ZW056 ZW056-A Doorbell Gen5, Small, White

Folks, like many of the reviewers I purchased the unit and my first impression was that the button is highly unreliable and has abysmal range so I started the return process. Luckily, I gave it another try!It turned out when I pressed on the battery compartment with one finger, the remote worked all the time!It appears that the battery doesn't have a good electric contact (it is not spring-loaded). I put a little bit of aluminum foil in between the battery and the electric contact to fill the space and voila -- it works all the time now and has a good range!Basically, to fix it:* Put some aluminum foil to the battery compartment so that the battery has a reliable contact with the electric contacts* Hold the unit vertically as it would sit on the door, don't use it like you would use a remote control -- the radio signal seems to be vertically polarized.As a quick assessment tool: if you press the button on remote and the blue lights don't flash on the remote -- it means you have an issue with electric contacts and the battery. If battery is connected correctly then the remote would flash blue lights all the time.Also, the unit works really well as a remote speaker for Home Assistant (based on Open Zwave). You can use it for making announcements when a garage door is opened or when motion is detected. All you have to do is just put your own MP3 sound file on it.Overall, if you are looking mainly for the speaker functionality, this is a totally amazing unit that will work right of the box!If you are looking for a doorbell, it would work as well but may need some tweaking in the battery compartment as described above!

Where should I start.... Well, the first one I received didn't work right out of the box. The speaker unit kept ringing.... like every 15 seconds. Searched many sites for a solution, tried them all, none worked. I contacted Aeotec support, and the first thing they told me was "send it back to the vendor." Almost like they're tired of getting the support calls. Anyway, sent it back. The second one "worked right." I've had it for almost 2 months now, and here are my PROs and CONS... (cons first):CONS:1) Speaker is not loud at all. If you're using it as a doorbell for real, in a normal sized house.... if you aren't in the same room with the unit (even with volume at max), you aren't going to hear it. Because of this, I tied it to SmartThings, and had it also text me when someone rang the doorbell so I'd have a fighting chance of actually answering the door.2) When someone hits the doorbell button, the speaker only rings about 60% of the time. Not good performance metrics for a DOORBELL.3) The button is flimsy, and most assuredly will not last long.4) After less than a month, I got alerts that the battery level was at 1%.... but then checking again 10 minutes later was back up to 100%.5) Starting this week, it's been ringing (and I'm also getting messages that someone is pressing the doorbell button), but no one's at the door.6) The first one didn't work.PROS1) There aren't any... don't waste your money.

This doorbell is useless as a doorbell. My button only works if I press it hard and hold it for several seconds. A light press does nothing. A Hard press quickly lights up as if it worked but nothing happens, a hard press helped until the blue ring flashes twice works as long as I am about 2ft from the device. Aeon Labs what were you thinking, the range on this button makes it completely useless as a doorbell. OK so you ask why did I give it 2 stars. Because this device is usable as a zwave notification device. Basically you can have any event play a sound and you can add your own sounds (mp3 or wav) so you can for example record voice and play that when something happens. Such as "Garage Door Left Open" or "Back Door opened". So that's pretty cool. OK so why not more than 2 stars. Because getting this device to work with you own sounds is a bit of a pain. First every time you plug in the device it play the first file in the directory. So in the middle of the night if your power goes out briefly expect a doorbell ring. You can fix this. Remove the sound files that are provided making the directory empty, Install an empty mp3 file onto the device into the first position in the directory (that's right they index these files based on their location in the directory, how stupid was that), now add sound file in the order you want them indexed. You can copy the original files back into positions 2-6 and then add your own in the order you like.Also be careful how you manage the files. I used a MacBook at first and it created some hidden files that messed up the indexing. I had to delete all the files from a Windows machine to fix it. I hate to say but it works better on a window machine for installing the files.