Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. Reviews

Wink Hub 2 review

Like duct tape for smart homes, the Wink Hub 2 connects anything to anything

Jenny McGrath
By
wink hub 2 review tv corner
Wink Hub 2
MSRP $99.99
Score Details
DT Recommended Product
“The Wink Hub 2's ability to talk to so many devices makes it an attractive option for outfitting a full smart home.”
Pros
  • Compatible with lots of devices
  • Future-proofed with Thread
  • Lots of memory
  • Easy to set up
Cons
  • No battery backup
  • Pairing can be a pain

Many smart-home hubs are squat and puck-like, designed to live near your router. The Wink Hub 2 is tall and thin and meant to sit upright. With some new features and a more expensive price tag than Wink’s original hub, it’s definitely an upgrade, but how does it stand up to the competition?

Highly compatible

At 7.25 inches long and high, and 1.25 inches wide, the Hub 2 is a bit slimmer than its predecessor. It flares out a bit toward the middle, so it’s not perfectly rectangular. All white with an LED light at the front that changes color to alert you to issues, it’s unimposing and unremarkable. In the back, you’ll find a power jack and Ethernet port.

It’s lacking a couple things the SmartThings hub has, namely USB ports and a battery backup. But the Wink hub has a lot packed into it: 512MB of memory and support for 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, Z-Wave, ZigBee, Lutron Clear Connect, and Kidde wireless protocols. It’s also prepped for the Google-backed protocol, thanks to its Thread radio. That’s a pretty comprehensive list, which is why the hub is compatible with so many devices off the bat.

Related

Pairing

When Digital Trends spoke to Wink CEO Nathan Smith about the new hub, he said the company wanted to make setup easy enough that the average customer at Walmart who isn’t familiar with home automation could pick it up and get it working right away. Setup is pretty easy: You download the app (iOS | Android), create an account, tap on the add products button, select hubs, choose Wink Hub 2, and the app leads you through the steps. First, I plugged in the hub and connected it to my router. (I also had the option of connecting via Wi-Fi.) Within a minute of hitting the Next button, the hub was connected. The hub ran through some updates, then I was ready to add my Amazon Dot.

The Wink hub has 22 categories of devices it works with, including lights, locks, sensors, thermostats, and garage doors.

To do that, I actually had to go to my Alexa app and enable the Wink skill, then let the Dot discover my devices. Most devices, however, can be connected through the Wink app. My Lutron wall dimmers, for example: I clicked the add products button, chose lights, picked Caseta in-wall dimmer, and the app told me what to do. Annoyingly, I had to reset my dimmers by holding down the button for several seconds to get them to pair with the hub. It worked fine for the office dimmer and my Lutron plug, but the hallway dimmer didn’t work until the hub randomly updated.

Resetting the dimmers and plug means they don’t show up in the Lutron app anymore. That’s okay, though — the point of the hub is that you don’t have to open a zillion separate apps anymore. Of course, my husband was a little annoyed that I hadn’t mentioned this, and he tried to shut off the office light from bed.

Each device will have it’s own little routine for you to go through; adding GoControl door/window sensors meant unscrewing the device, putting the hub in pairing mode, and putting the battery in the sensor. Each took a few minutes to pair, and hopefully you only have to do it once. I had to reset and move a door sensor, and that required removing the battery and hitting the sensor’s reset button, then setting it up all over again.

The Wink hub has 22 categories of devices it works with — including lights, locks, sensors, fans, cameras, doorbells, fans, and garage door openers. Several of those have multiple brands and types within those subsets; you can connect locks from Kwikset or Schlage, for example. There are 14 types of sensors listed.

Do the robot

Earlier, I said the point of the hub is that you don’t have to open a million apps, but the Wink wants to make it so you basically never have to open its app, either, with its If This Then That-style robots. I set one up so that when my sliding door opens, my Lutron dimmers in the hallway and office turn on the lights, and my Hue lights in the living room turn on. Opening my front door automatically turns on the hallway light, via the Lutron dimmer, between 5:30 p.m. and sunrise.

That’s all well and good, but if you really want to ditch the app, pairing it with Amazon’s Alexa is really the way to go. In some ways, a Dot or Echo makes the Wink hub redundant, as it can pair with many of the same devices without the Wink. However, there are still some things that you want a visual for, like your Dropcam or Ring video doorbell. Wink’s app also has an activity tab, so you can see if your door opened at 3:30 when your dog walker was supposed to arrive.

Our Take

The $99 Wink Hub 2 is more expensive than the original, but it’s also safer, faster, and more versatile. It’s dead simple to set up, and while pairing can be a pain compared to, say, Alexa, it’s not a deal-breaker. The robots are easy to figure out and pretty powerful, and the hub works with a lot of devices. It’s not totally universal — it doesn’t work with August locks, for example — so you’ll still want to be on the lookout for the Wink-compatible sticker when shopping for new products.

How long will it last?

The Wink hub updated at least three times during the couple weeks I used it, and that’s the beauty of smart products: They can always be improved with software updates. The thing that really shows Wink is looking to the future, though, is the Thread radio. The company admits it doesn’t have a lot of information about how the protocol will work or when it’s coming, but when it does, the hub will be ready to play.

Should you buy it?

If you want to be able to turn on your lights with your voice, maybe you should stick with HomeKit or Alexa, but if you’re really looking to make your whole home smarter, you’re going to need a router, and the Wink Hub 2 has the most going for it right now, as well as some future-proofing, like the Thread radio. The original hub had some issues with reliability, but so has virtually every other smart-home hub. Right now, the Wink Hub 2 is one of the most inclusive devices you can buy when it comes to controlling your smart home.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jenny McGrath
Jenny McGrath
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jenny McGrath is a senior writer at Digital Trends covering the intersection of tech and the arts and the environment. Before…
Best Buy deals: Save on laptops, TVs, appliances, and more
best buy shuts down insignia line smart home products store 2 768x768

Best Buy is always a great retailer to turn to if you’re looking for some savings. There are almost always Best Buy deals taking place on TVs, appliances, and devices we use to navigate the digital world. In fact, right now at Best Buy you can find some of the best TV deals, best laptop deals, and best phone deals that can be shopped, and we haven’t even mentioned the deals on tablets and home audio equipment currently taking place at Best Buy. We’ve rounded up all of the best Best Buy deals you can shop right now and categorized them for your convenience below, so read onward for some great opportunities to save.
Best Buy TV deals

There may be no better place to purchase one of the best TVs than Best Buy. There is almost always some huge savings to find on TVs at Best Buy, and that’s certainly the case right now. You’ll find deals top TV brands like Sony, Samsung, and LG, and more budget-friendly brands like TCL and Hisense are in play, too.

Read more
Dyson’s new AR mobile app shows where you forgot to clean
A person using the Dyson AR app.

Dyson has always been on the cutting edge of vacuum technology, with heaps of premium vacuums filling the pages of its product catalog. Now, the company seems to be branching out to the world of augmented reality, with the reveal of Dyson CleanTrace -- a new feature on the MyDyson mobile app that shows you all the spots in your home that are yet to be cleaned.

Using Dyson CleanTrace is simple, though it comes with pretty strict limitations. For one, it only works with the expensive Dyson Gen5detect cordless vacuum. It also requires a smartphone with a lidar scanner (like an iPhone 15) and a special clamp to attach your phone to the vacuum (which is yet to receive a price tag). With all that out of the way, you'll then be able to launch the MyDyson app and access the CleanTrace feature for free when it arrives in June.

Read more
Arlo Pro 3-pack of security cameras is down to $400 from $700
A woman assembling a Arlo Pro 5S on a wall.

For anyone keen to make their home more secure and accountable through a set of security cameras, Best Buy is currently the place to go for security camera deals. At the retailer, you can buy a three pack of the highly regarded Arlo Pro 5S Spotlight Security Camera for $400. That means you’re saving a huge $300 off the regular price of $700. This is the ideal time to upgrade your home security for less and we’re here to tell you all about it before you commit to a purchase.

Why you should buy the Arlo Pro 5S Spotlight Security Camera
Arlo makes some of the best home security cameras around with pretty much its entire range being worth your time and money. With the Arlo Pro 5S, you get a great level of detail. There’s two times the video resolution of HD so you can zoom in up to 12 times to see sharper details. Due to its night vision, you can also see color at night for better identification of what’s going on. A wide 160-degree field of view combined with auto image correction cuts down on fish eye effect so everything looks just how you would expect it to. There’s also AI object detection so the Arlo Pro 5S is capable of detecting if something is a package, person, vehicle, animal or similar.

Read more