Z-wave 800LR Silabs relaunches z-wave

Since the acquisition of the manufacturing of Z-wave chips, and the significant progress on the market, Silabs is preparing to resuscitate Z-wave on the European market. Last month I wrote an article on the end of Z-wave, where I explained that this protocol almost disappeared, especially in Europe because of the the arrival of Zigbee (among others).

The main disadvantage of z-wave is the cost of returning the modules but Zooz and Shelly are demonstrating the opposite, how is this possible?

Z-wave proprietary protocol proprietary pricing

The fact that z-wave is a proprietary protocol requires module manufacturers to pass, among other things, certification and it has a cost and a deadline, below you can download the certification process dated January 2025 .

Despite a reviewed and optimized certification process in order to limit production costs and lower the sales prices of modules. If a manufacturer wants to resell an end-devices module such as a door contactor for example, he will have to go through a certification of 3600$ or 3.6$/1000 products sold per module to be added compared to zigbee, for a controller or a gateway it’s $6600 or $6.6/1000 products

So on the certification stage we must already add between $3.6 and $6.6 compared to zigbee

Prices for Silabs chips

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/z-wave

First new feature, Silabs reveals the prices for the z-wave 800LR version and if we look more closely, the z-wave chips are barely more expensive than Zigbee chips, so I’m not comparing everything because there are still differences, but manufacturers will no longer have the excuse of excessive costs of using this protocol.

Silabs currently markets 3 Z-wavae 800 chips, two in SOCs and one dedicated to modules. You will find:

1. the EFR32ZG23 SoCs chip (Wi-Sun Amazon Sidewalk and mbus compatible) is sold $4.37 in a 512kb Flash memory and 64kb RAM version
2. the ZGM230S Modules chip at $5.85 in high security 512MB Flash and 64kb of RAM
3. the new EFR32ZG28 SOCs chip (compatible in addition to the ZG23 Bluetooth) at $5.23 in high security with 1024MB of Flash and 256kb of RAM

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee

At the same time the prices for zigbee chips (zigbee and thread) are:

1. EFR32MG21 Series 2 SOCs costs $2.95 with 512MB Flash and 64kb RAM
2. EFR32MG21 Series 2 Modules (bluetooth, zigbee, thread) costs $6.96 for 1024MB of Flash and 96kb of RAM
3. EFR32MG24 Series Socs costs $4.34 with 1024 Flash and 128 RAM

On chips you have to add a cost of $1.5 On average

Door opening sensor Zooz z-wave 800

By Zooz at €28

Monitor your door or window with the ZSE41 opening/closing sensor from Zooz!

Buy Now out of Domadoo

Differences between prices

According to simple calculations, a z-wave module should cost between $5 and $10 more than its zigbee counterpart. I did some research on domadoo.. and…

If you buy this aqara Zigbee door opener controller it will cost you €19.99 The Zooz door opening controller in z-wave 800 is 27.95€, a difference of 7.96€

More recently Zooz released its first z-wave 800 controller at €34.95 while the aeotec zi-stick is sold 29.99€, less than 5€ difference between the two.

This is proof that there is a desire on the part of the Z-wave alliance and certain manufacturers to reduce the costs of Z-wave modules.

New Zooz z-wave 800 controller

By Zooz

Brand new Z-wave long range 800 series hub controller from Zooz! at a very affordable price.

Buy Now out of Domadoo

Who are the main players in the market

who work on the z-wave 800LR

I wanted to use the list of products certified by the z-wave alliance, but I have the impression that this list is incomplete or not yet up to date. Because by looking directly on the manufacturers’ website I was able to find additional information.

Fibaro: launches a roller shutter module, at 84€, way too expensive, they don’t seem to want to lower the prices.

MCO Home: the release of new products is in progress we find the switch f-series and U-series mechanical switches

Inovelli: nothing for Europe but it is in progress for the United States the switch is already in the 800 series.

Philio: seems to have been at a standstill for several years, no new products, stock shortages at resellers, it’s a shame because they manufactured robust and well thought-out modules.

Shelly ( Qubino ): Since the acquisition of Qubino by Shelly, the company has wasted no time and is developing a series of modules using the latest chipset 800 found on the market.

Zooz: Like Shelly Zooz is following in the footsteps of the z-wave 800 series modules and they are right.

Popp: the German manufacturer does not offer anything in the 800 series at the moment

Aeotec: nothing for the moment in 800 series

Heatit Controls: At Heatit you will find a built-in thermostat

z-wave.me: nothing for the moment in 800 series

Main advantages of z-wave 800 vs Zigbee 3.0

• all modules are compatible and backward compatible with each other whatever the brand and could thus function directly even in the event of controller failure (famous binding)
• consumption of batteries given at 10 years compared to 3 to 5 years for Zigbee
• an extended range (several hundred meters or even thousands) just that?

Manufacturers don’t waste time

As announced in a previous article, there was a time when we found plenty of Z-wave products and this was not the case with Zigbee, but now it’s quite the opposite, so if manufacturers fall on this article.

If I were you I would quickly relaunch the Z-wave 800 LR series range in order to be present again on the European market.

Conclusion

I decided to write this second article in order to measure the impact of the cost of z-wave 800 vs Zigbee 3.0 modules. It turns out that this has been revised downwards and it is confirmed, the manufacturers still need to pay attention to it, in any case thanks to Zooz and Shelly Qubino for showing the way of resurrection :).

PS: Heltun wrote an excellent article comparing z-wave and Zigbee don’t hesitate to read it.