HomeKit built in to work as if they did.

            • [Deactivated] on 04/01/2023 - 10:36

              @jazzninja: Got it thanks. I suppose it’s a bit irrelevant to my use case as I’m using home assistant + home kit bridge, but great too know what’s around in case I need to make recommendations to other people

              • jazzninja on 04/01/2023 - 11:19

                @[Deactivated]: Yes, I used homebridge until Home Assistant released the HomeKit integration. You don't need both.

    • BargainBogan99 on 04/01/2023 - 09:00

      How well do thing like this work with a dockerized home assistant instance

      • impoze on 04/01/2023 - 09:04
        +2

        I have my HA running as a VM on my unraid system

        Works fine

      • OzJunkGain on 04/01/2023 - 09:05
        +1

        They work great unless you're running macOS

      • salem on 04/01/2023 - 09:41
        +2

        I've got a sonoff ZigBee 3 stick in my Ubuntu host machine running HA in docker container - rock solid. Can't remember how I set it up, but there was a guide and I followed it and it worked. Maybe something about the user that runs docker being in a group with access to tty ports or something….

        • RavenMad on 04/01/2023 - 11:25

          On the weekend I tried migrating my RaspOS-based (unsupported) HA install to a containered version and man it was too hard! I'm no stranger to HA or Docker but six hours later, I still didn't get everything working the same as my current set up (trying to restore from a backup, etc). Getting the Conbee working was almost impossible despite mapping ttyACM0 in docker-compose. I gave up and reverted to my currrent install… anyone got a good guide to follow?

          • salem on 04/01/2023 - 17:12
            +1

            @RavenMad: oh I'm a terrible newb at docker. I wasn't even sure where all the persistent config files lived for HA for aaaages of my amateur hackery. I'll see if i can find a docker compose file and share it

            • RavenMad on 04/01/2023 - 19:23
              +1

              @salem: Is that you Salem from WP forums? ;)

      • bdl on 04/01/2023 - 09:47

        another option which I use is a separate pi box running dietpi and zigbee2mqtt - this means it's just a network connected box which will interface with bare metal, vm and dockerised HA :)

        I use this setup for portability as I can have the HA instance anywhere without having to reconfig the zigbee2mqtt instance each time

    • GordianKnot on 04/01/2023 - 09:16
      +1

      My understanding is that the Conbee will [run either Zigbee or Thread] (https://forum.phoscon.de/t/the-new-matter-protocol/564/3) whereas the SkyConnect will run both at once.
      Matter support comes higher up, either in DeConz/DeConz-like application from Dresden or using the Home Assistant Matter Server.

      • [Deactivated] on 04/01/2023 - 10:15

        Conbee III maybe?

        “ However I’m not sure if this will be possible at all, since the Matter specification is filled with many walled garden “features”, so that clients can check and reject devices which aren’t officially marked “worthy” — this is the ugly part of Matter which the marketing is very silent about.”

        The biggest part of the reason I use zigbee is that stuff just works (except sometimes if it’s dodgy Tuya with non-spec functions)

    • bdl on 04/01/2023 - 09:45
      +1

      Or a sonoff -E device since it has the same chipset

    • hoit on 04/01/2023 - 21:14

      I ordered one of these last week and was charged AUD$46.56 including delivery.

      I already have a Conbee II in use so was keen for another device I can mess around with without interfering with my existing setup.

    • SickDmith on 05/01/2023 - 01:15

      How much is shipping?

    • Associatedsmartguysaustralia @ Smart Guys on 25/01/2023 - 09:35
      +1

      Will be in stock locally by the end of the week!

      https://smartguys.com.au/home-assistant-skyconnect.html

  • Transparent on 04/01/2023 - 11:56

    Paid $71,80 from SmartGuys eBay 10 days ago. Felling ripped

  • BigLeviathan on 04/01/2023 - 13:10

    Do you have zwave USB gateway that is compatible with AU Zwave frequency? Thanks

  • ilu on 04/01/2023 - 16:18

    this seems pretty pricey, the sonoff units are much cheaper (got mine under 30), built like a tank, and I see a lot of people swapping from conbee to them due to issues some run into with the conbee 2

    • Borg on 04/01/2023 - 18:08

      The SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus works out to be approx AU$37 delivered (US$19.95 +$4.85 for freight).

      • ilu on 04/01/2023 - 18:54

        Dang they've gone up. Just checked, got mine on geekbuying in March for 20 AUD delivered

        • Borg on 04/01/2023 - 19:21

          I also got mine on Geekbuying in Mar when on special @ US$15.99 but with free shipping so hasn't really increased as $US19.95 is usual price from itlead.

          • ilu on 04/01/2023 - 19:27

            @Borg: fair point

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